A celebration of birding and natural history, generally within a 10 mile radius of Ely Cathedral, Cambridgeshire, UK.
It would be great if you wanted to share your Ely 10 birding news, experiences, photos, art and video through this blog. Please contact hairyfolkster@gmail.com with your post or to join the authorship, I'll get you on the list quicker than a fly over Alpine Swift.
Around SE Kent in late May and early June there are loads of orchids to be seen. Between our searches for Beavers and woodland walks at Blean we visited Park Gate Down and Yockletts Bank. At Yocklett's Bank we walked through the woodland, expectant of finding a good show of Lady Orchids, whether we missed the key area or whether there had been an early bloom that we had missed we are not sure but sadly we didn't find any. Neither did we find any evidence of blooms that had gone over, although we did find plenty of long finished Common Twayblade. Redemption from our flawed hunting prowess came when Steve found a couple of tall and beautiful Fly Orchids alongside the path. Although more frequent, and widely distributed than Lady Orchid, these were the species I was most keen to see, plenty of time was spent at ground level drinking in this subtle and fantastic plant.
At Park Gate Down we had a similar experience, the chalk grass land flanking the steep valley side was full of orchid spikes, hundreds upon hundreds, of predominantly Chalk Fragrant and Common Spotted (some with lovely, almost white blooms) and a sprinkle of Pyramidal Orchids. We found what looked like a few Man Orchids that had gone over but to our surprise what we didn't find were any Monkey Orchids remaining, they must have flowered early and fast following the very hot second half of May, or maybe our eyesight just let us down. We searched hard but it's always good to have a reason to return.
A good friend of many years, Steve, lives on a canal boat most frequently moored along the Grand Union Canal near Rickmansworth. Canal boats and Beavers seem to go well together and for several years Steve has been asking about how he might get to see a Eurasian Beaver, in the UK. He'd looked into several options but with a bit of research we settled on a joint trip to Canterbury where amidst a thriving population along the River Stour there are some that can be readily seen, with a little patience, within the town centre. Having walked the length of the suitable bits of riverside, to familiarise ourselves with where we might look, we headed off for a meal and returned at the favourable hour, 7.30pm early evening. Just after 8 we saw someone with their phone pointed at the water, a Beaver had just passed them so we went up on the bridge a little way along and were treated to seeing a large adult Beaver swim up river and directly beneath us, easily seen through the crystal clear water. Here's a little compilation of all Steve's phone footage plus some from the fella who first got us on to the magnificent rodent.
The next day we spent much of our time in Blean Woods and on the chalk downs looking for orchids, but returned in the evening to enjoy more, and closer views of the Beavers. Fantastic and charismatic mammals, their presence was evident in the many gnawed trunks and branches along the riverside.
We also saw lots of evidence of Beavers over at Stodmarsh, where a morning walk was full of Hobbies, Cuckoo's and Bitterns. It was a little overcast and breezy but I was surprised at the lack of Odonata on the wing. Freshly emerged Black-tailed Skimmer and Norfolk Hawker were static amongst the vegetation.
Returning to the flatlands an early morning message told of a Golden Oriole singing at Chippenham Fen. It's a long time since I've seen or heard an Oriole in the Ely10 and the days of heading out on farm tracks across the Fen between Shippea Hill and Lakenheath with oriole song drifting from the Poplar stands and plantations are a fading memory of the late 20th Century, much is the pity. Although the oriole remained silent (and also the following morning) there were plenty of wonderful distractions, Large Red Damselflies were bouncing from stem to stem and a recently emerged Scarlet Tiger unfurled slowly low down amidst the grasses. When I got back to the car my windscreen was ornately adorned with an arrangement of phragmites, whether an art project or some kind of protest, I mourned the waste of chlorophyll - some people.
The damselflies, some nice Hairy Dragonflies at Chippenham and the continuing push of Painted Ladies through the fine weather and southerly airflow, whetted my appetite for the afternoon. With still and balmy conditions I put the Tab lure out and took a walk around the reservoir loop on the edge of the village at Ben's Yard. I was hoping a Lesser Emperor or 2 may have emerged over the past week, unfortunately none were winging but there was plenty of other Odonata - lots of Common Blue Damselflies in heart shaped copullation, Scarce and Four-spotted Chasers were evident, Black-tailed Skimmers along the path side, a few Blue Emperors and best of all a Norfolk Hawker, my first around the village.
As I walked the banks 3 Cuckoo's were battling it out and vocal while streams of Painted Ladies were stopping briefly before heading purposefully northwards. Common Blues and Small Heaths were bustling around the patches of shorter grass and I glimpsed a few Darters, although none stayed for long enough for a good look. I am still to find a Red-veined Darter in the local area, yet the are sure to be present somewhere, it can only be a matter of time before I discover one at Ben's Yard. When I got home there were a couple of Dusky Clearwings attracted to the Tab pherenome - glad they are still present in the area, it's hard to believe it's only a couple of years since they were re-discovered locally, after a centuries absence from the UK. One of the Duskies made an early bid for freedom and flew a bit around the kitchen before finding the open door. I swapped out the lure to try for Orange-tailed Clearwing and within a few hours it had done the job and a single Clearwing confirmed a continuing presence of this species in the area.
A very happy birthday to a dear companion, Rich Baines. He turned the big Six Oh earlier in the month. An Ely contingent headed to the North York Moors to join the celebrations. We stayed in the picture perfect hamlet of Hawnby on the edge of the Moors where we were indulged in great food, company and lodgings at The Owl. The morning after the night before, fuelled on a full english, we headed out in a convoy to a lovely stretch of woodland where both Redstart and Pied Flycatcher sang. The Yorkie contingent had to split early but Ben, Rich and I continued on to drink in the wonderful Firetails and Flycatchers (including a very confiding Spotted) on further territories.
The sky was leaden and threatened thunder, lightning and downpours throughout and when the rain did start falling we headed back towards Hawnby Hill. On the moorland edge we got out of the car to be greeted by a skittering of light across the clouds and an almighty crack of thunder that took not only Rich and I by surprise, but half a dozen Curlew and some Lapwing too. The waders took to low, slow flight over the moor as their nerves settled, and we took to the car as a deluge ensued.
The storm passed quickly and as we rounded the base of Hawnby Hill the sun broke the clouds and suddenly conditions appeared good to go hunting for butterflies. Serenaded by Tree Pipits we found a handful of feisty Duke of Burgundy and a couple of Dingy Skippers, and the rate of Painted Ladies passing by became notable. This continued through to the weekend where indications were that an early Painted Lady summer was upon us.
Our mid-week sojourn to the Moors was wonderful, big thanks to Jo and Rich for organising and inviting us, and to Rich for sharing his lovely pics.
It feels like a lifetime ago, a quarter of a century, since I walked the coastline of the Uists for a month surveying winter wildfowl, waders and gulls. The inter-connected islands of Berneray, North Uist, Benbecula and South Uist form the backbone of the Outer Hebrides, the north-western frontier of our isles. After a few raptor surveys on Lewis, we crossed The Minch and stayed in Lochmaddy for the duration of the surveys. Dan Haywood (of New Hawks fame), Big Jim Middleton and I walked, and at times I imagine we staggered, along the wild winter beaches as we counted birds. One time we took to a fishing boat and were dropped off to wander around uninhabited islands, another time it snowed hard, at some point I was definitely flirting too closely with hyperthermia. Dan used a photo from that time on the cover of his sprawling opus, an epic triple album (oh yeah, that's me birding on the snowy beach of Kirkbost - my album cover tick)
My return had everything to do with the spring passage of Skuas, a spectacle that I had only chanced upon before, in far NE Norway. When the wind is strong enough from the W to NW during May then Pomarine and Long-tailed Skuas may be pushed towards the Hebrides as they head to their Arctic breeding grounds. Mid-May, the time of peak passage far off shore, looked by all forecasts to be a period of easterly air-flow but at the end of the first week of May a swirling low pressure system looked to deliver some strong N and NW so I decided to gamble and go earlier, hoping to catch the first of the passage.
I took a full day, leaving Ely long before dawn, to travel north. An early stop at Amble allowed some scoping of Roseate Terns on and over Coquet Island from the dunes - a Grasshopper Warbler reeled from a lone bush nearby. A slight detour along the Firth of Forth to look for rare Scoters, both Stejneger's and White-winged amongst the many remaining Velvets. Both confided, the rarer one particularly so. Then westwards via an inland, loch bound White-billed Diver.
I arrived at Uig in the dark. Next day I took the ferry to Lochmaddy, mid way out the bold wing pattern and light flight of a Sabine's Gull gave an adrenaline surge. Although one had been reported from the ferry a couple of days earlier, I had taken it with a pinch of salt, possibly a young Kittiwake as Sabs are pretty rare in the spring. I double checked that I wasn't making an error, but it continued to look just as a Sabs should. It must have been lingering between the islands as it was seen again on the return crossing that evening.
The week that followed was memorable, so many great moments with birds, both scarce and common. The glorious beaches were full of waders, including smart Curlew Sandpipers and there were Whimbrel everywhere. The uplands were great for raptors and the coastal waders also attracted Hen Harriers, Peregrines and Arctic Skuas that harried and chased the swirling flocks through the golden light of evening.
Seawatching on the first full day, with St Kilda appearing and disappearing on the horizon, in a very fresh NW with frequent squalls I saw 9 Poms move through in 8 hrs, and a very close pod of Risso's Dolphins off the point. Next day the wind dropped but remained in the NW, a casual evening seawatch produced 2 Long-tailed Skuas, a wonderful surprise in just a moderate breeze, winging their way from the wavetops, and up high, to fly over the island.
As the stormy front moved through on my last full day the predicted westerlies frustratingly became SW and strengthened greatly, to gale-force, I did a full 13 hours of seawatching that produced thousands of Manxies and just 2 Pom Skuas. At 7.30 I packed it up, but as I walked back to the car I felt the wind on my back, the wind raged now from due W. My camping pod wasn't available for this last night and with stormy winds I had opted not to pitch the tent and decided to sleep.in the car, old school style. I settled myself down to listen to the football and scanned the sea idly through the window. I immediately picked up a couple of interesting birds that I presumed were Kittiwakes in arcing flight, then a couple more - but they looked dark. I thought I'd give these more of a look. Setting up the scope these darker, distant birds looked like skuas, more specifically Long-tailed Skuas. And they were coming past in rapid succession.
I grabbed my kit and ran back down to the point where for the next 45 minutes I enjoyed an almost constant flow of these graceful skuas heading north. The closest group turned out to be the largest, 11 birds passed in a loose knot, shearing across the wind and oscillating above and below the horizon - magical. A conservative count of 35 birds didn't take into account the 8 or so birds I'd seen just with bins from the car and running to the point. The shift in the wind had turned the tap on spectacularly, with just in hour left of play, indeed I had given up for the day. Had I been in the pod it is likely I would have missed the spectacle I had travelled so far to witness.
Next morning just 4 Long-tails passed in the first hours of the day, I didn't mind as I had seen what I had hoped for - some intense spring-time passage of northern skuas. I think it's a trip I will repeat again soon, I loved being on the islands.
Despite the midday ferry I made it back to York in the wee hours of the morning and next day headed back to Ely, taking in a 2CY male Red-footed Falcon on my teenage turf, in the Lower Derwent Valley and a look in at Gamlingay where the tripping Dotterel were at a short-lived peak of 13 birds, most were dapper females. Full disclosure - the LT Skua on the video was not from the Hebs trip, it's not even my own photo, it's one that Birdo brethren Simon Patient took on our trip up to Varanger, Norway but it does serve an illustrative purpose very well - cheers Spud.
