And just like a chocoholic gobbling up a pile of Easter eggs, April is over. It has been a month dominated by glorious sunshine, there was the odd April shower, though not many. At Strumpshaw, spring has definitely sprung. From migrant birds to ducklings and even new leaves appearing on the trees, the reserve is seeing a new lease of life. There’s also plenty of highlights on our sightings board to go through, so let’s get started with this month’s report.
Photo credit: Ali Nazimi
First things first, path news. All our main paths are more or less dry. The Lackford Run is now open, though a good pair of boots are needed just in case. Meadow trail will be open later in May.
Now for the exciting news, the sighting of the month. On April 14, for a brief few moments at Fen Hide, one lucky visitor had quite a surprising bird show up. It was a glossy ibis! To my knowledge, we haven’t had a glossy ibis spend more time than a flyby since 2016, when one stayed for a few months mostly outside Tower Hide. These birds are becoming more common and are likely to go the same way as our 3 egret species and may start to colonise the UK. They are fairly large and easy to identify, with their down-curved bills and brown plumage with a glossy green and purple sheen to it.
Photo credit: Glossy Ibis - David Hubbard
If you head to Buckenham, another bird that’s on the rise is the spoonbill and one has been seen quite often out on the marshes. Meanwhile, our cranes have been seen almost daily. We are still unsure if they are breeding on the reserve or not, but we are still keeping our fingers crossed.
Our bitterns have also been rather active this month. Across the Mid-Yare valley, we have had at least 4-5 booming loudly. Fen Hide seems the best place to see one as they’ve been appearing out in the open there recently.
More migrant species arrived this month which included an osprey visiting the reception area on April 11 and a ring ouzel on April 12 at Buckenham. April 11 seemed to be the day many of our regular spring migrants returned to the Mid-Yare including the first cuckoo, reed warbler and grasshopper warbler. We’ve now gotten most of our migrant species back including house martins, hobbies and common terns. Wood sandpipers and whimbrel have also been reported from Buckenham.
A real challenge to all bird enthusiasts is to try and find all 11 species of warbler during a walk at Strumpshaw. The 11 species are blackcap, garden warbler, willow warbler, chiffchaff, Cetti’s warbler, whitethroat, lesser whitethroat, reed warbler, sedge warbler, grasshopper warbler and goldcrest. They can all be found here right now, so good luck if you take on this challenge!
Reed warbler. Photo credit: Ben Andrew (rspb-images.com)
Kingfishers are starting to frequent the posts in front of the reception again and have been seen from there almost daily. Otters have also been reported out on the broad there from time to time. On the 28, I saw a mother with two cubs swimming and playing together. Bearded tits have been fairly active, especially from Fen Hide and along the Sandy Wall and Fen Trail. Early risers and late stayers may find our resident barn owl hunting over the meadows.
With the days warming up, our butterfly transect team have now started their surveys monitoring Strumpshaw’s butterfly numbers. We’ve already seen species such as brimstones, green-veined whites, holly blues, speckled woods, red admirals, commas, orange-tips and peacocks. However, there are two common species that we would like YOU, our visitors, to help find, as our team have been struggling to count them in recent years. Small tortoiseshells and common blues, both once very common on the reserve, have both sadly declined or disappeared within the last decade. If you find one during your visit at Strumpshaw, please come and let us know.
Small tortoiseshell. Photo credit: Grahame Madge (rspb-images.com)
Common blue. Photo credit: Patrick Cashman (rspb-images.com)
Dragonfly enthusiasts will be delighted to hear that we have had the first damselfly and dragonfly out on the wing. Large red damselflies were the first to emerge last week and now a small list of other species have joined them in the last few days, including hairy dragonflies, broad-bodied chasers and variable damselflies.
Our Easter Hunt trail has been a great success. Families will be glad to know that our ponds are open again for your pond dipping needs. Just a reminder that we only accept the use of our own nets to reduce the risk of water contamination, so please refrain from bringing your own nets.
And that is all for another month. We now move into May and of course, swallowtail season. These Strumpshaw favourites should be out fairly soon towards the second half of May. Just pray the weather doesn't turn chilly like in past years as this might delay their emergence. It is also International Dawn Chorus Day this Sunday, a great time to try and complete my warbler challenge. See you next month!