I can’t quite believe it is already October, but looking outside all the signs are there! In the past few weeks we have had the full spectrum of weather from warm sunshine to persistent horizontal rain!

The reserve has seen the majority of its summer migrants now leave us, whilst the winter birds are beginning to arrive. This passage of incoming birds is most obvious on relatively calm days when large number of…

The year 2020 has been far from what many of us surely imagined it would be. Laura is back to give her view on how lockdown momentarily converted so many of us into nature loving enthusiasts and how important it is that we don’t let this slide as we return to some sense of normality. This blog highlights the opportunities for conservation despite the presence of a worldwide pandemic and what RSPB’s Revive Our World campaign…

Visitor Experience Officer Laura returns for week two of the Strumpshaw Fen A to Z. This week, she is focusing on another often disregarded part of nature; bats.

Bats are nocturnal which mean they are awake during the night, when we sleep! Bats are important to our wildlife and even help other organisms to survive. However, in recent years, they have been in dramatic decline. So, although we rarely see them, they deserve…

Amazing Arachnids!

Arachnids, or spiders as they are more commonly known, are often a forgotten treasure of nature. Strumpshaw Fen’s Visitor Experience Officer Laura starts of this A to Z by uncovering some forgotten truths about how spiders are an integral part of nature.

It is great to be back and what better way to celebrate than jumping back in with an exciting new blog series? The Strumpshaw Fen A to Z of…

Hello everyone, Laura here, the Visitor Experience Officer at RSPB Strumpshaw Fen. For those of you with families, the current government guidelines will probably have halted most plans to get out and about in nature this Spring. Although we may be stuck at home, Spring has by no means been disrupted and continues to bloom beautifully around us So join me, as I hunt for clues that Spring has arrived in my garden and local…

I hope that everyone is keeping safe at home and enjoying the beautiful (but cool) spring weather we have had in recent days. These are certainly strange times we are going through and it will take a little time for us to adapt to the new way of life. However, looking out of my home office window and into my garden, I can see plenty of wildlife carrying on without a care in the world, it is a good reminder that the natural…

Following the latest government advice we have made the difficult decision to close the Reception Hide and toilets.

This is to prioritise the health and welfare of our staff, volunteers and visitors.

These are difficult and unsettling times for all of us but we hope that nature can provide a welcome respite in whichever form and wherever you may encounter it. We want to do everything we can to help people and our local…

We wish you all a slightly belated Happy New Year!

 The Christmas and new year period has seen a number of good sightings at Strumpshaw Fen and at Buckenham Marshes. Below are some of the highlights.

 The year ended with a stunning waxwing along Sandy Wall at Strumpshaw, this individual was well watched as it commuted between the berries along Sandy Wall and Buckenham car park between 21 and 29 December, not quite appearing…

This autumn period has seen some fantastic wildlife, as always. It has certainly been a very good year for ospreys on the reserve. We had regular sightings of these fish eagles from September all the way through to 18 October. It is hard to say how many individuals were involved in this period as they all look so similar, but two were seen on several occasions and given the gaps between sightings, it is likely that at…

This week has seen the first of the cool nights of autumn, the days however have been largely fine and dry. We are expecting one last push of warm air from the south in the next few days so it will be interesting to see what that brings.

The highlights from the past week are as follows;

 Osprey- we have had at least two ospreys, maybe more hanging around for the past three weeks. These birds are passing through on their…

With the first hints of autumn in the air, it seems like a good time for a summer update, particularly focussing on the breeding wildlife at Strumpshaw Fen and the wet grassland of Buckenham and Cantley Marshes. Below is a sample of species to be found on the reserve in 2019.

 Bittern- Two booming males again this year. We also located two nests on the reserve, both of which was thought to be successful. The females could…

This week has seen a fairly mild air mass over us and has brought a few hot days as well as small amount of much needed rainfall, more is predicted for the coming weekend too.

 The highlights this week have once again gone to the butterflies, with silver-washed fritillaries, white admirals, and the first sighting of white-letter hairstreak of the year. A swallowtail was seen on Monday and Tuesday, but they are very few…

The very hot weekend gave way to cooler conditions this week, although sunny spells made it have a very pleasant feel and continued to produce good wildlife sightings, particularly the invertebrates.

The favourable conditions this weekend gave many visitors good swallowtail butterfly encounters, with at least ten separate butterflies seen on Saturday. This is slightly more than I would expect for this time of the year…

This week has seen mixed weather conditions, starting off with a very humid plume of air sitting over us from southern Europe, this gave way to a largely cloudy and cool week. The weekend looks like its set for another mini heatwave though, so should be a great time to be at Strumpshaw Fen!

 The last few swallowtail butterflies are still on the wing, there has been an obvious decrease in the past week, but with the weather…

This week has seen the continued rise of the insects!

 The weekend was beautifully hot and sunny, which certainly brought many visitors to the reserve, luckily the swallowtails were also performing very well, with up to five swallowtails at once on our nectar garden by reception hide. This is without doubt, the top spot on the reserve for seeing and photographing the butterflies so it is definitely worth checking out…

A mixed week of weather, starting off fairly cool and showery but ending with a bit of warmth, which is promised to continue through the weekend!

 Due to the hot sunny conditions this weekend, I would say that it should be a very good weekend to see Swallowtail butterflies. They have been showing very well on the nectar garden by Reception, indeed this seems to be the most reliable location on the reserve; however they…

This week has seen the temperatures rise and has mainly been sunny, which in turn has caused a good increase in insects!

 The main news this week is that the swallowtail butterflies have started to emerge!

The first butterfly was seen on 14 May, but they have taken a little while to get going. This week’s warm conditions have initiated an increase in sightings, however they can still take some finding. There have been…

Apologies for lack of recent updates.

The spring season has certainly been a bit up and down as far as the weather goes so far, however we are expecting a sunny week ahead of us now.

We are up to a full house as far as migrants are concerned at the fen, with plenty of warblers including reed, sedge, grasshopper, whitethroat, blackcap, garden, chiffchaff and willow warblers. Of note, there have been up to eight grassh…

A good week of spring weather with some warm sunny days, mixed in with cool cloudy days, wind largely from the West, but briefly turning from the south.

 The migrants are still arriving in dribs and drabs, this week we have had our first sedge warblers at the fen as well as an early grasshopper warbler reeling from Fen Hide, which appears to be the first Norfolk sighting this year. Willow warblers are being heard more…

We are now officially in the season of spring. Its not just the calendar that tells us that, but a whole host of indications in the natural world are becoming increasingly obvious by the day.

 The most obvious avian highlight of the week was the first wave of migrating chiffchaffs arriving on the reserve on Tuesday. Up until now we have had singles singing around the reserve but on Tuesday morning we had at least 10-15…

After writing about unseasonably warm weather in my last blog, its now time to write about a period of particularly windy weather! This past week has seen gusts of wind 50+mph on each day, luckily the trees are not yet in leaf as that would have resulted in far more fallen trees than we have seen so far. The wind is due to remain strong until late Saturday afternoon so it is likely that there will be woodland trail closures…

The past two weeks will be remembered for the unseasonably warm sunny weather. The temperatures rose to 17 degrees here and with unbroken sun, it really did feel warm. The temperature increase certainly caused a mass emergence of insects and it felt more like April at times! While this was very welcome warmth, I cant help but be a bit concerned by the timing of the warmth, after all it was February!

 This week we recorded…

The past couple of weeks have seen quite a mix of weather, currently we have a fantastic blue sky with settled conditions with a southerly wind forecast for the coming week.

 The marsh harriers are displaying well on the calm clear days, treating us to their cartwheeling in the sky. Red Kites, buzzards and sparrowhawks are also taking to the air and displaying. If at first you don’t see any birds of prey, try scanning…

The past couple of weeks have seen quite a mix of weather, but we appear to be currently gripped by a cold spell, meaning that the majority of our broads are frozen.

With the majority of waterbodies frozen, the wildfowl have been grouped together at Reception Broad, this flock has consisted mainly of gadwall, mallard, teal and coot…all of which are now paired up. A kingfisher was seen on the river on Tuesday as…

The year has started off with mild and windy weather…and with the wind came a North Sea tidal surge! (The image above shows one of our footpaths during the flood!)

Strumpshaw Fen has been a little on the quiet side in the past couple of weeks, apart from a thriving marsh harrier roost every evening and the odd cettis warbler shouting from the scrub around the fen. We do have the usual suspects of wildfowl on the…