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.