Feb 13th Strumpshaw Fen and Upton Marshes

Mute Swan

There was a bit of a dull, grey start to this morning, but thankfully, this was not to last and it turned out to be a glorious sunny day. Just like last Wednesday, it felt very spring-like. Hopefully, it will remain like this for the rest of the week unlike last week which ended very wet and windy. On the wildlife side of things, it was a perfect day to watch them. There were large flocks of siskins everywhere, every alder tree seemed to be attracted by them as their twitter-y, wheezing calls filled the air. Buzzards and marsh harriers continued to dominate the sky with their aerial displays. Meanwhile, the broad outside the Reception Hide was dominated by 63 coot and about 15 - 20 gadwall. I also saw treecreepers in the wood and a Chinese water deer at Fen Hide. Other than that, it was just a pleasant day without too much excitement.

Coots (at Fen Hide)



At Reception Hide (63 coot!)

Gadwall

Shoveler

Greylag

Cormorant

Shelducks

Chinese Water Deer

Blue Tit

Blue Tit and Long-tailed Tit

Treecreeper



Snowdrops

Upton Marshes

After my shift ended though, well this was when the day got better, in my opinion. This was because my Reception Hide colleague, Tricia, decided that we should go out to Upton Marshes in search of owls. Firstly, I've never been to Upton Marshes before. I've been to Upton Fen, which is right next door, but never to these marshes. Secondly, you may think that searching for owls during the day sounds a strange idea, but not all owls are nocturnal. We were after short-eared owls, a winter visiting owl from the Continent that hunts during the day.  They have been overwintering at this reserve for some time now and have been regularly seen almost daily. Tricia, herself, has even seen them here a few times. This was her local patch, so there was no one better to show me around than her.

Chinese Water Deer

Pied Wagtail

Short-eared Owl

There was quite a bit of walking (and mud) involved before we reached the spot where Tricia knew the owl were patrolling on a regular basis. I was starting to tire with my feet and back showing signs of giving up on me, but after many field scanning minutes later, we struck owl gold. I found it first as it floated low over one section of field. Its plumage almost matched the dried vegetation below it. Then it changed direction and crossed the reserve's main track to another section of the reserve that was full of waterlogged marshy fields, passing behind two walkers who had no idea of its presence as it flew by them. We followed the bird's every movement until it decided to sit and wait for us to catch up on a gate. It was busy having a preening session and a look around for several minutes, giving me plenty of time to get a few photos of it, stretching my camera's zoom to the limit. We couldn't believe our luck. We came to see a short-eared owl and we had found one!

Our luck was not done there however. With the long (and extra muddy) walk back to the car complete, Tricia was driving me back to the train station in Brundall. Along the way, driving between a landscape of flat farmland fields, a strikingly pale white bird caught our attention as it flew past the car. It was another owl! This time, it was a barn owl. I was hoping that it would stop somewhere for me to get a few photos. It didn't. It continued to fly along the edge of the field. It was so close to the road that we were practically now following right beside it in some kind of drag race. We were matching the speed of the owl the whole stretch of what remained of the road we were on. We were both doing 20mph! This was one fast owl! I was unable to get a photo, but it was an incredible way to end a great day, even though my body is now drained of energy from so much exercise!

Feb 6th Strumpshaw Fen

Female Reed Bunting

There's a feeling of spring in the air today. It was much lighter than it has been when I arrived to Strumpshaw this morning and it was much milder, too. Reed buntings were now starting to sing across the reserve, a sign that spring must be here already, as long as winter doesn't make a sudden return that is. A small group of females gave me a close encounter as at least three of them were trying their best to ignore me as they continued to feed on the reed heads a short distance from where I was standing along the Sandy Wall. One was even bold enough to continue her search on the path itself right in front of me! They may not be as spectacularly handsome as the male, but it was a lovely encounter nonetheless.

This Coot was splashing on this mound to attract his mate's attention

Fen Hide provided very little except for 3 Chinese water deer, a mute swan and a pair of coot that mated on a mound that I presumed was where their nest will be built. The strangest thing that I noticed about the mating was that the male was stamping his feet on the potential nest site causing some splashing and it was as if it was to attract her attention to get over to where he was. It worked as she swam over, got into position and did the deed. It was over in a flash.

Doing the deed

Chinese Water Deer

Mute Swan

Pheasant

Scarlet Elfcap

I made a quick walk in the woods before I started my shift and I discovered that there were more scarlet elfcaps and snowdrops than there were before. The snowdrops covered one small corner of the woods in a slightly showy display, while the elfcaps were a little less easy to spot, but once I got my eye in, I realised that I was standing on some that I didn't spot before and soon found myself surrounded by them. These small red fungi were appearing beneath me like magic.



Snowdrops

Long-tailed Tit

Robin

Greylag Geese

Greylag geese had taken over the broad outside the Reception Hide today, supported by the usual cast of gadwall, shovelers, mallards, teal and coot. The honking of these noisy geese was a big part of the soundtrack for most of the morning, though there was a brief break from their racket around lunchtime as they all decided to fly to elsewhere for a bit, but they did eventually return a short while later along with their honking. But it was the sound of mewing buzzards that broke through their noise and caught my attention to the max as several individuals were circling high above performing aerial courtship dances alongside a few sky dancing marsh harriers and a pair of sparrowhawks. Love was in the air, high in the air.

Cobber the Black Swan

Cobber chasing a Mute Swan

Marsh Harrier and wildfowl

Buzzards



Cormorant