Weedon’s World
Mike’s been enjoying spectacular local birding and has been doing his best to spread the word to some new birdwatchers
Mike enjoys sharing his local birding knowledge with others
My dear wife Jo is a bit more spiritually inclined than I am, and a couple of years ago she persuaded me to go along to a Buddhist temple in Peterborough, for a bit of a meal and whatnot. The whatnot included a bit of meditation practice, led by a lady who I think was a ‘nun’ or ‘monk’ or some such. I gave it a go and tried to clear my mind and all that caboodle. But just as I felt I was getting somewhere, two extraneous things halted my progress. There was a Greenfinch singing outside the open window, which naturally distracted me. But even more disturbing to my focus was the nun lady interrupting every few minutes to remind us what we should be doing. It was the opposite of helpful for me!
Why am I banging on about my failings as an amateur Buddhist meditator? Well, it is less about the meditation and more about how we each have different ways of experiencing things, learning about things and preferences for how to be taught about things.
I met a pleasant couple the other day, at a place I’ve mentioned before: Eldernell, one of the viewing areas over the majestic Nene Washes, east of Peterborough. We were in the car park; I was leaving and they’d just arrived. They asked me if I was a regular there and if I could point them to where was best to watch the birds.
My first reaction was to tell them to get back in their car and drive two and a bit miles east to the site known as March Farmers (which is also a look-out over the washes from the raised path called the Nene Way). I told them that I had just come from there, and had found the birding was particularly spectacular at the moment, as it was much more flooded than Eldernell.
I related how the flooded fields were filled with thousands upon thousands of dabbling ducks (Shoveler, Wigeon, Teal, and the last Pintail of the season). And that there were c2,000 brick-red Icelandic Black-tailed Godwits, joined by a few Bar-tailed Godwits, including a couple of spectacular red males. And, feeding alongside them, were about 200 Ruff in every shade of colour, and 50-odd Dunlin.
And how, every now and then, a Marsh Harrier would flush the lot, which rose with a roar of wings like a jet plane taking off. And that you can stand around while the Marsh Harriers yelp and skydance at absurd altitude above your head.
I mentioned that even from just beside the car park, you can see up to 10 Great White Egrets at a time and that I had seen a Bittern flying past that morning.
They very politely said that they may have a look later, but would like to explore Eldernell first. So, I told them how a brief scan there would reveal several Marsh Harriers, like those two over there… And if you walk west from here along this bank, for a few hundred metres ,you should hear booming Bittern, and will even see a Raven feeding among the sheep and new-born lambs. But their eyes were starting to glaze over (they weren’t to know it was the first Raven I had ever seen on the Nene Washes, in 20 years of watching!).
So, instead, I suggested that they look over by that gate in the distance, where there were a couple of Cranes wandering around. At that, they delved into the boot of the car and eventually produced a single pair of binoculars and a camera with a big lens, to try to see the distant Cranes. I couldn’t resist teasing them, pointing out that they should have their bins by them at all times, not keep them in the boot!
They told me they had only been birdwatching for a couple of months and were really liking the whole business, having been recently to Titchwell where a great show was put on by the Marsh Harriers; and they’d had wonderful views of Spoonbills. Then they very politely thanked me for my advice on what to look for.
I very much hope they enjoyed their day watching the birds of the Nene Washes. There were goodies out there which were beyond my wildest dreams when I started birdwatching back in the 1970s; and I hope didn’t put them off with too much gushing information.
But each person adapts to birdwatching in their own way. Each of our perceptions differ, we look for different things, enjoy different things. That is a huge part of why birdwatching is so wonderful. It can be taken in an infinite number of ways. It is for all of us to find our own path to loving birds in our own peculiar way.
IF YOU WALK WEST... YOU SHOULD HEAR BOOMING BITTERN AND SEE A RAVEN FEEDING