We set off in the direction of the marsh, hoping it had roosted in the same area as it had done the previous night. Fortunately Jeff had his torch with him, so we headed south east from the village hall, along Mill Lane in the direction of the marsh.
We decided to stand around until it got a little lighter, before walking to the sea wall, where its seemed from Birdforum, most views of the crane had been obtained.
We didnt want to stride on in the dark, disturb the bird and then never see it again. Four more birders arrived and at 0630 hrs it was agreed by all that we should head across to the wall, and set up cameras, scopes by the gate. As we waited, a short eared owl quartered around the nearby boats but at 0650, the crane could be seen about 3/4 mile away with a flock of geese. Fantastic. What a relief to see it so distant. We now waited in the hope it would come closer.
It then flew into a field far nearer, but still too far away to photograph. Patience was the order of the day, and while waiting chiff chaffs and wheatears were moving south.
The bird seemed to want to cross into the field to our left, but birders had decided to stand in the middle of the track, so eventually it flew straight through, unfortunately against the sun, but far nearer now for images, though not near enough. It then took off and flew south.
Mike and I walked a good way, only to be told it had flown towards Shingle Street. Oh well, its obviously headed south but at least we'd seen it. We packed our cameras up into the rucksacks and made our way back to the gate we had previously stood at. Half an hour later, as we arrived at the gate, we heard what we thought was the crane coming from behind. Its here! We couldnt believe it. It flew straight over our heads and probably nearly 2 miles in the other direction. Bloody typical. We hung around for another couple of hours, but it never came back close enough.
A fantastic bird, and a relief to catch up with it having missed it in Filey. Weve had a brilliant day, had a real laugh, and all come home happy.
Having dipped on the Sandhill Crane on Friday, Jeff Haworth, Mike Watson, Brian Stevenson and myself set off from Burnley at midnight last night. After an early/late start to get the miles under our belt, we arrived at Boyston Marsh Suffolk, to try and catch up with the crane just in case it decided to migrate sometime during the day. Four hours and fifty minutes later, we parked up in the village hall car park which was empty! I realised having arrived on site, that me food id prepared earlier, had been left in the car back in Burnley. D'oh!
We set off in the direction of the marsh, hoping it had roosted in the same area as it had done the previous night. Fortunately Jeff had his torch with him, so we headed south east from the village hall, along Mill Lane in the direction of the marsh.
We decided to stand around until it got a little lighter, before walking to the sea wall, where its seemed from Birdforum, most views of the crane had been obtained.
We didnt want to stride on in the dark, disturb the bird and then never see it again. Four more birders arrived and at 0630 hrs it was agreed by all that we should head across to the wall, and set up cameras, scopes by the gate. As we waited, a short eared owl quartered around the nearby boats but at 0650, the crane could be seen about 3/4 mile away with a flock of geese. Fantastic. What a relief to see it so distant. We now waited in the hope it would come closer.
It then flew into a field far nearer, but still too far away to photograph. Patience was the order of the day, and while waiting chiff chaffs and wheatears were moving south.
The bird seemed to want to cross into the field to our left, but birders had decided to stand in the middle of the track, so eventually it flew straight through, unfortunately against the sun, but far nearer now for images, though not near enough. It then took off and flew south.
Mike and I walked a good way, only to be told it had flown towards Shingle Street. Oh well, its obviously headed south but at least we'd seen it. We packed our cameras up into the rucksacks and made our way back to the gate we had previously stood at. Half an hour later, as we arrived at the gate, we heard what we thought was the crane coming from behind. Its here! We couldnt believe it. It flew straight over our heads and probably nearly 2 miles in the other direction. Bloody typical. We hung around for another couple of hours, but it never came back close enough.
A fantastic bird, and a relief to catch up with it having missed it in Filey. Weve had a brilliant day, had a real laugh, and all come home happy.
No comments:
Post a Comment