The Snake Bird

 Sep 4th Sheringham, Kelling, Salthouse & Cley

I've been dying to add more birds to my list and the lack of birding trips other than Strumpshaw has taken a toll on my total. The autumn migration was well underway and I met up with Tricia (my former Reception Hide partner) at Sheringham for a day of migrant hunting. Before she turned up, I did a spot of sea watching while waiting with my parents, seeing only a few sandwich terns, cormorants, a couple of gannets and great and lesser black-backed, herring and black-headed gulls.

Tricia eventually appeared and we made our way to our first stop at Kelling where a wryneck was spending a few days at the water meadows. A lot of people were already gathered down there, prompting that the bird was still around. They were overlooking a large patch of brambles and it wasn't long until I could see it sitting on a branch. Annoyingly, my camera was having a hard time focusing on it and the wryneck was constantly moving about. It was moving its neck in strange twisting movements like that of a snake, which gives the bird its alternative name of snake-bird. The wryneck then went to a slightly more distant branch before eventually plunging deep into the brambles. While waiting for a while for it to reappear, there were at least 10 whinchat on the fencing behind us to keep us satisfied.

Wryneck & Greenshank (Sep 4th),
Kingfisher (Sep 5th), Bittern,
Chinese Water Deer & Chiffchaff (Sep 12th)

The wryneck was not coming out, so we moved on to Gamborough Hill at Salthouse hoping for pied flycatchers. We failed to find any, but we did get close views of a wheatear and many meadow pipits and skylarks.

After a lunch break at Cley's visitor centre, we then joined the group of sea watchers by the shelter on the beach. Scanning the waves, I didn't find any skuas that were seen minutes before we arrived, but we did find something much bigger. An osprey!! Not only that, we also had a hobby and a peregrine have a bit of a dogfight. We ended up seeing more birds of prey than seabirds!

Lastly, we stopped by the hides at the reserve itself and there were many godwits, lapwings, a snipe, 2 greenshanks, 2 curlew sandpipers and a peregrine spooking them up at one point. We returned to Sheringham and met up with my parents who had spent the day there together. It was a good day with 3 new additions to my list with 166 British birds (209 overall).

Sep 5th Strumpshaw Fen

On the way to Strumpshaw this morning, I was fortunate to bump into Liz Dack, a regular to the reserve, and together we visited Tower Hide before my shift began. There were plenty of ducks to be seen there including 4-5 wigeon, teal, shovelers and gadwall and also a snipe right in front of the hide, a marsh harrier, many greylags and a brief kingfisher.

Ivy Bee (Sep 12th), Knot (Sep 18th)
Yellow-staining Mushroom, Common Shrew
Buzzard & Song Thrush (Sep 26th)

I then left Liz to it and made a very brief visit to Fen Hide. As soon as I entered the hide, another kingfisher appeared and perched on the wooden beam in front of me. Then, after leaving the hide, 5 or so bearded tits flew by me just outside.

At Reception Hide, I saw a little grebe, a couple of herons, swallows, a family of chiffchaffs and a blackcap to the side of the building, a quick flash of a stoat, gadwall, teal, shovelers, 3 mute swans and some migrant hawkers.

Sep 12th Strumpshaw Fen

A few days before this shift (Sep 8th), Her Majesty the Queen passed away aged 96. The country was in mourning and you could tell as there were very few visitors at Strumpshaw this week. It felt rather quiet.

I went to Fen Hide and had a bittern standing at the very edge of the reedbed to the left of the pool. There was also a Chinese water deer and marsh harriers and, over the meadow trail, a snipe flying.

Willow warblers and chiffchaffs were everywhere singing, including in the scrub to the left of the Reception Hide. Meanwhile, an otter appeared hunting in the broad and I found several ivy bees on the ivy outside.

Sep 18th Minsmere

As the Queen's funeral was about to happen on Monday (19th), all businesses and other places were to close for the day. This included Strumpshaw. So to make up for it, Mum and I went to visit Minsmere. I was hoping to see some new and exciting birds for my list there. However, I was disappointed. The place was rather dead. The view of the scrape from the East Hide was dried completely with barely anything on it. In the end, I only managed to find a few stonechats, a knot, a few avocets, the odd godwit, lapwing, marsh harrier, a kestrel and heard some bearded tits and that was as good as it got. One of the most disappointing visits to Minsmere I've ever had.

Sep 26th Strumpshaw Fen

After a whole week unable to go anywhere other than to work, I was feeling rather fed up. Thankfully, it was Monday again and I could go back to Strumpshaw. Unfortunately, it was a rainy and chilly day, though with some sunny spells.

I had a quick search for fungi, finding some yellow-staining mushrooms by the toilet block. I then continued my search at the basecamp area, where I once found some coral fungi. However, instead of finding anything, I ended up nearly getting flattened by a squirrel that fell out of a tree and landed right in front of me with a loud thump as it tried to escape me as I walked by. Scared the hell out of me!

At Fen Hide, there was very little about. At least not outside. Inside the hide was a different story. As I scanned for any signs of life outside, a high pitched squeak caught my attention. I looked down and there was a shrew scurrying around the floor by the benches. It was quite small and was moving towards me before finding its way out again through a small gap in the hide. I then went to the sluices, only seeing a fleeing muntjac and it started to rain again.

From Reception Hide, there were swarms of swallows and house martins swirling around the reserve in the rain. They attracted the attention of a hobby. I also saw a kingfisher, a flock of about 15 bearded tits, a brief flight of a snipe, a heron, a cormorant, about 3 marsh harriers and a buzzard.