Oct 2nd Cley

Curlew Sandpiper

It was a bit blustery when we finally arrived to Cley today after an annoying and lengthy detour due to a road closure between Sheringham and Weybourne. It took as longer than expected to get here, but at least there were no diggers or cattle at the pools to scare off the birds this time. In fact, the pools were full of waders and wildfowl, while the hides were packed with birdwatchers. This is not unusual to have so many people at the reserve during this time of year as Cley often delivers some special autumn migrants. Today was no different. There were plenty of little stints, spotted redshanks and curlew sandpipers around, joining the dunlins, black-tailed godwits, ringed plovers, golden plovers, lapwings, teal, wigeon, shelducks and a couple of marsh harriers stirring them all up into the air.



Dunlin and Little Stint (left)

Little Stints



Ringed Plover


 

Golden Plover



Ruff

Spotted Redshank with Dunlin

Spotted Redshank

Dunlin

Shelduck

Teal

Mallard

Black-headed Gull

Juvenile Herring and Great Black-backed Gulls

Curlew Sandpiper

Ok, there wasn't anything that most twitchers would consider a 'mega' or anything, but the birds that were out on the pools today were still great to see. The curlew sandpipers especially were getting plenty of attention with many scopes and cameras pointed at them. These large dunlin-like waders were also creating a lot of confusion amongst some of the amateur birders within the hide as they look very similar to their smaller cousins. Everyone helped each other in pointing out the curlew sandpipers from the dunlin until we all enjoyed great views of them. Curlew sandpipers are slightly larger with a slightly longer, curved bill, a pale stripe above the eye and a pure white underside with no black markings at all.

Gannet

After lunch, we walked down to the sea via the East Bank. The wind was quite strong at times along it and we watched the ruffs, a snipe, greylags, Canada geese and other waders and wildfowl get battered by it. Even the swans were trying to fight against it and they were much larger than most of the other birds. The wind didn't bother the seabirds flying over the waves. They were born for these conditions. The gannets, in particular, were entertaining to watch as they dived into the sea like a javelin. These were mostly juvenile birds due to their brown plumage, but were still pros at diving and flew so close to the shore that you didn't really need binoculars to see them. We also saw a few red-throated divers, a distant male eider and a large, camera shy seal frolicking in the waves close to shore.

Red-throated Diver