Gannets and Crane

I took a bike ride out to Bradley Fen this lunchtime but long before I got there I noticed four juvenile Gannets were circling low over me as I biked across the Frank Perkins viaduct. They headed off over Fletton and I rang Mike Weedon over at Lynchwood to get him to put the news out.

Ten minutes later I had a call from him to say they had just flown past his office over the East of England Showground. At that moment I was at the west end of Bradley Fen and had just noticed an adult Crane flying over me. This drifted off over Stanground where it gained height and headed off west. Sure enough ten minutes later Mike had this go over the office too! Unknown to us at the time Matt Webb had seen the same bird from Ferry Meadows.

Multiple observations of the same birds as they fly through are strangely satisfying and the whole experience made for an exciting and entertaining lunchhour.

I'd seen one Gannet earlier this autumn taking the same route as the four here. It was also seen by Steve Dudley as it flew over the town bridge five minutes before I saw it crossing Nene Parkway and heading over Orton Mere.

With the six seen by Matt and Don the day before my single Gannet is becoming a positively common bird in the area!