I'm Dreaming Of A Grey Strump-mas

 Dec 9th  Strumpshaw Fen

Frost and fog outside Reception Hide

My second shift at Strumpshaw since my return was a bit of a grey day (though it was hammering down with rain when I woke up). Extremely thick fog covered much of the reserve and made it very tricky to spot anything. Outside the Reception Hide, the broad was covered in a thin layer of ice as well as the grey soup that was the fog. I spent most of the morning trying to write up the new sightings blackboard for it to go outside. Sadly, my work became a chalky mess dripping down the board. My blackboard duties is now left for someone else (it just takes way too much of my time that I could use to watch the wildlife). The situation with the chalk pretty much summed up that morning's shift as it was a bit of a waste of time with only ducks (including 40-50 shovelers) and the odd marsh harrier to be seen.

Dec 16th  Strumpshaw Fen

Siskins

A much nicer day than the previous week's shift, but the wildlife was still on the quiet side. Pink-footed geese were flying overhead as I made my way to the Fen Hide, which was open but not very productive. Back in the woods as made my return from my early morning walk, I encountered a large mixed flock of goldfinches and siskins (with possibly a few redpolls amongst them, though I personally didn't spot any) congregating on a couple of alder trees, some feeding on the cones, others just twittering to each other. Meanwhile at the Reception Hide, an otter showed up after a couple of hours of me just staring at the few mallards on the broad. I also glimpsed a female sparrowhawk flash by and a few marsh harriers and buzzards circling above.

Otter

Dec 20th  Catton Park

My monthly walk around my local patch was a bit of a disappointing affair if it wasn't for a low flying buzzard and the odd redwing. Other than that, it was a case of dodging everyone's dogs and not finding much of plant life or anything else for that matter.

Dec 23rd  Strumpshaw Fen

This morning was very similar to the one on Dec 9th, grey and wet. When I arrived at Strumpshaw this morning it was extremely foggy, but it soon deteriorated and made way for heavy spells of rain, which was on and off throughout my shift today. Between the showers, I was lucky enough to spot a bittern fly in and out of the reedbeds surrounding the broad. Occasionally it would land into the edge of the reedbeds to the point that you could just make it out or even see the reeds move, bending down by the weight of the bird. I couldn't get any photos sadly as the light was poor and my camera was having a difficult time of focusing on it before it eventually flew off and out of side down into a fairly distant reedbed on the far right side of the broad. 

Shortly after the bittern vanished, an otter appeared. The gadwall and mallard floating on the broad took a while to notice that it was swimming by them all until the fear finally kicked in. The otter hung around for quite some time, maybe an hour, just diving around hunting for fish. There was a moment where it was fighting with something big like a pike before carrying it off in its mouth towards a reedbed in order to eat it. A bittern and an otter, some might say that this is a perfect early Christmas present during a year plagued by a pandemic. A little bit of joy in a world currently full of woe.