18. RSPB Minsmere

Reeds rustling in the November wind, their purple-grey seed heads shimmering in the low sun, waving to the rhythm of the breeze greeted us at RSPB Minsmere. Small birds kept a low profile, sheltering, and Bittern Hide appeared lifeless in a beautiful panorama of golden light and reflection. The unseasonably warm day brought common darters out to sunbathe on wooden benches and swarm together over the land, the last of their dragonfly-kind on the wing this year; they paved our way to Island Mere Hide.

This hide was alive with birds and human visitors alike. Over the bright water, swans paddled, whilst marsh harriers danced in the distance. A bittern, overly confiding and confident, appeared straight in front of the hide. These usually elusive birds I usually only glimpse through dense reeds, or hear their booming calls in spring, but this was something else entirely. The piercing yellow eye and beautiful golden-brown-black-white barred plumage, perfectly echoing the dancing reeds behind, demonstrating cryptic colouration working flawlessly for this little heron.

In contrast, the Canopy Hide gave us only trees for company, although their chorus was beautiful to listen to and their changing colours and tumbling leaves were a feast for the eyes in themselves. Although our avian friends seemed to be avoiding the tree tops, lower in the canopy we stumbled across a mixed flock of chatty little birds; blue-, great- and long tailed tits called and hunted for insects in a little gang, one in particular being very successful at finding moths on the bark. A rabbit with tatty ears feasted on fallen blackberries on the ground, whilst squirrels continued on their never-ending mission of finding and caching their winter stores.

The sea, high and rippled with waves that never seemed to reach the shore, was brisk, with the dunes providing us with some shelter as we battled with sand to reach the East Hide. A stone chat, characteristically perching on the tips of small twigs, accompanied us as the light began to drain from the sky at mid-afternoon. Teal, wigeon, shoveler, shelduck, gadwall and other wildfowl huddled down on the little islands, others preening or fighting out on the water. Similar critters could be found at South Hide, with a particularly stunning shoveler showing off his iridescent green head and neck smothered in water droplets from his dabbling.

13. RSPB Surlingham Church Marshes

After purchasing Best Birdwatching Sites: Norfolk by Neil Glenn, we were inspired to explore even more new wildlife sites this year. Today, we met a friend (and her dog – they are allowed on this reserve on a lead) to try the circular walk at RSPB Surlingham Church Marshes. A balmy 15 °C for January, sunshine and a light wind apparently provided some good conditions for birds of prey.

We began the muddy journey from the church, encountering my first cluster of snowdrops this year by the cottages. Continuing on, reaching the River Yare, two Egyptian geese sized us up from the adjacent field, whilst a kestrel hovered over some unseen prey. A pair of great crested grebe began their elaborate courtship display as we watched from the bank, behind the viewing screen. Head ducking, gift exchanging and rising up out of the water at each other, this pair certainly had spring on their minds. As we were watching this spectacle, a large raptor appeared overhead; a red kite was flying lazily low, its yellow eyes keen on the ground.

The mud made it difficult to walk, but, inspired by our sightings so far, we slogged on, eventually reaching open reed bed. A couple of cormorants darted across the sky, then my eye was caught by another large raptor; this time a marsh harrier. Quartering the reeds, it repeatedly pulled up to check below, but did not seem to spot anything worth its interest.

Heading back through the small woodland, a few common woodland birds: chaffinch, blue tit, great tit and a robin to sing us out.

6. Strumpshaw Fen

A bright day with the hazy Sun peering through stratus cloud; blackthorn blossoms sweetened the air and heightened the senses, spring seems to have begun. Bees delicately visited the pink-white flowers and the song of small birds came from every tree.

We made a bee-line for tower hide, spotting greylag and Canada geese lining up along the banks of the lagoons on the way. Cetti’s warblers exploded in song, buried somewhere deep along the edges of the path. Tufted duck, pochard, mute swans and great crested grebes dabbled and drifted on the pools of water. Tower hide boasted mixed rafts of shoveler and teal, with the occasional shelduck and gadwall. A heron hunted in the distant pools. A majestic marsh harrier perched in a scrubby tree, surveying the view over the reedbed. Taking to the sky on broad, fingered wings, looking straight into the hide, or so it seemed, then skimming the roof and away.

Rather than risk the sticky mud that can frequent the trail at this time of year, we turned back and made our way towards fen hide. At first, little moved, except a dabbling coot. Then, thanks to some other visitors who pointed out the ‘ping’ call coming from the reeds, my first ever photograph of a wild bearded tit – a pair presented themselves to the onlookers from the hide, the male showing off his beautiful markings from the tip of a reed momentarily before flitting away and beckoning his mate to follow. 

5. Lakenheath Fen

Reed bunting

A pale sky, blanket cloud filtering the Sun’s light as it tried to break through. The songs of robins, blue tits and great tits serenaded visitors as they tumbled out of their cars and into the reserve. Chatting to one of the volunteers in the visitors centre, we were told that bearded tits were showing well around the reserve, as were marsh harriers. With optimism, we set out to see what we could find. The staccato shouts of wrens coming from the sides of the visitor trails guided our way towards New Fen Viewpoint. A serenely calm pool awaited us, the surface disturbed only by two coots dabbling and diving, a few mallards and gadwalls and a great crested grebe proudly showing its red mohican above a white cheek. A trail through the reed bed, adjacent to the main path revealed more wrens. Cetti’s warblers began their appealing song whilst remaining deep within the vegetation. The whistling calls of a coil of wigeon passed overhead. Canada geese and mute swans graced the neighbouring pools and a great spotted woodpecker could be heard drumming in the surrounding trees.

Stonchat (m)

Despite listening keenly for bearded tits on our way to Mere hide, we were not in luck. The pool at the hide was just as calm as the previous viewpoint, this time with a coot, a moorhen and four mallards disturbing the placid water. A pair of wrens burst from the reeds, chasing each other along a corridor through the vegetation. Never before today had I really believed that the wren is the UK’s most numerous breeding bird. Almost as if they were respecting the silence, a flock of lapwings flew over the hide as we made our exit, their chunky square wings silhouetted against the brightening sky. At the hide and on the trail leading away were empty platforms offering grit to the invisible bearded tits.

On the trail to joist fen viewpoint, instead of bearded tits, we found a reed bunting picking grit from the path, flying only a few metres ahead each time we approached before eventually veering off into the safety of reeds and trees.

Great white egret

A footpath parallel to the reserve boundary, following the River Little Ouse gave an elevated view over the reserve and surrounding countryside. A pair of stonechats flitted between tall grasses and reed heads, almost bouncing up and down as they transferred from one stem to another. A kestrel hung in the sky, hovering, and then, missing its meal, rested in the woodland trees. The lakes beyond the river, looking away from the reserve boasted jewels of colour: shoveler, teal, lapwings, little egrets. The largest was the tall, yellow-billed great white egret, towering above the little egrets, despite being further away. Broken oyster shells littered the sides of the path. Back in the reserve, a whole gang of long tailed tits decorated the heads of tall reed stems and a single leafless tree amidst the rustling golden stalks. They jingled through like early blossoms drifting from the tree.

Re-entering the reserve trail, blue tits and great tits littered the feeders by the visitor’s centre and a kestrel perched on a tree in the car park. A pair of roe deer bade us farewell at the reserve entrance.

#30DaysWild - Days 13-17

RSPB Norwich Local Group Meeting

The first Monday of every month is when our local group meets for an indoor talk. This month's talk was by Mark Thomas from the RSPB, he is part of their investigations team for wildlife crime. He told us of some shocking stories with appalling outcomes. I genuinely thought that harsher punishments would be handed out to wildlife criminals rather than what many would see as trivial fines or prison sentences of only a few months. Especially when, as per one of the examples he used, an entire population of nightjars and nightingales were wiped out at a county level due to successive egg collecting across several breeding seasons. Certainly food for thought which left me feeling quite angry about the whole situation. The key thing is, if you see a wildlife crime taking place, whatever it may be, always note down the vehicle number plate to report to the RSPB or the police.

Moroccan mint

After moving house, I decided I would try something different with my hanging baskets this spring. I wanted to make two hanging herb baskets. In each, I planted a Moroccan mint in the centre, surrounded by a dwarf lavender, a creeping rosemary, variegated oregano and lemon thyme. All had the 'perfect for pollinators' logo and smelled delicious - a treat for the pollinators as well as us. Never having grown herbs in containers before, I didn't realise quite how prolific the mint plant would become... It has started to (somehow) escape the bottom of the hanging basket and was greatly over shadowing the lavender and rosemary. I decided to prune it, but rather than waste so much mint, I looked up ways of storing it - freezing roughly chopped mint cubes in ice cubes seems to be the convention, and it appears to work rather well. It certainly went down nicely in a glass of Pimms... 

Moroccan mint leaves

Lemon thyme flowers

An evening walk

Today was slightly less wet than we've become used to. When I arrived home from work, I attempted to rearrange our bird feeders to make them less of an easy target for the wood pigeon and to encourage our small birds to come back. All have disappeared over the last week, except our reliable and loud male chaffinch. We also took a walk through the park and got caught in a short downpour - the delicious feel and small of cool summer rain. Throughout it all, the birds kept singing. We heard the songs of blackbirds, robins and chaffinches as well as the monotonous cooing of a stock dove well hidden amongst the branches.

Honeysuckle and bird song

I always try to take advantage of the fact we now have a garden, even if only a small one. Before I went to work, I took five minutes to stand in the morning sunshine, close my eyes and listen. There were birds everywhere around me: chiff chaff calling from the park; a chaffinch or maybe two, trilling seemingly at varying distances; a small charm of goldfinches flying overhead; a pair of house martins chattering to each other above, alongside a few silent swifts gravely soaring side by side; jackdaws accusing 'Jack' as they flew.

The English honeysuckle is opening up and living up to its name of 'Heaven Scent'.

Oxeyes

As a last ditch attempt at growing some wildflowers from seed, I scattered a great number of oxeye daisy seeds in a tray. It seems they have all germinated and are doing rather well. I started pricking out seedlings this evening, 30 of them, but there are many more to go!

A Week of Big Bird Watches

Three different bird watch events in four days: Big Schools' Bird Watch, Big Garden Bird Watch and Big Castle Bird Watch.

RSPB Big School's Bird Watch - 28th January

This is the fourth consecutive year that I have run the Big Schools' Bird Watch at my school. Our bird watch this year, in numbers, looked like this: 2 teachers, 70 pupils and 99 birds. Our results looked like this:

It may not have been a record year for the number of birds seen, but it was certainly a record for the number of pupils who wanted to get involved! It was great to have so many individuals, most of which did have a genuine interest in the bird watch and nature. However, a few conversations I had with pupils and staff struck a cord with me, and with an article in the February issue of BBC Wildlife Magazine. Why are we so blasé about 'common' species? Or even about locally common species. With my school being so close to farmland, we do get a lot of house sparrows in the local area. Very few of the individuals I spoke to had any idea that sparrow populations have declined so spectacularly on a national level. Hopefully, through the assemblies and conversations I have taken part in, this message may have got through to some. I do think that the Big Schools' Bird Watch was a positive experience for all the pupils that took part, even if some of them did get a little chilly. Hopefully, they all learnt something too.

RSPB Big Garden Bird Watch - 30th January

We carried out our Big Garden Bird Watch on Saturday lunch time, it was a bright and cool day in Norwich and it was nice to watch the birds visiting from the comfort of our flat. It was a busy hour, especially for the starlings! We had RSPB 'bird cakes', 'super suet balls' and mixed seed on offer. This seems to be the best combination of food for attracting a relatively wide range of species to our patch. Since spring last year we have had a healthy number of green finches visiting, I was particularly pleased about this, especially due to their decline in numbers due to the arrival of trichomoniasis in recent years. I am also excited to have finally attracted a regular gang of long tailed tits, one of my favourite British birds, although they were not representing their usual number in this set of data. Our flock of starlings are regulars and, although they take over the entire feeding station when they arrive (intimidating the local wood pigeons), I love watching their squabbling and occasionally comedic antics. They are such beautiful and overlooked birds too, most people I have spoken to recently describe them as 'greedy' and aren't quite as enthusiastic about having them in their area.

The Big Castle Bird Watch - 31st January

I spent my afternoon on Sunday volunteering at the Big Castle Bird Watch; an event held at the Norwich Castle Museum and run by RSPB Strumpshaw Fen. There were lots of activities for the public to get involved with, all of them aimed at raising awareness of the natural world, the dangers wildlife faces, why people should take part in the Big Garden Bird Watch and why they should visit Strumpshaw Fen. My small part of the event was mostly spent encouraging younger children to dress up as a dragonfly and attempt to catch beanbags made into flies in a net. The idea was for them to dart around like a dragonfly would when hunting and give them an appreciation of how agile and maneuverable these amazing insects are. I'm not sure they all took this message away from the game, but they certainly had fun with it!

RSPB Minsmere #Springwatch

I haven't been to Minsmere in a long time, but since Springwatch was on, some friends and I decided to make the trip last weekend. It was so busy; great to see so many people out enjoying wildlife! Before I get started with what we saw where, here's a species list from my nature journal:

Our first sightings of the day were the many sand martins gliding to and fro from the sand bank where their young were snuggled in their nest holes. I lost count as were sitting in the cafe, fueling up before our long afternoon. After we had made our way round to look properly at this bank, we also noticed a large dragonfly in the pond next to the platform, which I tentatively identified as a four spotted chaser. I love dragonflies, but struggle to identify them, so I was very pleased when I later verified my initial id.

In the first hide we got to, we had wonderful views of young, long legged and large footed avocets patrolling the shore line of the small islands and skimming the surface. We watched the adult avocets aggressively chasing away other birds, even a befuddled barnacle goose who didn't seem to quite work out what was happening. A little egret also performed its stalking and fishing techniques right in front of the viewing window. There were black-tailed godwits a plenty and we heard the occasional explosion of a cetti's warbler around the reserve.


On our walk to the next hide, I was very excited to get views of both male and female bearded tits, despite the strong gusts of wind. They were keeping low, but were still visible from time to time, they were too quick for my camera though. Fantastic to see them, this is the first time I have had proper views of them, and only the second time I have seen them at all (the first was one week earlier at Lakenheath Fen). My next aim will have to be to photograph them in the wild! Also on our walk we came across a shallow stretch of water, where we could see male, female and the fry of stickleback, as well as males fanning their nests. The photo I took through water in bright sunlight isn't great, but hopefully is a token to 'Spineless Si' from Springwatch! On the same stretch of water, I spotted my second Odonata species of the day; a blue-tailed damselfly.

On another walk between hides, we also heard the calls of a young great-spotted woodpecker and were lucky enough to spot it with its head poking out of its tree hole nest. We also saw the adult visit and feed a couple of times too. Another bird that decided to be photogenic was a male chaffinch who appeared in very good condition and voice on a low branch above us.

After these two encounters, we acquainted ourselves with a reptilian, a tagged adder, protected by fencing and well camouflaged until it decided to move to a (perhaps) warmer spot.


At our final hide of the day, we saw more waders and a graceful mute swan with her four young cygnets. A very peaceful end to a packed afternoon of great wildlife. Thank you RSPB Minsmere, we'll certainly be back again!

RSPB Lakenheath Fen

I've finally made it to this reserve, I'd heard so much about it, but had just never got around to going. I am so very glad we made the effort, we saw at least 27 different bird species, including some rather impressive ones (in my mind anyway).


Our jaunt around the reserve began with the sighting of a white throat, singing loudly and making himself obvious (for a welcome change). A beautiful little bird, I often hear but do not see these, and usually have even less of a chance to snap a photo of them! This one posed nicely.

Reaching our first viewpoint (New Fen), we were lucky enough to almost immediately spot a large oddly shaped bird flying low over the reeds, then landing quite suddenly. My first confirmed sighting of a bittern! Whilst we sat and watched, we were treated to views of a marsh harrier gliding over the pool and surrounding reed beds. This beautiful bird seemed to be looking for prey, but apparently wasn't finding anything worth trying for. The calls of house martins and swifts above were glorious and the insects had been brought low enough that the Hirundines and swifts swooped low enough that we could see the white rumps of the martins with ease and could marvel at their aerial agility.



We also spotted a lovely freshly emerged damselfly, which I am unable to identify. On our way to the next viewpoint, we spotted more white throats calling, displaying and often fighting off rivals amongst the reeds.

A family of coots (somebody else had thrown bread in before we arrived) awaited us at the Mere hide. There was little else to see here, except, most excitingly, a tantalising glimpse of a male bearded tit zipping across the pool and landing deeply in reeds so as not to be glimpsed again. This was one of my wildlife aims for the year - to see a wild bearded tit! The next mission will be to photograph one.

Next, we paid a visit to 'Joist Fen Viewpoint'. Here, I spotted three cuckoos calling and fighting; a real turn up for the books having not heard a single one so far this year. Another piece of excitement here was hearing the little bittern calling from deep within a reedbed. We did not wait to see it - some photographers had been waiting for hours to see the bird making that interesting booming / barking sound.


Walking back along the River Little Ouse, we spotted another first for me - a hobby. It was gliding and swooping, on the hunt for dragonflies. We even saw it catch and eat a dragonfly on the wing. Fantastic bird!

We had a lovely day at this reserve - I hope to visit again soon!

RSPB Big Garden Bird Watch 2015

 This is the third year that I have taken part in the RSPB's Big Garden Bird Watch. It was an action packed hour for me this year, with species I wasn't expecting to see, such as this little wren that was around for almost the entire hour. We also had a record of 28 starlings descending on our feeders at one time, occasionally forming a queue on the fence until there was room for them to join in the squabble for the suet nibbles. It was a record that, when I submitted my results, I was asked "are you sure you saw 28 starlings?" I was very sure. It seems we have cultivated our own miniature murmuration. Our other records this year were:

• Collared dove - 2
• Wood pigeon - 2
• Dunnock - 1
• Blue tit - 2
• Great tit - 2
• Robin - 2
• Magpie - 2
• Blackbird - 2

One of our robins is very territorial; not only did it chase off the other robin, it dive bombed the poor dunnock unawares, and they ended up rolling on the ground before the dunnock flew away.

Most of these are our usual visitors, but there are some that I would have expected to see and didn't; for example, we often have one of two coal tits who visit at this time of year. In spring and summer, we also usually have a pair of green finches and a number of gold finches, and we have even had a great spotted woodpecker and his youngsters visit our feeders. It got me thinking about how our results change from year to year, and whether this would depend on the food sources we provide, which have also changed as I have learnt more about what is on offer and what certain species of birds seem to prefer. This year, as we have consistently for several months now without changing food sources, we provided the following foods: sunflower hearts, mixed seed, suet balls, suet nibbles and meal worms, as well as fresh water.

As I was intrigued, I decided to look up my previous two years' results, and have plotted the somewhat rudimentary graph below to compare my findings. It would seem that providing suet nibbles has done wonders for the number of starlings we attract...