Happy Halloween! October has been a crazy month hasn't it? One minute it was quite warm with the perfect kind of weather to count the many lizards basking in the sunshine along Sandy Wall. Then the weather became very typical of autumn. It has become much chillier, the trees are starting to change colour and then storm Babet rolled in with days of heavy rain flooding the country. However, we didn't need a storm to flood as the reserve has been flooding anyway due to high tides. At the time of writing the Fen Trail is currently closed along the riverbank due to flooding. Make sure you head into reception upon arrival for the latest information.
A quick reminder before I go into this month's sightings is that in line with the clocks going back over the weekend we have moved to winter opening hours. Reception Hide is now open 10am-4pm. This is just for the reception building, the rest of the reserve (including the toilets and car park) will of course remain open as usual for those after an early morning walk or an evening stroll.
The autumn migration usually hots up in October, especially after storms. Though the species haven't exactly been rare, we still managed to record a few unusual birds this month. The most unexpected of which showed up on the 17th when a shore lark was spotted briefly at Strumpshaw at 7:30 in the morning. A very unusual bird for here as it normally is located near the coast and is rather beautiful with a yellow and black head complete with two tufts resembling horns, which is the reason why it is also called the horned lark.
Other sightings of note at Strumpshaw include; a female red-crested pochard on the 8th, a crossbill and a possible Siberian chiffchaff on the 9th, a hawfinch on the 17th, a short-eared owl, up to 3 ring ouzels and a tree sparrow on the 19th, 133 little gulls flying over the river on the 21st and a female goosander on the 22nd.
That's not all as we also had the odd report of jack snipe, a male hen harrier and water pipits. There's also been many, many redwings and fieldfares (roughly a thousand birds of each), as well as increasing numbers of siskins, bramblings and redpolls.
Pink-footed geese have also been growing in number and can be seen flying in large skeins over Strumpshaw and at Buckenham in their hundreds. And for those hoping for a starling murmuration at Strumpshaw this winter, well, the signs are looking good. A mini-murmuration of a few hundred birds has seen over the reserve some evenings so hopefully numbers will increase as the temperature drops and we will be able to watch them perform their amazing aerial displays more regularly next month.
Bearded tits have been very active throughout October and can be seen most mornings (usually around 9am) from the top of Sandy Wall near the river, where they often gather really close to the path. You can also find them anywhere including from reception and Fen Hide. Otters, kingfishers, bitterns and great white egrets have also been seen almost daily from all three of our hides.
Along the woodland trail, we've had plenty of interesting and beautiful fungi being discovered. Some of the highlights include ochre coral, earthstars and fluted bird's-nests. So keep your eyes peeled if you want to find some yourself or join the planned guided fungi walk on November 12th. https://events.rspb.org.uk/events/53019
As we move into winter, I wonder what November will bring to the Mid Yare? Will we get sightings of a waxwing? Find out in the next report.
Please remember to bring your boots, paths are muddy!