Heatwave

 July 4th Strumpshaw Fen

Coming into July, I was in agony as I was suffering with a muscle strain in my hip for a week and I was struggling to walk. I spent the weekend leading up to the first Strumpshaw shift of the month just resting. It didn't improve as I made my way to the reserve. However, I managed to not only get there just fine, but I also reached the pumphouse side of the Fen to watch the barn owls. 

I was in luck as the barn owls were showing really well this morning. One of the adults was out hunting over the meadows and every now and then would bring back the food to the young that I could see poking their heads from the owl box. I watched the owl for quite some time. It was such a beautiful sight and in broad daylight. I was happy to finally add a barn owl to my lists, taking me to 159 British birds and 203 overall.

Barn Owl & Large Scissor-Bee (July 4th),
Swallowtail Caterpillar & Little Tern (July 9th),
Swallowtail (July 11th), Silver-washed Fritillary
& White Admiral (July 18th) & Garganey (July 25th)

After a walk around the meadow trail looking for marsh helleborines but failing, I walked back to Reception Hide, finding a silver-washed fritillary on the brambles. The pain in my hip was starting to get to me by the time I got to the hide. I attempted to rest it as much as I could, but there was a lot of distractions. This included a bittern (which made 3 appearances, including a preening session in the reeds at the far side of the broad), a brief swallowtail flyby, a sparrowhawk sitting within the cherry tree outside the Reception Hide, bearded tits, large scissor-bees in the nectar garden, scarce chasers, common terns and a swallowtail caterpillar feeding on the hogweed plant (of all things) in front of the Reception Hide.

Later that day, I went to see a new osteopath to look at my hip and after leaving I felt the pain dissipate to the point I could walk again. After another session later that week, it had more or less faded away completely!

July 9th Winterton & Strumpshaw Fen

My parents and I popped over to Winterton to visit the colony of little terns that the RSPB are guarding and roped off. They have been very successful with about 300+ there and many of their young had now fledged and gathered on the beach beyond the ropes. It was a short visit and it provided me with a very easy tick that took me to 160 British birds and 204 overall.

We then returned to the car and made our way to Strumpshaw as we were attending the first annual volunteers BBQ in 3 years. It was nice to see everyone again and after eating enough burgers, we had a group walk around the reserve and saw a spotted flycatcher, a barn owl and a willow emerald damselfly.

July 11th Strumpshaw Fen

My hip was feeling so much better than it was before, but now I was having trouble traveling to Strumpshaw. I was waiting for the earliest bus into the city, as normal, however it never showed up and I had missed my train. So I had to get a taxi to the station and get a much later train than I wanted. This meant I had less time to go for my walk before my shift. When I arrived, I only had 30 minutes to search for marsh helleborines with no luck.

From Reception Hide, bearded tits were hopping down the reeds to drink and giving the odd flight to the reedy islands and a bittern poked his head out from the reedbed behind these islands. Near the end of my shift, a swallowtail was attracted to the buddleia around the corner from the hide, while the caterpillar was still on the hogweed in front of it.

July 18th Strumpshaw Fen

A heatwave had hit the UK with temperatures reaching nearly 40°C! I had to catch a taxi again, but managed to catch my train just in time to get to the reserve before the heat really kicked in and became unbearable. I wanted to try my luck with the marsh helleborines in the meadow trail again, but unfortunately it was closed off and mowed down. So I ended up in Fen Hide instead, seeing 2 lapwings, bearded tits, a bittern, marsh harrier fledglings, reed and sedge warblers and a little egret. I also had a great white egret from Reception Hide before hand when I arrived.

By the start of my shift, it got hotter and hotter. I spent as much time as I could in the hide where it was slightly cooler with a few back and forth short visits to the buddleia bush around the corner where silver-washed fritillaries and white admirals were finding the sweet nectar hard to resist. From the Reception Hide itself, I had sightings of little egrets, herons, bearded tits, a sparrowhawk and a brief swallowtail flyby. There was no sign of the caterpillar though. It likely pupated somewhere hidden.

July 21st Mousehold Heath

For the first time in about 3 years I went to Mousehold for a moth evening. It was a great turn out and though I wasn't there for more than an hour and a half, I was able to see some moths as they gradually turned up into the moth trap. Here's some of the highlights...

Bronze-winged Underwing, Dun-bar,
Willow Ermine, Rosy Tabby,
Parapoynx stratiotata & Peppered Moth

July 25th Strumpshaw Fen

The worse of the heatwave had passed. Norfolk had seen some wildfires, but thankfully, Strumpshaw was not hit by any. Instead, the reserve had mostly dried up. I visited Tower Hide, following a green woodpecker from Sandy Wall to the sluices along the way, and it looked dead and empty of water and life except for a couple of little egrets. Fen Hide was no better as it was reduced to a puddle and plants were beginning to sprout out where the water was.

Reception Hide was the place to be as the broad still had plenty of water (one of the few places on the reserve that did) and many ducks. The mixture of mallards, gadwall and shovelers (all looking not their best due to moulting) provided the action as not only was there a juvenile garganey amongst them, but also an otter and a cub or two forcing them to move to the opposite end of the broad. The otter was actively hunting for a majority of the morning and the cub(s) occasionally was play fighting and I could hear it/them making some playful noises. Also seen that day were; bearded tits, marsh harriers, several herons and little egrets, a family of swans, a cormorant, swallow and a sparrowhawk.

It has not been a great month for me and my bird lists. I was hindered by a hip injury, the extreme heat (I opted out from going outside in it), family activities and dino and mammoth hunting (there are many sculptures of t-rexes and mammoths around the city and county for the summer I wanted to see) that I only managed to see two new birds in the end. My total for July is 160 (British list), just one shy of my record from last year.