Roost

It will not be long until dusk. The muddy footpath makes progress difficult and lodges in my mind the unsettling suspicion that we will arrive too late and so miss the promised spectacle. We’ve come to Lakenheath Fen, one of our regular haunts, in order to see the growing roost of marsh and hen harriers that has been something of a feature this winter. Although the marsh harriers can be seen here throughout the day, and indeed throughout the year, the hen harriers are a seasonal visitor, arriving on the short winter afternoons shortly before dusk.

The walk out yields up two barn owls and a salvonian grebe, the latter rare inland and the first I have seen in the Brecks. A herd of mute swans, 32 in number and feeding in a pasture, hints at the visiting whooper and bewick’s wintering further out into the fens but our journey today ends here, a small group of us stood on the banked footpath and looking back across the reserve. Off to our left is a larger group of birdwatchers, dutifully gathered at the crane watchpoint, but ours is the better position, shaped by local knowledge and the position of the low winter sun.

Within moments we have our first harriers, two marsh and a single male hen harrier. He is a stunning male, the grey wings readily picked out against the dark of the marsh and the line of trees and shrubs beyond. Soon we pick out others, our counts reaching at least five different individuals. As well as the harriers, there are a perched peregrine, the resident pair of cranes and a passing kestrel. As the light begins to go, so two of the hen harriers continue to hunt, coming closer and closer to where we are standing. The views are breathtaking as the harriers float by on owl-like wings, occasionally checking their buoyant flight to hover over possible prey.

The roost this year is almost certainly the best it has ever been, surpassing the numbers being seen elsewhere within the region and providing a good number of visiting birdwatchers with a fantastic late winter spectacle. This spectacle includes not just the birds but also the fenland landscape and the dramatic late winter sky.

Catch up with our grebes

Strange as it may seem, winter is a good time to catch up with the five species of grebe that either breed or winter within the county. When people think of grebes, they often have an image of the Great Crested Grebe, resplendent in its breeding finery and indulged in an elaborate courtship dance, or the Little Grebe – the dabchick of smaller waterbodies. Both species are less showy in their winter plumage and both may leave their breeding waters to winter elsewhere, where they may swim alongside Red-necked, Black-necked and Slavonian Grebes, all winter visitors to Norfolk.

A trip to the coast can provide views of all five species in a single day and, sometimes, at a single site. The Little Grebe makes use of brackish pools and saline lagoons, with Titchwell and the ditches at Cley both favoured sites. Great Crested Grebes may join them at Titchwell but are more often encountered just off the beach, making use of our inshore coastal waters. Here they mingle with much smaller numbers of the other three species, providing birdwatchers with an opportunity to practice their identification skills.

The Great Crested Grebes leave their breeding sites in the autumn, seeking out larger waterbodies and coastal waters on which to moult, a process which leaves them flightless for several weeks. While several dozen individuals may gather at favoured sites, our wintering population is dwarfed by the 30,000 that moult and winter on the Ijsselmeer in The Netherlands.

Both Black-necked and Slavonian Grebes have small breeding populations in northern Britain (roughly 40-50 pairs each), which are part of a much larger breeding range. While some of our breeders may be among the birds wintering around the Norfolk coast, other wintering birds will have arrived from elsewhere. The size of the arrival is influenced by weather conditions across more northerly waters. All of the species that make use of coastal waters prefer shallow, sheltered bays, which is why Holkham, Holme and Titchwell seem to hold birds to a greater degree than other sites around the county. Here they feed on crustaceans and small fish, often feeding alongside Red-throated Divers and Cormorants.

During the hardest of the winter weather, when bitter winds deliver ferocious storms to our shores, the birds may be forced inland, affording birdwatchers easier viewing than is typically the case when watching these birds at sea. The winter plumages of these birds are dull in comparison with their breeding finery and separation of the different species requires an understanding of the physical structure of each species as well as the plumage pattern. It is worth the effort, however, when you can see all five in a single morning.