As June ended the sun finally put in an appearance and the temperature rose! However, the month hasn't been like this entirely as the rain poured heavily on and off for at least a week. Many of our trails were left a bit soggy due to all this rain. Wellies or suitable walking boots are still advised. Especially if you are taking a walk around the meadow trail. It is best not to stray from the main paths as it has been very boggy in places. Hopefully, though, the incoming heatwave will continue to dry out the wettest bits.
The summer heat may have been late in arriving this year, but though the weather has been awful at times, we still have an exciting amount of sightings from this month to hopefully entice you to pay us a visit. So let's get into June's wildlife highlights.
Despite the wet weather, swallowtail sightings were very frequent throughout June, though they mainly emerged during the sunny spells. They were seen across the reserve, especially around the reception area. Your best bet to find them is on nectar rich flowers, including the ones in our nectar garden. They should still be around in July, but they are coming to the end of their main season. However, there is a chance we could get a smaller second wave by August.
Swallowtail, photo credit: Tina Lowe
In bird news, we have had an exciting visitor from Europe as a Caspian tern spent around a week back and forth between Tower Hide and Buckenham Marshes since June 19th. This is a large tern, about the size of a herring gull, but has a huge red carrot for a bill that makes it stand out more. The last time one showed up at Strumpshaw was in 2012, I remember it well as I saw it myself. It was doing the same thing this one is doing, however, this one seems to spend more time at Buckenham, including resting up on the marshes.
Osprey sightings have been incredible throughout June. They've seem to be spending more time over at Rockland, but they have occasionally popped over at Strumpshaw from time to time. You never can tell when one will show up, but they have been making surprising appearances from outside our three hides, sometimes carrying a fish!
Spoonbills are relatively newcomers to the Mid Yare Valley and the odd one has been making brief stop overs at Buckenham and one was seen flying over Strumpshaw on June 1st. Meanwhile, on June 17th, our pair of cranes was seen outside Fen Hide with a chick. No one has seen it since though, which is slightly concerning.
On June 20th, there was a very unusual report of something exotic at Strumpshaw as an Alexandrine parakeet apparently spotted by one of our survey volunteers. This species of green parrot originates from India, however, in recent years, escaped individuals are beginning to spread across Norfolk. They are very colourful and pretty noisy, so if one appears again, you should be able to locate it fairly easy enough.
For those looking for otters and kingfishers, I'm glad to say that both have been making almost daily and frequent visits to the broad outside reception as well as a family of bearded tits with the youngsters constantly exploring the reeds at the front of the hide. Bitterns continued to be vocal and visible, especially from Tower Hide. Grasshopper warblers have also been reeling away after weeks of being largely silent. One has been heard from his traditional spot along the Sandy Wall and another in the grass behind the toe-dipping platform near the pumphouse.
As the month got warmer, the dragonflies have been very active across the reserve. Norfolk hawkers and scarce chasers amongst the many species on the wing that you can see right now. Lesser emperors are also one of those other species. This dragonfly is still fairly scarce in the UK and a small number of them were seen outside reception last year. It appears that they are being seen out there again this year as well. This makes me wonder if they've established a small population at Strumpshaw. Look for a big dragonfly with a bright blue spot in the middle (top of the abdomen).
If you study the water soldiers under the bridge at the meadow trail, you might spot a fen raft spider. Yes, for the second year in a row, we have these rare spiders on the reserve at Strumpshaw. This is very positive news.
Now for the moment you've been waiting for. My plant of the month for June was difficult to decide. Southern marsh and common spotted orchids are out, though most of them were in flower at the boardwalk by Lackford Run than in the meadow trail (not quite so many there this year sadly). But for June's plant of the month is not them. So what is? Well, for this month is two species. At the boardwalk, I found the small delicate crimson of a few marsh cinquefoil and in the meadow trail, a single stem of white frilly flowers of bog bean. Both disappeared after a week later. I haven't seen marsh cinquefoil before and it has been a few years since I last seen bog bean in bloom, I just couldn't choose between them.
Bog Bean
Marsh Cinquefoil
A heatwave is expected to hit the country as we enter July. Remember to bring the sun lotion and we'll provide the drinks and ice cream. The swallowtail season will be coming to a close, but fear not as we may have a smaller second wave if the warm weather lasts. Between waves, keep an eye out for silver-washed fritillaries and white admirals in the woods which have only just emerged in the last few days. See you next month!