With the mild weather still with us, it has at times, felt quite spring like over the past week. While we have calendars to tell us that it is in fact still December, some birds have really started to sing rather well in recent days.
The classic fen species are all being seen with some frequency from various places around the fen. Marsh harrier numbers are still holding on with at least 25 individuals into the roost most evenings. Bitterns have been seen on a near daily basis, as have kingfishers, bearded tits and otters. The reception has been one of the best places for all of the above, but as mentioned previously it does have the benefit of being manned all hours of daylight at present.
This weeks rarity was a Siberian chiffchaff, a new species for the reserve as far as I can tell. This bird was present for just a few hours on Tuesday in the scrub near the sluice, its dunnock-like call was the giveaway to its identification, unfortunately the bird was not seen again after the initial sighting, despite searches on the following days. This Siberian species has recently been split from our common chiffchaff and is a fantastic addition to the reserve list, we are learning more about how to identify them all the time, but the call is one very important feature. Oddly there was also a common chiffchaff present in the woodland on Wednesday too.
The finch flock is still present around the reception buildings, with 20 siskin and at least one redpoll present today.
The wet grassland at Buckenham and Cantley continue to host a good number of birds; 1000 lapwing, 800 wigeon, 17 taiga bean goose, 400 pink footed goose and around 20 white fronted goose still present over the past few days.
The paths have suffered over the past month with the damp conditions, river flooding and no freezing temperatures, so wellies are recommended if you are planning a visit. The woodland circuit offers the least mud as there is a hard path for the majority of the route. The paths to Tower Hide along the riverbank have soft mud in places and the path to Fen Hide also has some quite muddy sections, so wellies are best.
This will be the final blog of 2015 so I would like to thank all readers for their support and from all here at Strumpshaw Fen we wish you a Happy New Year.