Its sometimes the most low key of reserves that offer the best conditions for bird photography. Sculthorpe Moor may not be the most famous of Norfolk's nature reserves, but it provides some great views of birds and I left the place with a sim card full of pictures. When writing a blog its always heartening to be able to put up great photos, and its always the opposite when coming away from a good birding place, like Titchwell, and having no decent pictures at all (see previous blog).
I visited Sculthorpe after a morning at Titchwell, and having time to spare, had a look. Now Sculthorpe Moor is usually a place you visit after somewhere else, not a go to reserve. It is a small site of valley fen somewhere in the heart of Norfolk, an important habitat that is rare in any size. But now the Hawk and Owl Trust have expanded the reserve and its now almost quadrupled in size. So what was an after thought of a reserve, is now a destination in its own right. However, although the reserve has been expanded in size, there are no facilities in these areas, so I wasn't able to see the new parts yet. But there's still time and hopefully I will witness the new lands in the future.
Bird feeders. There are lots of bird feeders at Sculthorpe. Every hide had several feeders stocked full of nourishing food. And there were lots of birds to feed on them. It doesn't take much to create habitat for our smaller birds. Overgrown areas are all you need. Sculthorpe has dry woodland, wet woodland, scrub and open fenland. A good mix of various habitats, which are simple to grow and full of birds. But in our tidy countryside all our messy areas have been cleaned up, and our little birds have declined. So its only on reserves like this, that this simple overgrown habitat remains and as a result the place is full of birds that are absent from our countryside.
There were decent numbers of the scarcer smaller birds present. The reserve has to be the best place I know, in East Anglia at least, for seeing BRAMBLING, which are usually seen from Volunteer Hide. The brambling is kind of like a northern chaffinch that breeds in the huge forests in the north of the world, which only winters in this country, The Volunteer hide is extended into the sky, up in the tree branches, and here a bird table is literally centermetres from where you sit in the hide, providing amazing views. Also here was a pair of BULLFINCHES, such beautiful birds, with their scarlet chest and big black beak, they are common, but hard to find.
At another feeding site close to the entrance to the reserve, by the tool shed, a separate group of BULLFINCHES were present (this pair was a male and female, the other two males, this bird always comes in pairs), another BRAMBLING and also a MARSH TIT, all good birds. At Whitley Hide, a hide that looks out over the fenland, a NUTHATCH was present on more feeders.
So its only a matter of time before Sculthorpe joins the premier league of Norfolk nature reserves, a destination reserve in its own right. This is good, because the more land protected for wildlife, the more wildlife there will be. However there is only so much a nature reserve can protect, change is needed in the wider countryside to provide more habitats for nature to survive. Hopefully we have turned a corner and now maybe see our countryside as something other than food factories, something natural rather than industrial.
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