In autumn the reserve is visited by migrating birds both heading south and those seeking refuge from the Arctic winter. These often form large flocks in the winter that gathering to feed or at dusk flying off together to form large roosts. Waxwings sometimes visit in search of winter food from Scandinavia.
Insects
Its Fen provides one of the few breeding sites in Great Britain for the swallowtail. The subspecies found at Strumpshaw, Papilio machaon brittanicus, is endemic to the Fens of Norfolk and Suffolk in the UK. It is slightly smaller and more heavily marked in black than subspecies machaon and gorganus which are widespread throughout mainland Europe. It nearly always lays its eggs on milk parsley in contrast to its European cousin that will select most umbellifers. Swallowtail can be seen from late May to mid-July and often again in mid-August to September. It is the largest resident British butterfly at 8 to 10 cm wingspan. In early spring and summer the reserve is the habitat of 23 species of dragonfly, including the rare Norfolk hawker which is protected under Schedule 5 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, and listed in the British Red Data Books on Insects as Category 1. Another important dragon fly is the scarce chaser.
Lesser spotted and great spotted woodpeckers easily heard drumming in the woodland.
Booming bitterns can be heard from across the reserve, in 2017, there were up to 3 booming male bitterns on the reserve
Summer
The UK's largest and one of its rarest butterflies, the swallowtail emerges at this time, remaining on the wing through to July
Fen meadow rich with flowers including six species of orchids.
Many butterflies, dragonflies and damselflies including swallowtail butterfly.
Hobbies hunt dragonflies.
Autumn
Ospreys on their southward migration fish.
Marsh harriers gather in groups to roost.
Bearded tits form flocks in the reedbeds.
Management
The reserve contains several types of habitats including reed beds, grazing marshes, wet woodland, fen orchid-rich meadows, and the River Yare. These are managed through traditional techniques, including reed-cutting, mowing, cattle grazing and scrub removal. When purchased in 1976, it was in a state of being heavily overgrown. Since then considerable effects have been made to restoring it to the open fen landscape of the 19th Century. Initially, this involved breaking up vegetation with high pressure jets and pumping out mud to recreate the broad. Ongoing restoration work presently includes scrub and invasive plants removal and repair of disused ditches. Reed bed and fen meadow management includes summer mowing and grazing, seasonal flooding, maintaining water levels, clearing rushes, grazing and mowing, and trampling with livestock to create boggy ground. Wet woodland management includes protecting standing dead wood and keep water levels high from April to July. The reserve contains the largest area of hay meadow in East Anglia that has remained untouched except for a late hay crop - a practice crucial to the maintenance of its plant diversity.
Facilities
There are several hides and a number of trails. The reserve is open from dawn until dusk every day. There are entrance charges. Some parts of trails after rain or river flooding can be muddy or wet so may require wearing walking boots.
Pumping house
The fens at Strumpshaw were originally drained by a 1700s wind pump. In the late 1800s, this was replaced by a steam powered pump, whose brick-built engine house and free-standing brick chimney, alongside the river, remain. Nowadays, electric pumps are used.
