Welney Dawn Visit

I booked for the Swans Awake at Welney Wildfowl Trust Centre hoping for those evocative images of flocks of swans going overhead in dawn light. I knew the likelihood of a good dawn was slim but we had a beautiful sunrise. Unfortunately the other factor didn't materialise as the swans almost all left their feeding grounds to the west over to Manea. There was compensation in a hunting Barn Owl. A group of 7 from CCC spent the rest of the morning at Welney - more pics later when time to process.

Welney Highlights

Just the right conditions for a visit to the Ouse Washes at Welney. Although there were not many swans coming into feed there was plenty of activity to keep a party from CCC occupied. A few of my favourites including the first showing four species of duck, the splendour of a male mallard in good light, a pair of mute swans in complete synchrony (their rings are consecutive numbers!), whoopers flying in and then squabbling, a rook chasing a sparrowhawk, male pochard as the sunset lit the water and the final sunset itself with a bit of 'creative' input (those brushes get everywhere).

Welney Wildfowl Trust

Welney Ouse Washes was looking its best yesterday afternoon in the sunshine. We saw five Marsh Harriers in the air at once so there were at least that many hunting there and putting up vast flocks of Lapwings, Golden Plover, Widgeon, Teal, Pochard, Gulls etc. A group of around a dozen Snipe flew in to join the Lapwings at one stage. About 800 Whooper Swans have already made the 1200 mile journey from Iceland to spend the winter at Welney and there are always the Mallards, Pochards and Mute Swans to enjoy.

Welney Floods

Lovely sunny morning but by the time we got to Welney it had clouded over and the light was pretty poor. The Reserve is completely flooded with only the main hide open. Opportunity for a few flight and behavioural shots until Meredith decided to try for a closeup.

Welney Swan Roost

It was minus 12 degrees on my car thermometer at Welney when we arrived yesterday morning and I don't think the temperature rose much even when the fog cleared a bit and the sun came out. Everywhere except for the water right in front of the hide is frozen so not many swans came into roost in the evening. However, the quality and colour of the light made up for the comparative lack of flying. These are in chronological order showing the colour change in the light from a cold blue to the pinks after the sun had set. These are Whooper Swans except for the final Mute Swan. More of the frost and birds to follow!