Norfolk was declared as a drought region this month as the country embraced a second heatwave. If you remember my last report (end July), the view from Tower Hide was dry as a bone. In fact, there weren't many places on the reserve that had water last month. Thankfully, despite all the odds, the view from Tower Hide is a lot different now. The water has returned!
View from Tower Hide (22 August)
By the beginning of August, small oases were formed as we opened the sluices and allowed water to flow in from the river Yare. As a result, areas such as the ground in front of Tower Hide were pooling with water but still partially muddy, creating the perfect conditions for waders. Ruff, little ringed plovers, lapwing, common sandpipers, green sandpipers, a greenshank and even a wood sandpiper paid the reserve a visit for a short while. Bearded tits were also seen spending a lot of time on the ground by the margins of the reed beds and water rails were seen venturing out into the open too.
Greenshank
By latter half of August, it was as if the drought had never happened. Though the water levels have not returned to the fullest, it is still a remarkable turnaround. Waders have now been replaced once again with wildfowl, a lot of them, including about 5 or so garganey. An amazing transformation when we are still experiencing extreme weather conditions.
With an abundance of water now at the reserve, there was no surprise that we had a visit from an osprey on the 14th. These fish hunting birds are beginning their migration south and often pass through Strumpshaw on the way, using the reserve as a refuelling stop. A second sighting was made on the 28th, which means we could hopefully get a few more osprey visits up until around mid-September. So, keep your eyes peeled! They are very large, mostly white and tend to hover a lot, you can't mistake them for anything else.
Osprey (Ben Andrews RSPB Images)
In swallowtail news, sightings from the second wave continued to trickle in throughout August. They were mainly reported from the buddleia bushes near Tower Hide along the Fen Trail. However, all good things must come to an end as the final swallowtail sighting was reported around the penultimate weekend of the month (20th-21st) and no one has seen one since.
Though swallowtail season is officially over, the dragonfly season has not. There are still plenty of a few species to see, including migrant hawkers, common darters and ruddy darters. Willow emerald damselflies are also still on the wing and have been showing themselves quite well posing themselves on vegetation along the Fen Trail. All four of these species that I've mentioned are the late comers in the dragonfly calendar and you will see them throughout the next couple of months.
Willow Emerald Small red eyed damselfy
Another to look for are small red-eyed damselflies, which can be found on the surface of the pond adjacent to the reception building. They look almost identical to the common red-eyed damselfly, looking blue with red eyes, but have a little black cross near the tip of the abdomen. The small red-eyed damsel's season started only recently and lingers longer into autumn than their slightly larger cousins.
Wasps have been very busy this month. We've discovered a few nests by the paths across the reserve (though mainly along the Fen Trail). We've roped off one, but please keep your distance and to one side when you come across any others. While inside the three hides, you will see them chewing the wood to make paper to build their nests.
If there's one bird that would definitely have its eye on these wasp nests, it would be the honey buzzard. One made two appearances this month, on the 6th and the 20th. This is a rare and unusual bird as it specializes on raiding wasp nests for the grubs inside. Their feathers act as an armour and are too dense for the wasp's stings to penetrate.
There were a couple of other surprising birds turning up, both on the same Saturday (Aug 20th). A male Mandarin duck, not looking its best due to being in-between moults, and a very distant raven, which I thought to have heard myself a couple of days later from Tower Hide. I was not expecting a raven to be at Strumpshaw, that's for sure.
Young birds were exploring the reserve this month and this included green woodpeckers. I've encountered them along the Sandy Wall and on the way to Tower Hide, just sitting on the ground feeding on ants and other insects. One even led me a good distance like a game of 'follow the leader' as I constantly accidentally spooked it around each hidden bend of our trails before eventually decided to move out of the way completely.
Commonplace on these reports are kingfishers, otters and bitterns and, yes, they are still being seen regularly throughout August. With the reserve topped up with water, the kingfishers, in particular, have been returning to their fishing spots (including the measuring post outside reception) and have been rather frequent in their visits. Great white egrets, red kites, painted ladies and hummingbird hawkmoths are other noteworthy sightings this summer.
As summer moves to autumn, the berries are already on the trees, the swallows and house martins are gathering in mass swarms over the reserve in preparation for migration, while large flocks of greylag and Canada geese have been arriving at Buckenham and Cantley, and the weather is starting to feel colder as the nights are noticeably getting longer and longer. The autumn migration is already underway with some exciting bird species popping up all over Norfolk, but what will surprise us at Strumpshaw this September? Find out next time!