What Happened On the Way to the Bird Hides? (A result along the way)

This morning, my wife (Carole) and I were driving along the country lane towards a small village called Manea. There is an RSPB sanctuary there that looks out across the marshy fenland towards the town of Ely, where the Cathedral towers stand out in the summer haze. It is also the place where Oliver Cromwell was born.

It is a place we often go to just to while away a good few hours in the bird hides. We take a picnic box filled with coffee sandwiches and a few goodies on top. We also have binoculars and the Nikon D3100 camera with the 55m to 200m lens. This is inadequate for what I like to photograph, but I’m learning this slowly and surely.

I’ve sent off for a new zoom lens of 420m to 800m. It is, of course, a cheapy and I’ll have to use manual setting upon a sturdy tripod. This is because the camera adjustments don’t work with the particular zoom lens. I’ll have to learn by hand. If I can do this, I’ll think about a more expensive one with better connections between camera and lens during automatic adjustment setting.

In the meantime, we are making do with the max 200m on the Nikon and as we were driving along, Carole spotted a bird of prey circling majestically above the fields whilst travelling through the farmland fen. Good fortune had a gravel layby close at hand so I pulled in and got the camera ready. I took a string of shots but the hawk was high up. I could not make out if it was a marsh harrier or a common buzzard.

The under wing seems to look like that of a marsh harrier and the head seems white. I was so pleased to get this bird before even arriving at the hide. What a fabulous start. Carole has eyes as good as any hawk. I would have completely missed that sight as I drove along the country lane.

Most of the shots are at distance but with the new zoom lens, I’ve ordered; I’m sure I’ll get better quality pictures. However, the snaps were still pleasing to me.

I got back into the car and proceeded towards the hides. I was saying to Carole that this was a perfect start. I was harking on about it as we travelled through the village of Manea. We turned down a country lane that led towards the bird sanctuary when she told me to stop the car suddenly. It was a deserted lane going through the farmland towards the canals, marshlands and hides, with reeds growing high along the dyke that ran next to the lane.

“What is it?” I asked excitedly. Carole’s eyes never miss much. I often say she could spot a pimple on an elephant’s backside at two miles.

“Just slowly reverse the car,” she instructed.

I complied and then she said. “Stop.”

On a fence post, looking straight at us was a kestrel. I think it was a male and how the heck she spotted it was beyond me. We were close up and the kestrel was staring straight back. I knew I’d have to be quick before it got spooked. However, I had time to lower the window and, for once, get a good few shots at close range. I was thrilled we still had not arrived at the bird hides and already we had got a few nice results.

Once we got to the hides we saw marsh harriers and many other types of bird. The marsh harriers were circling high with Ely Cathedral in the background. Our binoculars focused in on them, but they were too far for the 200m lens. Still, can’t get too spoilt, we still had a great morning in the hides and walked along the dyke to try out several locations. 

There was also other types of bird, but I'm more switched on by the birds of prey. It's what I like about fenland. I've never seen so many raptors since moving to this place.  

Wildflowers in Fenland Garden.

Last year, my wife scattered a mixture of wildflower seeds. We had acquired bags of horse manure for the strawberry and rhubarb plants and there was a spare section of earth where these wildflower seeds were scattered, along with some of the horse manure.

Not being one for gardens, at that time, I paid little attention to my wife’s toil where this endeavour was concerned. However, when the next year’s spring came along I was very pleasantly surprised at how well the seeds had taken. There was an abundance of cornflower blue with other types of flower growing within the sea of blue. As the summer came about, the other coloured flowers took and became so wonderfully more vibrant.

I’m very taken by the way the wildflowers look. They seem wonderfully unconventional with an attack of untamed growth, consisting of exciting colour mixes.

I spoke to my wife Carole, about how unexpectedly surprised I was by the floral explosion. We have a raised decking platform right by it all and look out at them on the summer evening.

I have now got more wildflower seeds and scattered them in the front garden amid bark chippings. I’m hoping the same thing will happen around the Red Hot Pokers and the Curry plant rockery.

As I grow older, I’m beginning to realise that I’ve never noticed the wood for the trees where gardens are concerned. It’s like I’ve had this wonderful awakening to it all. I think it is because I bought a camera to do my blog. I thought I might photograph a few things and use it to write blogs whilst searching for subjects of interest. I can’t believe where it has taken me.

Hunstanton and Wells along the North Norfolk Coast - England

On Sunday 19^th July, Carole and I went to Wells and then Hunstanton in Norfolk. Both towns are seaside places and each was full of people enjoying the lovely summers day. We bought new binoculars in Wells and then went to Hunstanton.

Hunstanton was rammed with day trippers, like ourselves. The tide was out and kite surfers were upon the sea testing their skills. We had a compulsory bag of chips and walked along the cliff top looking out over the Wash.

Everyone was full of summer joy and I wished England could be like this all of the time. Still, winter has its own allurement, but I would still rather go away to the Canary Islands or Madeira for the winter. I say this because, Carole and I went on a cruise out to these islands in December and the weather was grand. We saw Father Christmas sweating himself silly in the Canary Island heat.

Still its summer now in England and everyone is happy – people are in the sea and winter is hard to imagine.

Good Kindle Reads - THE LAZARUS SUCCESSION (a gripping celestial thriller)

Biblical and historical events, and a long departed artist’s painting bring about a divine and then lost masterpiece. The search of which leads to a gripping celestial thriller in the present day. The lost picture is believed to have divine powers going back beyond the sixteenth century and to the time of Christ when the Lazarus miracle took place. There are flash backs in time. We see how the much coveted and lost painting becomes a truly visionary work of art and why through the ages there are various depictions of the same biblical subject.


In this day, we follow a Spanish aristocratic lady who enlists the help of a ruthless and disgraced former British judge. Also dynamic duo of freelance treasure hunters of masterpieces lost to the world. No one except the Spanish Condesa believe in the celestial power of the lost masterpiece, but all are certain it has been hidden somewhere in secret by guardians of a lost and past order. As the thrilling search begins, the realisation of the lost picture’s divine power begins to unfold. The ruthless ex-judge will stop at nothing to gain wealth from such a find and soon we are treated to a fast paced page-turner of cat and mouse intrigue. A very exciting story indeed, which kept me on my toes right up until the end with twists and turns all of the way.

Good Kindle Reads - A MURDEROUS AFFAIR (compelling period/crime/espionage)

A compelling period/crime/espionage story written first person singular. John Lovat is an illegitimate son of a titled man. His half-brother is legitimate and has all the trappings of inherited wealth including having his half-brother (john Lovat) at his beckon call. The illegitimate brother lives in a room upon old London Bridge with a panoramic view of the bustling river Thames and both banks of the teeming metropolis. It is the time of Queen Elizabeth I. The year is 1588 and the winter is coming. The Spanish Armada has been defeated and England is brimming with new found confidence.

One morning John Lovat reluctantly goes upon a quest for his half-brother and benefactor, to find the culprit of a murdered Portuguese man washed upon the mud banks near Deptford at a place called Cuckold’s Point. The story moves from one setting to another as John Lovat tries to get to the bottom of the complex mystery that starts to unfold. He finds himself working for two masters. His titled brother and England’s first great spy master; Lord Walsingham. There are a lot of historical events that get loosely tied in with this gripping story that makes it all the more enjoyable, including echoes from the Babington Plot and from the St Bartholomew massacre in France. We also get tastes of the great theatre too. All of this gives the reader a feel of Elizabethan England. A thoroughly enjoyable read. 

What we did at the Bird Hides in Manea Cambridgeshire - England

Today, Carole and I went over the bird hides at Manea to look out across the Fen and hope to find some birds of prey. Last week we bought stronger binoculars while out along the coastal towns of north Norfolk.

We could see Ely Cathedral in the summer haze as we looked out across the fen from our bird hide. We took along a flask of coffee, as usual, plus some great door step sandwiches of Tiger bread filled with peppered ham, mustard and tomato. Net forgetting the pork pies too. We always unwind out in the quite fen and talk about this and that, while hoping to spot a hawk of some kind. There were plenty of swifts and swallows plus herons and a stork.

The bird hides can be a little hit and miss for the hawks and as we are novices; we tend to be learning via mistakes. The last time we were at the hides, a beautiful bird of prey landed upon a distant gate post. It had a black head, but I could not make out if it was a Marsh Harrier or a Hobby. I got several shots of the creature as it was upon the gate for a good few minutes surveying the fields and the scarp of the dyke. However, we did not have the better binoculars at the time and my Nikon zoom lens gave me a maximum of 200m. Sadly this was not effective. When I down loaded the pictures upon my computer, I tried to magnify the subject (bird of prey) but it pixilated before I could make out what it was.

I need to buy a new zoom lens that gives greater magnification and have seen a fine one on eBay, but it is in USA. Therefore delivery will take some time.

In the meantime, we still content ourselves with what we can see via the new binoculars and hope for the best with my zoom lens at 200m.

The only bird of prey we see today was a kestrel. I took a few shots of that, but it was at distance and on the way back we saw many butterflies and snapped some of these topics too. Upon the lock gate I tried to get some swifts or swallows as they darted and flitted across the canal.

Even the snakes declined to make an appearance. The last time we were here there seemed to be a lot of adders and grass snakes in the long grass.

A chirpy little Goldfinch allowed us a few shots too. He was singing his afternoon song upon a TV Ariel when we got home.