A stunning male GARGANEY
Having recuperated from my holiday, it was time to do a bit more birding. We decided to look further afield than Suffolk and aimed for the Norfolk Broads, at arguably the national park's two most accessible reserves, Strumpshaw Fen and Hickling Broad. The aim was to see those two classic Norfolk Broad species - the CRANE and the SWALLOWTAIL BUTTERFLY. However despite the many birds we saw we were just unable to catch up with those two iconic animals of the national park. But don't stop reading, we really had a good time.
I got the train to Saxmundham and met up with my brother and we drove to Norfolk, stopping off first at Strumpshaw, which was nearest, just outside of Norwich. This reserve is just one part of a large string of RSPB reserves that hug the river Yare. It is the main access point for those reserves, having a visitors centre and hides, allowing people to experience the Broads here, while keeping more sensitive sites quiet.
It was a nice day to begin with, sunny, but with a bit of wind. We had a coffee at the visitor's centre, a hide overlooking a pool, before setting off. The path ran around the reserve in the shape of a square, passing through various habitats, starting with woodland where we heard but didn't see a SPOTTED FLYCATCHER. The trees thinned out and changed to fen meadow which was grazed by Highland Cattle, and was full of wild flowers, like RAGGED ROBIN and YELLOW IRIS. It was all very beautiful, characteristic Broads habitat but we hadn't seen any birds up to this point.
The fen meadows started to be overgrown and turned into reedbed, a monoculture of a habitat, comprising mainly of one species of grass. However all the pools found in reedbeds attracts a lot of birds, so there's usually a lot to see. We came to the first hide - Fen Hide - which overlooked an area of water. In it were a family party of MUTE SWANS and also a rather lost BLACK SWAN, which I guess was an escapee rather than a migrant from Australia.
We moved onto another pool where from the viewpoints there was a GREAT CRESTED GREBE nesting on a rather flimsy construction, barely able to take its weight.
It was only when we got to the final hide - Tower Hide - that things became interesting. On the pool were large numbers of GADWALL with smaller numbers of SHOVELLER and TUFTED DUCK. What was immediately striking was a male GARGANEY, mainly asleep, in front of the hide. It is quite possible a female might be nesting a short distance away - a rare thing in the UK - there are only around 50 pairs in the whole country. Also present were a single TEAL and a pair of POCHARD, both rare nesting birds.
BLACK HEADED GULLS were nesting on an emerging tree trunk, some already had young birds hatched. A BITTERN was heard booming, one of those atmospheric sounds which really create the reedbed experience.
We followed the reserve path back to the car park but didn't see anything overly interesting. One of the key species - SWALLOWTAIL BUTTERFLY - was noticeably absent, which was a shame.
So ok, I guess, saw a fair amount of birds, with out it being overly amazing. As you can see from the photos the birds were all fairly close, which is what visitors and children like to see. Its been fifteen years since I last was at Strumpshaw, with so many reserves around the area its hard to fit them all in, but maybe it might be awhile before I'll come back again. It felt like a small reserve, even though its only part of a much larger chain, which kind of went against it.
Hickling Broad
After leaving Strumpshaw we travelled forty minutes over to Hickling Broad nature reserve. This is probably the best broadland reserve accessible from the land. It consists of large reedbeds, areas of fen and grazing marsh.
The day had clouded over significantly, which affected the chances of seeing SWALLOWTAILS to zero. The two central hides which overlooked pools in a fen like moorland were quiet. Lots of WARBLERS were around and plenty of REED BUNTINGS, all singing but fairly subdued.
We reached a viewpoint over the Broad where there was a large herd of MUTE SWANS, non breeders all gathering together for company.
So far it had all been fairly quiet, with not many birds seen. We were a large part round when we came to the Observation Hut. Before we went in we saw a BEARDED TIT briefly in the broad-side reeds, but didn't see it again. Climbing the steps up to the Observation Hut we had good views over the reserve. From this vantage point I again saw a BEARDED TIT, this time carrying food, so there must be a nest nearby. BEARDED TITS have been badly affected by the bad weather in March, and these are the first birds I have seen this year.
We walked along to the Bittern Hide, but there wasn't much there. Walking on the path back to the visitor's centre we saw a BITTERN in flight for quite a while for the notoriously shy bird.
Just further along we saw a pair of GREAT WHITE EGRETS towards the back of the reedbeds, birds that used to be rare but are now becoming more common, which is always a good sign.
As we returned to the centre we took the path out to Stubb Mill. It ran the reserve boundary, on one side grazing marsh the other arable land. A couple of BROWN HARES were seen in the arable fields, large crèches of young geese of three species on the grazing marshes. WADERS on the grazing marshes included LAPWING, OYSTERCATCHER and an AVOCET.
Stubb Mill didn't really have anything present, but it was worth a check, as its usually the best place to look for CRANES. We walked back to the car and drove home.
As you can see from the lack of photos, the birds at Hickling were much further away and didn't provide much photo opportunities. The reserve felt like much more of a wilderness than Strumpshaw, with wide vistas, large skies and rare habitats that stretched on to the horizon.
Again we missed out on another target species - the COMMON CRANE - as well as SWALLOWTIALS. But otherwise we saw some good birds as good as you'll get in most places in East Anglia, so it was worth a visit.
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