A Day Out at Salthouse and Cley

When spending a week at Blakeney a day out to Salthouse and Cley is compulsory. I had chosen Salthouse first as there had been a Spoonbill reported there the day before but that would have appeared to have departed. There were a couple of Avocets on a pool by the footpath (more of that later) but what caught my eye was a 1st summer Black-headed Gull sitting on a fence post. The attraction here was that there was a field in the distance, which would be totally out of focus in the photo and therefore provide a nice dark green backcloth for the subject.

We now moved on to the Cley and started walking out to the group of three hides in the middle of the reserve. On the way a male Reed Bunting was singing from an Elder and seemed totally unperturbed by our presence.

At the hides the reserve was fairly quiet as the Avocets had taken over most areas. However in front of one of the hides a lone Redshank was frantically feeding at close range allowing some good close-up shots.

In the distance there were no fewer than four Spoonbills, all with their heads tucked in fast asleep. They were too distant for a reasonable shot but after a couple of hours they decided to take off for a fly round providing a couple of opportunities. Not having seen many Spoonbills, I had never realised that their primaries were black-tipped.

Finally, to end off the day, we went to the beach to see if there were any terns feeding along the shoreline (more of that later). As we got out of the car it was clear that there were a number of swallows around the red pan-tiled shelter there. A number of wooden slats had been positioned inside the shelter to provide nesting sites and a number of these were in use. Eventually the sun came out and a couple of adults took the opportunity to have a break from nesting duties and have a bask in the sun. Note the use of a distant green field as a backcloth again.