Sep 11th Strumpshaw Fen

It has been raining again, but there's one thing that easily took my mind away from it all this time around. There was an osprey still hanging around at Strumpshaw this week and as I made my way to Tower Hide this morning, I passed one of my regulars who showed me a photo of one just moments ago. It got me excited. If there was anything to cheer me up on another wet Wednesday, it had to be an osprey. When I got to the hide, however, there was no sign of the bird. A kingfisher was the best consolation as well as a few Egyptian geese, shovelers, gadwall, teal and herons. Oh, and a heavy downpour.

Osprey

Back at Reception Hide, I was glued to my binoculars, continuously scanning the same sky that constantly changed from sun and blue skies to rain and gloomy, grey clouds in the hope that an osprey would appear. And then, after a good couple of hours had passed, a large bird was flying over the reed beds to the left of the broad. At first, I was going to claim it as a marsh harrier, but then it revealed its white underside and it was then clear what it was. An Osprey!! Here it was at last! Annoyingly though, it decided to do its hunting by Tower Hide where it was a bit distant to photograph. Despite the distance and a row of trees hiding it from view now and then, I could still see it well and follow its every movement. It circled and hovered over the far side of the reserve for several minutes before it finally decided to move on back towards Rockland Broad, becoming more and more distant from view as I watched, hoping for it to make a U-turn back towards me instead.

Hobby

It was a remarkable moment and a breathtaking bird to watch. It feels like an age since I last saw an osprey at Strumpshaw. They don't breed here. They only visit this corner of England as a stop over. A place to refuel themselves before heading south to Africa. It is not the only one, as a hobby was preparing itself for the long journey as well. This small falcon sat on a branch of a tree on the far left of the reserve of where I could see, waiting for the latest spell of rain to lift so that it could hunt down some dragonflies. There was also sightings of a bittern (though I didn't see it myself), another kingfisher, a Chinese water deer (at Fen Hide), marsh harriers, buzzards and two tufted ducks and two wigeon mixed in the usual cast of scruffy and some not so scruffy mallards, shovelers, gadwall and teal. The autumn migration is already in full swing!