Jan 8th Strumpshaw Fen, Ranworth Broad and Acle

Happy new year, everyone! I know that we are now eight days into the new decade, but today I finally had the chance to do my first shift of 2020 at Strumpshaw. It has felt like a long time since I had been here. But now that the festive period is over, it is time to get back to what I love.

It was still dark when I arrived to the reserve this morning. From Reception Hide, I could hear the chattering of starlings that were still in their overnight roosting spot in the reed bed to the left of the hide. I decided to sit and wait for their departure. I had initially thought it would only be a matter of minutes before they rushed out from the reeds. I was wrong. It took a good chunk of time, perhaps just under an hour, before they finally dispersed. Sparrowhawks were attracted to their hubbub, with one perching in a nearby tree until flying circle in the general area like an aerial shark waiting for the perfect moment to strike. By 8:20 am, there was movement from the starlings. Unlike previous times, they did not leave all at once in one go. Instead, they went up in three smaller groups that swirled for a few brief seconds before joining up and made their exit.

Moments after turning off the record button for the starlings exit video, I turned my head to face the broad. It was at that moment I noticed something. An otter! I was so absorbed in the starlings, that I had not seen it arrive. By the time I saw it, it was already in front of the reedy islands at the centre of the broad.

Thanks to the starlings and then the otter, it was half eight and I really only had time for a quick walk to the river and back before needing to return to do the feeders and to start my shift. This short walk ended up being not very exciting as I didn't really see anything, not even Percy the persistent pheasant. After two weeks away, I thought he had forgotten about me and what I looked like, but once I brought the food over, he rushed over to me like a hungry pet.

During my shift, it was a bit of a duck fest with a few marsh harriers, buzzards, sparrowhawks and a kestrel added into the mix. The otter even made a second appearance, though this time it was much shorter as it hugged the edge of the reed bed between the left side channel and far left channel of the broad before disappearing again.



Ferruginous Duck

After my shift, my colleague, Tricia, fancied an outing with me to see some more birds to add to our new year lists. We were hoping that the desert wheatear at Eccles-on-Sea that had been seen throughout this week was around, but unfortunately there were no reports of it yesterday and there was no news of it today either. So, we decided to go to the next best thing; a female ferruginous duck at Ranworth Broad. Though I've seen this species a couple of times before, I've never gotten a decent photo of one, which I wanted as part of my latest challenge. When we got to Ranworth, a small crowd of familiar faces crowded at the narrowest part of the jetty near the now closed visitor centre. It took some time until the small, slightly reddish duck showed itself from its hiding place and again until it showed itself for even longer for better yet slightly distant views of it.

A boat passed through and disturbed the wildfowl in the area, but only enough to move either to the side of the river that channels the broad or towards us. Everyone was hoping the ferruginous duck would pick the latter choice for better photos, but it did the former choice instead, to our disappointment. This was still a decent bird, nowhere near as red as the male of its species, but good enough to satisfy me. Though, if I had a much closer shot of it, I'd be even happier.

Cranes

Finally, as daylight was beginning to fade, we had one last place to visit before Tricia took me back to Brundall station. She took me to a few fields outside Acle to see cranes that were feeding on them. I never even knew that these large birds were even here, but apparently this has been their feeding ground throughout this winter and possibly other winters before it. It wasn't hard to spot the two that were in the ploughed field close to us, but it took some scanning to spot the others in the other surrounding fields. In total, we counted at least 14 of these brilliant but rare birds. Not a bad first outing for 2020!