Ice & Rainbows

 Dec 5th Strumpshaw Fen & Buckenham Marshes

A very changeable day as it kept changing from rain, sunny spells and some very colourful rainbows, but mostly rain. I arrived early enough to see the starlings leave the Reception Hide, just a few thousand flying over my head without anything fancy. At Fen Hide I saw a little egret, Chinese water deer, marsh harriers and bearded tits. A quick walk to the river was cut short by another rain shower, but I did encounter a few fieldfares.

During my shift at Reception Hide, an otter made a couple of visits and we actually had ducks on the broad for the first time in what seems like some time ago (plenty of them, mostly mallards and some gadwall), marsh harriers, a sparrowhawk and a buzzard, 4 mute swans (a pair with a near-fully grown cygnet that had territorial disputes against the 4th) and a couple of brightly coloured rainbows arching across the reserve.

After my shift, I was invited to a walk at Buckenham as I missed out on the annual Christmas get-together due to work. I joined with my group of 3 others on what was an afternoon of mixed fortune. We enjoyed views of many wigeon, lapwings, several Chinese water deer, marsh harriers, a single pink-footed goose, greylags, Canada geese, some barnacle geese, 4 white pheasants and my final new addition to my bird list, white-fronted geese. However, the weather was awful. It kept raining on and off, but the worst of it happened as we decided to head back to our cars. We were all soaked to the bone!

Little Egret, Rainbow,
Wigeon (Dec 5th), Icy Scene,
Frozen Rosehips & Water Rail (Dec 12th)

Dec 12th Strumpshaw Fen

The temperature dropped below zero and to say it wasn't a bit cold was a bit of an understatement. I brought my hiking stick to help navigate through the slipperiest of paths as I made my journey to Strumpshaw on foot. The reserve itself was mostly frozen over and very quiet. Before my shift started, my morning walk produced fieldfares, bullfinches, herons, marsh harriers, 3 swans on ice and a Chinese water deer.

From Reception Hide, the broad was just ice and nothing much on it. At least there was a large flock of bearded tits (about 10+) feeding on reed heads at the reedy islands and a water rail showing well close to the hide to give me something to look at.

Dec 19th Strumpshaw Fen

It was a much warmer day, but the ice still remained on the broad outside the Reception Hide, though it was hard to notice unless you looked closely enough. There wasn't too much about either. Two great white egrets, marsh harriers, 3 mute swans, herons, buzzards, the odd bearded tit and, on the feeders, a great spotted woodpecker.

This was to be my last outing of the year as I spent Christmas with my family, Strumpshaw was closed on Boxing Day and work took up my week days. It was a year that had started well, but kind of slowed towards the end of it. I've seen plenty of great birds, especially when I went to Spain in May. If you want to see my full bird list of the year, I will post it in full later. As for next year, who knows. I may have a challenge in mind. However, I still haven't planned it out fully yet, so watch this space. For now, I hope you all had a great Christmas and I wish you all a happy new year. Here's to 2023!