Oozing Whoopers if little else.

It must be 8 years since I last went to RSPB’s Ouse Washes. I wasn’t able to get there for the Northern Harrier but thought I might get a few of the species missing from my year list here. Specifically, Tree Sparrow, Short-eared Owl, Bewick’s Swan and Hen Harrier.

Wrong. I did find one Bewick’s Swan among the hundreds of Whooper Swans that honked back and forth from the Washes to the blackest fields you’ll ever see.

Whooper Swans



Quantity, not quality was the order of the day. Thousands of Lapwing, Golden Plover and Wigeon grazed on the islands across the Wash, only taking to the air when an interested Marsh Harrier glided through.

In the hedgerows that dissect the fields, only Corn Buntings were found. No Tree Sparrows among them either but there was a Canary of all things. Not sure I can count that though. Very bad photo coming up....

That whitish blob in the middle dummy!
Things could have been better. I think I forgot to mention that i had a hangover and my recently cleaned car was now covered in half of Cambridgeshire (but it looks cool).

I have to say, the visitor centre was a little under-manned. In fact, there was no one about. There were no feeders so no Tree Sparrows which I had photographed all those years ago. A real shame.

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