Good To Be Back (Again)

 May 2nd Whitlingham Broad

For this year's International Dawn Chorus Day, Dad and I got up at 3:30 am to experience it at Whitlingham Broad. The moon was magnificent when we arrived at 4am as the sunrise was just a dim glow in the east and a thick mist covered the broad. The wildfowl, including the Mandarin duck, were like silhouettes by the broad's shoreline, disturbed by my sudden appearance. 

Dawn Chorus Day at Whitlingham with Common Sandpiper

Reed warblers, sedge warblers and reed buntings were singing in the dark alongside the sounds of ducks, geese and the wrens, robins and thrushes. However, the star of the show at this early hour were tawny owls. Walking along the river, several owls were hooting close by. I managed to make out a silhouette of one perched amongst the branches of a tree. The light gradually got brighter as I continued down the river and more and more birds added their voices to the chorus like chiffchaffs, blackcaps and willow warblers. In one bush, I could hear a bird that sounded similar to a blackcap but with longer phrases and wasn't quite as loud. I believed this was a garden warbler.

We stopped to watch the sun rise out behind the largest cloud like a glowing crown of gold above the heavily misty lake of Thorpe Marshes. The Great Broad of Whitlingham behind us was, in comparison, was extremely thick with mist but was soon blasted away by the blinding light of the rising sun. Following the light's direction as we made our way back to the car, common terns emerged from the gloom, a kingfisher perches right in front of us and a heron blocks our path. To end things full circle, a pair of common sandpipers were feeding by the shore, but the Mandarin was now gone after completing its nap. 

This was a good 5th dawn chorus of the year, providing me with three new birds for my list (reed warbler, garden warbler and common sandpiper), taking me to 102 species in and around Norwich. I was a little disappointed that I didn't hear any cuckoos, but the tawny owls more than made up for it. Seven more dawn choruses to go.

May 3rd Earlham Marshes

I was informed that a blue-headed wagtail and a little ringed plover had shown up at Earlham Marshes. It was just too good for me to miss, so I went for a look. To my surprise, my birder friend, David, was there as well as a couple of other birders. There was no sign of the birds I was after, but together, we did find a yellow wagtail. Blue-headed wagtails are just a race of yellow wagtails anyway and either way, it was still a new one for my list. 

Yellow Wagtail & Whinchat (May 3rd), Sandwich Tern (May 9th) & Garden Warbler (May 10th)

David was telling me that a whinchat and a ring ouzel had been seen in a field behind the marshes. I followed a young birder down to a group of his young birder friends and a couple of more senior birders at the spot the whinchat was last seen. It wasn't long though until I managed to spot the bird and it posed for me atop of some small trees like a Christmas tree angel with its striking white supercilium quite visible above its eye. Sadly, there was no sign of the ring ouzel, but there were plenty of linnets, stonechats and whitethroats. Back at the marshes, the young birders pointed out a hobby and some swifts, both new to my list. I also saw 2 common gulls, a couple of mallard families with many ducklings between them, 2 little egrets and swarms of swallows and house martins. 

May 6th Strumpshaw Fen

A horrid morning to visit Strumpshaw again as it was throwing it down with rain. Dad had dropped me off while he went to the recycling plant nearby, but would eventually catch me up during my walk with his umbrella in hand. I, on the other hand, didn't have an umbrella and was absolutely soaked. Because of the awful weather, there wasn't too much to see. Continuing my Strumpshaw 45 tick list, I only managed to tick off a cuckoo that I could hear calling in the woods. The bluebells weren't quite in full bloom yet to create the dazzling display that I had on my list, so I couldn't tick it off just yet. The only other highlight of this soggy walk was herding a pair of swans that were in the way at the sluices as we made our way to and from the Tower Hide like a pair of shepherds.

The next day after this forgettable walk, I had a very important visit to a clinic to get my second Covid jab. So, I am pleased to say that I am fully vaccinated!

May 9th  Titchwell

A glorious day after a week of almost constant rain. It was so nice that my parents decided to take me out to Titchwell for the first time since November. When we got there, I could hear a bittern booming from the car park. The hides were all closed still, but the benches overlooking the pools were the next best thing. The sky was full of birds including a hobby, a red kite (we also saw 2 on the drive up to the reserve), marsh harriers and swarms of house and sand martins, swallows and swifts. The reed beds was buzzing with the sound of reed, sedge, willow and Cetti's warblers and reed buntings, while the pools themselves had avocets, sandwich and common terns, 2 black-tailed godwits, 2-3 redshanks, shelducks, brent geese, gadwall, linnets and a mother mallard with ducklings.

On the beach, a gathering of turnstones, dunlin, sanderling and oystercatchers were making the most of the exposed seaweed before the incoming tide covered it up once again. I also saw a siskin, a Chinese water deer and a possible bearded tit. Before heading home, we made a short stop at Choseley Barns in the hope of dotterels, but only saw hares, and red-legged partridges and heard a corn bunting instead.

May 10th Thorpe Marshes

I was intrigued to find out if there were anything new to see at Thorpe Marshes since my last visit. As I made my way across the railway bridge and halfway down the steps to get onto the reserve, I discovered a garden warbler singing in a bush that was beside the bridge. It moved around quite a bit, but I still managed to get a couple of great photos of this elusive warbler that's usually tricky to see in full view. Nearby, a grasshopper warbler was reeling somewhere close by but failed to show itself. A kestrel was busy hunting over the marsh, while the swifts, swallows and martins swirled high above. There was one new addition to my list in the form of a cuckoo flying past me. The lake was fairly quiet with nothing too out of the ordinary other than 2 common terns, tufted ducks, a pochard, swans, a great crested grebe, gadwall and a cormorant.

May 12th Strumpshaw Fen

My final visit to Strumpshaw as a visitor before I am allowed back to volunteer in another week's time. It was a vast improvement in the weather compared to the previous week in the rain as it was rather summer-like. The hides are yet to reopen to the public, so I was glad that it wasn't raining this time around. 

From Reception Hide, I was greeted with the sight of 4 hobbies hunting insects on the wing together. In the woods, the bluebells were finally in full bloom, forming a mini blue carpet in one small corner of the reserve. Whilst admiring the bluebells, a small bird perched atop of a long stump-ended trunk of a double-trunked tree. It was a spotted flycatcher! This was the best view I've had of one at Strumpshaw and I was able to get a couple of photos of this charming little bird with a squeaky wheelbarrow-like call. Now I just want to find one in Norwich for my main list.

Spotted Flycatcher (May 12th), Marsham's Nomad Bee (May 18th), Ruby-tailed Wasp (May 19th), Wheatear (May 22nd) & Blue Tit (May 26th) 

I added more ticks to my Strumpshaw 45 challenge sheet, though the majority of them were birds that I only managed to hear this time, which included treecreeper, bearded tit and kingfisher as well as a cuckoo, water rail, a garden warbler and a grasshopper warbler (the latter two not actually on the list). Also seen today was a great white egret, common terns, marsh harriers, lapwings, a Chinese water deer, common terns, a pair of swans with cygnets and many butterflies and damselflies.

May 18th Mousehold Heath

It had been a long time since the last group walk to be held at Mousehold. I was handpicked for an experimental walk today. I joined a small group led by Will (the warden) and Peter (our wildlife guide) and three other very familiar faces. We spaced ourselves out a bit to meet the social distancing guidelines, but was still able to enjoy the wildlife together.

Highlights include; a bank vole (that ran in front of me on the way to meet up with the group), a Marsham's nomad bee, buzzards, hearing a garden warbler and seeing a red kite soaring high in the clouds (the 2nd ever recorded at the site). The weather was good up until a rumble of thunder suddenly threatened our walk out of nowhere. It then started to rain during our lunch break and as we had to keep outside, we got a little damp. I had to leave due to this as I had to walk home before it got extremely worse, but while making my way home through the heath, the rain stopped and the sun came out with very warm sunshine that dried me out fairly quickly.

May 19th Strumpshaw Fen

I have returned! My first shift at Strumpshaw since just before New Year's and before lockdown came into place. This was my 10th year as a volunteer here and it was good to be back. With this being the week that many indoor public places such as theatres were allowed to open again, so too were the reserve's hides. Fen and Tower Hide have now reopened, though to a limited capacity and you need to wear a mask inside. For now, Reception Hide operates like it did when I was last volunteering here with me and my colleague the only ones allowed inside. I was back on coffee making duties once more.

It was nice to pre-shift routine once again. Travelling on the train, walking to the reserve, walking around the reserve, sitting in the hides and filling up the bird feeders, I had missed it all! The birds were more active at this early time of day and I enjoyed hearing several cuckoos and grasshopper warblers singing all over the place in what seems to be a bumper year for these two species at Strumpshaw, while bearded tits and marsh harriers were making themselves known from Fen Hide. I watched a pair of harriers do a food pass, which reminded me that life continued here while I was away. I also saw a linnet and had good views of a Cetti's warbler. 

My back was in agony from a long shift at work at the Royal Mail sorting centre a couple of days ago, in which I believed to have pulled a nerve and during my first shift inside the Reception Hide in ages, it really was playing up. Just sitting and scanning with my binoculars was enough to annoy my back. Despite the pain though, I continued to make the coffees and watch the wildlife outside. Around lunchtime, the sky suddenly turned black as a storm was approaching. The air felt cold and as if it was being sucked upwards and many rumbles of thunder were heard, getting louder and louder and there was even the odd flash of lightning. During the storm, swallows, swifts, house martins, black-headed gulls, a common tern and 2 hobbies swooped and swirled over the broad and once the storm calmed, I saw a cuckoo sitting on a stump on the far side. This scene was was like a good representation of how I felt returning to volunteering today and the way my back was feeling.

May 22nd Cley

While my back was feeling slightly better, I went out to Cley with my parents. It was still causing some discomfort, so we didn't stay for too long. Only one hide was open due to a pair of marsh harriers nesting nearby to the three central hides. There wasn't much on the pools anyway other than a few avocets, shelducks, a large swarm of swifts, swallows and sand martins and a herd of cattle. Apparently, there were 3 whimbrels and a short-eared owl at Arnold's Marsh. All I could find were a flock of curlews, a couple of turnstones, dunlin, redshanks, sandwich terns, a wheatear and some nesting avocets, but no whimbrels or owls.

May 26th Strumpshaw Fen

I was having a week off work to give my back some time to recover. It is now much better than it was, though a little bit of pain still lingers. Today's shift at Strumpshaw was my first big test for my back  and by the end of my shift, it was achy but not giving me too much agony. The morning started really nicely with bright sunshine, though a tad chilly. On the way to the reserve, I startled a hare into running on a nearby field, but as it was not on the reserve itself, I couldn't tick it off for my Strumpshaw 45 challenge. At the reserve itself, I managed to spot a cuckoo, a few bearded tits and had a very brief glimpse of a grasshopper warbler that was reeling in a bush close to Sandy Wall. 

When I returned to Reception Hide, I learned that there had been a white-spotted bluethroat (pretty much a robin with a blue throat) that had been seen or heard for the last 3 days and apparently it was still around this morning. However, it was all rather hush hush and no one was telling me anything when I met a few groups of people who seemed to be returning from looking for it. By the time I went to check for it myself, the weather turned and was a bit blustery. Most of the birds at this point were now less vocal with birds like the grasshopper warblers and cuckoos being mostly silent. It seems this bluethroat is most likely more active during dawn and dusk if I wanted to see it. The best I could muster was a lizard, hobbies, marsh harriers and another cuckoo.

May 28th Thorpe Marshes

The weather was too nice to go to waste and so I went over to Thorpe for a few hours. I was here on my own, but I ended up unintentionally tagging along a guided group walk that I met along the way round. The highlights being a family of stonechats, a pair of common sandpipers, buzzards, a heron, lapwing, a couple of tufted duck and great crested grebes, swifts, whitethroats, reed, sedge and Cetti's warblers and, after leaving the group for a second walk around the reserve, linnets and little egrets. There were also a few interesting plants in flower such as ragged robin and yellow flag iris.