Aug 15th Cley

Glossy Ibis

We were on our way to Cley for our usual monthly visit this morning, when I noticed a small crowd of people armed with binoculars and scopes by the side of the road at Salthouse. I was wondering what the attraction was, so we made a short stop and joined the crowd. It turned out to be a glossy ibis. Unlike the one that was at Strumpshaw last year, it was a bit distant to photograph in a field and slightly distorted by long grass, but it was still big enough to see.

Ichneumon Wasp (diphyus quadripunctorius) that I found on the window of the café at Cley

Cattle on the reserve

After seeing the ibis, we continued on to Cley. Looking out on the reserve, I noticed something that could potentially be a disturbance for anyone who came to see birds on the pools. Right in front of the hides overlooking Pat's Pool was a herd of cattle grazing on the vegetation surrounding this pool. Though they were only doing their job to help the reserve to continue to function as a nature reserve, they were still causing the birds to move to the furthest corners of the pool, where they appear more distant. At least the cattle were entertaining to watch at times, especially when some of them decided to cross from the islands to re-join the main herd, only to get almost stuck in the mud, which was deeper than it looked!

Cormorants and cattle

Getting stuck in the mud!

But managed to get out on it's own eventually

Crossing the mud

Waders and Gulls

From Simmond's Scrape, just next door to Pat's Pool, it was a more peaceful place for the birds to gather in reasonably large numbers. The scrape was mainly dominated by lapwings, dunlin, black-headed gulls, a few black-tailed godwits, ruffs, redshanks and the odd ringed plover. But then things got a bit flighty amongst the waders as there were a couple of brief disturbances from a hobby and then a marsh harrier, which caused them to take to the sky in a flurry of wings. Once the coast was clear, they returned to the safety of the scrape and was joined by a few avocets. During one of these disturbances, a hare made an appearance, dashing past the hide we were in, continuing onwards as if pacing itself around Simmond's Scrape to complete a lap of it. Not the most action packed of days at Cley, but at least the sun was out.

Lapwings, Ruffs and Black-headed Gulls

Black-headed Gulls

Lapwings

Lapwings in flight

Redshank

Ruff

Ruff

Coot

Pied Wagtail

Brown Hare

Black-tailed Godwit

Black-headed Gull

Shelduck

Avocet

House Sparrow

Common Darter