Kites

https://youtu.be/ToPh5IVZ-4M?si=BXgFEHH6-1Lrwqf1

When I was a kid the idea of a Black-shouldered Kite, a species then restricted in Europe to Mediterranean steppe, occurring in the UK would have been bonkers.  On a handful of trips to Extremadura from the late 90's and into more recent times this beautiful raptor was never easy to locate and always a treat.  A winter sojourn to the Netherlands a couple of years ago, provided my first encounter with the species in northern Europe.  The bird was frequenting a dune system alongside the North Sea so it wasn't a huge leap to consider a jump across a flooded Doggerland to make landfall in East Anglia.  Subsequently the UK's first appeared, surprisingly, in Wales, but didn't linger.  Likely the same bird did re-appear later in the summer firstly in Suffolk and then Essex.  Over time it has periodically settled in the Norfolk Broads around Horsey and Hickling.  

The population has boomed over the last decade and there have been rapid changes in distribution, becoming a regular breeding bird on the Channel coast.  A recent vagrant to Denmark, late in the summer during September, was joined by another and amazed all by breeding.

Despite it's appearance at times within an hours drive of Ely I hadn't had reason to pass close to the Kite and pay it a visit.  It was the lure of a Glaucous Gull that finally took me eastwards.  During my week in Scotland I had managed to choose the right places to find Glaucous Gulls, they just kept appearing a couple of hours after I had left the tasty looking site.  This happened times with 5 different birds, so I was keen for this white-winger not to be a seabird I miss during my project.

When a Glaucous Gull settled in near Waxham I was interested, when I realised I could see it by taking the train to Great Yarmouth and cycling a loop that could take in the gull and the kite I was keen as mustard.

The gull was a bit of a poser, patrolling and feeding between the hundreds of Grey Seals hauled out along the beach, it was looking as northern as a gull could get.  Later the Kite showed very well, a beguiling, exquisite bird.  A pair of Cranes by the roadside near Horsey Mill showed little wariness of traffic, or cyclists - tremendous views of iconic birds at an iconic site.

Back in June 25 a different kite, actually in the Ely10, got my heart racing.  A short morning stroll at Wicken looking at dragonflies turned a bit hectic when a kite flew over from.the north.  When I looked with bins as it passed overhead it wasn't the Red Kite I presumed but a close fly-over by a Black Kite.  It wasn't in it's full, subdued, glory as it was in heavy wing moult, however a fantastic bird to find locally.  Below are the notes from my submission to the local records committee.  In Cambs the majority of reported Black Kites are not submitted, there are not loads of records and plenty of not provens, so I'll have to see what happens to this one.  I've included a photo taken on the phone as the bird departed that is next to useless but I think does show some structural difference, and a shallower fork in the tail compared with Red Kite, perhaps, it's a stretch I know.

Banana Splits

https://youtu.be/XMl6HnhFFIA?si=67SmqBOGFdbaiTSJ

When frequent storms, onshore winds and heavy wing moult coincide it can make things tricky for some seabirds.  If this leads to uncharacteristic movements, towards land and sheltered feeding (and sometimes poor health and death) it is known as a wreck.  This has recently occurred in some areas of the deeper North Sea leading to some wrecking of auks and divers.

There maybe as many as 100 White-billed Divers wintering in the North Sea in some years but these are usually far offshore, well out of sight from the land.  Plane and boat surveys established that a larger population than previously thought is out there, but aside from specific staging areas off Aberdeenshire and the Outer Hebrides, they are still a rare bird.  

Over the past month the east coast from the Tyne up to Aberdeenshire has seen a wreck of White-billed Divers with dozens of birds involved.  Although a few have been picked up as tideline corpses the majority appear to be healthy enough but with flight so inefficient during wing moult, they have shifted from usual feeding ares (perhaps due to storms) and drifted onshore to shallow coasts and harbours to rest and feed.

As part of my writing project I had planned to head to Aberdeenshire and visit Portsoy where as many as 20 birds gather offshore in late spring.  However when a bird turned up on the River Blyth in Northumberland, and was then joined by a second, I could see the potential to see one of these iconic giant divers up close and remove an additional Scottish trip from my already packed itinerary.  

Early doors on Tyneside I watched a hulking banana bill offshore on calm seas, and when the bird wing-flapped it was clear the extent if the moult.  

In the harbour there was another, very confiding White-billed Diver that was a joy to watch as it preened and loafed around.  

I spent an hour or more drinking this bird in before heading west a little, into the North Pennines to seek out early spring gatherings of Black Grouse (one field alone held 50 birds, 20 others were seen nearby) and territorial upland waders as I headed down for a night at my folks in York.

Park Life

https://youtu.be/BxC-DmiRGzc?si=imHPKa7UECnjI8qv

A bit of a theme arose during the last week - a bit of parklife going on.  Firstly, on our way across from my folks in York to friends in Leeds, during the half-term break, we were passing Roundhay Park.  I like Roundhay a lot - I saw U2 on the Zooropa tour here back in the 90's and returned for 2000's Love Parade.  Like the 60's, anyone who says they remember the Love Parade probably wasn't there.  A midsummer meeting of 300,000 ravers enjoyed a Radio 1 sponsored field party of festival size proportions.  I was there and I do remember the closing set by Sasha just before everyone was supposed to go home but instead went off to any of a dozen sound systems that sprung up in the nearby woods, pulsing beats and bangers all the way through into Sunday's sleepy daylight.

My quick visit to Roundhay wasn't, despite the fond recollections, for memories sake.  A juvenile (2CY) Iceland Gull had taken to hanging out on the lake and afforded great views to all comers.

  

Once the kids were back in school and I was enjoying the gullfest in Cornwall, I took in the park at Helston, where a pair of Lesser Scaup had become silly tame in their habits on the boating lake.

Nearby, at Tehidy Country Park a smart female Ring-necked Duck was hanging around with the Tufties on the small lake there.  A confiding spryte, a fiercely vocal Firecrest, was also here flitting about the ivy clad tree trunks - as ever  full of chutzpah and utterly brilliant.