Aug 23rd, 27th & 28th Mousehold Heath, Minsmere & Strumpshaw Fen

Aug 23rd Mousehold Heath

Old Lady

It was a perfect night for moths and so, on Friday, I went along to another moth session at Mousehold. Though it wasn't as incredible as the session a month ago, it was still a great success with a great turn out with the amount of people showing up. The moths took a short while to visit the light trap we had set up, but once they did, they kept on coming for at least a couple of hours before midnight. There were plenty of species to thumb through the pages of the various ID books and to hand out to the crowd. The youngsters of the group even had there fun in catching some for us. Most of the moths were yellow underwings (at least four species) and species that we've caught in previous moth trap sessions at Mousehold over the years. The best highlight of the night, though, was catching an old lady, which is a large brown moth that apparently resembles an old woman's shawl.

Aug 27th Minsmere

A second heatwave has hit the UK this week and that feeling of melting away in a pool of my own sweat has returned to me. The sun sapped away at my energy at a fast rate. There were better, cooler ways to spend a gruellingly hot day like this than bird watching at Minsmere, but it has felt like forever since I last visited this reserve and Mum fancied a visit there too, so here I was trying my best to keep my mind on the birds and not the heat. It was not an easy task. There were some relief in the form of the odd shade and slight draft coming through the hides, but there was no real way of preventing the heat from making us suffer.

Wasp Spider

At the scrapes, there were plenty of birds from keeping our energy drained minds occupied. There were avocets, black-tailed godwits, ringed plovers, a curlew, ruffs, 2 greenshanks, lapwings and dunlin. It is amazing how they can all get on with life without showing signs of fatigue from this heatwave. At least one of the herons here was behaving the same way as us. It sat there at the centre of the nearest island with its wings drooped and partially pointing outwards at an angle, its neck straight and bill open as it pants in an attempt to cool itself down. It really did look like it was done with the heat as we were.

I also, that day, saw a green woodpecker, heard bearded tits and watched the activities of bee-wolves and jewel wasps at the always fascinating area of sandy path known as Digger Alley. However, my favourite highlight of the day was seeing five wasp spiders along the fence bordering the beach. I had managed to see one of these colourfully striped spiders for the first time last year, and now I was able to show them to Mum. She's not exactly keen on spiders, but even she agreed that these were impressive to look at.

Aug 28th  Strumpshaw Fen

Water Rail

After struggling to sleep last night thanks to the heat, I was glad that it was a more cooler day than it was yesterday as I made my way to Strumpshaw for my shift. I was expecting it to still be a nice day and had left my coat and fleece behind, but I should have known better. It was Wednesday after all. I had gotten to the reserve nice and dry, but after a stop for the toilet, I came out of the toilet block minutes later to find that it was raining! It was actually refreshing to walk in it without any waterproofing to protect me after the week we've had. I made a visit to Fen Hide, seeing a young water rail, while the rain began to really pour down.

With my shift looming to start, I had enough time to refill the bird feeders out in the rain. Inside Reception Hide, I watched the rain continue to fall as more and more ducks were flying in on the broad. Watching each duck arrive was like counting sheep. Thanks to the lack of sleep from last night, it was no wonder that they were slowly causing me to nod off. However, I managed to fight the urge off. The weather was improving as the morning went on and sunshine eventually won through, allowing the rest of the day to be rather pleasant. The return of the sun seemed to cue the arrival of a kingfisher that made a few brief visits before I had to leave. I also saw a marsh harrier harassing the ducks, a great crested grebe with its glorious crest bleached of its usual colour, and a great spotted woodpecker making a quick cameo on the kingfisher tree.