Very windy day today but we walked into Ely and decided to have a look at the Christmas tree in the cathedral.
The cathedral had a number of visitors and was getting ready for advent and Christmas and the 30ft tree will be a wonderful backdrop for the carol concerts, so I managed to take a few images to share on today’s blog with you.
Ely Cathedral Christmas tree
Ely Cathedral Christmas tree
Ely Cathedral Christmas tree in the octagon showing lantern above
December 21st is the longest night and shortest day of the year and is also the winter solstice here in the Northern Hemisphere (summer solstice in the Southern Hemisphere).
The winter solstice is a time of celebration for pagans and marks the start of Yule, also the rebirth of the Sun and the start of winter.
So I was not surprised to see such a dramatic Sunset today, as luck would have it there was another photographer also ready for this sunset and I managed to get some images of him against a sky that appeared to be on fire.
Winter Solstice Sunset
There ever-changing light and a change of position gave some nice shots.
Winter Solstice Sunset, Ely Cambridgeshire.
Ok I took over 40 images but I will use only three here.
Winter Solstice Sunset, Ely, 21-12-2014
Today’s blog is going to be more images than words today as sometimes I think a picture is worth more than words, in fact as I watched todays sunset over fenland I just stood there in silence and watched.
Today I decided to have a walk round England’s oldest nature reserve, Wicken Fen my aim was to see if I could see any Hen Harriers or Short-eared Owls as I have been hearing reports of sightings over the last few days.
The footpath along Wicken Lode
I started my walk along Wicken Lode, a lode is man-made waterway, which are Roman in origin, the were cut to provide access to villages that were to the east of the River Cam.
Along here I had seen Redwing and Marsh Harriers, but no Short-ear owls, a great spotted woodpecker flew over me into the scrub on the other side of the lode, it’s undulating flight making short work of the head wind.
Bakers fen Wicken
As I left the path along the lode I headed towards Bakers fen and soon turned into the wind, I was getting the full force of the wind now as I had it to my back along the lode, it is more open here and I did not think I would see much bird life, but I managed to see a female Stonechat on a reed stem also a Little egret on Bakers fen as I headed towards Adventurers fen and turned right up the track heading back towards the lode again I put up a large flock of Redwing getting berries in the shrubs on the side of the track, I was sheltered here but the track was very muddy, it was hard going but I soon reached the track along the lode again and headed back to Upware where I had started.
Unfortunately no Hen Harriers or Short-eared owls, but a bracing walk around an ancient Landscape and the sound of the wind made it that more wild.
St Edmunds fen Wicken
Blue tit inspecting nest Box
Today has been very mild for December, in fact I could hear Blue tits singing as if it were Spring.
Only last weekend I saw a Blue tit inspecting one of the nest boxes in my garden, but last weekend was very cold so the Blue tit was not looking for a nesting site but somewhere to roost for the night, the numbers of birds that die during the winter is quite high, so they will spend most of the daylight hours looking for food and any cold snap means the birds will waste energy keeping warm so it is important that food is put out for them and as I know some people take their nesting boxes down for the Winter I leave mine out.
Unfortunately not all survive as this Spring I did find a dead Dunnock in one of my nest boxes, but some birds will roost together in a nest box for warmth and believe it or not the BTO has the record of the most Wrens nesting together in a nest box at an amazing 63!.
But sometimes in prolonged periods of cold you may get an unusual visitor to the garden looking for food, a couple of years ago not only did I have Waxwings in the garden but also a Reed Bunting, normally seen along river banks I was surprised to see a male Red bunting near my very small garden pond, but like all the birds he was finding it hard getting food so was visiting gardens.
Male Reed bunting normally seen along rivers but will visit gardens in cold periods
So as we are told by the weekend we will see another cold snap, take the time to put some food out and if you have taken your nest boxes in consider putting them back out again for the birds, who may be slightly confused by our mild weather.
Short Post today as I have had to pick my daughter and Son in Law up from Heathrow airport this morning and we have had a family day at home.
But I can report that on the way home from Heathrow (it was then daylight) I saw large flocks of Winter thrush, Redwings and Fieldfares also as the Sun was getting starting to melt the overnight frost Buzzards were starting to take to the wing, we had good views as they flew low over the road in front of us.
On returning home I topped up the bird feeders and soon the House sparrows, Chaffinch, Robin and Wood pigeons were feeding in the garden.
So tonight I shall have a beer and reflect on a good day with my family and open a good English Ale for my American Son-in-law.
But I will leave you with an East Anglian Sunset
East Anglian Sunset
The thing I find about the East Anglian Landscape is the changes of objects we see every day by the seasons, for example there is a tree in a the middle of a field not far from where I live that I pass everyday, but it is only by looking at images I have taken of this tree at different times of the year that I can see the changes and what wonderful tree it is.
The tree in Summer
How full it looks in Summer, the wildlife that must depend on it for food and shelter.
Tree in mists of Autumn
The tree still holds on to it’s leaves in the first Autumn mists of October.
tree in last days of Autumn
And as Autumn moves on so the tree sheds its leaves and takes on another form in the landscape.
Sun rises over the East Anglian Landscape
Until finally it shuts down for the Winter and waits for the first warm days of Spring.
A cycle repeated every year, how long has it stood there and what has it witnessed, how long will it remain standing there in that field, maybe we should all just take a few minutes to look and wonder at the landscape around us and appreciate what we have.
There are two East Anglian birds that are usually hard to spot as they spend most of their time in reed beds where they breed, one is the Bittern and the other is the Water Rail.
The Rail Family consists of the Coot and Moorhen and are the most commonly seen, the Corncrake and the Spotted Crake are the rarest and migrate to Africa in winter, whilst the Water Rail like the Coot and Moorhen is resident.
The Corncrake unlike the other four rails spends all it’s time on dry land hidden in tall vegetation, the Spotted crake and Water Rail like wet vegetation but the hardest to see will be the Spotted crake as it is the smallest of the rails and will spend nearly all of it’s time in thick cover, some birds do over winter but numbers are around 120 birds then and we may only see these in the south of East Anglia.
So the Water Rail although secretive is the most commonly widespread after the Coot and Moorhen, and are mostly found in East Anglia, you may see one in the open but it usually darts back into the reed stems, you are more likely to hear its pig like squeal in the reed beds.
Water Rail I was lucky to see at RSPB Titchwell
Today is not going to be much of a blog in fact, most action will be over a pint or two down the pub, maybe an East Anglian beer, like Adnams or Woodfordes if I am lucky, as chair of the Ely local Wildlife group I get to say when we break for another round as we have our committee meeting tonight, which funny enough always happens to take place in the local pub. so instead I will leave you with a couple of images instead.
Summer crops in a Cambridgeshire field, could these now be the ingredients of a local pint I shall be drinking tonight?
Depending on how long the meeting goes on I may come home singing, but maybe not as loud as the Wren.
If there is a building feature that dominates the East Anglian Landscape apart from the Windmills and Pumps of the Broads and Fens, it must be the Towers and Spires of the many churches and the Cathedrals (of which there are nine).
Because of the Landscape most of the churches can be seen from miles away, mainly the square Norman towers or the round Saxon towers dominate.
Kessingland Church, Suffolk
The more elaborate churches were built by wealthy families who were made rich by the wool trade, a typical ‘wool’ church is Holy Trinity Church in Long Melford, Suffolk. Constructed between 1467 and 1497 in what is called the Perpendicular Gothic style.
Ely Cathedral dominates the fenland landscape, the monastic church that stood on the site of the shrine of St Etheldreda became a cathedral in 1109 and the city of Ely grew up around it over the years.
Looking up at the Lantern of Ely Cathedral
Added to over the the following years the most impressive feature of the cathedral is the Lantern tower built above the Octagon which was constructed in the 1320’s, made in wood and glass.
Flags from battles hang in the arches of Ely Cathedral
It is always worth entering these churches of East Anglia just to learn more about the history of the area as stories can be seen just in the stain glass windows.
I have walked through and round some of the graveyards of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire and sometimes you come over a small window of the past just by the inscription on a gravestone, like the youngboy in a Norfolk churchyard who drowned in the 1800’s after he fell through ice on a pond on his way to School, or the bodies of unknown sailors washed up on a beach in Norfolk also in the 1800’s.
Some churches stand alone in the landscape as the villiage that they once served have disappeared, maybe all the villiagers were taken by the Black Death of the 1300’s
Stain glass window in Ely Cathedral telling the story of its construction.
East Anglia the Wildlife, Landscape and People. 