Common Cranes at Welney

18th October 2022

I have been coming to Welney for more years than I care to remember and 10 years with my camera, and in all that time I have never seen Common Cranes here. However, this year 37 appeared in front of the Lyle Hide on the 12th October peaking at 74 on the 13th so time for a visit to try our luck. And of course the first thing you do when visiting Welney is to go and see the colony of Tree Sparrows, which with the demise of the colony at Tyttenhanger must now be one of the southern-most colonies in the UK.

And how the drought has affected the appearance of the lagoon in front of the Main Hide. In stead of being full to the brim and overflowing on to the adjacent grassland, it is no more than a large puddle and only about five inches deep as witnessed by the Ruff and Lapwings wandering around in the middle.

Normally the commonest wader here is the Black-tailed Godwit but today there were just a handful which flew off when a Sparrowhawk shot through.

One of the advantages of having shallow water and no wind is that you get good reflections as seen on this Lapwing.

What great performers!!

There were about eight Ruff present, presumably due to a combination of the amount of mud and the time of year as I don't normally see them here later in the winter when it is flooded.

Even got a flight shot.

One surprise was a couple of Curlews which I don't normally associate with this site.

So now on to the geese and swans. There were plenty of Greylags around but it was the Canadas that were putting on the show, and for once they were landing into the light.

There were also a couple of pairs of Mute Swans but it was the Whoopers that were the stars of the show. There were already 60 here and possibly more if birds that have been feeding in the fields during the day come back to the lagoon after dusk. They are such posers it is always difficult to know where to start.

The youngsters are particularly attractive, being a delicate grey in colour compared to the brown young of Mute Swans.

Then some action including a wing flap and some flight shots.

Now on to the Lyle Hide, one of my favourite hides at Welney, as although you don't get the spectacle of the Main Hide, there is generally a wider range of species such as this female Kestrel with a vole and an overhead Buzzard.

Which brings us nicely to the Common Cranes. Despite the recent high numbers there were only eleven today and a bit distant, but good to see nevertheless. There is quite a variation in the amount of red on the head, but this appears to be just a natural variation and nothing to do with the sex or age of the bird.

There was only one young bird with the group, the one with the brown head.

There also seemed to be two or three family parties in the group as there was quite a lot of posturing and squabbling going on.

Well, Common Cranes at Welney is a first for me and let's hope they become a regular feature.