The End Of A Tough Year

 Dec 1st Strumpshaw Fen

It was a very windy start to December. It seemed everything was hunkering down for safety as there wasn't a lot around at all. Marsh harriers, the odd buzzard, a few mallards and a pair of swan were the only things brave enough to be seen from Reception Hide. The feeders were more busier with marsh tits among all the usual suspects braving the strong gusts to feed. Other than that, it was a rubbish day.

Dec 4th Cley

There was a gap in the wet weather to go out to Cley for a spot of sea watching. That afternoon, Mum dropped me off at the beach and left me to it for a while. For some time, I was the only person with a scope at the beach shelter as I attempted to find something interesting on my own as a short spell of rain occurred. I found some large-ish guillemot like things far out at sea, but I wasn't confident enough to turn them into anything else. Looking back at my dodgy distant and blurry photos back at the comfort of my home much later on, I discovered one was a puffin! The photo wasn't worth keeping, but I could see a white roundish head with a few pixels that resembled a red bill. Nothing else it could have been!

Thankfully, some expert sea watchers did arrive and they helped me find, not just a Caspian gull, but also my first ever black-throated diver! It was tricky to look at, let alone photograph, as it kept diving so much around the area of the old ship wreck that now protrudes from the surface. It was the size of the several cormorants that were nearby and much blacker than a red-throated diver, but with white sides that were just visible over the bobbing waves. A great bird, though I could only manage one photo of it and it was terrible. I wish I could get a better photo of one some day. Also seen were guillemots, razorbill, turnstones, wigeon, brent geese, great black-backed, herring, common and black-headed gulls and a grey seal. In the end of the day, my tally grew to 161 bird species.

Black-throated Diver (Dec 4th), Goldeneye & How Hill Windmill (Dec 6th)
and me presenting my drawing (Dec 10th) 

Dec 6th Barton Broad & River Ant

I had a nice surprise during my previous shift at Strumpshaw as my Reception Hide colleague, Tricia, invited me to a boat trip. I travelled to Wroxham by train to meet up with her, who then drove me to the boat that we and Tricia's co-driver were going to take me on an afternoon's ride around Barton Broad and up the River Ant as far as How Hill before heading back to base. However, the weather was horrendous, but thankfully this was an enclosed electric boat, so at least I was going to be dry.

Tricia started the engine and made our way to Barton Broad, before her co-driver took over the wheel. On the broad, we counted around 30 goldeneyes, which were very skittish and difficult to photograph in the bad weather and light conditions while on a moving boat. I did, however, witness a few males display to the females by flipping their head onto their backs. We also saw tufted ducks, herons, great crested grebes, cormorants and mute swans and, along the River Ant, 2 little grebes. It was an interesting ride, despite the relentless torrential downpour. Unfortunately, I left the boat with a bump as I slipped over on the unusually steep metal gangplank and I fell onto my backside! OUCH!

Dec 8th Strumpshaw Fen

Strong winds again! Nothing much to see, again! I served more coffees than birds seen this morning. I did see the odd siskin in the woods, the usual birds on the feeders, a buzzard and a few marsh harriers braving these blustery conditions and 4 mallards and a teal in front of Reception Hide as well as a flock of greylags and a cormorant in the distance and a kestrel on the walk back to Brundall station. In the end, nothing much to get excited about.

Dec 10th Mousehold Heath & Strumpshaw Fen

It was to be a busy day. First was a food shop. Then was the first of two walks starting at Mousehold in the morning. I joined Will, Peter and their group of two others for a short walk around the heath to look for birds and just to catch up on things. Coal tits, magpies, a couple of common gulls and the usual blue, great and long-tailed tits, chaffinches, etc made up the list before heading back for lunch. I didn't stay, however, I had to get to my second walk at Strumpshaw.

Mum picked me up and dropped me off at the reserve before the walk even began. This was a short walk to the river and back with the large group of staff and volunteers. We didn't really see that much, but it wasn't really about seeing wildlife, it was about having a get together with everyone involved with Strumpshaw. This was the first Christmas gathering for two years now and after the walk, we listened to what had happened this year behind the scenes on the reserve. And I showed everyone my gift that I made for Strumpshaw, a drawing of the wildlife I've seen over the past 10 years since I've volunteered here and to celebrate 45 years of the reserve since the RSPB took it over. It was well received by everyone. I was so pleased as it took a few months to do.

Dec 15th Strumpshaw Fen

A fairly warm and lovely day for December. From Fen Hide, I had a very brief otter appearance, arriving from the left and vanishing from the left within a few seconds. From Reception Hide, there was a brief bearded tit sighting, while the marsh harriers and buzzards circled the sky, two of each. I also saw siskins, pink-footed geese, mallard, gadwall and, at the end of my shift, a great spotted woodpecker was on the feeders.

Dec 19th R.I.P Grandad (Rex Blyth) 1934- 2021

With just a week to go before Christmas, I woke up this morning to some very sad news. My grandad had passed away aged 87. He wasn't exactly a bird watcher or anything, but he would always support my interest in wildlife and always asked me what I've seen lately.

I remember back in 2003 after graduating from school, I spent a week with my grandparents and they took me around the county in their campervan. One evening, we were driving back from somewhere and we came across a barn owl flying over a field. I can remember how pleased they were at the time as it was probably the first time they've experienced a wildlife encounter like that with me. Later that week, Grandad took me for a walk along Blakney Harbour, the only time we ever bird watched together just me and him. At the time, I believe we glimpsed a black redstart on the beach and we had a sedge warbler singing right by our feet.

Years later, during a visit to my grandparent's house, I was watching the birds on his feeders. Suddenly a brambling appeared from nowhere and I recall Grandad being delighted as he never even heard of such a bird and would have passed it for just a chaffinch if it wasn't for me. These moments of me, him and encounters with wildlife were rare and few and far between, but I will never forget them.

Dec 22nd Strumpshaw Fen

It was a beautiful frosty morning, my last shift before Christmas. Haw frost covered everything and transformed the vegetation into ice-covered sculptures. It was like a winter wonderland. Even the reserve's Highland cattle were covered in frost and looking like a festive image that deserves to be on the front of a Christmas card before I watched Strumpshaw warden Matt and his team moved them onto another pasture. It was pretty much a morning I needed to reflect on things after Grandad passed away. I was more admiring the frost than finding wildlife. However, I did manage to find siskins, a muntjac deer, a great crested grebe, pink-footed geese and Canada geese.

Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dec 15th),
Frost on Oak leaves, Burdock & Highland Cow (Dec 22nd)
Robin (Dec 22nd) And Tufted Ducks (Dec 29th)

The Reception Hide was a chilly place even with the heaters on. My toes were numb by the end of my shift. It was freezing! Most of the broad was frozen apart from the area around the reedy islands and at the back of the broad, in which attracted a large number of mallards, gadwall, shovelers and teal, 2 mute swans and the odd marsh harrier and buzzard. A really beautiful day, but too cold for me!

Dec 29th Strumpshaw Fen

My final shift of 2021 was a miserable one as it was raining. On the plus side, it wasn't very cold like last week, just dull, grey and on the damp side of things. The ducks didn't seem to mind at least. The broad was absolutely full of gadwall, mallard and greylag geese with around 10 teal and 10 shovelers and a pair of tufted ducks and mute swans as well as my first coot outside Reception Hide for a long while. I'm pleased in the coot because they usually over winter here at Strumpshaw in large numbers, since last winter, however, I haven't seen many at all. I was quite concerned.

Also seen today were marsh harriers and buzzards, a flock of lapwing flying by and, to round up the year nicely was an otter! It spooked everything off the broad while busy hunting behind the reedy island area, being very tricky to follow its every move.

Dec 31st Mousehold Heath

My 12 and final dawn chorus of the year on the final day of the year and I decided to do it at Mousehold. I arrived just before 7am, while it was still dark, listening to the robins, wrens, alarm calling blackbirds, cawing crows and a song thrush. It all seemed too promising. On the walk up, it was dry, a bit muddy underfoot, but no rain in sight. That is, until I sat down to get my camera out. It wasn't too bad at first, short on and off outbursts that didn't last for that long. However, it all changed to a heavy downpour and I was getting soaked in an instant. I had to abandon my walk and leave for home as soon as possible. Typical that while writing this, the rain has gone and it's now a lovely, sunny day! 

What a way to end my 2021 dawn chorus challenge. And what a way to end 2021 as a whole. It has been a very challenging year. Covid has yet again made it a very rubbish-y year, though, for at least the first 6 months, I was actually enjoying myself finding as many birds as I could within or just a few miles from the city whilst in lockdown. I had a lot more freedom than I did for the majority of 2020, but I felt the latter 6 months of 2021 to be the hardest. Especially now with my grandad passing away just before Christmas. It has been extremely tough. I can only hope that 2022 surpasses 2020 and 2021 combined. I haven't even planned what challenge I want to do for next year yet, but I will keep you posted. Happy New Year everyone!

My Final Bird List 2021

Back in January, the 3rd lockdown had me bored out of my mind. I was craving to go out and look for birds. So I decided to do a year list. Something that I don't really do. Up until mid-spring, I kept it local, finding as many bird species in and around Norwich as far out as Whitlingham and Thorpe Marshes. To my surprise, I managed to build quite a respectable list which included some very unusual findings such as a white-fronted goose, a black redstart, ring-necked parakeets and a couple of curlew. 

By summer, I had a lot more freedom to travel much further afield and my list included some very exciting rarities such as a roller and a western sandpiper. However, by August, my list was grinding to a halt and my interest in the list was being replaced by other projects. I was spending less time throughout the autumn months going out and more time at home drawing. I was more interest getting these drawing projects done, that I missed out on a lot of the migrants that were coming in. There were a few family related things cropping up too, so it was becoming rare to organise a trip out to birdwatch. Despite all of this though, my list has totalled to 161 species. If weather, my drawing projects and family matters didn't restrict me as much as it did, I'm sure I would had reached the 200 mark no doubt about it.

Here is what has made it to my list...

(I will include more details on my highlight species that made my year)

1. Mute Swan 
2. Pink-footed Goose 
3. White-fronted Goose (Marston Marshes 7/3/2021)
4. Greylag Goose
5. Canada Goose
6. Barnacle Goose (Feral individual at Whitlingham Broad)
7. Brent Goose 
8. Egyptian Goose
9. Shelduck
10. Mandarin (Whitlingham Broad 5/4/2021)
11. Wigeon
12. Gadwall
13. Teal
14. Mallard
15. Pintail
16. Garganey (Strumpshaw Fen 4/8/2021)
17. Shoveler
18. Pochard
19. Tufted Duck
20. Scaup (Whitlingham Broad 6/2/2021)
21. Common Scoter
22. Goldeneye
23. Smew (Whitlingham Broad 13/2/2021)
24. Red-breasted Merganser (Cley 10/10/2021)
25. Red-legged Partridge
26. Pheasant
27. Red-throated Diver
28. Black-throated Diver (Cley 4/12/2021)
29. Fulmar (Sheringham 5/9/2021)
30. Manx Shearwater (Cley 10/10/2021)
31. Little Grebe
32. Great Crested Grebe
33. Spoonbill (Cley 11/4/2021)
34. Bittern (Strumpshaw Fen 9/6/2021)
35. Grey Heron
36. Great White Egret (Strumpshaw Fen 12/5/2021)
37. Little Egret
38. Gannet
39. Cormorant
40. Red Kite (Over my flat! 17/3/2021)
41. Marsh Harrier
42. Sparrowhawk
43. Buzzard
44. Kestrel
45. Hobby
46. Peregrine
47. Water Rail
48. Moorhen
49. Coot
50. Crane (Strumpshaw Fen 28/4/2021)
51. Oystercatcher
52. Avocet
53. Ringed Plover
54. Golden Plover
55. Grey Plover
56. Lapwing
57. Knot
58. Sanderling
59. Little Stint
60. Western Sandpiper (Snettisham 29/7/2021)
61. Curlew Sandpiper (Snettisham 29/7/2021)
62. Dunlin
63. Ruff
64. Snipe
65. Woodcock (Hellesdon Road, Norwich 14/2/2021)
66. Black-tailed Godwit
67. Bar-tailed Godwit
68. Whimbrel (Cley 15/8/2021)
69. Curlew
70. Common Sandpiper
71. Green Sandpiper
72. Spotted Redshank
73. Redshank
74. Turnstone
75. Kittiwake (Whitlingham Broad 5/4/2021)
76. Black-headed Gull
77. Little Gull (Thorpe Marshes 31/3/2021)
78. Mediterranean Gull
79. Common Gull
80. Lesser Black-backed Gull
81. Great Black-backed Gull
82. Herring Gull
83. Yellow-legged Gull (Wensum Park 28/1/2021)
84. Caspian Gull (Cley 4/12/2021)
85. Little Tern (Minsmere 5/7/2021)
86. Sandwich Tern
87. Common Tern
88. Guillemot
89. Razorbill
90. Puffin (Cley 4/12/2021)
91. Rock Dove/Feral Pigeon
92. Stock Dove
93. Woodpigeon
94. Collared Dove
95. Ring-necked Parakeet (Hellesdon Road 30/1/2021)
96. Cuckoo (Thorpe Marshes 10/5/2021)
97. Barn Owl (Sleeping in a tree, Whitlingham Broad 24/3/2021)
98. Tawny Owl (Whitlingham Broad 2/5/2021)
99. Swift
100. Swallow
101. Sand Martin
102. House Martin
103. Kingfisher (Whitlingham Broad 31/1/2021 but also plenty of times in Norwich)
104. Roller (Icklingham 27/6/2021)
105. Green Woodpecker
106. Great Spotted Woodpecker
107. Magpie
108. Jay
109. Jackdaw
110. Rook
111. Carrion Crow
112. Blue Tit
113. Great Tit
114. Coal Tit
115. Marsh Tit (Strumpshaw Fen 28/4/2021)
116. Long-tailed Tit
117. Bearded Tit (Titchwell 9/5/2021 but also Strumpshaw Fen plenty of times)
118. Skylark
119. Short-toed Lark (West Runton 6/11/2021)
120. Cetti's Warbler
121. Chiffchaff
122. Willow Warbler
123. Sedge Warbler
124. Reed Warbler
125. Grasshopper Warbler (Strumpshaw Fen 2/6/2021)
126. Blackcap
127. Garden Warbler (Whitlingham Broad 10/5/2021)
128. Whitethroat
129. Goldcrest
130. Wren
131. Nuthatch
132. Treecreeper
133. Starling
134. Blackbird
135. Fieldfare (Strumpshaw Fen 17/11/2021)
136. Song Thrush
137. Redwing
138. Mistle Thrush
139. Robin
140. Black Redstart (Near my flat! 4/3/2021) 
141. Redstart (Heard only at Nagshead, Forest of Dean 10/7/2021)
142. Whinchat (Earlham Marshes 3/5/2021)
143. Stonechat
144. Wheatear (Cley 22/5/2021)
145. Spotted Flycatcher (Strumpshaw Fen 12/5/2021)
146. Dunnock
147. Yellow Wagtail (Earlham Marshes 3/5/2021)
148. Grey Wagtail (Norwich 29/3/2021)
149. Pied Wagtail
150. Meadow Pipit
151. House Sparrow
152. Chaffinch
153. Greenfinch
154. Goldfinch
155. Siskin
156. Linnet
157. Lesser Redpoll (Whitlingham Broad 24/3/2021)
158. Bullfinch
159. Snow Bunting (Cley 6/11/2021)
160. Reed Bunting
161. Corn Bunting (Heard only near Choseley Barns 9/5/2021)

7 Years On & 10 At Strumpshaw Fen

 Can you believe it has been 7 years since I started this blog AND that's not all. 2021 marks 10 years since I became a volunteer at Strumpshaw Fen, which is silently celebrating its 45th year anniversary since the RSPB took the site on. To celebrate all of these milestones, over the past few months I have been working on a drawing project. Below is a 2 page drawing I have framed as a present to the reserve. In it includes only some (yes, some) of the many amazing wildlife encounters I have had at Strumpshaw over the past 10 years. Many of these species you can be sure to find yourself if you search hard enough or know where to look, while others were just chance encounters that are unlikely to occur again. 

So let me go through them all in no real order. First, the most important creature and the real reason that brought me into volunteering at Strumpshaw 10 years ago. It is the marsh harrier. At the time, I was in my mid-20's and I needed something to do. My parents got me to volunteer at the reserve in order to help them do a few marsh harrier surveys every Wednesday for about a month. From the Tower Hide, I joined Ben (Strumpshaw warden to this day) and two others to record the movements, behaviours and nest site locations of the harriers and it was like watching a soap opera, far better than any on TV. The more we watched, the more we learned about them.

Once the harrier survey season was over, I helped out with one bittern survey, which was actually very productive as we recorded the movements of at least 2-3 individuals. Stepping out from Tower Hide on that occasion left with a moment I will never forget. Walking back from the hide, I came across 2 men standing on a bench with a woman standing nearby trying to look over some reeds. I asked what they were doing and the reply was "Otters!" That led to me joining them on the bench and there I saw not just my first ever otter, but my first otter with a cub! 

When the harrier and bittern surveys ended, I was back without a thing to do and I really wanted to continue helping out at the reserve. So, I was asked if I wanted to help out at Reception Hide and I've been there every Wednesday ever since. During these 10 years, I have gotten to know the kingfishers, the Chinese water deer, the bearded tits and pretty much everything you see in the drawing. In 2016, during the reserve's 40th anniversary, a tick sheet challenge was released in which you have 40 species to find before that year was done. This challenge gave me the chance to find and appreciate things like garganey, hares, barn owls, common lizards, scarlet elfcap fungus, shaggy inkcaps, water scorpions, hobbies, cuckoos, milk parsley, water rails, southern marsh orchids, Norfolk hawker dragonflies and, the most elusive of them all, the weasel, in which I've only seen 3-4 times within 10 years at Strumpshaw.

If there was one creature in the drawing that puts Strumpshaw on the map is the swallowtail. I get asked about them constantly and every year from late May until mid-July, I meet crowds of people from far and wide, from all over the UK come to Strumpshaw hoping to see one. They are truly spectacular and totally worth the wait when you do see one. 2020 is the only time when I didn't get to see one at the reserve due to the pandemic forcing the site to close during the height of swallowtail season. However, most of these swallowtail seekers only come for the adult butterfly, very few visit for the caterpillars, which are just as good as the butterfly itself. 

Of course, the longer you volunteer for and the more often you visit, more often than not something unusual turns up. During one of my harrier surveys in April 2011, a male ferruginous duck paid us a visit, snoozing in front of Fen Hide. In February 2012, 2 female red-crested pochard spent a morning outside Reception Hide, while in July that same year, a Caspian tern was flying back and forth from Buckenham to Tower Hide, looking as big as a large gull but with a carrot for a bill. August 2013, a wryneck spent a couple of weeks dodging families and keen birders alike along the riverside path leading to the pumphouse. I came face to face with a short-eared owl (which sadly later died) and got a close encounter with a water shrew, both in 2015. A glossy ibis enjoyed a good lengthy spell at Tower Hide in 2016. The most unexpected thing that I've ever seen at the reserve though, was a Harris's Hawk in April 2012, an escapee complete with jessies attached to its legs! For a long time, we once had a black swan who was later named Cobber, but has since sadly disappeared a few years ago.

To round things off a bit: Cranes, red kites, pintails, jack snipe, water pipits, spotted flycatchers, ospreys, grasshopper warblers, Bewick's swans and hen harriers are all occasionally seen visitors to Strumpshaw. Waxwings and little gulls are very scarce visitors (I've only seen them both once at the reserve), while pink-footed geese and bullfinches are things you are more than likely to see in these chilly months. If you are very lucky, hundreds of starlings arrive to roost during the winter evenings, though seeing spindle berries and other vegetation covered in haw-frost is just as special to witness if you wake up early enough in the near freezing conditions that the icy spikes need to form. Water voles used to show well at the pond near the meadow trail entrance, but have rarely shown themselves in recent years. If you do a spot of pond dipping, you may be lucky to catch a newt. Bats have made the reserve's work buildings a place to be their nursery and I've spent some special volunteer events watching them emerge at night. I once encountered a grass snake mating ball in the woods, that is until a photographer disturbed them and they all slithered between my boots! To see a pike or eel, just wait until a heron or cormorant find one and watch an epic battle as the birds struggle to swallow them. 

The reserve is also home to some fascinating insects, plants and fungi if you look hard enough. Scarce chasers are a bit special if you know what they look like and Strumpshaw is just one of the few places in the UK in which they call home. The nectar garden by the Reception Hide is a great place to see wasp beetles and jewel wasps, while glow-worms require a nocturnal visit in which I was lucky to find a couple of glowing females and one frisky male one summer night in 2017, though I have seen their larvae along the wooden borders of the Sandy Wall. The  clearwing moth was shown to me by Ben, who caught it using a special lure, but you can find them where ever there's flowers.

 A walk on the meadow trail should help you find some marsh helleborines and bogbean, while bluebells display well in one corner of the woodland trail and keep an eye out for earthstar fungi. Bee orchids occasionally appear between the toilets and the nectar garden. And finally, great white egrets, willow emerald damselflies and silver-washed fritillary butterflies are fairly much newcomers that only appeared near the time or after the time I began my volunteering journey at this amazing place and hints of only the positives of what a warming planet can bring, while the disappearance of common blue butterflies, the reduced numbers of wintering coot over the latter part of my last 10 years could be taken as a warning. Who knows what my next 10 years will bring.

Almost The End!

 Nov 3rd Whitlingham Broad

On Halloween, I was attending a wedding. The following evening, I discovered that one of the guests on my table (I won't go into details of who) was tested positive for Covid-19! The next night, my parents and I went to get tested altogether. I had to wait for the results the next morning (Wednesday 3rd), which meant I could not go to Strumpshaw. Thankfully, the results came in early and that it was negative! 

As it was a bit pointless travelling to Strumpshaw at this point, I ended up going for a walk at Whitlingham Broad instead. The broad seemed empty of bird numbers and a lot of maintenance work was going on with the shrubs and trees. However, I did see a large mixed flock of siskins and goldfinches, great crested grebes in winter plumage, cormorants, Egyptian geese, a few coots, tufted ducks, gadwall, a heron and a large flock of greylags flying in. Seems like a good selection, but everything seemed to be very sparse.

The real highlight though, was finding a ring-necked parakeet in the trees of the island. Never seen one here before and I doubt it was alone. I caught a glimpse of it once, but heard it a few times, though it wasn't as vocal as you'd expect it to be.

Nov 6th Cley & West Runton

A day out with Dad and went to Cley. We did a circuit walk around the reserve, to East Bank, along the beach and then to the hides. It was very windy and a bit chilly, but at least it wasn't raining. I managed to find two new species for my bird list; pintail and snow bunting. The snow buntings were a real treat as a good sized flock of 10+ birds foraged the dune mounds, blending in with the shingle extremely well, only their movements giving them away. As for pintails, from the blind overlooking the pools closest to the beach, we found many drakes (possibly about 10-20) with the odd female being outnumbered hiding amongst them.

Snow Bunting, Grey Seal Pup, Pintail and my Short-toed Lark drawing

There were geese a plenty with large flocks and skeins of brent and pink-footed as well as smaller numbers of greylag, Canada and Egyptian too. Also seen during our visit were; marsh harriers (at least 4-5 in the sky at once at one point), a kestrel, wigeon, teal, shoveler, shelduck, lapwing, avocet, dunlin, curlew, guillemots, red-throated divers and a grey seal pup which was alone on the beach.

While walking along the beach, I had a phone call from my birding buddy, David, who rang me to let me know about a short-toed lark that was at West Runton. There was still enough daylight when we got back to the car, so we decided to go check it out. Once we finally found the spot by the West Runton beach car park, the light was fading fast. There was one other birdwatcher at the ploughed field where it was last seen, but he also had only just arrived and he gave off the impression that he has vague idea of what he's looking for, but not that confident in finding it himself. He was pretty much like me in that regard.

We scanned the field in the dim light for a few minutes. Then we saw some larks flying in and I managed to locate them on the ploughed soil. We looking for a rather pale looking lark. I found one that may have been the one, but the light was just terrible to get a photo of it. Every attempt was just a blurry mess. My dad and the other birder seemed to believe I found it, but it was ultimately my call to make. I have seen a short-toed lark in Spain in 2014, but that was in better light conditions and with a knowledgeable guide. Was this bird a rare migrant from Spain and Southern Europe or was this just a skylark? Do I add this bird to my list or not?

As I was pondering on my decision, suddenly the heavens opened and a sudden downpour soaked us in seconds. I had to rush my decision while also trying to protect my camera from getting wet. I wasn't 100% sure, I still think it was just a skylark, but as I was getting rather wet, I gave in and agreed that it was the scarce bird in question and made a dash for the car. It looked pale enough, but with the light being awful and with no photographic proof, there's no way anyone could correct me. So, as it stands, the lark has taken me to 157 species.

Nov 10th Strumpshaw Fen

A dull, murky and drizzly morning. It made for a not very interesting shift and with very few memorable highlights. There were up to 10 marsh harriers in the air at once at one point, a mixed flock of goldfinches and siskins, more mallards, shovelers and gadwall on the broad in quite a while and the odd heron and mute swan. That was pretty much it.

Nov 17th Strumpshaw Fen

It was a rather nice day and an unusually warm one for November. There wasn't much to report though. It started promisingly with a large mixed flock of goldfinches and siskins by Reception Hide on my arrival to the reserve and I heard bullfinches in the woods. Redwing and pink-footed geese flew over above, while marsh harriers were showing well from Fen Hide. Other than that, it was relatively quiet. I decided to check out Tower Hide, but that too seemed empty of wildlife. On the way back, I was mumbling to myself in disappointment in not seeing much at Strumpshaw lately, when suddenly, a fieldfare popped up in the tree next to me. My 158th bird!

The path to Tower Hide wasn't to bad, not too muddy. However, walking back from there, I discovered that the river was beginning to flood. A shallow stream had appeared across the path not too far away from the sluice gates that wasn't there before. Thankfully it was shallow enough to step over, but the path was later shut as a precaution.

I arrived in time to start my shift, but I wasn't at Reception Hide for long. A group of familiar faces appeared. They were all mostly former staff and volunteers having a little get together walk and invited me to join with them. We did a loop along the river to the pumphouse and through the woods. I found them another fieldfare, a flock of siskins, many common darter dragonflies that were still on the wing and we did a mini fungi hunt. Fungi isn't my strongest subject, but we found a few easy ones that I'm more familiar with such as birch polypore, turkeytail, candlesnuff and common inkcaps. In the end, it was just a nice way to catch up with old friends that I haven't seen since way before the first lockdown.

Nov 18th Catton Park

A short walk around my local park and I found a few interesting fungi. However, I don't know what they could be. I only knew the yellow stagshorn.

Candlesnuff (Nov 17th), Honey fungus?
Yellow Stagshorn, Some kind of wood growing puffball?
Bearded Tit (Nov 24th), My Fieldfare drawing (Nov 17th) 

Nov 24th Strumpshaw Fen

Another dull, murky and drizzly (at times) day, but it was full of surprises. At Fen Hide, I saw an otter swam by and 20-30 mins later another appeared with a cub bounding on the bank before swimming the same direction the previous otter went. By the river end of Sandy Wall, I came across a flock of bullfinches and a flock of around 10 bearded tits on the reeds at the edge of the path. Also seen today were siskins, marsh harriers, a Chinese water deer, about 30+ gadwall at Reception Hide with a few mallards, teal, shovelers, mute swans and herons. 

Nov 29th Catton Park

My 11th and penultimate dawn chorus of the year. My year-long monthly challenge is almost over! It wasn't the best one as it rained as walking to the park and rained again as I was about to leave. The chorus was mostly dominated by the early morning traffic, a helicopter and so many dog walkers that were already up and about as it was only just getting light at 7am, but there were a few robins, wrens and blackbirds calling, but not really singing that much. I heard a few redwings fly over, saw many gulls doing the same but were in more visible flocks. Magpies, carrion crows and long-tailed tits also made themselves known in the latter stage of what was a pretty muddy walk round the park. Not one to remember, but at least I only have one more month to experience a dawn chorus in.

Migration Season

 Oct 2nd Titchwell

Mum and I visited Titchwell before a storm hit in the afternoon as heavy rain and strong winds were forecasted. I wanted to boost my bird list that was stuck on 147 species. By the end of my visit, my list shot up by 4 with golden plover, grey plover, bar-tailed godwit and little stint. I was hoping for more, but I ended up missing out on a rose-coloured starling and a purple sandpiper.

With the autumn migration season well under way, it meant that the reserve had more waders and wildfowl than it had during my previous few visits. We had a great day finding many brent geese, dunlins, knot, ruff, black-tailed godwits, an avocet, curlew, linnets, teal, wigeon, greylags, redshanks, oystercatchers, lapwings, turnstones, marsh harriers, gadwall and heard bearded tits and Cetti's warblers. We also saw a red kite on the way up.

Knot (top left) & Grey Plover (Oct 2nd)
Guillemots and Razorbills (bottom left) & Red-throated Diver (Oct 10th)

Oct 6th Strumpshaw Fen

A lot of rain fell the night before this shift and there was apparently a flooded bridge on my route to Strumpshaw. I ended up getting a lift, but I was later told by my colleague that it had subsided. When I arrived to the reserve, I had no time for a walk, so I was ready to help out at the Reception Hide. However, it was almost a waste of time as the power was out and was almost told to abandon my shift for the day! Thankfully it didn't happen and I was able to do my shift as normal. It wasn't the best of days anyway as only 7 people visited us all morning and the best of the action was an otter surprising us as it appeared from the right very close corner of the broad right next to the hide before hugging the reed beds all the way to the far right channel. Also about on this rather dull, wet day were bearded tits, marsh harriers, herons and cormorants.

Oct 10th Cley

It was a pleasant Sunday and so my parents took me to Cley for the afternoon, We went straight to the beach car park for a spot of sea watching at the shelter there. Dad and I joined the large group of people and scopes that lined up along the beach from the shelter. They were using a lot of numbers and clock hand code messages to pin point the birds that were flying over the sea. I vaguely understood it, but my dad was left in the dark. He was happy just sitting and relaxing by the sea. For me though, I had my new scope out and was scanning every where back and forth. 

There was plenty around. Guillemots were everywhere in large groups across the sea. One group was close to the shore mixed in with the odd razorbill and a red-throated diver. Gannets and cormorants were fairly common too and there were flocks of little gulls flying over the waves. I also saw brent geese and a small flock of teal (I think). However, the main highlights today were a few red-breasted mergansers and manx shearwaters, which is a small black and white seabird that I could just about spot flying really low to the water before the sea bulged up to form a wave to hide it. This was a very successful sea watch and it took my species total to 154.

After a good session on the beach, I went to check out the hides with Mum. The 3 central hides were packed with photographers and birdwatchers alike, but the pools provided nothing new for my list. One pool was covered in waders and the other mostly in wildfowl. Lapwings, black-tailed godwits, dunlin, snipe, ruff (some with white display neck feathers), teal, avocets, many wigeon and some shovelers and shelducks were what we could see, but the scene didn't really excite me as much as the sea did earlier.

Oct 13th Strumpshaw Fen

A very good morning that had a misty start. Redwings dominated with hundreds upon hundreds flying over the reserve in flock after flock. At Fen Hide, I spooked a snipe and had good views of a water rail, stonechats, a great white egret, marsh harriers and many greylag and Canada geese. During my shift, a ring ouzel was reported. I went to look for it, but it was long gone. However, I did encounter a flock of bearded tits close to the Sandy Wall with a crowd watching them.

Misty scenes, Bearded Tits & Marsh Harrier (Oct 13th)
Stinkhorn Fungus & Redpoll (Oct 27th)

Oct 27th Strumpshaw Fen

I spent over a week without going out anywhere due to bad weather and my parents being away to take me out. For the first time in a quite a while, heavy rain prevented me from doing a shift at Strumpshaw. So, to make up for it, I decided to do this month's dawn chorus walk. As you know, I have been doing a dawn chorus once a month this year to experience the differences throughout the seasons. I actually started the walk from my flat at 5:30am, walking through the city to Norwich railway station. This was a very pointless part of the walk as it was very dark and very quiet other than a robin and some feral pigeons.

The walk really picked up once I arrived at Brundall station. It was nearing 7am and the sun was beginning to rise. Heading towards Strumpshaw, rooks and jackdaws were leaving their roost site at Buckenham, while robins, wrens, blackbirds and a Cetti's warbler provided some vocals, though they were more calls than full outbursts of song. Pheasants and red-legged partridges added their voices to the chorus as I made my way down the long country road sandwiched between two crop fields. At the reserve itself, it was pretty quiet. I saw marsh harriers and I heard the odd call of a bearded tit and water rail and there were long-tailed tits on my way to Fen Hide. I also saw pink-footed and greylag geese, stonechats, meadow pipits and I was face to face with a Chinese water deer.

After that, my shift was not the most memorable. Marsh harriers, buzzards, a heron and 2 mute swans were all that was to be seen from Reception Hide. Outside, on the other hand, was a lot more interesting. In the woods, I found a stinkhorn fungus and a few other fungi that I have no idea what they were. In the trees by the reserve entrance, I came across a mix flock of redpolls, siskins, redwings, goldfinches, great, blue, long-tailed and marsh tits, which really made my morning. It was actually the first time I've seen a redpoll at Strumpshaw. I knew they often arrive to the reserve each winter with the siskin, but every time I look for them, they elude me. I have seen them on the other side of the river at Wheatfen though, but never on Strumpshaw's side of the river, until now that is.

A New Toy

 Sep 1st Strumpshaw &Sheringham

September started grey, dull and slightly drizzly and at Strumpshaw, it was another unexciting day. The early morning walk provided only one highlight, a red-legged partridge running away from me along Sandy Wall. At Reception Hide, 2 bearded tits proved to be a small crowd pleaser as they both popped in and out of the bottom of the reedy islands for much of the latter half of my shift. Buzzards, marsh harriers, a brief water rail, a cormorant, a heron, a few ducks, moorhens and coots and a basking lizard as I was leaving the reserve were the best of the rest.

Guillemot (Sep 1st), My new scope (Sep 5th),
Kingfisher and Willow Emerald Damselfly (Sep 8th)

Near the end of my shift, Mum surprised me with a phone call asking if I wanted to go sea watching at Sheringham while she took my elderly grandparents for a short stroll along the front. Of course, I wasn't going to let an opportunity to sea watch pass me by, so I said yes. Mum then popped over to mine to collect my scope and then collect my grandparents before picking me up. When we arrived, I made my way to the shelter usually popular with other sea watchers only to find it was empty.

The waves were rolling hard, slightly rough conditions, perfect for sea birds to be blown into my way. There had been some brilliant sightings of late, from skuas to shearwaters. This form of birdwatching was my weakest, so my confidence levels were low now that I was alone finding these sort of birds. The sea is vast and always moving and hiding the birds constantly. More pairs of eyes would have came in handy. However, I didn't do too badly as I found plenty of gannets, a guillemot, some cormorants and sandwich terns, 4 common scoters flying past near the shore, dunlin, a great black-backed gull and something that may resemble a shearwater, but I wasn't 100% sure.

Sep 5th Cley & Sheringham

Another visit to the coast for another session of sea watching. That was what I was intended to do any way. What happened instead was a new purchase. You see, when I got to the beach car park at Cley and joined the group of sea watchers that were already at the shelter there, I set up my scope and peered into the lens only to discover that the focus was not working at all. Try as I might, I just couldn't see out of it. It was frustrating. So, Mum and I popped back to the visitor centre and ended up buying a brand new one. A very late birthday present as I finally spent my birthday money that was given to me back in March.

After a short, disappointing visit to the hides (seeing ruff, curlew, little egrets, marsh harriers, godwits, teal and avocets), we went to Sheringham to test out my new scope. The zoom and the focus was a vast improvement to my previous scope (in which I had since 2003) and I could see for miles out at sea much, much clearly. There wasn't too much about though due to calmer waters. I managed to spot a few gannets, a small flock of scoters, cormorants, a guillemot and a fulmar.

Sep 8th Strumpshaw Fen

I had to get a lift into Strumpshaw this morning as my bus never showed up, possibly due to the lack of drivers that were probably Covid bound or something. Thanks to that, I missed my train and had no time for my morning walk before my shift. I went straight to Reception Hide. Unfortunately, it was the morning that Ben (one of the Strumpshaw wardens, if you are new) decided to strim the front of the hide, scaring a water rail in the process. The noise of the strimmer didn't last for too long, thankfully. Though the noise was replaced with a fairly quiet scene besides the odd bearded tit, marsh harrier, moorhens, 3 herons and a few groups of ducks.

After my shift, I decided to walk over to Tower Hide to make up for the morning walk that I missed earlier. A good choice as there was more to see here than at Reception Hide. When I arrived, I had just missed out on a red kite that had apparently just spook everything up. Saying that, there were still ducks galore. Teals, gadwalls, shovelers and mallards making up a large mass of waterfowl. Try as I might, however, I could not find the three long-staying garganeys that were reportedly somewhere amongst them. The star of the afternoon was a kingfisher that perched right in front of the hide for quite some time. I ended my day finding a willow emerald damselfly on the walk back.

Sep 15th Strumpshaw Fen

September at this point was becoming like a summer we've barely had. Hot, sunny and very pleasant. However, the wildlife at Strumpshaw was on the quiet side. Perhaps they were having a siesta?  The stand out highlight of the day turned out to be a great white egret that kept flying around the back of the broad outside Reception Hide from one side to the other, often obscured by reedbeds and the reedy islands. Other than that, there were the usual marsh harriers, buzzards, herons, cormorants and ducks. Very quiet!

Great White Egret (Sep 15th), Sandwich Terns (Sep 19th),
Bearded Tits (Sep 22nd) and Water Rail (Sep 29th)

Sep 19th Sheringham

My parents decided to take me out to sea watch at Sheringham again. The sea was calm and I thought it wasn't going to be very productive at all. I was glad it wasn't the case. It wasn't bad at all. Gannets, flocks of brent geese, a few red-throated divers, cormorants, 4 oystercatchers, turnstones, herring, black-headed, lesser and great black-backed gulls, sandwich and common terns and a guillemot floating near the shore.

Sep 22nd Strumpshaw Fen

Bearded tits were very visible this morning with about 10-20 of them showing well at the top of Sandy Wall and later at Reception Hide sitting on the tops of the reeds. Other than that, it was another not very memorable day. The other minor highlights include swallows, herons, marsh harriers and a parasitic wasp with a long ovipositor (possibly Gasteruption jaculator).

Sep 23rd Potter Heigham Marshes

A long-billed dowitcher (which is like a godwit from America) has been hanging around Potter Heigham since about July, but only seen on and off since then. Today, Dad and I went to try our luck. I only know the way to the reserve by following the river from Potter Heigham itself. Unfortunately, this was a bad decision as reed beds obscured the pools and everything was quite distant. We just couldn't figure out how to get to the other side of this place. So, in the end, we missed out and the trip was a big waste of time, though we did spot a kingfisher, a kestrel and a ruff.

Sep 29th Strumpshaw Fen

The weather has turned once again and it has become more autumnal. It was very blustery and chilly. A water rail and 2 wigeon was a welcoming sight at Reception Hide when I arrived to the reserve. Bearded tits braved the winds at the top of Sandy Wall and gave me great close views just as they did the week before. The wind got stronger as the morning went on and everything seemed to be sheltering from it, providing with very little to see for the rest of the day.

Sep 30th Catton Park

My 9th dawn chorus of 2021 and it was a short one at Catton Park. Not a very exciting one, but the sky was fantastic in a pallet of golds and pinks. The birds were on the quiet side and were mostly robins, wrens, great and blue tits, the odd blackbird alarm call, a brief outburst from a song thrush, a dunnock, jackdaws and several noisy gulls that were flying by. The most interesting thing that I've discovered during this walk was that there are now 11-12 wood sculptures dotted around the park. They definitely weren't there when I last visited.  

Slow Summer

 Aug 4th Strumpshaw Fen

I went straight to Tower Hide in the hope of finding one of my Strumpshaw 45 targets. For a couple of weeks up to this point, a couple of garganeys had been seen on and off here. This is the UK's only summer visiting duck, arriving from Africa with the males looking absolutely spectacular in their chocolate brown and grey plumage with a bold white stripe above their eyes. At this time of year though, that plumage has since faded as the birds enter their summer moult and are less obvious. They now appear as a brown duck with the stripe being very faint. Outside the Tower Hide, there were definitely a lot of brown ducks around, but only two were small enough to be garganeys. One gave me long enough to study and I could see the tell tale pale eye stripe. I finally could add this duck to not only my Strumpshaw challenge list, but also my overall bird list.

No otters, but I did glimpsed a kingfisher, bearded tits, a sparrowhawk, watched marsh harriers, common terns, swallows, house martins, herons, shovelers, gadwall and reed warblers. There were also many red admirals, peacocks, brown hawkers, emperor dragonflies, red-eyed damselflies, southern hawkers, common darters, banded demoiselles and many other insect species, but none of them were my Strumpshaw 45 target species.

Garganey (Aug 4th), Otter and Mute Swan (Aug 11th),
 Painted Lady (Aug 11th) and Avocet & Green Sandpipers (Aug 15th)

Aug 11th Strumpshaw Fen & Buckenham Marshes

Before this week's shift, I was on the hunt for willow emerald damselflies, which is another of my target species. The dipping pond near the entrance of the meadow trail is a good place to find them, but it took 2 attempts this morning before I had to head to Reception Hide for my shift until I finally found one. Sadly, I couldn't get a photo of it as it was obscured by the willow leaves it was perching on and when I went to the other platform to be much closer, I quickly lost it again. A green damselfly amongst green leaves is not really that obvious to spot.

Between attempts, I did pop into Fen Hide for a bit and saw a water rail, common terns, a heron and a marsh harrier. At Reception Hide, an otter was busy hunting in the broad for 30 minutes and even swam close to a pair of swans without them show any interest what so ever. Other than a heron, bearded tits, common terns and many mallards, there wasn't much else around.

After lunch, I decided to leave early and head to Buckenham Marshes. It turned out to be a very long walk in the hot sun with a plague of biting insects only to discover that the only hide there was closed! Not only that, but someone's unleashed dog squeezed under a gate and ran towards the only pool of interest that was full of waders. Thankfully and amazingly, the dog was eventually called back before the birds noticed or flew away. I didn't bring a scope, so everything on the pool was a bit too far away for me to get a clear view to spot any potential wood sandpipers or the like. There were starlings, lapwings, black-tailed godwits, ruff and a lot of geese, but before I could study the pool any further, the horseflies attacked and I legged it for the long walk back to Brundall station. While at the reserve, I also found several painted lady butterflies and a Chinese water deer.

Aug 15th Cley

I went out to Cley with Mum for a spot of birdwatching on this Sunday afternoon. Two of the three central hides were open and we spent most of our time in them. The pools were mostly dried up, but had many waders on them. Snipe, ruff, lapwing, black-tailed godwits, avocets, shelducks, teal, gadwall, redshanks, greylags, gulls, woodpigeons, 2 stock doves, pied wagtails, marsh harriers, swallows and several green sandpipers made it a very busy scene that for a while, we had the hide to ourselves to enjoy it.

I was really happy to add the green sandpipers to my list, but it was suddenly bested by a whimbrel that was flying over, alerting me to it with a series of notes. "Pipipipipipip!" This is a bird that resembles a curlew with a short bill and stripe above the eye. I don't see them very often and this was the first time I've seen one in flight nor one calling before. With whimbrel added to my list, it now takes my total to 142 birds species seen this year.

There was enough time for me to walk along the Eat Bank to the sea. Nothing new here for my list, but I did see many sandwich terns, curlews, little egrets, a heron, oystercatchers and plenty of snipe and other waders I've already seen earlier. All in all, it was a decent visit. The best in a while.

Aug 18th Strumpshaw Fen

A rather quiet, gloomy, slightly drizzly start to the day. However, it did improve as morning moved into afternoon. At Fen Hide, about 3 or so juvenile bearded tits were showing well for short amounts of time to pose on some reeds. Meanwhile, at Reception Hide, an otter appeared while I was filling up the shelves of the freezer with a fresh supply of ice cream. Many families were arriving and the coffee orders were coming in thick and fast. Between the coffee orders though, I did see little egrets, 2 common terns, marsh harriers, cormorants, a water rail, more bearded tits and a heron.

Bearded Tit & Otter (Aug 18th), Rainbow & Kingfisher (Aug 25th)

Aug 25th Strumpshaw Fen

Another quiet morning. There wasn't too much about at Fen Hide, so I made my way to the pumphouse. When I got there, however, the weather suddenly turned and it started to drizzle with rain. It wasn't even forecast to rain, but thankfully it wasn't too bad. It was on and off throughout the morning. Highlights include; a mother and fawn muntjac deer, kingfishers (including one that perched on the measuring post outside Reception Hide), a Chinese water deer, bearded tits, marsh harriers, herons and 2 snipe that flew over Fen Hide.

Aug 28th Catton Park

My 8th dawn chorus of the year wasn't the liveliest as expected for this time of year. I arrived at my local park just after 5:30am on a dull, cloudy morning, a few hours before a sudden heavy downpour occurred. This month's chorus included tawny owls, the odd calls of both great spotted and green woodpeckers, magpies, jays, carrion crows, jackdaws, woodpigeons, goldfinches, coal tits, robins, wrens, gulls and many chirruping crickets and grasshoppers that pretty much out sang the birds.

Too Hot For Birds?

 July 5th Minsmere

My first visit to Minsmere in almost 2 years! I went out with Dad to check out how this reserve was dealing with Covid restrictions. Most of the changes were around the visitor centre and the café area. The rest of the reserve was more or less the same just with the usual rules applied. The picnic benches outside the café were for the café customers only, so we had to take our packed lunches to the beach, where we watched terns fly over us with fish in their bills and sand martins collecting material from the dunes a few metres behind from where we were sitting.

On the way to the beach, we came across the spot along the main path where the solitary wasps and bees make their nesting burrows and a little further on, we found a strange black worm-like creature crawling beneath our feet. This, I believe, was a great silver diving beetle larvae, which is known to leave the water from time to time.

Great Silver Diving Beetle Larvae & Little Terns (July 5th),
Otter (July 7th) and Grey Wagtail (July 10th)

The scrapes were alive with bird life. Terns especially were very active and noisy as they (and the black-headed gulls) had chicks to feed. Most of them were common and sandwich terns, but, in front of the South Hide, there was a small colony of little terns. These and a Mediterranean gull, a ruff and a spotted redshank in almost perfect black summer plumage asides from a scruffy white patch around the eye (which should be more ringed shaped) were all new additions to my year list, taking it to 135. Also seen at the scrapes were; kittiwakes, avocets, oystercatchers, lapwing, shelducks, a common sandpiper, black-tailed godwits and lesser black-backed gulls. Meanwhile on the dunes, I encountered a ringed plover and a whitethroat.

At the Bittern and Island Mere hides, we saw a bittern, marsh harriers and hobbies and heard bearded tits. Also found during our visit were; Norfolk hawker dragonflies, ringlet, small heath and small copper butterflies, really large southern marsh orchids, hound's-tongue, sheep's-bit scabious, centaury, biting and English stonecrops, sea kale and yellow-horned poppies.

July 7th Strumpshaw Fen

A fairly quiet, grey morning at Strumpshaw. Not too much around during my pre-shift walk except for a few marsh harriers, an oystercatcher, 2 bullfinches and hearing some bearded tits. At Reception Hide, I saw 2 kingfishers, an otter and a bittern appearing minutes between them, which livened the shift up a bit.

July 10th Nagshead RSPB

Since July 8th, I've travelled with my parents to my youngest brother's place in Cheltenham to stay for a long weekend away. Two of these days were spent visiting zoos, but on the Saturday (July 10th), we all went to the Forest of Dean. My mum and I went birdwatching at Nagshead (the place where I was washed out and almost cried with a Naturetrek group last March) while my dad, brother and my brother's girlfriend visited a sculpture trail a few miles down the road.

I was hoping to find pied flycatchers, wood warblers, redstarts and a few other specialities found on this side of the UK. Sadly, July is a quiet time of year with many of them moulting by now. However, I did think I heard a redstart make a short outburst, but I'm not really familiar with their song to be completely certain. There was one hide that provided views of a fleeing fallow deer, 2 stock doves, nuthatches, goldcrests, a buzzard and a grey wagtail, but other than that, it was a fairly disappointing trip.

July 14th Strumpshaw Fen

Another quiet, grey morning with the odd drizzle of rain. Not much again, though the marsh harriers were flying close to the Reception Hide. A kingfisher also flashed by as well as sightings of a common tern, a heron, a little egret, a sparrowhawk and many ducks in eclipse phase plumage. I also had a short walk amongst the marsh orchids in the meadow trail and saw a great spotted woodpecker.

July 20th Norwich

A heatwave has hit the UK this week on the week in which many of the Covid restrictions being relaxed or scrapped. The birds have gone quiet on me for the moment, so I went dinosaur hunting instead today. Dippy the Diplodocus from the Natural History Museum of London is on tour and currently at Norwich Cathedral. It has been 10 years since I've last seen Dippy, which is a replica skeleton of the sauropod originating from the USA that stood at the entrance hall of the museum for many years before recently being replaced by a blue whale skeleton. It was an interesting reunion with him being inside a religious building. In Charles Darwin's day, a place like this wouldn't see dead in having the remains of a creature that represents evolution like this within their walls. That thought kind of amuses me a little. Today though, Dippy was attracting many visitors and the cathedral did a great job displaying him.

Dippy the Diplodocus (July 20th), Pipistrelle Bat (July 21st),
Green-lichen Beauty & Brown Argus (July 26th) 

July 21st Strumpshaw Fen

A much brighter day at Strumpshaw. In fact, it was quite warm and brought out the biting insects. It had been so hot lately that my colleagues found a bat in the sink at the reserve's workshop, in which has a nursery colony within the building's walls. It was rescued and placed on a wall to find its way back.

There were plenty of marsh harrier action this morning. One female managed to divebomb a rodent in the reedy islands in front of Reception Hide, scaring the many ducks in the process and was quickly harassed by her hungry, recently fledged chicks. Also seen were bearded tits, a kingfisher, swallows and reed warblers. After my shift, I was able to find a few silver-washed fritillaries flying around the woodland glades.

July 26th Mousehold Heath

 The second group walk at Mousehold since lockdown was lifted. The group was slightly larger than the one held in May and was led by Will the warden and Peter, our wildlife expert and included my aunt Barbara and my friend, David. The theme of the walk was about butterflies. The weather was promising to start with, but then big grey clouds covered the sun and was a bit chilly and threatened to rain, not exactly the best conditions for butterflies.

We started with a few moths caught by Peter the night before, which included some rather beautiful ones such as a green-lichen beauty. Then, we checked the trees and an area by the roadside near Zak's car park and had great views of brown argus, small coppers and, best of all, white-letter hairstreaks on some elm trees. After lunch, we made our way to an enclosed area full of wildflowers, finding purple hairstreaks along the way. In this fenced off area full of ragworts, wild oregano and other species of wildflowers, we found plenty of gatekeepers, meadow browns, burnet moths, the odd common blue and many cinnabar moth caterpillars. Also seen during our walk today was a low-flying buzzard, brown and southern hawkers, common darters and a froglet.

July 28th Strumpshaw Fen

A bit grey and muggy to begin with but brightened up before an epic thunderstorm appeared later in the evening. A few odds and ends on a fairly quiet morning, including a very, very brief otter appearance, 2 great white egrets, marsh harriers, bearded tits, a kingfisher and herons. A few families were doing some pond dipping and one caught a very tiny water scorpion to show me, which now takes me a total of 32 species out of 45 on my Strumpshaw 45 challenge.

July 29th Snettisham

For about a week now, Norfolk's 2nd ever western sandpiper has been staying at Snettisham. This is an American wader that resembles a small dunlin and very rarely visits the UK. Though going to see it was the main priority, I just wanted to visit Snettisham in general as I haven't been here since January 2017. I went with Dad and discovered that the car parks were unsurprisingly packed, but still managed to find a spot. 

Great White Egrets (July 28th), Western Sandpiper,
Roseate Tern? (the bird in centre amongst Common and Sandwich Terns),
 Knot sleeping and Knot flying (July 29th)

After the long walk to the reserve on my own (Dad wanted me to get going while he had a coffee break at the car), I found a small colony of terns sitting on some rocks in the first pool. Most of them were common terns and a single sandwich tern. But amongst them, I spotted a tern with a dark bill that was much different in shape compared to the other birds around it and was also slightly different in body size too. This, I believe, was my first ever roseate tern, the rarest of the UK's breeding tern species. It is so named due to a pink flush to the breast, not that I could see it from where I was standing. I'm still debating if this is indeed a roseate, but would love some confirmation. 

(Edit: Apparently roseate terns have much darker bills at this time of year, so probably not one sadly.) 

As for the western sandpiper, there was a lot of people looking for it. Some had seen it, others were still looking. The tide was in when I arrived to the beach and was apparently in front of Shore Hide, which was completely packed and I had to wait my turn. Looking for the bird here was like a needle in a constantly moving haystack as the flocks of hundreds of dunlin it was possibly hiding within was a bit flighty and reshuffled their positions. Knot, redshanks, godwits, turnstones, the odd common sandpiper gathered here also, forming patchy carpets of grey and orange-red plumages on the rocks in their thousands!

United with Dad, we made one more attempt at Shore Hide with the same result. We decided to head back to the beach for lunch. At this point, the tide was retreating and the birds were streaming back to the mudflats in several flocks. On our hunt for a spot to eat, someone from a group of men lined up behind a small bush with their scopes called out to us saying "Found it!" He directed us to a small lonely wader patrolling the ridge of a deep channel in the mud. Apparently this was the bird we were all looking for. I was so busy trying to find it with my camera while battling against the wind, that I didn't really appreciated it much, or get its photo after all that. The bird vanished into the muddy chasm, possibly like walking into the Grand Canyon to its point of view, and my chance for a photo was over.

I was happy to see it, but failing to get a photo of it really made me feel a little disappointed. All I could do now was watch the many birds still making their way to the mudflats to feed, including a mass exodus of the knot that weaved their way over the beach like a long waving ribbon. For the rest of the visit, Dad and I checked out the other hides, including the brand new Knots Landing Hide. We returned to the beach much later to discover that the place was deserted! All the twitchers have given up for the day. We almost had the entire beach to ourselves. Even the thousands of birds have moved on as even the mudflats appeared empty and looking like the surface of Mars. There was a curlew sandpiper on show, but no western sandpiper.

July 31st Norwich

I almost went through July without doing a dawn chorus walk! With the combination of work, my holiday to Cheltenham, the heatwave and the wet weather that sandwiched it, I've just couldn't find the right day to do it. So as it was my last chance, I had to do it today or miss out completely for my once a month lockdown dawn chorus challenge. I had just woken up after a night at work at 4:30am this morning only to discover that it was lashing down with rain. I was not looking forward to it and was expecting it to be a waste of time. However, I got outside, and it was fine. The rain had stopped, though it was still dull and grey. I decided to just do a walk around the block. Nothing that exciting, but I still can say I've done a dawn chorus in July.

The chorus itself wasn't anything amazing. It was fairly quiet and muted and dominated by the odd car passing by, but there were woodpigeons, collard doves, herring and lesser black-backed gulls, blue tit, wrens, the odd goldfinch, pied wagtail, coal tit and blackbird to make up some kind of avian soundscape. I also saw a squirrel climbing bins and fences along a street. Not the most memorable dawn chorus of the year, but I did it!

My 2021 Bird List So Far (Update)

It has been a while since I last updated my bird list that I've been doing this year. There wasn't too many birds around in Norwich that I hadn't added to the list already. Though, there were a few I missed out on since my last update, such as a corncrake (that was heard only), a rosy-coloured starling (briefly), ospreys, a black-tailed godwit, lesser whitethroats, a ring ouzel and black terns to name a few. However, since lockdown lifted a couple of months ago and that we could travel the country more, I decided to make an extension list to include birds outside of Norwich. So below is my Norwich list followed by a Norfolk+ list that continues my tally.

Norwich

1. Mute Swan
2. Pink-footed Goose
3. White-fronted Goose
4. Greylag Goose
5. Canada Goose
6. Barnacle Goose
7. Egyptian Goose
8. Mandarin
9. Gadwall
10. Teal
11. Mallard
12. Shoveler
13. Pochard
14. Tufted Duck
15. Scaup
16. Goldeneye
17. Smew
18. Pheasant
19. Little Grebe
20. Great Crested Grebe
21. Grey Heron
22. Little Egret
23. Cormorant
24. Red Kite
25. Sparrowhawk
26. Buzzard
27. Kestrel
28. Hobby
29. Peregrine
30. Water Rail
31. Moorhen
32. Coot
33. Oystercatcher
34. Lapwing
35. Snipe
36. Woodcock
37. Curlew
38. Common Sandpiper
39. Kittiwake
40. Black-headed Gull
41. Little Gull
42. Common Gull
43. Lesser Black-backed Gull
44. Herring Gull
45. Yellow-legged Gull
46. Great Black-backed Gull
47. Common Tern
48. Rock Dove/Feral Pigeon
49. Stock Dove
50. Woodpigeon
51. Collard Dove
52. Ring-necked Parakeet
53. Cuckoo
54. Barn Owl
55. Tawny Owl
56. Swift
57. Kingfisher
58. Green Woodpecker
59. Great Spotted Woodpecker
60. Magpie
61. Jay
62. Jackdaw
63. Carrion Crow
64. Blue Tit
65. Great Tit
66. Coal Tit
67. Long-tailed Tit
68. Skylark
69. Sand Martin
70. Swallow
71. House Martin
72. Cetti's Warbler
73. Chiffchaff
74. Willow Warbler
75. Sedge Warbler
76. Reed Warbler
77. Grasshopper Warbler
78. Blackcap
79. Garden Warbler
80. Whitethroat
81. Goldcrest
82. Wren
83. Nuthatch
84. Treecreeper
85. Starling
86. Blackbird
87. Song Thrush
88. Redwing
89. Mistle Thrush
90. Robin
91. Black Redstart
92. Whinchat
93. Stonechat
94. Dunnock
95. Yellow Wagtail
96. Grey Wagtail
97. Pied Wagtail
98. Meadow Pipit
99. House Sparrow
100. Chaffinch
101. Greenfinch
102. Goldfinch
103. Siskin
104. Linnet
105. Lesser Redpoll
106. Bullfinch
107. Reed Bunting

Norfolk+

108. Brent Goose

109. Shelduck

110.Wigeon 

111. Red-legged Partridge

112. Spoonbill

113. Bittern

114. Great White Egret

115. Marsh Harrier

116. Crane

117. Avocet

118. Ringed Plover

119. Sanderling

120. Dunlin

121. Black-tailed Godwit

122. Redshank

123. Turnstone

124. Sandwich Tern

125. Rook

126. Marsh Tit

127. Bearded Tit

128. Spotted Flycatcher

129.Wheatear

130. Corn Bunting

131. Roller

Obviously, there had been more birds outside of Norwich that I've missed than in Norfolk. But when you don't have a car and rely on public transport and others offering lifts, like I do, it is really difficult to get around to see them. If I did, I expect I'd have reached 200 species by now. As much as I would have loved to have seen the marsh warbler at Kelling or the bee-eaters in Great Yarmouth, they will have to remain on 'Missed Out On' list like many other species. Hopefully, I will get back into continuing this list very soon (especially once the Euros are over!) and reach my goal of 200 species (inside or outside of Norwich) by the time the year ends. 

Summer Of Colour

 June 2nd Strumpshaw Fen

Swallowtail season was upon us. Visitor numbers has grown significantly at Strumpshaw, all after this rare British butterfly. I've already lost track on how many times I've been asked about how and where to find them. However, they have been late this year due to the cold spring we have had. There has been frosts well into May and this has set the swallowtails back by a couple of weeks than normal. And it isn't just swallowtails, the meadow trail has only just opened up to the public and there's barely any flowers in bloom there. The ditches, broads and the river were only beginning to stir with dragonfly life. It has been a rather strange spring indeed and possibly a rather worrying sign of things to come in this ever warming world.

Grasshopper Warbler, Marsh Harrier & Mallard and ducklings (June 2nd)
and Sunrise at Catton Park (June 6th) 

The birds were fairly active at least. At Fen Hide, I watched marsh harriers bringing in clumps of vegetation to build their nests with the males passing it over to their mates. Meanwhile, bearded tits were busy pinging away and providing the odd glimpse of themselves before vanishing back into their reedy world. Leaving the hide, I encountered two male cuckoos fly over me chasing one another into some trees left of the hide. Not far away near the alternative entrance to the meadow trail, the sound of the long-winded reeling of a grasshopper warbler resonated from some shrubs and after some searching, I managed to find this secretive bird. It was showing rather well and long enough to get a few photos of it. 

Back at Reception Hide, it was a very busy and at times, stressful morning as I tried to keep up with the orders of coffees, teas and snacks. When I did have time, I did manage to spot a few bearded tits, marsh harriers, a brief flash of a kingfisher, a common tern, cormorant, herons, swallows, swifts and a family of mallards with 10 ducklings.

June 6th Catton Park & Whitlingham Broad

My 6th dawn chorus of the year and I decided to return to my local park to experience it. Arriving at 4:30am, it was already light with blue skies despite the sun still rising above the horizon. The birds weren't quite as loud as they have been in the last few months, but there were still plenty singing. Wrens, blackbirds and song thrushes were the most vocal, but there were also blackcaps, goldcrests, dunnocks, blue and great tits, goldfinches, chaffinches, stock doves, a white throat and a drumming great spotted woodpecker.

The real highlight of the morning though occurred while I was sitting on a bench by the pond when suddenly I heard a commotion in a group of oak trees very close by. Many corvids, including jackdaws, magpies and carrion crows, were mobbing something and were making quite a raucous. At first, I thought it was a bird of prey, but when I went to take a better look, I noticed a fox with something like a pigeon or something in its mouth trotting casually through the long cover of buttercups all the while withstanding the attacks of the bombarding corvids. I have never seen a fox at this park before and it was making the most of the quietness as there wasn't a single dog walker or runner in sight at this early time in the morning.

Returning from what was a fun dawn chorus walk, I wasn't done just yet. A few hours later, I went out with Mum for another walk, this time around Whitlingham Broad. I heard more than what I could see with a calling cuckoo being the main highlight out of the mini chorus that included about 6 species of warbler. However, the walk was overshadowed by the weather as the hot, sunny spell was suddenly replaced by approaching black clouds that blocked out the clear blue sky and threatened to turn stormy. Thankfully, the rain held off until we got home.

June 9th Strumpshaw Fen

Another hot Wednesday and the chances of swallowtails was pretty high. People across the country were making their way to Strumpshaw, though maybe not as many as previous years due to Covid restrictions. It took until after my morning walk for me to actually see one myself as it briefly flew over the nectar garden without stopping. That was pretty much it though. These butterflies were proving very elusive and few and far between this year. 

Before the sighting though, I had 2 hares on a field on my way to the reserve, my first tweyblades of 2021and a single southern marsh orchid on the meadow trail. At Fen Hide, a cuckoo was singing from a dead tree close to the hide, producing some interesting 'bubbling' sounds. I also saw bearded tits and marsh harriers there as well. At Reception Hide, a bittern flew by from right to left over the back of the broad. 

June 16th Strumpshaw Fen

The hot weather continues to soar and the chances of swallowtails grew even more than it was the week before. This time I was fortunate to see one by the river at the top of Sandy Wall and I nearly stepped on it as it snuck in without me noticing to bask on the ground! At the end of my shift, another turned up at the nectar garden and I was lucky enough to get one good photo of it.

Swallowtail & Poppy Field (June 16th), Roller (June 27th) & Otter (June 30th)

Dragonflies were everywhere this morning. I lost count of how many species, but they include Norfolk hawker and red-eyed damselfly. Southern marsh and common spotted orchids were starting to dot the landscape of the meadows and the sand cliff area, but not in great numbers just yet. On the way back to Brundall to catch my train, I had just a little bit of time to admire the magnificent display of red poppies planted in a field.

June 23rd Strumpshaw Fen

Not one of my best days at Strumpshaw. I was looking for a barn owl that was apparently hunting by the pumphouse and I wanted to find it for my Strumpshaw 45 challenge. I made my way through the meadow trail and along the river to find it, finding a cuckoo along the way. However, whilst making my way there, the horseflies began to swarm around me and were landing on my body. My trousers and fleece were protecting me from their bites for the most part, but they were still making me panic and in the end, I abandoned my search for the owls and legged it into the woods.

I made a quick change into shorts before my shift as it was a nice day (the first decent day in a week) and I made sure to dose my legs with repellent to keep the horseflies at bay. But the horseflies were soon replaced with coffee hell as I was in charge with making the hot drinks and gathering the snacks. By lunch time, I didn't really had time to look for wildlife as the orders were coming in fast. The supplies were extremely limited and running out really quickly. There was a point where I had to make a new batch of coffee, but forgot to put a flask under the machine to fill it up. So in a panic, I picked up the nearest flask, which happened to have a little bit left instead of the clean, empty one beside it and the coffee overflowed onto the counter! This is why I don't drink or make coffee at home! The few highlights during a very busy shift was a common tern, a very fleeting glimpse of a swallowtail, marsh harriers, marsh tit and a variety of bees, wasps and a longhorn beetle in the nectar garden.

June 27th Lackford Lakes

In the past week, the east of England has been invaded by colourful, exotic-looking birds. A flock of nine bee-eaters were attracting a lot of attention in Great Yarmouth, while a collard pratincole (a beautiful plover-like wader) was at Hickling Broad. Down in Suffolk, meanwhile, a roller had been staying just south of Icklingham for a few days. I would love to have seen either three of these species, however the bee-eaters had moved on and the pratincole was also likely to have disappeared on the one free day I could travel. The roller was the one I really wanted to see though. I managed to convince my parents to take me on the long drive into Suffolk to see it and as soon as we got to the spot, it wasn't long until we found the crowd indicating its presence.

The scene was like a mini music festival, with the roadside to a field jam packed with people and cars. We somehow found a spot to park right by the crowd of twitchers armed with cameras and scopes and as soon as I got out of the car, I found the roller sitting on a wire immediately! Despite being slightly distant, I could still make out its colourful blue-lilac plumage. It was also the size of a jay, which made it easier to spot. Rollers are scarce migrants to the UK that winters in Africa and breeds in southern and eastern Europe and is easily a crowd pleaser. This was the 4th day this bird has been here and I was thankful that it was still around so that my journey wasn't a wasted one.

After the roller, we moved on to Lackford Lakes just down the road and spent the rest of the visit to Suffolk there. I noticed that on the sightings board that a glossy ibis was around. Sadly, when I went to the area where it supposedly was a couple of times, I kept missing out as it kept hiding behind vegetation whenever I turned up. No ibis, but I was more fortunate in seeing a hobby, oystercatchers, lapwings, little and great crested grebes, tufted ducks, cormorants, common terns, beautiful displays of biting stonecrop and viper's bugloss and heard a cuckoo and a kingfisher.

June 30th Strumpshaw Fen

The last day of June and it was a bit rubbish with dull, grey clouds and some rain. Despite this, I did get to see a few cuckoos this morning as well as an otter catching an eel in front of Reception Hide and marsh harriers and a sparrowhawk. After what happened last week, I was surprised to see that there was a new addition in the hide as there is a brand new coffee machine on the counter. This means we now serve lattes, flat whites, etc with a simple click of a button. We still have the filter coffee as an option, but as everyone wanted the fancier stuff, I didn't have to worry in making a mess like I did last Wednesday.