Friday 3 January 2020

Wake Up To 2020

Time to shake off this post-Christmas lethargy and return to my neglected little blog. Here's my go-to wake-up music:



Six million hits on YouTube and quite a few of them must have been me! Just a little reminder, if any were needed, that music is supposed to be fun.

Now what have I been up to? Nothing as raucous as the music suggests, merely a few walks in the countryside....



That photo might make you think that we're suffering severe flooding on the flat lands of East Anglia, but that's how it's supposed to be at this time of year. Those are the "washes" alongside the river at Lakenheath Fen - land left to flood during the winter, which prevents flooding further downstream. I was standing on the floodbank, built to protect the land behind me. 



It's a winter wonderland for birds and, though you can see only a couple of Mute Swans and some loitering gulls, there were also Marsh Harriers, Great White Egrets, Little Egrets and several cheeky little Stonechats in attendance. But no Whooper Swans; they were all off feeding on the fields.



The same was true at Welney the following day: almost all of the winter swans were out gorging themselves on the waste from the potato harvest and didn't even bother to return for the 3:30 swan feed which the wildlife wardens carry out to entertain the paying customers.



Despite the relative lack of swans and the height of the floodwaters on the Ouse Washes, the warden carried out his duty. Those swans around the floating wheelbarrow are our resident Mute Swans, while just one Whooper Swan watches from behind. Mallards are willing volunteers to clear up any grain that hasn't yet sunk to the bottom and, when it does, the Pochards, a little diving duck, will plunge down and feed underwater.



As daylight failed the ghostly shapes of the Whoopers flew in to roost on the water. Just about impossible to photograph conventionally, though I managed to rescue the image above from some muddy-looking pixels. The trouble is the swans look black and, in this hemisphere at least, they should be dazzling white. Ah, an idea!



Mess about with a negative picture and you get the above image: the ghost-swans of Welney!



Flying swans like an artist's sketch.



Let's not get too carried away with photo-manipulation though, the natural scene had its charms too, even if that dark bank of cloud hid the expected sunset.



Then the bird-observatory's floodlights came on, illuminating the birds in the foreground. As darkness fell we made our way back across the bridge to the Visitor Centre.



I hope you like the Wildfowl and Wetland Trust's reserve at Welney, because my brother and I have taken out an annual membership, which almost certainly means we'll be back during the year.


******
When I recently published my calendar selection of the year's photographs, I received comments about the appearance of snowdrops in February. Here's what I saw in Melwood yesterday:


Yes, indeed. Snowdrops on the second of January. Not many, but snowdrops nevertheless. Not only that, but at Lakenheath Fen on December 23rd a Brimstone butterfly fluttered by. Presumably something had roused him from his winter hibernation. I wondered whether it would survive this unseasonal awakening, but, according our local butterfly correspondent, Brimstones can wake up and go back into hibernation several times during a winter.


Take care.


25 comments:

  1. Happy New Year John, I’m hoping to see lots of photos from your beautiful country this coming year.
    Well I’m not sure if I ever saw so many ducks together! Great captures of the flying swans, personally I prefer the original -not manipulated- views.

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  2. I am not sure that all music is supposed to be fun. Last evening I was listening to Dvorak's Requiem to bring to mind certain aspects of a live performance we attended several years ago. It is an incredible work, from which I derive great pleasure, but "fun" would not be the term I would use to describe it. As for the Whooper Swans coming in, now that's fun!

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  3. Loved all these birds...including your ghost swans...but the natural colors best. So glad you'll be visiting here again. Thanks and happy new year!

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  4. Loved looking at all these beautiful photos. I'm so glad you and your brother have an annual membership there. I'm looking forward to more of these beautiful views. It was grand fun to look at the photos while listening to Galway Girl.

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  5. I'll look at and responde to the birds later, but that music!!!! I had never heard of Mundy, but do have a couple of Sharon Shannan albums. I love the song. Of course, when I saw "Galway Girl" I thought of Ed Sheeran's song, which I also love. Thank you so much. My husband came right in to watch, too. Oh, and I found a more recent version live in Galway. Everyone knew the words. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNs0vKDvs0g

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    1. Thanks for the link. I went to a great Sharon Shannon concert back in September - she really does smile like that all the time.

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  6. Oh, the pictures are wonderful! How lucky you are to have such things so close. I love all those birds. And what can I do but chuckle - snowdrops, butterfly. Oh, is is April? haha

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  7. Goodness, that’s quite the Wake Up music! Lovely to see so many wintering birds.

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  8. I rarely feel this way John but your wonderful photographs make me long for the Lincolnshire Fens again.

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  9. Yes, indeed I did enjoy these...glad we will get to see more as the seasons change. You saw a butterfly..a few days ago I had a stinkbug in the house. They show up in the house at the oddest times of year. I have no idea how they get in. It is just weird.

    Of your photos, I could not pick a favorite...got to look up the Pochards.

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  10. I still can't believe those Snowdrops!

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  11. Beautiful photos of your local countryside. Galway Girl is a favorite of mine, introduced to me by Steve Earle.

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  12. Happy New Year. I am pleased you and your brother have taken out membership and look forward to more photos of the Wildfowl and Wetland Trust's reserve at Welney. Love those snowdrops.

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  13. Beautiful photos. I remember visting Welney many years ago. I look forward to seeing more photos of your visits through this year. Wonderful to see such early snowdrops:)

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  14. I enjoyed your visit to the reserve at Welney and look forward to more. Great photos.

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  15. Hi John - loved your tour of the 'washes' in your area - I went over past the Cuckmere River, East Sussex and its oxbows this week - stunning to see the flooding and the oxbows. Amazing about the snowdrops ... they are so pretty to look at ... and definitely interesting to know about the Brimstones. Great start to 2020 - cheers Hilary

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  16. I visited Welney many years ago and loved seeing the swans being fed. I am sure that you and your brother will enjoy your membership and make really make the most of it.

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  17. Those snowdrops are really early, but of course the snowdrops here don't appear until most of the snow has gone, probably March. Your photos always make me homesick!

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  18. beautiful bells of the snowdrops who would like to see snow this winter *
    happy new year !

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  19. I rather like the first untouched shot of the swans. How can you tell the difference between them? And i also spotted my first snowdrop on Sunday.

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  20. Those snowdrops are so early! I'm looking forward to seeing more of Welney through the year, it looks like a brilliant place to visit.

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  21. Lovely! All of it. The earlier nocturne, the Galway Girl, the swans...keep it coming, please.

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