Among around four hundred Grey Seals on the beach last week were three or four Commons. Always on the outside of the herd in the periphery. Beautiful small seals these Commons. This one had an orange tint indicating it may have come from the iron rich waters around the Thames Estuary.
Do you think that means there’s a Terek Sand in there somewhere?
We completed the tour to Wales last weekend. Some great wildlife to be seen. Next years tour is already on the website.
We found a pod of 6 Bottlenose Dolphins.
Chough could be heard calling along the coast
This Grey Seal pub was the first of the season for us all.
This Jackdaw wouldn’t leave us alone when we were sea watching.
It wouldn’t be Wales without a few Red Kites
Siskins were common around feeders
Finding where this Peregrine was ringed is proving difficult, if not impossible.
It’s surprising what you can find on the edge of the woods if you’re quiet.
As the tide encroached us an unseasonal Brent Goose came with it. An ill bird. An uncomfortable bird, overly preening and fidgeting. It craved human companionship and had a severe moult. Something not quite right with this ‘broken’ bird.
The recent full moon and ensuing high Spring tides created a spectacle. The Snettisham spectacle. The number of waders that swirled in the air above us, over the sea and over the pits was almost unbelievable. This natural phenomena here on The Wash never ceases to amaze me every time I see it.
I’ve been criticised before for writing posts like this rather than ‘pretty little blogs’. Well if you don’t like it I’d ask you to go and read something else.
I was watching the BBC’s Breakfast Show, en passant, the other morning and an interesting article on Emperor Penguins caught my attention. Naga Manchetty was interviewing a Dr somebody or other in Christchurch New Zealand (or at least I presumed it was New Zealand) who was relating that the Southern Ocean sea ice was getting less and less because of the warming climate. Emperor Penguins that use the ice upon which to nest were in a sorry old state and the size and numbers of colonies was decreasing. He estimated that we would loose King Penguins (as well as some other species) within 30 years because they can’t adjust to the rapidly changing conditions.
An iconic species lost. Gone. Never to return.
Naga’s response was “This is something to keep an eye on”. Really?
What that Dr somebody didn’t say was more powerful than what he did. He didn’t say this was the next canary in the mine to bow its head and threaten to fall from the perch. He didn’t say this is just a preamble to chaos and disaster on a scale the human race has not yet seen. He didn’t talk about the fires, the wars over fresh water in the tropics, the collapse of the food chain and the financial markets. He didn’t say it was a preamble to areas of the world becoming uninhabitable with resulting wholesale migration of people both North and South … but mainly North into Europe and North America. He didn’t say anything about the ensuing wars this migration would bring. But there again why should he. This Dr Somebody had probably dedicated half his life to studying Penguins and he’s just reporting the facts as he sees them. It’s not up to him. He’s no politician he’s ‘just’ a scientist.
Naga then moved onto the next article; about uncontrollable fires in Canada.
Somebody in charge of us is just not joining up the dots.
Is it too late? I honestly don’t know. I see lots of good happening in the world but I also see people ignorant and isolating themselves from the truth. The draconian changes needed worldwide to even start to put things right are such that the existing political system would mean someone with enough gumption to correct things would never get voted in. Think about it. The natural world is in balance. It has achieved that balance over millennia. A reliance of species upon species that has been millions of years in the making. We breed like rabbits and upset that balance with our need to eat and deploy our waste. The simple matter is there are just too many of us. We have upset the balance because of our numbers. Can you imagine the UK prime minister standing behind that lectern in Downing Street and stating you can only have a single child for the foreseeable future? How long would he last?
I’ve just returned from doing a sea watch at Weybourne. I spent 2 hours looking out to sea and I saw bugger all. No more than a few distant Gannets, a Cormorant or two and a few miserable Guillemots spinning in the surf obviously suffering with Avian Influenza.
I have two centres of light in my life. One bright shining beacon is sat on the sofa right next to me here. If it wasn’t for her drenching me with love I think I’d go uncontrollably mad. The other is a chink of light. A trust in nature. A trust developed since childhood and an understanding that when we are all gone, when we have facilitated our own end, Mother Nature will rise again. The earth will still be here. That’s my hope. I’ve never seen an Emperor Penguin. I probably never will. I’ve seen King Penguins … not off Weybourne of course.
Everybody knows the Oystercatcher. When you see one it’s black and white plumage and bright red bill are dead giveaways … unless you’ve found a Puffin carrying a carrot!
I had been made aware of a leucistic Oystercatcher out on The Wash but wasn’t expecting to see it. Leucistic meaning ‘lacking in colour’ but not completely as an albino.
There are many thousands of Oystercatchers out there at high tide and although a pale one would stick out like a shilling up a sweep’s bum (as my mate Bob would say … but he wouldn’t put it quite so politely) they are frequently so far away and with a lot of heat shimmer I didn’t expect to get such a good view. However, there it was, right at the edge of the Saltmarsh. A young bird with one of it’s parents. I’ve been told that there was one last year too, probably born to the same parents, which are both ‘normal’.
Am I allowed to use the word normal? In this crazy world of diversity we’re supposed to celebrate differences and uniqueness. Well this birds genetic make up certainly make it stand out from the crowd. So much so it might as well have a target on it’s back. I know a certain Peregrine that will be celebrating this Oystercatcher’s ‘uniqueness’ in the not too distant future.
When anyone talks of anything big and green my mind flips to ‘Dreamworks’ and Shrek!
I was tutoring a course on Advanced Bird Watching this week at the Field Studies Centre down at Flatford in Suffolk. One of the day trips we made was out to the coast at Minsmere. This gave us some opportunities to see some good birds. However we came across about five Great Green Bush Crickets. Now, when I’ve found this species previously it has been difficult to find and observe. Not so at Minsmere this week. They were out on the footpaths and perching in the open.
If you’ve never seen this insect before they are large. One in particular was the length of my fingers and palm. Apparently they can offer up a nasty nip.
I have never associated GG Bush Crickets with migration; but I’m just wondering with us finding so many (relatively) at a coastal location and them being so confiding if these guys could have made it in from the continent? We certainly did see one fly around 50m or so, strongly too, but could they make it across the North Sea?… I’m not so sure.
Letter From Norfolk 