Martin's Bird Blog & Nature Photos

Tag: Cley Marshes

  • 16th August 2024 – Cley next the Sea

    16th August 2024 – Cley next the Sea

    A glorious day to end our stay in Norfolk: we started the day with a hobby at Cley Marshes and ended with three swallows (that is the Three Swallows pub along the border of Cley next the Sea and Newgate village).

    Eurasian hobby

    Although we haven’t seen many marsh harriers until yesterday, we made up for it today.

    Marsh harrier
    Marsh harrier

    As we made our way out to the Avocet hide we met a volunteer who warned us that, despite the glorious sunshine , the light was not good in the hides in that area. He was right. We weren’t very good at taking his advice as he told us the scones back at the visitors’ centre were very good, but when we got there, a little later, the smell of the bacon was irresistible. All very good though.

    Not terribly good light in the hide either

    I’m not sure what this was just in front the hide. Linnet?

    When the birds faced the light, as this black-tailed godwit did, we were ok.

    Distant cattle egrets

    Ringed plovers

    Another marsh harrier bringing the breakfast back

    … and another settling into the reeds.

    Red admiral amongst the nettles

    Dunlin from the Bishops’ hide. (Not an ecclesiastical reference; the hide seemed to be named after Mr. and Mrs. Bishop)

    Little grebe

    Spoonbill amongst the geese

    Spoonbill preening

    And another spoonbill further back on the sea pool

    Norfolk hawker? Well we were in Norfolk!

    Sandwich tern from the beach

    Redshank on its own in a small pool

    Red kite caused mayhem on the ground

    After the pub we visited the church at Cley which is certainly not next the sea, but so magnificent that it will probably warrant another blog.

    St Margaret, Cley-next-the-Sea

    Small white in the church yard enjoying the lavender (I hope as much as we enjoyed the beer and indeed the whole week)

  • 14th August 2024 – NWT Cley Marshes, Norfolk

    14th August 2024 – NWT Cley Marshes, Norfolk

    There was a big dip in the temperature today. Back to normality really. No, probably not as it wasn’t raining.

    We had a pleasant morning stroll around Holt in North Norfolk and fitted in well with the age profile of the people we saw. I suppose all the young people from these parts were all off dashing around the globe.

    In the afternoon we reverted to type and visited the Norfolk Wildlife Trust reserve at Cley Marshes. It never disappoints here. It’s probably not the best time of year to be visiting this reserve but there was plenty to keep us entertained. I particularly loved the swallows which had made their home in the hides. On reflection, I probably would have been better off taking photos of them with my phone camera than with a long lens but that would not have looked very cool.

    Other top moments were a pair of spoonbills flying over, a flock of northern pintails and plenty of waders.

    Swallow – you see why they call them barn swallows elsewhere

    Curlews

    Green sandpiper

    Common redshank

    Green sandpiper

    Swallow

    Green sandpiper

    Cormorant fishing

    Cormorant drying its wings

    I needed a long lens for this swallow photo

    Solitary goldfinch

    A charm of goldfinches

    Spoonbill approaching

    Spoonbill at close quarters

    Spoonbill flying over the hide (just)

    Curlew in flight

    Someone will probably tell me that it was, in fact, a whimbrel!

    Northern pintail

    Chinese water deer

    Little grebe

    Swallow sharing the hide. It was fascinating seeing them fly in the window totally ignoring us.