July 27th Cley

View from East Bank today

The heat has been unbearable this week, especially yesterday. Today seems to be going the same way. However, instead of stewing in my own sweat at home, Mum took me out to Cley for the morning. The faint sea breeze there made walking around just that bit tolerable. We stopped for a quick walk along the East Bank, but my growing new phobia of horseflies made me abandon the walk and run back to the safety of the car!

Pied Wagtail on boardwalk leading to the main hides

Pat's Pool

We made the short ride to the main car park by the visitor centre and sprayed my bare legs and arms with insect repellent that we had just remembered was in my bag. Feeling more protected against those biting menaces, we made our way to the hides. Inside, a refreshing cool draft was extremely welcoming. In fact, I wished I never had to leave them. Outside on the pools, the shallow water attracted many waders and gulls. There were the usual avocets, black-tailed godwits, ruff, shelducks, black-headed gulls, lesser black-backed gulls, lapwings, 2 oystercatchers, redshanks, curlews and little egrets. A kestrel hovered above the bank dividing Whitewell and Simmond's scrapes at one point and I saw four golden plovers at the far side of these two scrapes, two on each respectfully. My main highlights though were 2 or 3 green sandpipers, a Mediterranean and a common gull. Not a bad haul for a short couple of hours.

Green Sandpiper

Mediterranean Gull 

Common Gull

Curlew

Lapwing

Redshank

Ruff

Shelduck

Black-headed Gull

Black-tailed Godwits

Avocet

Lesser Black-backed Gull

Woodpigeon

July 25th Strumpshaw Fen

Outside Fen Hide Today (drier than last week!)

Hot, hot, hot!! This heatwave is showing no signs of ending just yet. I wished I was rather in a bath of ice cubes than at Strumpshaw in these sweltering conditions. I have opted for shorts instead of trousers this morning, a sensible decision to tackle the heat but not for the biting insects. Even with insect repellent sprayed over myself, it seemed to attract them than actually repel them like it's supposed to. I partly ran and partly jogged to Fen Hide to avoid the worst of the biters! Not that there was much to see from Fen Hide except for a little egret, Cobber the black swan, a few drab-looking mallards, a family of marsh harriers getting a few food passes from their father, a fleeting glimpse of a few bearded tits, a mostly dried up pool and a swarm of midges entering the hide's windows attracted by the carbon dioxide from my breath as they continue to try my patience!

Cobber the Black Swan

Little Egret

Cobber and the Little Egret

Marsh Harrier

View outside Reception Hide today

Inside Reception Hide, it was much cooler. This hide is like sitting in a fridge in summer and like sitting in a freezer in winter, so it is often colder than it is outside. We also sell ice cream here, so as it was a such a hot day today, I couldn't resist in buying one. Outside, a water rail was sunning its wings on top of a pile of hay for several minutes. A kingfisher made a couple of brief appearances by the reedy islands, while a pair of herons came down after a lengthy spell sitting up in the trees at the back of the broad to fish. The sky was filled with hundreds of house martins with a few swallows and swifts mixed in amongst them as they swooped across the broad for a meal and a drink while on the wing, performing a mesmerising aerial display.

Water Rail

Cormorant

Juvenile Moorhen

Kingfisher

House Martins and Swallows

Small Red-eyed Damselfly

I did leave the comfort of the Reception Hide a couple of times to the pond outside to look for small red-eyed damselflies. On the second occasion, I was showing them to a pair of French ladies. I'm not fluent in French, but I did recognise a few words here and there as one translated what I was saying to the other. I may not know completely of what they were saying, but it was quite an experience. In return, they were pretty pleased in seeing the petit demoiselle aux yeux rouges. They said it was beautiful and it really is. Those red eyes really glisten like rubies in the bright sunshine and their slender blue and black bodies add to the beauty like prized broaches in a jewellery shop. I also pointed out the call of a reed warbler and a brown hawker dragonfly that circled over us before I said "Au revoir!"