We here at RSPB Strumpshaw Fen were saddened to hear the news of the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizibeth II. On the day of her funeral, September 19th, we closed our reception building as a mark of respect.
As we welcome our new king to the throne, it wasn't just the monarchy that was changing this month. Signs of the seasons moving from summer into autumn were everywhere. The extremely hot and dry weather of the previous two months became a distant memory as it became considerably colder with rain showers plentiful enough for the grass to become green again. With the temperature dropping, the urge to migrate for our birds was getting stronger and, for us birders, this is an exciting time of year. It is time to look back on the departures and arrivals from across the Yare Valley from this month.
Ospreys continued to make a few very brief visits at Strumpshaw during the first couple of weeks of the month. They were mainly very fleeting glimpses as they travelled along the river and there weren't too many reports. By mid-September, they were more or less gone. Hobbies, on the other hand, were becoming a more regular sight flying amongst the swarms of swallows and house martins, which with fewer dragonflies about became the next best meal choice.
Up to at least 5 garganey were reported from Tower Hide, though finding them required scanning through the many similarly drab, brown ducks such as teal that were still in their eclipse phase plumage. They will soon be leaving for Africa as will the many swallows and house martins that have been swarming the sky and the chiffchaffs, willow warblers and blackcaps were gathering in the scrub in large numbers just to the left of the reception and were still being heard singing throughout the reserve.
Chiffchaff
Meanwhile, at Buckenham, whinchat have been showing up. These small birds are from the same family as the robin and are similar to stonechats in appearance, but with a much more prominent white stripe above the eye. They are summer visitors that breed more on the western side of the UK and pass-through Norfolk each spring and autumn.
Little stints also stopped over at Buckenham this month (2 were seen on the 9th), though you may need a good scope to spot these tiny waders.
While the ospreys, swallows, garganeys, etc were preparing themselves to leave the country, there were others that were only just arriving to spend the winter with us. Wigeon started to return from around the first few days of September with a single pintail joining them not long after on Sep 12. On the same day we made our final farewells to the Queen (Sep 19th), the first skeins of pink-footed geese were turning up to Buckenham. Around 600 of them.
Wigeon
In the woods, the first siskins arrived on the 1st day of September and the first redwings were at Strumpshaw on the 21st. The odd brambling has also appeared across the river at Wheatfen on the 20th, which means there's a good chance they are here at Strumpshaw as well. The only common winter passerine not reported yet is the fieldfare, but it shouldn't be long.
Kingfishers have been showing well at Fen Hide recently and I had a decent view of a bittern there on the 12th, half hidden along the edge of the reedbed, so keep an eye out. Otters have been a regular sighting from the reception and elsewhere on the reserve, you just need a bit of luck and patience.
There has been a cacophony of pinging from our bearded tits just lately as they have been quite active, forming large flocks of about 15+. Cranes have been less of a regular sight these days, but were reported at Buckenham on the 19th, which is good to know that they are still around.
Scan the short reed in front of the hides and you may spot a snipe. Their cryptic plumage can help blend into the vegetation to the point you'd never knew they were there. A lot easier to spot are the great white egrets, which have continued to become a regular sighting despite only arriving to the reserve around 5+ years ago.
Willow emerald damselflies, migrant hawkers, southern hawkers and common darters continued to be on the wing even as the temperature drops. Butterflies are also reduced to just a handful of species such as speckled woods and red admirals. There's also surprising number of wall brown sightings this month, mostly along the pumphouse track.
However, if you love insects, it was a good time to scan the flowers of ivy as they were attracting many ivy bees. These charming solitary bees emerge whenever the ivy comes into bloom, which is around September. They are more or less a newcomer in the UK, being first recorded in 2001 with the first Strumpshaw record being just a few years ago.
With it being rather autumnal, conditions were becoming suitable for fungi. Toadstools are only just starting to emerge, including some yellow-staining mushrooms by the toilet block, so called because they turn a slight yellow colour when you touch it.
October is the month the migration season really hots up and hopefully something really interesting will turn up in the Yare Valley. I'm crossing my fingers on it! Next month will also see the return of large roosts from our harriers and rooks (at Buckenham) and maybe, just maybe, we will get starlings performing their murmurations in front of the reception. Many, many fingers crossed for that one.
As we race into Autumn the visitor team are busy planning activities for families around October half term. We will have a Halloween themed family trail https://events.rspb.org.uk/events/26320 running daily over the school half term from 22-30 October. Click on the link to find out more.