Dec 11th & 13th Strumpshaw Fen

Dec 11th

It had been a frustrating morning this week. Travelling to and from Strumpshaw was a nightmare, especially with the trains. First, I accidentally got on the wrong train (don't ask), leaving me to call Mum for a lift pretty early in the morning and getting to Strumpshaw just before 8am (sorry Mum!). Then, on the way home, these so called relatively new and state of the art modern trains left me waiting at Brundall station longer than expected as they had broken down and were cancelled. Bad news for me, as I had a shift at work to get ready for.

Marsh Harrier

When I did get to Strumpshaw, it wasn't the most exciting Wednesdays that I've had here. Fen Hide had at least 5+ marsh harriers hanging around in the bushes (including one with orange tags with the letters CC on them), Chinese water deer, a large influx of distant greylag geese, stonechats and pied wagtails. Meanwhile, at Reception Hide, it was pretty much just marsh harriers, a quick flyby of a sparrowhawk, a cormorant, 2 mute swans and the usual mallards and gadwalls. As there weren't too much to see, I spent most of my time talking about exotic, colourful birds from Costa Rica with my colleague Tricia, who had just returned from a two week birding holiday there. Hearing all the many exciting birds that she saw out there, while seeing very little in contrast outside the hide, it was enough to make you jealous.

Dec 13th

My Aunt Barbara has been asking me to show her a harrier roost for over a month now. I attempted to show her the roost at Strumpshaw last month, but it was a bit of a disaster as the Fen Hide was full and we were forced to walk to the Tower Hide through the mud and darkness, seeing very little harrier action. So tonight, I decided that we try again. Thankfully, the Fen Hide was empty this time around and we had a lot more daylight than previously to view the roost from beginning to end.

We got to the hide at 2:50pm. Chinese water deer were grazing out in the open and 2 mute swans were preparing for their bedtime. The marsh harriers were already beginning to gather with at least five soaring around in front of us. But as time ticked by and the light began to dwindle, we spot another and then another, until we had at least 15-20 harriers circling above the reed beds. They were joined by mobbing crows and a large invasion of jackdaws and rooks passing through as they pass by over the hide in a raucous of cawing as they head towards Buckenham. Hundreds of greylag geese then arrived in the horizon, making their way to the Tower Hide, making an equal amount of noise as the corvids did.

In the last rays of light, we continued to watch the sky now alive with harriers and crows. Tried as I might, I wasn't able to count beyond 20 harriers. There had been 50 of them recorded earlier this week. It was an impressive display. However, this display was suddenly outshined by another. Starlings were now starting to show up. A small flock of them at first, but it was rapidly growing in size and number. A few became a few thousand in a matter of minutes. The scene in front of us became a stage for the starlings to perform their swirling mass into various aerial patterns with a roaring sound accompanying it, a sound created by their wings flapping in unison. They remained circling the reserve until the visibility became so poor that we had to call it a night. We had came here for the harriers, but it were the starlings that really stole the show!