Sightings on the reserve – June 2025

The day was intermittently cloudy but bright, and with a cool breeze, so very comfortable for birding but perhaps more sunshine would have improved numbers, especially of flying insects, and perhaps also raptors. I was greeted on arrival with the distant call of a male cuckoo from the woods behind the Wensum Wetland, and this continued throughout the morning although he evaded visual contact. There was also the constant “chacking” of the omnipresent jackdaws, and a pair of very noisy oystercatchers. Moving out of the driveway and car park, and into the park, I started to hear calling Blackcaps, Sedge Warblers, Wrens, Chaffinches, Blackbirds, Chiffchaff and an occasional Robin.

At the Wensum Wetland I was entertained by an elegant Great White Egret who stalked around the scrape impersonating John Cleese. A few Avocet were feeding in the water that was shallower than normal, and 2 Kingfishers flew in formation at speed and just above the water, across the length of the pool – they are a species that always seem to fly in a very straight line! All the usual waterbirds were present as well.

Old Squaw was dominated by very noisy Black-headed Gulls that seemed to have taken over all the island and the raft for nesting and rearing their young. There was a single Common Tern sitting stubbornly on one of these islands amidst the gulls and probably nursing a headache!

Walking along the woodland track, the field to my right was a glorious mass of poppies. The Woodland Hide was notable for its lack of birds. Apart from a pair of Jays that gave me some unusually close-up views before fighting each other, and a single (ringed) Marsh Tit, they were outnumbered by 6 Grey Squirrels and a pair of loved-up Muntjac Deer.

The Wader Scrape was also dominated by Black-headed Gulls and their chicks, so I was delighted to identify 3 Mediterranean Gulls in their midst. The Avocets and Shelduck also had plenty of youngsters, and there was a single Little Ringed Plover. 2 Red Kites glided over – the only raptors of the morning, followed by a handful of Swifts.

Finally, Moon Water had its usual roost of mixed gull species, as well as more Greylags, Egyptian, Barnacle and Canada Geese.

So, an enjoyable morning’s birding with few surprises except almost complete absence of raptors, tits, butterflies, and only a few Odanata.

Alan Hughes