It would have been wonderful to have seen a Kingfisher (heard only), Bearded Reedling and a Bittern. However, there was a lot of joy seeing two Cranes flying over which I heard later were thought to be prospecting for a possible nesting site on the Fen!
Don't want not to include a Heron with neck extended and not extended, a family of Mute Swans preening and someone's feather.
The sun brought out the colour of the vegetation, all of it a warm rust colour.
I hope these identifications are accurate. I wasn't sure I'd ever seen so many Pochard flying over, then a pair of Gadwall and an unexpectedly large number of Shoveler Ducks.
The sun showed itself eventually which made the later part of the morning feel almost spring-like. Certainly some birds looked as though they were pairing up. There were a few minutes when hundreds of Greylag Geese took to the skies and it wasn't clear what had prompted them to leave the Little Ouse and spend time flying in different directions over the Fen.
Last Saturday was a day of strong emotions - joy then sadness and loss. Visiting Welney before dawn for about three hours, followed by Ely Market and Morris Dancers were where the fun was. Saturday night/Sunday morning were the hours when Ditto was put to sleep and I was at Addenbrooke's where Ditto's bite was taken very seriously. I remain free of infection, thankfully.
Spectators set the scene and then we watched at least two dance companies from the local area. It looks pretty energetic too, so no surprise that there's more than one dance group which meant that a Friend and I were able to talk to another Friend who is one of the Dancers.
The richness of wetlands birds at Welney meant that we saw geese (Greylags), ducks (Mallard) and waders (next posting). The amount of activity when the waterfowl are fed always amazes me!
Most of the Swans are again Whoopers but a few Bewicks have visited Welney, not that we saw any.
An early morning start and it was frosty and very foggy. I had left plenty of time to get to Welney for 06.30 - as had Miriam. I had expected the fog to be denser near so much water but in the event it wasn't! For the whole time at Welney there was low cloud so no repeat of a sunrise and magical dawn! It is still magical though to hear birds waking and calling before they can be seen by us humans. Although some Whooper Swans flew overhead, others opted to fly in other directions! The resolution of the images got better as the light increased.
I had had this cat for the past 8 years or more. Only recently he'd survived a very nasty wound to one of his back legs after a neighbour's cat attacked him in the kitchen. On Saturday afternoon I knew he wasn't well and uncharacteristically he went out but didn't return. Thankfully he was found by a neighbour late that evening and was soon put to sleep following a very upsetting and unpleasant neurological episode. Both these photographs were taken last year. His presence will be missed for quite a while.
