The Return

 Nov 22nd  Strumpshaw Fen

While the second lockdown was still going on, I haven't really been doing much other than video games and work. With the days getting shorter and my plant list being on hiatus due to a lack of new plants to add with it being winter, I just haven't had the same enthusiasm for nature as I did in the previous lockdown. So, Mum decided to drop me off at Strumpshaw for a walk to get me back into the mood. 

Earthstars

The latest lockdown meant that all the hides were once again closed off to the public. And with the river flooding the path to Tower Hide, turning it into a muddy mess as it does every winter, there weren't many routes left open to explore other than the circuit leading through the woodland trail and pass the pumphouse. To be fair, there wasn't much to see anyway. I saw more families out for a walk than wildlife sightings on this occasion. However, the real highlight was finding a few earthstars. I've never found this fungi on my own before, let alone at Strumpshaw, so I was extremely pleased with myself. I'm not an expert on fungi, but there was no denying that they were very beautiful to look at, resembling like fungal versions of flowers. I also found plenty of candlesnuff fungi as well as siskins, marsh tits, marsh harriers and a Chinese water deer.

Dec 2nd  Strumpshaw Fen

Today, I have returned to Strumpshaw not as a visitor but back as a volunteer. It was finally time to wear the RSPB uniform once again, the first time since March on the day the reserve closed due to lockdown. It has been a long time waiting and now I had to get back into the habit of getting up at the crack of dawn, using public transport (which I had been avoiding since that day in March) and the walk to the reserve from Brundall station. When I arrived, the moon was still bright in the sky as the sun was rising. A thin layer of mist and frost cloaked the landscape and it was a tad nippy as I made my first walk around the reserve as a volunteer in a while. The view outside the hides was rather flooded, while the hides themselves weren't quite open yet for me to enter (the Fen Hide officially reopened later that morning). There were pheasants everywhere and I had a few encounters with muntjac and Chinese water deer and I even startled a hare that ran pass me along the path to the pumphouse. I also saw pink-footed geese fly over, a snipe and some redwings.

Checking in for my induction into volunteering under Covid-19 restrictions, I was taught how to operate in the Reception Hide safely and even got back into refilling the bird feeders (no sign of Percy the persistent pheasant though). My role now was to make coffees for visitors and place them on a tray for my colleague, Tricia, to collect. I have to keep my distance, sanitise every time I make a coffee as well as wear a mask while I make them and before I leave, I have to sanitise everything I touched in the hide. It was utter madness! If a time travelling birdwatcher from the past was to see how this set up was like, they'd probably think we've all gone insane and I wouldn't blame them. But this is  how things are now. I was just happy to be back despite all this crazy nonsense behind the scenes.

Otter, Frosty Sunrise at Fen Hide and Pintail

While everything inside the hide was bonkers, everything outside it was a welcoming distraction. It felt like the wildlife was welcoming me back in style as a good chunk of my first shift back in the hide was dominated by the presence of an otter that was hunting out on the broad. It even caught a couple of fish during its long stay, feasting on one of them (possibly an eel) within the reedy islands. And the otter wasn't the only big highlight celebrating my return as I had 2 sightings of 2 separate bitterns fly out of the reedbeds and across the broad to land in a different section of reedbed and amongst the mallards and gadwall in front of the hide was a male pintail. The pintail was a bit scruffy in the plumage, but it still topped off a memorable day back at Strumpshaw as a volunteer.

No-Go-November?

 Nov 4th  Mousehold Heath

A second lockdown was about to occur, though with a few differences to the one in the spring as schools were allowed to continue. For me, it meant I was likely back to being restricted to searching for plants and other wildlife within the city for at least another month. Of course, plants are thin on the ground at the moment as we move into winter. Even the trees were losing their leaves, providing me with very little to photograph for my lockdown plant collection for November. However, the lack of leaves on the trees can actually be a good thing if I was to seek out one of the most festive and fascinating plants around.

Mistletoe

Walking down to Mousehold Heath along Wall Road, I discovered clumps of green balls hanging within the bare branches of a few trees lined beside the end of the road. Mistletoe. They were all very high up to get any clear close up, as typical of this parasitic plant. I noticed a few white berries that weren't eaten by the birds already. It is the birds that got the mistletoe up there in the first place. When they eat these berries, it causes very sticky poops when they pass through their digestive systems. When it comes out, it sticks to their glands and the only way to rid of them is to wipe their bottoms to a bare branch. With a new location and instant fertiliser from the bird dropping it came out as, the mistletoe is then able to sprout and tap into the host tree to leech out all its nutrients without needing to set root into the ground. Despite all this success in manipulating the birds to carry its offspring elsewhere, I haven't actually found that many clumps within the city or even around Mousehold itself.

At Mousehold, I was only able a few trees that I hadn't added yet, such as hazel. I felt that my visit was more of an escape from the reality we're currently in for at least a few hours. I was able to forget about lockdown and surround myself with the visual beauty of autumn as well as the smells and sounds that accompany it at this time of year. The colours of the leaves, the fungi sprouting out here and there and the foraging activities of squirrels and jays and even seeing the several moths that are found on the wing during the winter months are enough to lift my mental state for at least a few minutes. 

Nov 8th  Titchwell

Travelling many miles to Titchwell during this second lockdown with my parents was not exactly my idea. It goes against what the government wants us to do in keeping the virus from spreading any faster. The way I see it though, as long as you stay within your 'social bubble' and keep your distance from other people, I can't see why you can't visit nature reserves. As much as this second lockdown is important, keeping yourself from going mentally unstable is also important. Being out and enjoying nature is the best medicine of battling depression and other mental illnesses. It has been proved that being amongst nature gives you the endorphins you need that help relieve stress, even if it is just a short walk in the park. Still, that didn't prevent us from getting some disappointed looks from the few volunteers left manning the reserve that made us feel rather guilty for our visit.

To begin with, it felt like no one else was around. Walking around the boardwalk section of the reserve, we encountered a muntjac deer grazing near the path and we managed to get within a few metres of it without scaring it off. In fact it never ran away when we got too close while trying to pass it, the deer just casually backed away, focusing more on its grassy meal than at us. 

Muntjac Deer, Golden Plover and Pintail

As all the hides were closed off again, we could only view the birds on the pools from the main path. This was fine by me. We sat on a bench overlooking the freshwater pool and had a little picnic, while watching hundreds, maybe thousands of golden plover take to the air and swirl above our heads, unsure if to land back down or not. A fantastic display to entertain us while we were eating. During our visit, we also saw grey plover, ringed plover, redwings, brambling, brent and pink-footed geese, marsh harriers, avocets, bearded tits, curlews, oystercatchers, redshanks, little egrets, turnstones, sanderlings, linnets, stonechats and 3 handsome pintails with one female. Out at sea, I scanned up a great crested grebe and a red-throated diver as well as a blackbird flying over the waves and landing into the dunes behind us. All in all, it was a great day at Titchwell, guilty or not.

Nov 17th  Catton Park

Today, I decided to make my monthly walk around my local park to search for plants. A bit of a waste of time, I know, but I did find a few plants that I've seen in the spring and summer that for some reason got their seasons wrong and decided to bloom now. Buttercups, green alkanets, mayweed, bramble, the list goes on. Though it's just a handful of each (up to a single plant to a small group of 2-3), it is still a very odd sight. Besides that, it was just another walk to keep my sanity from going over the edge and enjoying what was around me.

Wet-tober

 Oct 10th  Cley

October has been a rather wet month this year. It has been raining so much that I haven't had too many days in which I could do a lot of wildlife watching. Due to this and the whole Covid-19 second wave thing, I have been feeling rather fed up and a bit depressed lately. To cheer me up somewhat, Mum took me and my brother, his wife and little Ava to Cley on a rare sunny day earlier in the month. The wind was slightly chilly while we were having a picnic before we head out onto the reserve, but at least it wasn't raining. 

Guillemots

Bird wise, the trip wasn't the most memorable in terms of rarities, seeing mostly common species I've seen many times such as wigeon, curlews, little egrets, etc, but at least I was out in the fresh air. While the rest of my family skimmed stones across the waves as they entertained Ava, I did a bit of sea watching. Gannets were easy to spot with their size, shape and plumage colours, the guillemots, on the other hand, were less obvious as they bobbed up and down on the waves close to shore. Even though they were right in front of us, they made things hard to locate them especially when they decide to dive suddenly. On the way back, the sunny day that we thought was going to last for the remainder of the visit disappeared and was replaced with a short shower that lasted until we returned to the visitor centre's car park. Typical!

Oct 19th  Catton Park

The weather continued to be a bit of a downer for the most part since that trip to Cley. The physically demanding aspect of work was taking a toll on my body, so I took a week off at the same time my parents took the same week to visit my younger brother in Cheltenham. However, I decided to stay in Norwich instead of travelling with them, partly because my bedroom window was scheduled to be repaired with a new hinge. Left to my own devices, I had to think up things to do. I decided to spend a couple of days during my break to continue my plant list. 

Because the weather had been rubbish this month, I haven't really had much opportunity to go out and add anything new, not that there's much to add at this time of year. The flowering season is pretty much over now, so I decided to focus my attention to trees. Though I have already included the more commoner species such as oak, beech, lime, London plane and silver birch, I have saved plenty of other species for this moment right now. It is autumn and the city is awash with a variety of colours on the trees. Armed with a camera and my phone's app, I took a walk around the block and to my local park to see what I could possibly can find. 

Many of the trees in my area were planted many years ago and half of them are non-native. If I thought the wild plants were hard for an amateur like me to identify, these trees were even worse as my app was suggesting all sorts of things. Many of these strange alien trees originated from either Asia or North America or even elsewhere. Along the streets as I walked towards the park included American red gum (though it could also be oriental sweet-gum), white poplar, scots pine and ginkgo to name a few. The park itself had a good mix of sweet and horse chestnuts (with their spiky conker capsules littering the ground), maple, holly, beech, yew, oak and spindle (with their bright pink and orange berries on full display). 

Spindle Berries, Yellow Stagshorn & American Red Gum Leaf (possibly?)

As well as trees, there were plenty of fungi sprouting from the ground and out of tree trunks. Plants are hard enough, fungi are even harder. I'm not making a fungi list any time soon. There are just way too many of them and a lot of them look similar to one another. However, that doesn't stop me from admiring them. There were plenty of interesting fungi in the woods, but none were as spectacular as what I believe is a yellow stagshorn sprouting like a coral on a couple of stumps. The colouring was so vivid that it was hard to miss amongst the dark shade of the woodland floor. Buzzards, jays and squirrels were also seen today.

Oct 20th  Norwich

Continuing my tree search, I took a stroll into the city armed with just the camera on my phone. The plant app on my phone was telling me what my findings were along the way including sweet cherry, Japanese crab apple, American ivy, pin oak, Norway fir, sallow, Babylon weeping willow, mountain elm and one by the Norwich Playhouse theatre that the app got confused as a fern. After lunch at the market, I visited Chapelfield Gardens. This park had plenty of foreign trees, many of which the app couldn't put a confident name too. I'm not sure if I should add any of them to my list anyway. However, I could add the autumn crocuses, that formed a wonderful display in the grass at one corner of the park, to my list with complete confidence. These crocuses were a little bigger than the ones I see growing in the spring and as their name suggests only grow in the autumn.

Autumn Crocuses

And that was the last real wildlife-based outing I've made this month. I was going to visit Strumpshaw today (Oct 30th), but annoyingly I have developed a cold and I don't want to risk making it worse out in the damp cold. I'm at least thankful that it isn't Covid, but it really sums up this month to me. I really have felt down in the dumps this month with reports of rare birds showing up along the coast (including a 'mega' of a sighting in the form of a rufous bush chat in which thousands of people gathered at Stiffkey like some mass pilgrimage with the social distancing rules seeming to be thrown out of the window) and I just couldn't travel to any of them and not to mention all the torrential rain and the threat of Covid-19 keeping me from wanting to go out in the first place. And now I'm sick with a cold. It has not been a great month for me has it?

Butcher Bird

 Sep 24th  Wells Woods

A brown shrike had been hanging around for around a week in North Norfolk and I couldn't organize a trip sooner due to no way of getting to it. Yesterday was my only opportunity as Dad was free to take me. However, it had not been seen since Tuesday. The weather was bad that day and I thought it may reappear again. It wasn't to be, sadly. I had missed my chance. If only I was there a couple of days ago. When we got to Warham Greens, where the bird had been reported, all we found were hundreds of greylags, the first skeins of pink-footed geese, a great white egret and a friendly birdwatcher who ended up tagging along with us to our next destination.

Wells Woods has been a bit of a migrant hotspot recently. In the last few days there was a red-breasted flycatcher, a red-backed shrike and a yellow-browed warbler and to my amazement, they were still around during our visit. The only thing is I didn't know where about on the site they were. We had vague landmarks and directions by passers by, but nothing from stopping us from accidently straying away from their whereabouts. The spot for the flycatcher was the only obvious location marked by a few birdwatchers, but the bird itself was nowhere to be seen. We were told it was last seen an hour and a half ago, so we decided to check out the shrike first. However, we missed the turning and ended up walking down towards Holkham Pines by mistake. 

Red Kite

Realising our mistake, we retraced our steps, had lunch at a bench and returned to the flycatcher spot. Still no flycatcher in sight, though it did apparently reappeared 30 minutes before I showed up again. I waited for a short while, but the only notable thing to be seen was a red kite. We decided to move on to the shrike, following the correct path this time, passing a field of pink-footed geese. A group of people standing along a barbed wired fence and leaning on some hay bales pointing their cameras in the same direction gave us hope and we were instantly directed to the bird sitting on another section of wire.

Red-backed Shrike and those watching it!

Believe it or not, this was my first red-backed shrike in the UK. I did see a couple while in France in 2016, but never in this country. They had been another one of those birds that have eluded me for so long, until now that is. This bird is a juvenile, lacking the colours and bold black masks of the adults. We watched as it jumped between the fence, the ground and a low hanging bramble branch, hoping to see if it catches something to do what most shrikes are known for; stashing its prey on thorns or barbs on a wire. This is why they are also called butcher birds. I was slightly disappointed not to witness such behaviour, though kind of relieved at the same time. This may not have been the brown shrike that I was intended in seeing, but I'm still satisfied in adding this particular shrike to my British list.

After spending some time with this wonderful bird, it was time to try our luck with the flycatcher one more time. On the way, 3-4 red kites circled around above our heads, one was even low enough to see every detail of it. They were joined by two buzzards circling even higher than they were. It made up for the lack of flycatcher as it yet again never showed itself while I was around. While waiting for it, a sudden short downpour caught us by surprise, though it was at this point someone managed to spot a possible tree pipit while it was raining. No red-breasted flycatcher or yellow-browed warbler, but at least I was lucky with the shrike. One out of three is a success in my book.

Back To Normal?

Sep 4th  Cley

It is September and migrant season has well and truly been happening while I have been stuck in Norwich. As I haven't been able to travel to the coast, I have been missing everything that has passed through so far. Red-backed shrikes, greenish warblers, pied flycatchers, wrynecks, I have missed them all. I want to at least see something before it disappears for warmer climes further south. So on Friday 4th, Dad took me out to Cley to see what we can find.

Since my last visit, two hides are now reopen to visitors, Bishop's and Babcock. The three central hides are still closed, but for the other two you need to wear a mask. From Bishop's Hide, there were avocets, ruff, wigeon, godwits, a green sandpiper, a kestrel and a marsh harrier. A good mix of migrants and the usual suspects, but nothing completely out of the unusual. From the shelter at the top of the East Bank, I watched a curlew sandpiper mingling with a flock of dunlin out on Arnold's Marsh, while behind them were large gathering of sandwich and common terns and then a hobby flew over and spooked them all up. There were migrants a plenty here.

A spot of sea watching didn't produce much other than gannets, the same tern species again, the usual gull species and a seal. Seeing a wheatear whilst walking along the beach was as good as it got when it came to migrants of interest. I also came across 3 devil's coach horse beetles, a rather ferocious beetle that raises its abdomen when threatened.  

Wheatear and Devil's Coach Horse Beetle

Sep 8th  Strumpshaw Fen

A second visit to Strumpshaw with Dad since lockdown. With Covid-19 spiking again, it has meant that my return as a volunteer is uncertain right now. However, the reserve feels like it is almost back to the way it was. Apart from a makeshift booth at the entrance of Reception Hide for one volunteer to man, the other two hides are reopen but with limited benches and you need to wear a mask and the one-way route system is abandoned for most of the reserve's paths. Only the Lackford Run was one-way only.

Otter, Grass Snake, Garganey and Great White Egret

 When we arrived, we were greeted by an otter and a passing kingfisher from Reception Hide's blind. We found a willow emerald damselfly at the new pond, we walked by at least 20 or so lizards and a few interesting solitary wasp species along Sandy Wall, bearded tits and Cetti's warblers were calling here and there, dark bush crickets were sitting atop of bramble leaves and signs of autumn were abundant throughout the reserve from fruit and seeds to fungi. The best place to be, however, was Tower Hide. There seemed to be more things here than anywhere else at Strumpshaw. Below the hide, a grass snake basks in the sun coiled atop of a patch of flattened dried reed. Many ducks in eclipse phased plumage were out on the pool in front of the hide, including a garganey, which you could ID with the white stripes sandwiching the eye. A couple of kingfishers flit by back and forth in a heated territorial dispute, a marsh harrier and a kestrel were busy hunting over the reserve's reed beds and a great white egret appeared after a while to sit atop of a shrub. 

Sep 15th Cley

Yesterday, I returned to Cley. This time I was with Mum, who celebrated a big birthday recently. I started the visit with a spot of sea watching near the beach car park, not that there was much to see as it was rather misty. A few gannets, cormorants, gulls and a seal were all I could work out through the strange grey murk on this hot sunny day. There were more beach goers on the beach than there were seabirds it seemed. From Bishop's Hide, there appeared to be fewer birds than there were earlier in the month. Avocets, wigeons and many of the other things I saw from last time were nowhere to be found on the pools and scrapes, though lapwings,a few godwits and a green sandpiper still remain and were now joined by a large gaggle of  Canada geese and there was a kestrel using the thatched roofs of the three central hides that still are unused as its vantage point.

Curlew Sandpiper

As we walked along the East Bank, I noticed that the curlew sandpiper was closer to the path this time, feeding along the edge of a meandering pool with some dunlin and redshanks. On the way back, someone pointed out a peregrine that was sitting on a bank on the far side of the marsh. Mum was hoping to see a marsh harrier, but she was bamboozled when she mistook a buzzard flying into the blinding sun as one. She was fairly disappointed when I corrected her.

Calms Between Storms

Aug 13th, 15th & 26th  Norwich

This month had started in extreme heat and was unbearable for me t want to go outside. But, after the first week, all this changed and the plants had a bit of life back into them as the rain arrived. August was to become a very stormy month with thunderstorms, torrential rain and strong winds plaguing the remaining few weeks. With the weather being unpredictable, I haven't been going out much apart from work and family outings.

New plant species have also been few and far between. My list has suddenly come to a crawl. However, I did manage to find the odd new addition to my list on my walks around the city. Along the edge of Anglia Square's car parks were sun spurge, a green flowering plant that everyone seems to take no notice. Growing from a few bollards by another car park next to the A147 bridge were some gallant soldiers, which look like tiny daisies clumped together. I've also found soapwort, perennial wall rocket and corn marigold on walks to work and to my parent's house, not to mention that ivy is now in flower.

Gallant Soldier (left) and Perennial Wall Rocket

Away from plants, I've also enjoyed a night listening to several tawny owls calling from outside my flat. Though it was really dark to see, I believed I heard at least 2 males hooting and a female 'kewicking'. I attempted to call one over and it seemed to have worked as one appeared to be calling much closer than before.

Aug 22nd  Titchwell



Birdwatching with a mask

On Saturday, Mum and I went to visit Titchwell. The reserve was almost back to normal to the way it was before lockdown, but with a few difference. You can no longer leave your membership card on the dashboard like you did before, so if you are thinking of visiting, remember to take it with you. Another change is that only two hides are open again and you need to wear a mask whenever you enter them. Birdwatching with a mask is a bit annoying as it causes your breath to constantly fog up the binoculars. I found a better alternative is to use the benches outside along the main path as you not only don't need to wear a mask, but also have good views of the birds on the pools whilst sitting down. The perfect makeshift hides, that is as long as no one else is sitting on them.

The main highlight of the visit was seeing about 9-10 spoonbills mostly sleeping out on the freshwater pool. We also saw curlews, ruffs, oystercatchers, redshanks, dunlin, common terns, lapwing, godwits, shelducks, hundreds of gulls, a kestrel, a lizard darting in front of us and a few blood-nosed beetles crawling across the path.

Spoonbills and Bloody-nosed Beetle

Aug 1st Cley & Aug 8th Catton Park

Aug 1st  Cley

This was my first visit to the coast since lockdown began. It was kind of a strange feeling to see the sea and walk along shingled beaches once again after many months stuck further inland. Cley was open again and as popular as ever. Just like Hickling and Strumpshaw, there were some restrictions at this reserve that followed Covid-19 guidelines. The hides were closed off, but you could still walk the main looping route of the main reserve (in either direction). The visitor centre was only open for the café for takeaway only, while volunteers were outside greeting people at a makeshift reception area complete with a sightings board and nearby was a mobile toilet block for those who really need to go while the centre's toilets are out of bounds.

Chicory

Mum and I only had time to walk from the main car park to the beach and back via the East Bank this time around. However, this was just enough to satisfy what we've missed about this place. The East Bank and the shingle dunes were covered in plants I couldn't add to my lockdown list as this wasn't Norwich. Chicory, yellow-horned poppies and sticky groundsel were all tempting for me to break my own list rules, but no, I resisted! Other than plants, I saw the usual coastal birds such as avocets, curlews, and other waders, including a common sandpiper. Out over the waves were mainly sandwich terns, but not much else. I had a brief sighting of a bearded tit, but was disappointed to not see a single marsh harrier. I was also unfortunate to not find any grayling butterflies on the dunes despite being told that they were around there.

Aug 8th  Catton Park

It has been an extremely hot week this week. It was so overwhelmingly hot that I didn't really had the energy to want to go anywhere other than to work. But yesterday (Aug 8th) was a lot cooler, so I went for a walk around my local park to see if there was anything to add to my plant list. However, it was rather slim pickings. As there hasn't been much rain in the last couple of weeks, the plants looked dried out and dead. The fields were no longer yellow but purple as knapweed dominated the uncut areas of the park. Wild carrot were the most visible umbellifer poking out amongst all this purple. Some of them have their heads clenched up like a weaver's basket.

Green-veined White on Knapweed

August is often known as the quiet month. The sound of bird song of spring is now replaced by the chirping of grasshoppers and crickets. Common blue butterflies and other butterfly species were still on the wing but were changing their nectar pallets from bird's-foot trefoil to the abundant knapweeds. While most of the other birds have now fall silent, I still managed to hear the yaffle of the green woodpecker before catching a glimpse of it flying into the woods. I also saw its smaller cousin, the great spotted woodpecker searching the bark of a dead ancient oak.


I have a feeling that I might struggle to find new additions to my plant list this month. In July, I was given a list of plant species to look for and where to find them. I had a bit of mixed fortune with that particular list, but now I would like to know if there is anything else I should look out for during August. It can be anything from broad-leaved or green flowered helleborines to autumn hawksbeard, hop or common toadflax, for example. I'll even include invasive species such as knotweed and orange balsam, etc. Don't forget, they must be within Norwich.