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.