It was feeling rather spring-like by the end of February, but winter was not going to leave so soon. March 2023 saw a sudden switch in temperature and we had some snow, hail, sleet and also plenty of rain which has caused the riverside trails to be very muddy again. Wellies are still needed if you are hoping to venture as far as Tower Hide! Strong winds on the 13th also forced us to close the reserve for the day for safety reasons. But, despite the wintery weather, spring is starting to take hold and many of the migrants have returned. This means we have a lot of highlights to discuss.
Before we delve into March's highlights, I would like to quickly remind you that in time with the clocks going forward, we have moved to our summer opening hours. This means our reception's opening times have changed to 9:30am-5pm.
We begin with our top sighting of the month. On March 7th, a female dotterel was discovered at Buckenham, the first ever record for the Mid-Yare Valley. It was spotted on the marshes with some golden plovers. Its pale white supercilium (stripe above the eye) helped it just about stand out of the crowd. This is a plover of the mountains. They arrive from Africa and pass through Norfolk to get to the Scottish Highlands, but they've never visited our part of Norfolk before. So a very exciting addition for our records and possibly a first for the year nationally.
Can you spot the Dotterel?
Another unexpected national first of the year was a yellow wagtail at Cantley. Normally, these birds turn up around April, but this one arrived on the 12th of March! Meanwhile, the very early green sandpiper (which surprised us since Feb 19th) is still at Buckenham.
Though we did have some chiffchaffs overwinter at Strumpshaw, they are only now starting to make themselves known. The first ones started singing on the reserve roughly around March 18th. Last year, they were singing around late February and early March. Due to the extended winter conditions, it was not surprising that they were late this time.
Blackcaps have also been overwintering on the reserve, but the first to sing was on March 20th (though not so obvious), which was just two days later than last year's account.
In other migrant news, sand martins were returning to the UK by mid-March, but the first one at Strumpshaw was finally spotted on the 24th (two days later than last year) with 28 of them apparently being seen coming into roost. A pair of garganey had arrived the day before on March 23rd (8 days late from last year), but they have since disappeared. Two days later, on March 26th, the first house martin was seen along Fen Trail. We still await the first swallows, willow warblers, reed and sedge warblers, so keep your eyes peeled!
On the flip side, we still have plenty of winter migrants yet to leave back to their breeding grounds up north. At Buckenham on March 4th, 24 Bewick's swans were spotted flying over the marshes. While, at Strumpshaw, the canopy of our woodland trails continued to be full of hundreds of siskins making a lot of noise alongside redpoll, redwings, fieldfares and brambling (the latter I've been seeing hanging out with a flock of chaffinches).
Redwing
Last month, if you recall, I mentioned that the bitterns were grunting in preperation to produce their iconic booming calls. Well, I can now inform you that we have had reports of two booming since March 24th. These sounds are created by the males inflating a special sac and pushing the air out over the bird's vocal cords (called a syrinx) like blowing over the top of an old fashioned glass milk bottle and the sound can carry for miles.
Cranes have been more and more of a frequent visitor over our reserves. We would like to hear from you of any crane sightings at Strumpshaw, Buckenham or Cantley, especially if one lands.
Marsh harriers continue to sky dance throughout March. I've witnessed many in the air at once, like aerial yo-yos tumbling and rising back up high in the sky. Buzzards and red kites have been seen up there with them, while on March 29th, a white-tailed eagle was believed to be soaring over Strumpshaw, the second sighting of the year on the reserve if confirmed. Just a few reasons to keep scanning the sky!
Away from birds now and our colony of Clarke's mining bees are back by the bench at the start of the Sandy Wall. I discovered them before we closed the reserve on the very windy day of March 13th. Amazingly, they weren't being blown away and were very active. For a few short weeks you will see plenty of activity from mating, digging nest chambers and collecting enough pollen to feed their future offspring. Look out for nomad bees and bee-flies which target these bee nests to lay their own inside.
Clarkes Mining Bee Mating
Nomad Bee
One of the most unusual sightings this month was a common seal in the river during the cold snap. It isn't the first time seals have been seen this far in the river. Occasionally, grey seals do turn up for a surprise visit, but I don't recall that many common seal sightings in comparison.
The otter sightings have been on a bit of a decline this month, but most sightings remained to be from reception as usual. It wasn't the only mammal to be seen swimming in front of the hide as water voles were reported swimming between the reed beds.
As we head into April, the migration season is about to heat up nicely. Not only will we see birds like willow warblers and sedge warblers arrive, we may hopefully see something more surprising and exciting turn up. Fingers crossed! See you next month!
Its the school Easter holidays, and we have a fun filled event programme for families. You can take part in our Great Dino Easter Egg Hunt, or hire pond dipping equipment to discover what's lurking in our ponds. Follow the link to find out more events.rspb.org.uk/events/38999