July 3rd Cley

Grayling

It was looking promising on the ride up to Cley this morning, but when we eventually arrived, thick clouds covered the bright blue skies. The bright, cheery scenes gave way to a dull, gloomy one instead. The fear of rain was on my mind while walking down to the shingle ridge along the beach via the East Bank. Thankfully, the rain didn't come and I was able to search for one of my favourite butterflies; the grayling. Graylings are sun loving insects and also have rather good camouflage, often closing their wings when they land and can even hide the orange upper wing like a camera shutter to make it much harder to spot, so I was a little worried that I wouldn't find one for two reasons. But there was no need to worry. I managed to find one after a bit of searching, mainly because I nearly stepped on it by accident!


Gatekeeper

Small Tortoiseshell

Chicory

Yellow Horned Poppy

Cinnabar Moth caterpillar

Large White



Spoonbill

I returned to Mum, who was waiting for me at the shelter on the East Bank, with a smile on my face and a few stones in my shoes. But graylings were just the start of what was to become one of my best visits to Cley for some time. Not only did I see sandwich terns, parachuting meadow pipits, reed buntings and sedge warblers, I also had a spoonbill and a bittern fly over our heads while making our way back to the visitor centre for lunch. The spoonbill flew to the far pool at the back end of the field to my left, while the bittern went the opposite direction into a reed bed beyond the three main central hides. Annoyingly, through, I was fumbling with my camera too much to get any decent shot of the bittern, but at least the spoonbill was nice enough to stick around for me to get a few distant photos.

Sandwich Terns

Little Egret

Reed Bunting

Collard Dove

Lapwing chick



Otter

Once lunch was over, we made our way to the hides to see what else was about. We entered Teal Hide (the one on the right) and were just plonking ourselves down onto one of the benches inside, when the man sitting beside me called out and pointed to an otter that was swimming in the ditch between the pools in front of us. It didn't stay for very long, but I did manage one quick photo before it disappeared completely. We had only been in the hide for less than a moment and we had already seen something memorable!

Marsh Harrier

While in Teal Hide, we watched a pair of marsh harriers perform food passers to their three hungry, recently fledged chicks. As they waited for their parents to show up with their next meal, these dark-coloured, ginger-headed juvenile birds were sitting on bushes and even in the long grass of the furthest island on Pat's Pool with it's head poking out. We also saw ruff, godwits, avocets and shelducks, but despite the pool being full of water, most of these birds were more abundant at Simmond's Scrape, where it is almost completely dried up.

Young Marsh Harrier hiding in the grass!

Shelduck

Mallard with ducklings

Ruff

 So, we moved over to the middle hide (Dawke's Hide) and from here, the birds were much closer. There were plenty of male ruffs feeding along the edge of the nearest island, each flaunting it's own different coloured ruff display feathers. Just as in hair colour in humans, the ruffs vary in colour, some being white, while others ginger or brown. This one island also had a family of at least seven little ringed plovers patrolling it with most of them being juvenile birds. A green sandpiper also made a short appearance this afternoon.

Ruffs with a Little Ringed Plover

Little Ringed Plover

Green Sandpiper

Black-headed Gull

Avocet

Black-tailed Godwit

Grey Heron

Finally, a warning. These next images are not for the faint hearted! This is because they all feature a cute, fluffy duckling being gobbled up by a heron. Trust me, it was not an easy thing to watch and the distressful sounds the duckling was making was a bit off putting. Mum couldn't stand watching it for long as the heron continued to struggle positioning the baby bird wiggling in it's bill, trying it's best to escape. It took several minutes until the heron finally gulped it down. Not a pleasant thing to witness, but that's nature for you. Only the fittest survive.

Grey Heron trying to eat a duckling!

July 1st Strumpshaw Fen

Comma

I have returned to Strumpshaw, but this time as a visitor. It is a lovely sunny day and as it was a wet and gloomy on Wednesday, I decided to make a visit to add some more invertebrates to my list. There were a couple of things I wanted to see and photograph today and one of them is a recently new species to the reserve. Silver-washed fritillaries are big orange butterflies and this week, a few have been seen on the bramble patches along the woodland trail. It is suspicious to where they came from, but it seems they are a welcome addition to the site. I waited with a few butterfly enthusiasts by a large patch of brambles for one to appear. Sadly, though they had been seen today and despite several attempts throughout the time I was here, I was unable to see one.






White Admiral

Instead of silver-washed fritillaries, I was, however, much luckier in seeing several white admirals. These black and white butterflies are very similar in behaviour to the fritillaries. Both spend most of their time up in the canopies, often lured down to feast on the irresistible nectar-rich flowers of the brambles. When they do come down, they can be very photogenic. The monochrome upper wings are bold and striking enough, but their underwings are equally beautiful to look at, perhaps even more so. It was also great to see that the brown hawkers, southern hawkers and emerald damselflies are now on the wing.

Ringlet

Brimstone

Southern Hawker

Emerald Damselfly

Hoverfly

Norfolk Hawker

Common Darter

Song Thrush

Grass Snake

In between my fritillary searches, I had my lunch on one of the benches on the platforms of the new pond-dipping pond. However, my lunch was constantly interrupted as I was distracted by wildlife that kept turning up to surprise me. This included a swallowtail butterfly that swooped past me and fed on a bindweed flower nearby, but was gone by the time I swapped my sandwich for my camera. But I didn't have long to wait after the swallowtail vanished to use the camera, as I noticed something in the pond wiggling. It was a grass snake! Like some kind of Loch Ness monster, only it's head was poking above the surface, while the rest of it's long propelled it through the water towards a set of large green reeds. I was quick enough this time to get one shot of it before it slithered out of sight.





Norfolk Hawker

As well as spending time in the woods, I did also venture into the orchid-covered meadow trail. The ditches were still whirring with dragonfly life, though not as intense as the previous time I walked alongside them. The Norfolk hawkers were the most numerous here today and were busy battling each other in aerial dog fights. Swallowtail fever was still in the air and I met a couple from Dorset who were out searching for one. They were soon pleased when one was flying over the meadow and I was there to help point it out to the wife, who was struggling to spot it.









Scarce Chaser

Walking along the river, I was pleased to finally see and photograph my other target for today; a male scarce chaser. These dragonflies are another big attraction at Strumpshaw amongst dragonfly enthusiasts as this is one of the few hotspots across the UK. I have to admit, though I have seen many immature and female individuals, I don't remember ever seeing a male in all it's splendour before. The main reason is probably because I may have mixed them up with male black-tailed skimmers. This is because they can look very similar, but that black band across the middle of the abdomen and the blue eyes of the male scarce chaser really helps to distinguish the two. But to why I have never photographed one before is beyond me.






Bank Vole

Making my way down Sandy Wall, I was being accompanied by a family with two little girls who were also completing the loop from the meadow trail. I was showing them a few odds and ends, when I then noticed something rustling in the long grass by my feet at the edge of the path. We watched as the movement came closer and closer towards us, until a pair of small beady eyes and a short, rounded snout peered out from the grass at us. It is a bit tricky to be completely sure, but I believe what we were looking at was a water vole! But before I could even reach for my camera, it turned back into the dense grass and was gone! Also today, I saw two more swallowtails, a kingfisher, a little egret, marsh harriers, a whitethroat, sparrowhawks and this bank vole.

Whitethroat