Feb 27th Strumpshaw Fen

Frosty start to this morning!

A battle of the seasons was happening this morning at Strumpshaw as winter fought spring. In the early morning sun, there was frost on the ground and blossom on the trees. The warmth of the sun was winning it out over winter's cold grip. Warm, bright sunlight merged with icy cold mist across the reserve like a blanket of beauty.

Frosty view from Reception Hide

View from Fen Hide

Great Crested Grebe

It was still slightly cold when I got to the Fen Hide and I didn't fancy staying inside it for long, not that there was much to see besides a Chinese water deer and a quick flash of a kingfisher which did not hang around. So, I decided to walk along the river trail and to Tower Hide. The route to Tower Hide was a lot drier than it has been, though it was a little bit slippery in places but still passable. On the way, a pair of kingfishers had a bit of a dispute as they chased one another over the Accidental Broad. Again, just another brief encounter that lasted mere seconds. Meanwhile, on the river, a pair of great crested grebes were performing a graceful dance of head flicks and mirrored movements.

View from Tower Hide

The Tower Hide side of the reserve seemed more active in bird life than what I could see at the Fen Hide and Reception Hide combined. While black-headed gulls were the most dominant and noisy species here, there were also plenty of court shipping shelducks and sleepy pochards and teal, too.

Shelducks

Pochard

Black-headed Gull

Marsh Harriers

Colts-foot

Dunnock

Greylags take over the Reception Hide's view

Back at Reception Hide, around a hundred greylags took over the broad. The gadwall, shovelers, mallard and 2 pochards were completely outnumbered. Marsh harriers, buzzards and a sparrowhawk circled high above them all in their aerial displays, but the big highlight of the day was when I saw a bittern near the end of my shift, flying low over the geese congregating near the front of the hide from right to left. It then went down into the sliver of remaining reeds bordering the edge of the area of strimmed reed stubble to the hide's left. It popped its head out for a brief moment into the open, but decided to make its way into the thicker section of reeds instead of showing itself to everyone. 

Brimstone

As the morning wore on, the early frost was now a forgotten memory. It was now so warm that butterflies and other insects were emerging from their hiding places. My first butterfly of 2019 was a red admiral and my second, third and many more others were all brimstones. Spring appears to be here to stay, though the weatherman says otherwise. It is apparently going to be much colder and winter-like again in the next few days.

Red Admiral

Early Bumblebee?

Hoverfly