Another mixed few weeks of weather here at the fen, with cloud, blazing sunshine and lightning storms as well as the odd day of non-stop rain! The traditional British weather has brought out some of our much loved Broads specialities.
The main attraction of swallowtails has had a very good supporting cast over the past week with many dragonflies, butterflies and insects of all kinds exploding in numbers on the warm days. Swallowtails have been easiest to see on the reception nectar garden, enjoying the dames violet in particular. They are also widespread throughout the reserve; I had a walk around on Wednesday and saw two from fen hide, one in the meadows, two along the riverbank, four along the lackford run and four on the nectar garden. Other butterfly sightings this week have included a brown argus several wall and a general increase in all common species.
Other specialities such as Norfolk hawker and scarce chaser are also out in numbers too, with the former just starting to emerge now. The dragonfly list now stands at 13 species and on any warm day you expect t see a decent number of these incredible predators on the wing.
Lizards can be seen on the boardwalk area in the fen, water voles can be seen (or at least their feeding platforms can) along the meadow trail ditches as well as the fen boardwalk.
Birdwise we have seen a similar species set as in my last blog, although bitterns have been seen with increasing frequency, which at this time of the year is a very good sign. I found a bittern nest two weeks ago and it now looks as if there may be a second nest on the reserve, more time surveying will tell us for sure. Marsh harriers are continuing to feed their young in the reedbed, with 6-8 nests active at the moment the chance of seeing a food pass between the pairs should be increased. Bearded tits can be seen all over the reserve at present with many families feeding young, although still quite tricky to get good views of them. Fen hide today produced a bearded tit family, reed warbler and reed bunting family as well as a bittern in flight while a heron and an egret were fishing in front of the hide, always a lovely sight. Hobby has been seen on a number of occasions over the past week, although there does not appear to be much regularity in the sightings
Buckenham and Cantley have continued to host the breeding waders with lapwing, redshank and snipe all still in good number as well as a large number of wildfowl including a pair of garganey. the water levels will start to drop at Buckenham soon so that the cattle can go in and manage the habitat for us, this in turn will provide more areas for any passing waders to feed and take a break from their migration.
The water level in the fen is now starting to slowly fall slowly, this replicates the natural drawdown which the fen flora needs to thrive. The higher water levels are also very good for the bittern, marsh harrier and other reedbed birds nests as it gives a safety barrier to some predators. As the water level slowly recedes look out for water rails feeding at the edges of some of the pools as well as giving the wildfowl somewhere to loaf after their busy breeding season.
We are running a series of special events this year to give people access to areas that would otherwise be off limits as well as fantastic opportunities to see interesting species such as fen orchid at Sutton fen, fen raft spider at Mid-Yare and a chance to walk through the reedbed at Strumpshaw Fen searching for fen specialities. Please look here for more information http://www.rspb.org.uk/discoverandenjoynature/seenature/reserves/guide/s/strumpshawfen/events.aspx these special events are under the headings of ‘secret broads’, they are limited to six people per event so book early to avoid disappointment.