Nov 27th Strumpshaw Fen

The Wet Wednesdays are back! It has actually been a few weeks since it rained on a Wednesday. It has rained on every other day, but not a Wednesday, but not this week. I had to get a lift in to Strumpshaw this morning as the weather was that bad. I only had time to do the feeders before my shift began and thankfully, the ever hungry pheasant was waiting for me yet again.

Otter

For the most part, I was mainly watching the many mallards and the handful of gadwall float around the broad with the rain lashing down, while marsh harriers and buzzards attempt to continue their predatory role, though were mostly left to perch somewhere, hoping the rain to stop sometime soon. It was a rather dark and miserable scene. But then, the ducks began to rush away from the left side of the broad and an otter appeared! Suddenly, the scene in front of me came to life! The otter was busy hunting for at least 15-20 minutes and at the same time, a male sparrowhawk also arrived, perching on one of the dead trees to my left. The hide, which was virtually empty of visitors before the otter turned up, was now packed, as if the otter had summoned them. Eventually, the sparrowhawk and the otter disappeared and the hide emptied along with them. I was left with the ducks and rain once more.

Sparrowhawk

Nov 20th Strumpshaw Fen

Its getting colder. The sky is dark, dull and grey. There's a taste and smell of car exhaust pollution trapped in the early morning air as I made my way to Strumpshaw today, but once I arrived, the air was a little cleaner. I was greeted by the hungry male pheasant again, which followed me from the pond dipping pond to the Gnarly Oak as he recognizes me as the person who will later serve him food. Eventually, he realises that I had no food on me and gave up, leaving me to walk to the Fen Hide alone, spooking a muntjac deer in the process.

Chinese Water Deer

Fen Hide was a bit too quiet for my liking, with just a couple of Chinese water deer and a heron to be seen. I moved on to the river and sat on a bench adjacent to some apple trees where a flock of around 10-20 fieldfares feeding on the apples while remaining hidden from view. Their rattling chuckled calls were like they were mocking me as I was unable to photograph them. With my shift looming, I admitted defeat and left the bench. However, when I turned to walk back down the Sandy Wall, I noticed that there was something standing in the way. It was a Chinese water deer and it was staring right at me. Several meters of the path separated between us. Neither of us looked as if we were going to budge. For about a minute or two, we were stuck in an epic staring contest. Eventually, the deer gave in and retreated, not in a dash, but in a casual manner into the reeds.

Bahama Pintail Hybrid

When I returned to do the feeders and the hungry pheasant that followed me earlier was pleased. He ran towards me before I entered the gate leading into the courtyard to fetch the bird food. I came back to find him still waiting at the gate like some dog eagerly awaiting its owner. He got stuck into the birdseed while it was still in the pouring containers as I turned my back to unhook the feeders to fill them up. He must have been really hungry! My shift, in comparison, was a bit uneventful with mainly just mallards, a few gadwall, teal, coot, marsh harriers and a Bahama pintail hybrid to look at. At least it brightened up to become a nice day after that gloomy start.

Nov 16th Cley

I'm back at Cley today as I've heard that there has been an Isabelline wheatear that has been hanging around for most of this week. This is a scarce wheatear from Eastern Europe and it sure was attracting a crowd. From the visitor centre, you could see where the bird was from the amount of people watching it. You could see a crowd of them by a gate at the far end of the dunes east of the East Bank and many more people making their way there to replace others returning back that were clearly satisfied in seeing it. Shortly, I was going to join this on-foot traffic.



Snow Bunting

I made my way to the East Bank, trying to get to the bird as soon as possible. When I reached the beach at the end of the main path, I was momentarily stopped in my tracks as a flock of snow buntings flew from the mound of shingle to my right to right in front of me. Their mix of white and brown plumage blends so well with the shingle stones and pebbles that it would have made it tricky to spot them if it wasn't for their movements betraying them.

Following the trickle of twitchers making their way eastwards along the same shingle mound to join the main crowd, I was just a few yards from them and I could see the end of my walk to the bird in sight. But then, another distraction. An even larger flock of maybe 50 snow buntings flew over my head and landed right behind the crowd. None of them seem to have noticed or even given them as much as a glance their way before the flock took off again and out of sight.

Isabelline Wheatear

Finally, I had reached the crowd by the gate and was soon pointed into the direction of the bird I came to see. The Isabelline wheatear was standing still looking a bit sleepy amongst some grass before it decided to hop around a bit. This was a really charming little bird, as you expect from a relative of the robin. It looks no different to a normal female northern wheatear (the species you are more than likely to see in the UK) to me, though. I guess the real difference would be that the Isabelline wheatear is more paler than the latter.

Happy and satisfied with the amount of photos I took of it, I decided to make the return journey to meet up with Mum. On the way, snow buntings distracted me yet again and, as I reached the East Bank, I learned that the female long-tailed duck from two weeks ago was still diving around the same pool a few yards west of the bank. As I was watching the duck, Mum arrived and we continued the walk back together. However, there was an obstacle in our way. Another crowd had formed overlooking a dyke and we had to get pass them. On our approach, members of the crowd stopped us and instantly got us to join them with just one word. "Otter!" Mum and I only manged one quick glimpse of it swimming across the dyke, but it was more than enough to cap a great visit at Cley today.

Nov 13th Strumpshaw Fen

It is cold, but still a nice day. It was also a bit of a quiet day as there weren't an awful lot to see at Strumpshaw today. There were only a Chinese water deer, a heron, a couple of marsh harriers and the briefest view of a bearded tit from Fen Hide this morning. So I moved on towards the river and decided to sit on a bench and waited to see what turned up to feast on the apples on the ground and on the trees. After a few minutes, I had a few fieldfares, a reed bunting and some bullfinches make an appearance, but not really settling for long. From Reception Hide, there were almost 80 greylags, more marsh harriers, cormorants, mute swans, mallards, gadwall, teal, a couple of shovelers and the odd bearded tit.

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Meanwhile, outside at the feeder area, the persistent pheasant was back pleased to see me arrive with the bird seed in hand as it ran up towards me. I placed plenty of seed not only in the feeders, but also in the cracks and holes of the stumps nearby. The birds seem to prefer the easier access and it attracted more than just the usual blue, great and marsh tits as the local jays and squirrels were having a field day. The peanuts I left in the stump were pretty much cleared out two hours later. All this food even attracted the attention of a great spotted woodpecker that came in and crept around the side of a tree but never actually came down while I was watching.

Nov 9th Titchwell

Little Bittern watching

It has been some time since I was last at Titchwell, hasn't it? With the reserve being a bit of a migrant magnet of late, I've been meaning to pay a visit and see what I could find. When Mum and I arrived to Titchwell this morning, we were greeted with big news that a little bittern had been sighted by Patsy's Reedbed along the East Trail earlier. So, I guess you can figure out where we went first? Unfortunately, when we got to the blind that overlooked the pool and the reed bed the little bittern was hiding in was, as expected, packed with twitchers. So many in fact, that we couldn't see past them and the narrow windows of this wooden blind. Not that the bird was there in the first place. No one had seen it since just after 9am, an hour before we showed up.

Giving up on the little bittern, we made the short walk to the end of the East Trail, seeing a flock of passing curlews, 3 flying snipe, marsh harriers, skeins of pink-footed geese, gadwall, shelducks and shovelers. Backtracking back towards the main path, we continued on to the Island Hide. Here, we looked out over the freshwater pool and saw that the centre was carpeted in a flock of hundreds of golden plovers. There were also ruffs, avocets, dunlin, brent geese, lapwings, teal and many gulls.

Sanderling

Mum decided that she didn't want to walk any further beyond the Parrinder hides, so I ended up going to the beach on my own. I wanted to try and photograph seabirds, though, with my camera, it was a bit of a stretch. With my track record, photographing distant birds flying over or on the everchanging sea is pretty difficult. I have recently decided to make a personal book involving the collection of my many photos throughout the years where I can log all the species I've ever photographed in the UK (and Europe). Think sticker album, but with my own photos. I want to fill in as many of the blank spaces with at least one passable photo of each species. Seabirds is one section in my book that will prove to be the worst to fill. Annoyingly, there weren't a lot about to spot today, just a few red-breasted mergansers that I quickly lost. At least there were many waders by the shore, such as sanderlings, oystercatchers, turnstones, godwits and curlews, but I have plenty of photos to choose from already of those.

Bank Vole

After lunch, I made a return to the East Trail to have another go at the little bittern. The crowds have thinned since this morning and I managed to get a seat by the wooden blind. I sat with the remainder of the twitchers, that hadn't quite given up yet, until the cold air started to get to me. The bird still hadn't appeared since I was last here and it never decided to show itself while I was sitting patiently either. I had to admit defeat. However, there was one highlight as I was making my return to the car for home. As I turned the corner from Fen Hide, I came across a woman pointing a small camera over the railing of the boardwalk. I peered down to where she was looking, and there, sitting atop of a bramble branch munching at something, was a bank vole! It was so small, yet so cute. The best way to end a slightly disappointing day of migrant watching at Titchwell. No rarity today, but the vole certainly cheered me up.

Nov 6th Strumpshaw Fen

I had some transport issues this morning with my train ending up being cancelled and replaced by a bus. It delayed my journey to Strumpshaw by almost an hour and made me feel rather peeved off. When I finally arrived to the reserve, my frown was soon turned upside down. As I am the one who usually fills the feeders up on a Wednesday, there's a male pheasant that seems to recognise me as the source of food and he's been starting to run up to me when I bring containers of seed and peanuts for the feeders. Today, as I prepared for my pre-shift walk, he followed me all the way down to the fingerpost at the end of the woodland trail. He clearly was anticipating his breakfast from me, but I don't fill the feeders up until after my walk, so I had no food for him. His persistent following, though, did make me chuckle loudly to myself.

Green Woodpecker

Once I had managed to escape from the hungry pheasant, I was then found myself followed by another bird. A yaffling chuckle announced the presence of a green woodpecker and I soon saw it perch onto the side of one of the tall dead trees along the Sandy Wall. I took a few photos and continued my way to Fen Hide, only to hear it directly behind or beside me somewhere hidden within foliage every few metres. When I arrived inside the hide, the calling ceased and I was unable to see it again. During my time in the Fen Hide, a kingfisher made a couple of visits, posing on most of the perches at its disposal. I also saw a stonechat, pink-footed geese, 2 snipe and heard bearded tits.

Kingfisher

Upright Coral Fungus

I returned to do the feeders. To my disappointment, there was no pheasant in sight to sneak a few beak-fuls of sunflower seed while I'm not looking. Clearly, he was not that hungry after all. After completing my chore with the feeders, I went on a mini fungi foray with two members of Strumpshaw's staff who wanted to show me a couple of interesting fungi. First was a group of death caps, which is one of the few toadstools that can kill you if you were to eat it, causing violent vomiting and liver and kidney failure, leading to a slow and painful death. Best avoid. Then I was shown a rather beautiful coral fungus (I've been informed that it is an Upright coral fungus) hidden beneath a dense bush surrounded with sulphur tuft. I've never seen one at Strumpshaw before.

Death Cap

My shift at Reception Hide wasn't quite as memorable, though I did see a stoat dash pass the front of the hide and had plenty of marsh harrier and buzzard action. Both these raptors are in great numbers over the reserve at the moment, and I'd imagine the raptor roosts here will be quite a spectacle as the sun goes down. There was also a kestrel that feasted on a rodent or something atop of one of the dead trees as well as seeing the usual ducks (though it was mostly mallards), mute swans and a gaggle of greylags.

Nov 3rd Cley

I've been missing out on this years migration action with many rare birds visiting the UK. I just haven't been able to travel as far as I have been these days. So today, Mum and I made our way to Cley to see if anything interesting was about. It was a bit of a drizzly day, but not enough to get wet in. We paid a visit to the central hides, though it was mostly teals, godwits and lapwings at Pat's Pool and gulls at Simmond's Scrape with the odd dunlin and spotted redshank.



Yellow-legged Gull

For me, the gulls were the most interesting birds out on the pools today. There were a great mixture of species amongst them. There were great black-backed, lesser black-backed, herring, common, black-headed and even a yellow-legged gull. Gulls are not exactly an easy group to identify or the most appreciated, but seeing all these species in one place together is pretty impressive in my eye. The yellow-legged in particular was an exciting find as it is likely visiting from somewhere in the Mediterranean of all places.






As I felt like I've been missing out with my birdwatching lately, I decided to leave Mum to head back to the visitor centre and go for the long walk around the reserve. I made my way to the beach car park via the path on the embankment on the west side of the reserve. A large gaggle of possible a hundred or so brent geese greeted me as they grazed by the fence bordering the car park and I could see a few distant barnacle geese in the next field up.



Guillemot

As I made my way to meet up with Mum at the top of the East Bank, I met a lot of sea watchers with their scopes. Autumn is a great time of year to for those who love to scan the sea for birds passing by and you never know what will turn up. Sea watching isn't my strongest point as a birder, but if it is big enough to spot or sitting on the water close to the shore, it makes the experience much easier. In a short session, I was able to spot a few gannets, a red-throated diver, a guillemot fishing not too far from the shoreline and a cormorant that caught an eel.

Female Long-tailed Duck

Further along the beach, I met another large group of people, this time looking in the opposite direction. A flock of about 40 snow buntings were a little bit hard to spot amongst the shingle just over the reserve's fence, but that wasn't what everyone in the group was looking at. What caught their eye was a female long-tailed duck ducking and diving in a pool on the far eastern corner of the main reserve before you reach the East Bank. Its probably only the second time I've seen one that's not bobbing about on the sea. Possibly the main highlight at Cley for me today.