June 5th Cley

Sedge Warbler

It was rather windy today during our visit to Cley. At first glance, there didn't seem to be much about, as if all the wildlife were hunkered down to avoid the blustery conditions. But while walking down to the hides, I was pleased to see that the bearded tits, sedge and reed warblers and reed buntings were not deterred by it and were still active, singing loud and proud. The bearded tits were especially active and I managed to get several quick glimpses of them, pinging as they went.

Reed Bunting



Brown Hare

When we arrived at the hides, the pools looked quite empty. However, the longer we stayed in the hides, the more wildlife we saw. It was as if many of them sprang out from nowhere. The real highlights were a pair of hares, which I managed to spot tucked within the tall grass covered embankment. I also saw a little ringed plover that made a short stop over for a brief bath at the edge of the closest island to us.

Little Ringed Plover

Avocet with chick

 Marsh harriers, a lapwing, oystercatchers, a few bearded tits, a common gull, redshanks, gadwalls, a large flock of starlings and a little egret all came and went while we were sitting inside the hides, but it was the avocets and shelducks that really entertained us the most. There were baby avocets and shelducks here and there out on the pools. The avocets were busy keeping one eye on their free-roaming chicks and attacked anything that they believed were threats that got too close to them.

Avocet chick

Lapwing

Juvenile Starlings

Common Gull

Redshank

Gadwall

Shelduck with ducklings

Meanwhile, a family of shelducks with 18 ducklings made us laugh as we watched them cross from one pool to the other and back again, swimming across a dyke and clambering up the two embankments between the pools along the way.

Crossing to one pool...

...And now back to the other pool

Clambering up the bank to the pool!

Mute Swans swimming in water that is too shallow!

Another family that amused us was a pair of swans guiding their cygnet across the shallow water of the pools. The adults looked like they were struggling to swim in it and were better off waddling instead. But, I guess they were too bird brained to think of that and ended up with a very muddy underside as they emerged out of the water.

Much better!

A very muddy swan!

After lunch, Mum and I had a short walk along the East Bank. There wasn't much to see from here apart from a colony of distant sandwich terns on a small island and a few redshanks, oystercatchers, lapwings, a flying heron and some greylags.

Sandwich Terns