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.
At our birders pub meet up Mark G told us about a big old flock of Golden Plover using the fields opposite the Rowing Club along Queen Adelaide Way and these made a nice focal point for my first stop on a potter around Ely Wildspace. There were over a thousand birds roosting, usually vigilant and flighty, these birds were settled and tolerant of both traffic and walkers along the flood bank. On the Beet Pits a hunch to check the geese all the way around the pools revealed 2 White-fronted Geese looking particularly dinky accompanying the Greylags.
Walking the scrub and woodlands was pleasant but not bird filled. I was hoping to track down a Chiff-chaff or 2 but so far this winter they are continuing to elude me. I have been concerned that the removal of a key area of scrub next to the insect rich filter beds inside the Sewage Works compound would now make this a perilous and unsuitable feeding area for our hardy phylloscs - I fear I was right but would love and hope be proved wrong if and when we get a cold snap. Winter Thrushes were evident and I never tire of watching boldly marked Redwings eat their way around a berry laden hawthorn.
Well, maybe not quite a million but a pre-Xmas visit to the Washes was certainly spectacular in terms of the wall to wall throng of birds across large stretches of the floods. I made no effort at all to be systematic in looking for waifs and strays and decided to allow the scale of the spectacle to impress upon me over and over. At Welches Dam, Whooper Swans moved backwards and forwards from the floods to fields, hoardes of Wigeon whistled and Teal jumped into the air in their thousands. A huge Peregrine kept things lively marauding over the flocks and sending them into panic stricken chaos. A 50 strong flock of Barnacle were the first of an interesting run of Geese.
At Welney the massed birds continued to impress with Golden Plover and Black-tailed Godwit joining the swirls. A posse of wild geese swinging in from the south and then back again proved to be White-fronts. Once they landed we kept finding new birds and the highest tally was 14 of these lovely winter geese. Later 5 Bean Geese flew north, we followed them to no avail only to find them hunkered down with the Greylags on our return to the observatory.
Distantly we could see a White Stork away across the floods, we decided to have a closer look if possible on our way to Four Balls Farm. The Stork was very confiding and flashed us it's subtle red plastic ring, still it reminded us of trips abroad and was a handsome bird to enjoy.
There was not a sufficient depth of water at Four Balls to attract any diving duck but a larger group of 50 or so White-fronts flew up the Washes and then downed on fields the other side of the westerly bank. Pymore added nothing new and we decided to head home as the light was now fading fast on a cracking day out.
A Slavonian Grebe took up a week's residence on the River Cam in early December and showed very well for much of its stay. Unfortunately it didn't hang on until the weekend and after enjoying the Rough-legged Buzzards we had a fruitless walk along the riverside looking for the vermillion eyed little diver. I had planned to take the kids out to Wicken the following weekend but sniffles and colds precluded this so I headed out alone. Before I arrived at Wicken I got a message that the Slav had moved up river and was at Kingfishers Bridge, I swiftly detoured. The dashing grebe showed really well but the sun was always in front of me making photographs a bit tricky.
At Wicken the sun burned brightly as it fell to the horizon, late afternoon here is always a treat with the spectacle of high density bird movements across the skies as Gulls, Geese, Starlings and Corvids all make their way to their varying roost sites. A couple of silver male Hen Harriers came into roost, one very close to the boardwalk, my camera had worked it's way around to some daft aperture priority so some odd images were made. Impressionistic would be a generous description.
Closer to home, but still not the Ely10, the first weekend of December opened with a trip in the gloom to Holme Fen. A small party of Redpoll greeted us in the roadside birches, no Mealies or anything paler with them but a thoroughly enjoyable circus of acrobats who swirled away as quickly as they had arrived. The first of the two Rough-legged Buzzards frequenting the Fen was quickly found, distantly patrolling the ditch line and hovering frequently.
Crossing the wooded Fen to have a quick look for the other Rough-leg, it, to our great surprise and pleasure, found us. A hasty exit from the car afforded us great views as it flew across the adjacent field, landed on the roadside and then flew back towards us being robustly harried by the local corvids, over our heads and then swung in deep into the wood.
Sadly a couple of days later this bird was killed, apparently not sufficiently experienced with traffic to avoid a collision when feeding from road kill.
A trip to the supermarket took a long detour to have another look for the Hooded Crow at Long Drove, Cottenham and this time successfully and in the Ely10 to boot.
Having spent most of my October birding hours in Yorkshire, November transpired to be a month of days out in Norfolk. Daddy day care dovetailed a trip to the seaside, ice creams, jam sarnies and a run about on the beach with some grabbed time to look at a young King Eider which took up temporary residence off the Sheringham seafront where Turnstones dodged traffic and marauding gulls to pick chip scraps off the pavements. Further down the coast and something a little more a kin to birding, a stop off at Kelling allowed some time watching a Stonechat from the east which may overtime be proven to be a Stegnejers Stonechat. A smartly patterned and coloured bird, I had a little read around the ID and left that only a little wiser.
A couple of weeks later a full size family trip took a picnic out to Wells and an afternoon walk along the seawall beneath cobalt skies and diamond sharp light to Holkham Gap. Waders and Geese in gorgeous light were a treat. After hot chocolates and a good hack around the beach we returned as the slow softening drift to dusk fell across the marsh. The Brent Geese flew across the moonrise and a habitual scan through the small flock feeding on the football pitch revealed a very smart Black Brant, a nice little find and a Short-eared Owl tussled with a Barn Owl on the marsh beyond.
The following weekend we rented a cottage in Thornham. A strong Northerly at dawn meant a rough sea at Titchwell early doors. I hoped for a Little Auk or two but the cold and the viewing conditions made it difficult to find much, a few divers, scoters and 2 Red-necked Grebes the highlights.
Next morning dawn at Titchwell was much better. A mill pond flat sea made it easy to pick out the goodies dotted across the bay. Long-tailed Ducks numbered 7 including 2 very smart and close drakes. A Black-throated Diver showed well too and 40+ Red-throats and a single Great Northern were moving out of the Wash. Red-breasted mergansers reached 45 and 70+ Eider passed through in groups of 20 . The Red-necked Grebes were still present and a pied Slavonian Grebe bobbed up and down between dives. The return along the seawall was full of birds, waders were plentiful pushed onto the marsh by the particularly high tide. thousands of Bar-tailed Godwit, Knot and assorted plovers swirled around indecisive about a return to the slowly emerging sands and mud. The wind had turned to the East overnight and I checked optimistically through the small birds in the willows with my eye on a sprite, revealing just a couple of crests and Chiff-chaffs.
After a coffee and some ceremonial opening of my birthday presents we packed the car and headed to Thornham Harbour where I could enjoy some close up views of a dozen strong flock of Twite and a fearless Little Egret while the girls got to enjoy some close up views of Disney films on the I-Pad.
I had been waiting for too long to find the opportune time to take up Will B's recommendation of the pies at The 3 Horseshoes in Warham. We tucked into a stupendous feast of meat, pastry and gravy at noon and then headed to the beach. Checking the Geese I was surprised to find a different Brant although I hear Ben's concerns that it is a hybrid on the basis of the reduced white flank markings and the head shape.
Still with the autumn on my mind I checked The Dell for passerines, a teeny thing buzzing around the treetops on the other side of the clearing caught my eye, as it hovered and dashed back into the canopy. I followed it trying to convince myself that it was just an excitable Goldcrest, I had no further views and decided to move on after ten minutes (later at home I checked t'internet news - of course a Pallas's Warbler had been in the dell most of the afternoon!!!) I looped around the pines and onto the beach watching a flock of 25 Shore Lark swirl off the sands and onto the marsh, to be deluged by a brief but intense rain storm minutes later. I met up with the girls on the beach and headed for the woods to play on the tree swings in the gloaming. Passing the Dell in the half light we disturbed a Long-eared Owl from a path side roost which glided silently past my ear and off into the trees. All lovely stuff but I sense it is time to get back to some birding closer to home.
