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.
Returning from the Pallas's Warbler twitch the kids asked if I wanted to go to a hotel in Norfolk that night. I said "No" but it turned out Ange had all but booked us into The Feathers in Dersingham, so "Yes" it was.
Dropping the family at the visitor centre at Cley for a late lunch I ploughed on down the East Bank to the shingle protecting Arnold's Marsh from the inudation of the storming North Sea. What an iconic spot this is, a place of childhood dreaming. Jono tells a good tale - as teens we found a Broad-billed Sandpiper with a couple of Dunlin one May day, we had some kind of hamlety cigar to celebrate and an old boy appeared as if from nowhere to give us a light, he then dissappeared, just like that - a ghostly encounter with the guardian of the East Bank Richard Richardson !!
No cigars or ghostly goings on these days but still great birds. I had kept an eye on the lengthening residency of an Isabelline Wheatear that had arrived a week or two earlier. It was very confiding at times which added to the appeal. My first views were distant but within minutes it flew straight towards us an dropped in a short distance away. What a belter.
It proceeded to sit atop fence posts and cross beams allowing full enjoyment of it's finer features and movements.
The following morning I did one of my favourite things and walked out to the beach at Titchwell in the gloaming and then took a saunter back enjoying the reserve without having to dodge the crowds. The sea was mill pond still but there wasn't huge numbers of birds, 8 flambouyant drake Long-tailed Duck being the highlight. On the freshmarsh troops of Plover and Avocet looking glorious.
A female Kestrel surveyed the grassland and showed well.
After a hearty breakfast we pottered along the coast taking in roadside Glossy Ibis, Cattle Egret, Great White Egret and the second showy Rough-legged Buzzard of the fortnight. I also got to photograph a dazzling Starling in it's finest garb. Happy Days.
A very dull and dreary Saturday morning was brightened by the prospect of seeing Cambridgeshire's first living Pallas's Warbler. I remember vividly, back in the day - 1998, being sat in my car outside the mirror clad English Nature (as it was) offices in Peterborough waiting to pick my wife up after work and getting a pager message - Pallas's Warbler picked up dead at English Nature Offices, Peterborough - flown in to window. Close but no cigar. 21 years on and a result, an early start paying off with really good views of the gorgeous sprite before 8am at Paradise Nature Reserve, a charming tangle of willow and fen pond alongside the river in Cambridge. A dead battery in the SLR and some rubbish finger work, which meant I took a rubbish photo of branches at the start and finish of what looked like some reasonable phonescoped video, meant I left with only my memories. I saw Simon Stirrup after the initial sightings and hoped he'd get some photos of the bird to share but the sprite did a dissappearing act until the afternoon. However I have taken a cheeky snip of Neil Bramwells picture from the Cambridge Bird Club photos.
It'd be great if the bird winters, the habitat should certainly provide enough aphids until the frosts kick in. Another chance to spend some time with the bird would be much appreciated.
A beautiful sunday morning with all plans leading to a riverside cycle and pub lunch had to accommodate a local twitch when a photo of a juvenile Rough-legged Buzzard at Chain Corner was posted on the local What's App group. I was there in 15 minutes and after a check of suitable spots I found the very smart bird, which took a short flight back to the low hedge and allowed a fantastic 20 minutes of views. I'd been able to drink the bird in fully, my best ever views of one of my favourite raptors and was able to return within my hour window - some good going.
The previous week I'd taken a few hours out at Welney where, in the last warm hours of sunlight, Tree Sparrows were starting to nest build in the eaves of the visitor centre.
Out on the washes there were plenty of waders to enjoy with 1000's of Black'wit on the islands and Ruff, Redshank, Dunlin, Curlew and Snipe adding some variety. Herons were noteworthy as Cattle, Great White and Little Egrets were all present and a Bittern did a fly past before making a sprawling plunge into the reeds at Friends Hide. The last of the years Common Darters were making the most of the weak warmth but I couldn't find any Willow Emerald, which I have seen into November in recent years.
This years dalliance with the Northumbrian coast continued in late October. We stayed right on the coast at Cresswell at the southern end of Druridge Bay. With the coast, wetlands and scrub all in walking distance there was plenty to enjoy on the doorstep. A northerly aspect to the wind on arrival prompted a look at the sea which was jam packed with Re-throated Divers, a posse of Little Gulls were feeding offshore and a drake Long-tailed Duck sped north. On the beach an emaciated Redwing proved the North Sea can be a formidable barrier for even our most abundant arrivals.
Although the wind was turning towards the south I felt good about a dawn vigil at the point next day. It turned out to be a corker. As dawn broke Pink-footed Geese streamed southwards, totalling several thousand birds at sea. Auks were moving in huge numbers too, all northwards. I did minute counts through the watch never going lower than 120 per minute, a conservative minimum would be 10,800 passing in the hour and a half. Amidst this alcid blizzard a couple of northern bullets, Little Auks whizzing north were hoped for and enjoyed. Duck were on the move too with flocks of Wigeon, Teal and Scoter joined by Goldeneye, Mergansers Eider and Velvet Scoter. A Merlin came straight in off the sea, whilst a Peregrine harried Gannets further out. Even better a ringtail Hen Harrier also came in from far offshore and winged to make landfall in the bay. A couple of late Arctic Terns and Swallows flew over a Med Gull on the sea. There was so much going on I was full of birding bliss. I did tear myself away to check the pools and bushes but a Little Stint was the best I could muster.
I checked the sea the next morning to see if the auk movement was a daily spectacle, although there were still hundreds moving it was clear that the previous mornings movement had been "a thing" a re-orientation of birds displaced by the recent northerlies. Although the birds had slowed the sunrise was a spectacle and I was able to enjoy watching the waders and gulls assembled on the rocks, which included some smart young Meds and pristine Purple Sandpipers.
Later that day we headed up to Lindisfarne and Bamburgh. A large flock of Pale-bellied Brents fed amongst the waders out on the mudflats but there was not much else of note despite a good look around the village trees and shore, not too surprising in SW breeze. I headed back that way next morning to look for the returning Black Scoter at Goswick which was a lot of hard work, however the site was beautiful, a wild and desolate coast and there was an abundance of waders, gulls and geese, including a hundred strong gaggle of Barnacles, and a few good views of the North American vagrant.
The last morning of our trip I joined my dad to watch the sunrise, a striking arc of colours. We had to pack our cars and leave by 10 so I didn't check Cresswell Pool - a shame as I'll never know if the Long-billed Dowitcher found next morning had actually arrived a bit earlier.
Our potter back to York took in a visit to St Mary's Island and Whitley Bay where the family enjoyed rock pools, Seals, a cracking adult Med Gull and some showy Lapwing, one of the worlds best looking waders.
It was a fairly quiet Autumn, with no great falls of migrants. The few that did arrive appeared with little fanfare, struggling against an almost constant headwind from the Atlantic that kept the Norfolk coast free from the gawping crowds. On a visit to Stiffkey, the strong winds made for a fairly miserable and somewhat frustrating few hours. The wood at the campsite was damp and empty - until a flurry of Long Tailed Tits suddenly appeared, dragging with them two Yellow-Browed warblers and a buzzing of Goldcrests. Once the flock had moved on, I was left face to face with a pied Flycatcher that soon skulked off into the dense foliage of a thick bush.
The Rain poured.
When it ceased, I wandered along the coastal path. The walk was punctuated by Dunnocks and Linnets, but very little else. A Blackcap, then a Chiffchaff - but then at the whirligig, just as the mizzle started gaining strength again, a small pale brown warbler dashed up from under a gorse branch and was lost in the dense brambles. Booted Warbler! surely! There was absolutely no defining pattern or variation to the bird. No flash of white or glimmer of wing bar. Not grey enough for lesser Whitethroat - no green tones suggesting a typical phyllosc.
The rain poured.
The wind whipped up again, and I was forced to take shelter - there was no way the bird was going to reappear in the immediate future. The shower was over soon, and I hung around, hoping. maybe I should have had the patience to wait at this one patch of bramble until the bird emerged - but this was no balmy summer morning. There's only so long you can stare at leaves before going insane. So I wandered on, reaching garden Drove, where A Spotted Flycatcher showed itself, before it too shot off into more dense cover to escape the now cutting wind.
And that was it. Previous autumnal seasons have found me at the coast most weeks, but this year I have taken the soft option and sat in the dry, looking out the window onto my garden.
Fortunately, it's been a pretty good view. A violent rainstorm dropped two male Bramblings right onto the feeders, and a few days later a female arrived and hung around for a few days. Redwings are there- though they are being very secretive in the hedge - bullied by the Blackbirds and wary of the Sparrowhawk. Just a couple of days ago a Treecreeper turned up, and seems to have stayed.
The most prominent birds have been the Tits, with good numbers of Great and Blue Tits the result of a productive season this year - and with them a Coal Tit. It's not the first time Coal Tit has visited - but whereas they usually don't hang around, this one likes it here. I'm hoping it's the fact that I bought a hanging "tray" style feeder especially with it in mind - it seems to have taken to it with great relish. It doesn't have to fight for room, and flits back and forth all day, grabbing a sunflower heart and retreating to eat it - then back for another.
It's Swan Season again, and yesterday was the first dawn count, with a tour of the fens afterwards tracking down the various flocks as they feed. Most flocks were fairly small - up to a couple of hundred strong, and spread out from Pymoor to Southery. But as the afternoon began to fade, we came upon a huge gathering west of Littleport. Nearly 2000 birds across two fields, shepherded by the busy tractors as the land was worked. The wet weather has delayed farmwork, and as a result, the swans have arrived with the landscape in flux. Of course, the other effect of the rain can be seen on the wash itself. The water level is high, and the road is cut.
It is fitting, therefore, that thirteen "sea duck" blew in on Sunday. Common Scoter are at their most spectacular when in large numbers - and while thirteen is a good number for an inland site, one of the few highlights of this Autumn was the discovery of a big shoal just offshore at Burnham Ovary. As the waves lolled onshore on a mild morning, the duck busied themselves, diving and displaying as they drifted along the coast.
