Treecreeper

All quiet on the Fen this morning. The Bearded tits were heard but not seen, making the long walk and long wait seem a bit disappointing, but such is wildlife photography. On the way back I spotted a Little Egret, hunched up in the wet fen. There’s water everywhere, the fen is a damp place anyway, but I’ve never seen it so wet. The flooded areas reflect the big Norfolk sky and the golden sun gilds the reeds, a little corner of wilderness.

I notice a bird in a tree and set the camera up to have a look. It’s a Water rail, a secretive creature that’s rarely seen. I think there are quite a few on the Fen, as I’ve often heard their eerie shrieking call, but I’ve only seen them here a couple of times. Looks like this one was trying to keep his feet dry. He was too distant for a decent photo, but I thought I’d show you this for interest.

Walking back through the wood, a group of Long-tailed, Great and Blue tits were foraging in the tree tops, a pair of Treecreepers were with them. Back at the car park, I found a Treecreeper on one of the oaks and tried to photograph this small mouse like bird as it crept up the tree, using it’s needle thin beak to prize insects from the bark. It would creep to the higher branches and then tumble like a falling leaf back to the bottom to begin searching the tree again, always working upwards. Only after repeating this process numerous times was the Treecreeper satisfied that every crevice had been checked and it moved off to search another tree.

The soft winter sun wasn’t quite strong enough to capture this fast moving little bird, but I was pleased to get one photo!

 
(Click images to view larger…)

If you like what you see, please consider sharing![social_share/]

UK & Eire Natural History Bloggers

Similar Posts

  • Holiday!

    Got a week off next week, yippee! Am I going to some far-flung exotic location? Nope. Am I travelling across the country to the wilds of Scotland? Nope! Next week I’m keeping it local – I’m staying at home! Not very exciting? Well quite the opposite actually – I get to spend time in the…

  • The Littlest Dragon

    Ok, I admit it. Lizards. My favourite species to photograph. Don’t get me wrong, I love the hares and the barn owls too, but lizards, so full of character, so fascinating in their little macro world. It absorbs me, my attention, I could spend hours watching, yet to me feels like barely a few minutes….

  • Rodney

    Affectionately known as ‘Rodney’ to locals, (thanks to Mike Webb’s brilliant cartoon ‘Mere Quacks’ in our local newspaper, the Diss Express), this special arachnid can be found down at Redgrave and Lopham Fen, managed by Suffolk Wildlife Trust. The Fen Raft Spider (Dolomedes plantarius) is one of our largest and rarest spiders. Thanks to extensive and…

  • Reed bunting

    Spring is in the air! A lovely morning down on the Fen, misty to start off with and then glorious sunshine. Walking down the path, a pair of Great tits were sunning themselves in the hedgerow. Further along, a pair of Bullfinches – male and female together, flew from the hedge up into a tree,…

  • Strumpshaw Fen

    Happy New Year! First post of the year, and hopefully the first of many, as I’ve got big plans for photography this year! Visited RSPB Strumpshaw Fen this morning, which is one of my most favourite places. Why? Well, maybe because it was the first place I watched a wild otter, or because it’s the…

  • Swallowtails and a surprise

    Phew, what a day! Headed out to the Broads to try and find some Swallowtail butterflies, we found several on the wing, but they didn’t settle, and I was surprised to find a lack of flowers. We decided to go back to Strumpshaw for the afternoon. The place was alive with Swallowtails! We must have…

3 Comments

Leave a Reply