Displays & Surprises

 May 1st Strumpshaw Fen

Another wet bank holiday Monday, though it wasn't as bad than the previous one last month (mostly grey cloud than actual torrential rain).Undeterred of the gloomy weather, I went to Tower Hide, though there wasn't much to see. I did hear a cuckoo and a common sandpiper along the river and a grasshopper warbler from the top of Sandy Wall was reeling away. Cetti's warblers were also shouting into my ears with their loud calls and gave fleeting and obscured views. A lapwing was displaying at Fen Hide and a Chinese water deer was grazing the stubble. I also noticed a couple of twayblade leaves sprouting in the woods.

From Reception Hide, I was able to spot a distant cuckoo calling atop of the trees and shrubs a few times and a grey wagtail was catching insects from the front of the hide. I saw my first common tern pair at the reserve this year as well as plenty of swallows, house martins and swifts (my first for 2023), a marsh harrier trying to catch a duckling and there were many reed buntings in the reedbeds. There were still many ducklings and goslings around.

May 5th Winterton Dunes

It was time to attempt to find one of my hardest spectacle on my list; the night song of the Natterjack toad. These incredibly rare amphibians produce one of the loudest sounds to attract a mate in a chorus of croaks that can apparently be heard from quite some distance. They breed around April to June in shallow ponds that dry up. I was told Winterton had some Natterjack pools on the dunes. So, for one night only, I met up with my friend Tricia and went to stake out these pools in the hope in hearing them.

After a meal of fish & chips and a mile or so walk on the dunes, we finally reached the ponds. Along the way, we saw some stonechats, yellowhammers, linnets and red-legged partridges.

Sunset At Winterton (May5th), Grey Wagtail
& Red Mason Bee (May 8th), Lesser Whitethroat
& Common Tern (May 14th) & Little Owl (May 15th)

We waited for it to get dark as the toads were nocturnal. As we waited, the sound of nightjars churring began to start up as daylight began to dim, sounding pretty close by and I could hear a kestrel and a whimbrel that flew above us in the darkness a lot later that night.

Sadly, despite it being a clear night and the rain from hours earlier seemingly passed completely and it being a full moon, we failed in hearing a single toad. Maybe it was a bit cold for them to come out? We were left to walk back in the pitch blackness with only a torch to guide us and the hoot of a tawny owl to send us off on our way to Tricia's car.

May 7th Buxton Heath

It was International Dawn Chorus Day and so, Dad and I woke up early and went to experience it at Buxton Heath for the first time. We were lucky that the rain that plagued the coronation all day yesterday had cleared away and it became a bit misty over the heathland.

Though not as lively as my dawn chorus walk at Strumpshaw last year, but it was still good. The highlights included a cuckoo, a brief of a tree pipit, yellowhammers, stonechats, linnets, garden warblers, whitethroats and, best of all, a few wood larks. I never expected to hear a wood lark perform their wonderful display song here as they rise to the air and then parachute back down to the ground in sync with their song.

We also saw several roe deer, a buzzard and heard a red-legged partridge, pheasants, blackcaps, willow warblers, chiffchaffs, mistle and song thrushes, crows, blackbirds, blue, coal and great tits, robins, wrens, chaffinches and woodpigeons.

May 8th Strumpshaw Fen

Another bank holiday Monday (an extra day due to the King's coronation) and it was a nice day. I went to look for spotted flycatchers in the woods and had 4 together by the bluebell corner (which was lacking of bluebells this year, likely gobbled up by a plague of muntjac deer, which seemed to have eaten the twayblades too), chasing each other in the canopy.

At the pumphouse, I could hear a lesser whitethroat singing on the other side of the river. From Sandy Wall, a grasshopper warbler was reeling and I found a lizard basking on the side of the path. I heard a cuckoo calling near the river and a marsh harrier was bringing in nesting material at Fen Hide.

From Reception Hide, at least 4-5 hobbies were hunting high up in the clouds alongside swifts. I also saw swarms of swallows and house martins, a few tufted ducks, 2 grey wagtails, reed buntings, mute swans with 7 cygnets, greylags, gadwall, mallards with ducklings, red mason bees, brimstones, orange-tips and peacock butterflies. 

May 14th Titchwell

It turned out to be a nice sunny day, a perfect day to visit Titchwell. While my parents enjoyed a cup of coffee before we set off on our walk together, I decided to pop over very quickly to Patsy's Pool where a lesser whitethroat had been reported. I went to check it out and I was delighted not to just hear and see it, but I actually finally got my first ever lesser whitethroat photo. I've never seen one so obliging before as they normally are either well hidden or move around too much for me to get the shot. It was a new bird for my photo collection.

I re-joined my parents and made our way to the beach. The first half of our walk pass the freshwater pool was pretty good. Highlights include; a red kite, marsh harriers, brent geese, a little gull, avocets, common terns, little ringed plovers, many goslings and ducklings, redshanks, oystercatchers, shelducks, 2 Chinese water deer and many, many noisy black-headed gulls.

Moving on towards the sea was less eventful, but we did have a common tern hovering by the path and catching a fish as well as seeing 2 little terns, a little egret, linnets and displaying meadow pipits. The tide was in and I didn't see much other than the odd sandwich tern flying over the waves.

On the way home, we popped by Chosley Barns where a dotterel had been reported in a field, but when I got there, all I could see were hares.

May 15th Strumpshaw Fen

As I made my way for another morning at Strumpshaw, something caught my eye as I walked down the country road leading to the reserve. Sitting within a clump of trees bordering a ploughed field was a little owl! It sat there on a branch like a round lump of feathers with two yellow eyes looking right back at me. We looked at each other for about a couple of minutes and even when a car drove pass me, it was still there. Eventually, it left its spot and flew by me across the field into one of the single standing row of oak trees behind me.

Tower Hide was my intended destination during my pre-shift walk this week. A cuckoo was singing from a distant tree, but what really got my interest was seeing a pair of cranes in the same clearing I saw one a month ago. It was clear that we have a nest here. A few days later (May 17th), it was later confirmed that they had a chick, the first ever for Strumpshaw!

It was a windy day with one patch of rain, though the sun did try to come out. At Reception Hide, it was a bit chilly inside, but outside, there was plenty to look at to make you forget about the cold. There were swarms of swallows, house martins and swifts swooping around the broad, a pair of grey wagtails, a hobby, marsh harriers, buzzards, greylags, Canada geese, a common tern, a heron and a pair of Egyptian geese.

May 16th Sheringham Park

I was off work this week as was Dad, so we decided to go out together to Sheringham Park to check out the rhododendrons as part of my displays challenge. Sadly, most had already finished and had lost their blooms to form the large display I was hoping for. However, there was still enough to satisfy me with various colours ranging from pinks, reds, whites, yellows and one that was like fried eggs.

Crane (May 15th), Cowslips,
Snowdrop Tree, Handkerchief Tree,
Rhododendron & Buttercups (May 16th)  

There was also a field of buttercups, which is another one of my challenges I can tick off. The area was bright yellow with the sea in the horizon. We also heard a firecrest or two, a distant cuckoo, a yellowhammer, a small display of cowslips, bluebells and on the way home, a field of red campion.

We did a lot of walking and visited the viewpoints, Weybourne station and watched the steam trains and we went to see the snowdrop trees and handkerchief tree. However, Dad did get us lost on the way back from the train station, making us walk further than necessary. He owed me a cake afterwards when we eventually found our way back to the visitor centre.

May 17th New Buckenham Common & Ashwellthorpe Wood

There were another 2 displays I wanted to see before my week off was over. As they were roughly close by to one another, Dad and I spent the afternoon to look for them both. First up was New Buckenham Common to check out the display of green-winged orchids. We were here in 2019, when I was ticking them off my orchid challenge, so we knew where about to look for them. It wasn't long until we stumbled upon them, a lot of them.

Green-winged Orchids,
Orchid Display & Ramsons (May 17th)
& Temminck's Stint (May19th)

We were surrounded by orchids. Most of which were purple, but there were a few pink ones and I even found a rare white one. It was an amazing sight as the field had patches everywhere. Many of them! And that wasn't all as buttercups covered other parts of the field in a carpet of yellow and there was a pond full of water crowfoot which covered the pond edges in a mass of white.

Our 2nd display that I wanted to see that day was a woodland covered in wild garlic (a.k.a ramsons). When we were at Ashwellthorpe Wood looking for wood anemones last month, I remembered seeing the leaves had sprouted everywhere, but the flowers weren't out yet. I wanted to revisit the site for a quick look to check on them. It was worthwhile as they were definitely in bloom now. White globes poke out on tall stalks above the carpet of their large green leaves across a large part of the woodland floor. Hundreds of them! There was a smell of onions in the air too. It was not just a spectacle for the eyes, but for the nose as well!

May 19th Cley

It was time for what seems to be a monthly visit to Cley and it was a rather warm and sunny one. Mum and I started at Bishop's Hide, but it was rather crowded inside. We decided to leave for the other hides instead. While leaving, I caught a glimpse of a bearded tit and then a bittern flew right beside us low over the reeds towards the hide we just came out of!

Avocet chick & Swallow (May 19th),
Spotted Flycatcher & Hornet (May 22nd),
Hare & Sedge Warbler (May 29th)

At the other hides, I saw at least one Temminck's stint, possibly a little stint, a few little and common ringed plovers, little egrets, lapwings, many redshanks, shelducks and avocets (with chicks) and swallows and sand martins. We also had marsh harriers, several little terns flying over the sea, oystercatchers, a couple of godwits and heard a lesser whitethroat. No sign of the wood sandpipers that were apparently around. The only sandpiper I could find was a common sandpiper.

May 22nd Strumpshaw Fen

An overcast morning with a bit of a strong breeze. It felt a little chilly. Not the best of days for a swallowtail to emerge. Not too many highlights to talk about either, except for about 5 spotted flycatchers in the bluebell-less bluebell corner of the wood. I also heard a cuckoo and saw marsh harriers, the swarm of swifts, swallows and house martins, a heron, Egyptian geese, a great spotted woodpecker (on the feeders), a pied wagtail (no grey ones though) greylags and Canada geese. We also rescued a hornet sitting in the door way of the Reception Hide.

May 29th Strumpshaw Fen

It was the same weather conditions as last week, though the sun did try to come out towards midday. It wasn't likely that swallowtails would emerge today either. It also happened to be another bank holiday Monday and the steam rally at the Strumpshaw Steam Museum down the road was on for its final day and you could hear it going on from the reserve.

I did an early walk to Tower Hide before my latest shift began. On the way, I encountered a hare along Sandy Wall, heading towards me before moving into the scrub to my left. The great crested grebe was still on its nest at Tower Hide and I saw marsh harriers, gadwall, greylags and many swifts, swallows and house martins. At Fen Hide, just a couple of shovelers, coots and more marsh harriers. as well as hearing the odd ping of a bearded tit.

It was pretty quiet for the most part at Reception Hide. No sign of the great reed warbler that spent the day here on May 25th. I did see though, a common tern, a pair of swans with 6 cygnets, a female mallard with 11 tiny ducklings and the usual marsh harriers, greylag and Canada geese and the swarm of swifts and hirundines (swallows and martins). When the sun did show itself around lunch time, I did manage to glimpse a swallowtail very briefly, but was very fast to appreciate.