Graham Catley
Birding is my main passion with a life long interest in the natural world being augmented over the years through many life changing events. In 1968 I was given a pair of Prinzflex 8x30 binoculars and in 1969 joined the YOC (Young Ornithologists’ Club) run by the RSPB. Being introduced to birding sites in Lincolnshire through field outings I soon became the local YOC leader. I was also mentored by local ornithologists particularly the late Derek Robinson who transported me to the Lincs coast and north-west heathlands. I had the privilege of being in the field with Reg May, one of the stalwarts of Lincolnshire birdwatching from the 1930’s, and met many of the known birdwatchers of the day. A week staying with one such Lincs ex pat near Woodbridge in Suffolk in 1971 saw me travelling there by train and biking around the Suffolk coasts and heaths watching breeding Red-backed Shrikes and encountering my first Marsh Harrier.
The choice of university was simple where was the best place in Britain for birds? UEA was the obvious choice with Norfolk and Suffolk to explore either by train or in the Union mini-bus and 1972-1975 saw a vast array of species added to my list and a massive pool of experience gained. Meeting and enjoying the company of Richard Richardson at Cley and winters spent raptor watching at Walberswick are etched deep in my memory. UEA also provided a springboard to explore further afield from a soil science trip to South Uist in 1974, camping within 500m of Vorran island for a week and not seeing the resident Steller’s Eider as we knew nothing about it at the time, to my first foray across the seas to the Camargue via the Student’s Union minibus in April 1975, camping at St Maries de la Mer during the Gypsy festival and getting a taste for exotic birds.
It was at this time that I picked up my first SLR camera a Zenit B with the self opening back that ruined many a picture and saw it often taped together with insulating tape coupled with a Soligor manual focus 300mm lens. Slide film was the order of the day but expensive so every shot was made to count.
Back in Lincolnshire in the late 70s I started to find quite a few good birds and by 1980 took over the role fo County Recorder which I held for ten years. Latterly I also joined the British Birds Rarities Committee and had an enjoyable five years poring over other people’s rare bird finds and meeting some of the great bird finders and experts of the day.
In 1991 as a member of BBRC I travelled to Texel in October to an International Identification conference meeting so many great birders and making friendships that have lasted to this day learning so much and seeing some nice birds but missing three Lincolnshire ticks in a week, Desert Wheatear, Penduline Tit and Short-toed Lark.
Always something of a loner on the birding front I joined the twitching scene from the 1970s but in the last 20 years have scaled back my visits to seeing birds that I take an interest in or are nearby and hence my British list still lingers well below 500 species but in Lincolnshire my list of 365 or so is still at the top of the tree. More importantly though my self-found Lincolnshire list reached 300 in June 2020 with a singing Blyth’s Reed Warbler on my local patch detailed here
With only 400 ish species on the county list 75% found is not a bad achievement.
Wandering around Lincolnshire over the past 53 years has also allowed me to clock up a total of 12 County first, including races / subspecies from 1975 onwards as shown below:
Arctic Redpoll: Rimac October 12th 1975
Black Kite: East Halton Pits May 18th 1979
Olive-backed Pipit: Rimac October 19th 1980
Hudsonian Godwit: Alkborough Flats September 15th 1981
Black Brant: Saltfleet – Skidbrooke January 21st 1982
Sharp-tailed Sandpiper: North Killinghome Pits, September 18th 1982
Ring-billed Gull: Bagmoor Floods July 24th 1988
Lesser Crested Tern: Rimac June 20th 1993
Lesser Scaup: Barton Pits February 13th 1995
Little Swift: Barton – Barrow Haven Pits June 26th 1998
Ross’s Goose: Read’s island – South Ferriby November 10th 2002
American Black Tern: Covenham Reservoir September 17th 2011
Since 2000 I have had a resurgence of interest in Wildlife photography moving from the early Canon 20D DSLR and 100-400 lens through every incarnation of Canon DSLR bodies and many 300 2.8 and 500 f4 lenses to my present set up a Canon R6 and 400 DO2 lens usually with a 1.4x converter attached. I work hand held, no tripod, rarely a monopod and my photography is probably best described as ad hoc while birding though I do target special birds and Marsh Harriers!
Birds thus feature in most of my images but I enjoy the challenge of flying dragonflies and take the odd scenic snap, though I am certainly not a landscape photographer.
Following my first trip to Point Pelee in Canada in 1991 I have been back to Canada on eleven occasions mostly to the west coast but have also visited many areas of Europe, China in 1993 and Iceland.
All images on the site are available for sale please feel free to contact me via the email contact button.
All images are copyrighted ©Graham Catley
My early Prinzflex binoculars c1968
UEA Union van c1974 somewhere in muddy East Anglia; Jeff Clark, Phil Andrews and ?
Tented accommodation UEA soil science trip to South Uist April 1974
UEA soil science trip South Uist April 1974
UEA Bird Club Pyrenees April 1976 - a Wallcreeper was just above the camp
My 70's uniform during UEA Bird Club Spain April 1976 - the camera bag was very comfortable
At high altitude UEA Bird Club Pyrenees April 1976 with Duncan Brooks
UEA Bird Club Gavarnie Pyrenees April 1976 - the classic Zenit orange strip
UEA Bird Club in Spanish Pyrenees April 1976
With my upgraded Nikon and Sigma 400 APO lens Beidaihe China May 1993 in search of the Rubythroat
Marchegg Eastern Austria August 1978 - we drove there in a Mini Clubman - dress sense had not improved much
1986 scanning for Bonelli's Eagles Cyprus with an admirer
Full camera gear 300 2.8 and 500 f4 at the Steppe Grey Shrike Lincolnshire November 2008
Moi, Will Bowell and Kev DuRose Leslie Street Spit Toronto February 2013 after some Snowy Owl action and my first American Tree Sparrow and Northern Saw-whet
Our 5 star North Uist accommodation, the caravan, May 1978 on a return trip for the Steller's Eider in the faithfull Mini-clubman that also took us to Lake Neusiedl the same autumn
Crossing the bridge of death to the reservoir Beidaihe China May 1993
BBRC meeting c1990
BBRC meeting c1990
British Bird Fair, RSPB Bird Finders Lecture 2017 with Mick Turton and Killian Mullarney
International Identification Meeting Texel October 1991
A photographic accolade - almost - 3rd place
In the mountains of Arizona June 1996 trying to find a bear to encounter
Lake Neusiedl Austria July 1978 in our spacious travel machine
striking a pose at St Maries de la Mer Camargue April 1975 - UEA Bird Club trip
With the infamous Hertel and Reuss scope looking for arctic gulls at Cleethorpes late 1970s
early attempts at pelagic birding on Mablethorpe boating lake 1960s
attracting butterflies Sweden May
another day another scope the amazing Bushnell Spacemaster complete with dust filled eyepiece
Looking for Alpine Dunnocks Col de Tourmalet, Pyrenees, June 1988