Alton Water - 30/6/2020

With water stretching to the horizon, Alton Water can be termed as big. Acres of birdless water also mean the place is difficult to birdwatch. There are few viewpoints and the birds are often distant specks on the water. It takes a lot of time and a lot of walking to get to these viewpoints, but its usually worth it.
In the time it took me to see a meager total of birds here, I could have completed a circuit of Minsmere and have seen a lot more. However most places aren't Minsmere, and there were still birds present today and I was able to get some decent photos, so I can't complain.

COMMON TERNS on a tern raft

Alton Water is a unique habitat for Suffolk. Manmade, it is by far the largest body of freshwater in the county, the only expanse of any note. It is bordered by forest plantations which are maturing into proper woodlands, places that are full of the twitterings of small birds.
The water is the main county site for GREAT CRESTED GREBE, with a large population present whatever the time of year, with a small number breeding. This is a bird of deep water, feeding on the small fish that populate the reservoir.
The other bird its important for is its population of COMMON TERNS. This agile and acrobatic bird graces the water in large numbers as they look for food to feed their chicks, nesting on specially prepared rafts floating on the reservoir. The causeway is a great place to see them as they dance through the air all around you in good numbers.

A pair of GREAT CRESTED GREBE, Larchwood Hides

For ease I'll split the reservoir in four - the Northern Hides; the Tail; the Larchwood Hides and the Visitor's Centre.
The Northern Hides are usually my first port of call. A half hour walk from the nearest car park through some peaceful woodland, you don't see a soul, but then as you approach the hides, you begin to hear it. The closer and closer you get, the more this huge cacophony hits you. Lots of birds all falling over each other. This is the TERN and GULL colony, which nest on rafts that the hides overlook. Never the most peaceful of birds they squabble amongst each other in a noisy manner.

TERNS perched on the edge of one of their breeding rafts

There are three rafts in front of the hides. COMMON TERNS nest in them, the chicks at the moment are fairly newly hatched and are quite small. Compare that to the earlier nesting BLACK HEADED GULLS, whose young dwarf the terns, and are soon to fledge. The rafts can hold around ten chicks, but it was quite hard to count with all the coming and goings.

CORMORANTS airing their wings out, North Hides

The reservoir water levels are higher than last year. Usually several islands appear around this time of year, in front of the hides, whose muddy margins attract migrant WADERS to stop and feed. Today there was only one small area, but this was enough to attract a single GREEN SANDPIPER. The typical early returning wader, its strange to think Autumn migration begins already in June!

COMMON TERN perched on the railings, the causeway

The Tail, on the other hand, is an area of the reservoir thats cut off from the main body of water by the road. Its much more sheltered than the main reservoir, less disturbed and has more natural surroundings. As a result it attracts different sorts of birds and can be a good refuge in bad weather. There were breeding GREAT CRESTED GREBES and COOTS in various forms, from nesting birds to fully fledged individuals. There was a family party of SWANS, with three lovely cygnets, just idling round the water. A few pairs of swan nest on the water every year.

Juv BLUE TIT, Larchwood Hides

From the north section I drove round the underbelly of the reservoir to get to a new point. Here I aimed to visit the Larchwood Hides, the only viewpoint of the southern area of the water. The water sports people, the canoeists and such, don't really come this far up the reservoir, so there were plenty of GREBES out on the centre of the water.
In front of one of the hides a pair of GREBES were constructing a nest in a mat of waterweeds. The birds would share the weeds with each other, offering up as presents, a ritual of sorts, inspecting whether it was the right sort to go into the nest. It was lovely to watch, a very intimate experience, one I was glad to both witness and photograph. In the end I must have taken about a hundred photos of them.

This pair of GREAT CRESTED GREBES were making a nest

From the Larchwood Hides there was one raft in use by the TERNS, which made it less intense than the northern hides and another WADER of Autumn migration, a COMMON SANDPIPER, was using the raft to bob about on.
A KINGFISHER was present flying into an area of bordering wood. They nest in this area every year and its a decent point to look from them. Its such a shame our most beautiful bird is only ever seen in a flash as it flies away from you, a blur of sapphire blue.

 In front of the LArchwood Hides they would compare pieces of water weed

From the Larchwood Hides its a small hike to the visitors centre. On the way I saw another KINGFISHER, probably a different one to what I saw at Larchwood.
I didn't go all the way to the centre, as the area here is used by water sports people and so the water is very disturbed, with few waterbirds. I have nothing against people using the area for recreation, everybody must have access to the countryside, its just not great for birds. The centre, as you would expect, is busy with people and birdwatching doesn't really go with crowds. The centre is a honeypot site, where visitors to Alton Water congregate, even with the Covid restrictions.
The scrubby grassland around here is good for YELLOWHAMMERS, with a few still singing, some REED BUNTINGS and lots of WARBLERS.
There was a SWAN family with four grey cygnets, all getting strong on the food fed to them from the hordes of people, and there was a flock of EGYPTIAN GEESE, originally escapees, never truly become wild.

So you can decide if today was worthwhile, I really can't. I saw some birds, I got some good photos, but I had to work for it.There are plenty of places where you can see a wide variety of birds and get decent photos without as much time or effort, so it can be frustrating at times, and is the reason I don't often visit this site that is nearby to where I live.
However I shall not end on a down note. Birds are always here, our often overlooked companions on planet earth, and its nice they can adapt to live in a place that is entirely manmade in construction as Alton Water.

Pipps Ford 16 & 25/6/2020

Despite the lockdown easing I have decided to remain loyal to my local sites, giving the attention I never afforded them before. These places have become very important me, not just as places to bird watch, but places to really connect with nature. Today I travelled to Pipps Ford, which I have mentioned before is the best birding place in the area. With recent high temperatures I hoped to get an early morning trip in, but being so bad at getting up in the morning I wasn't really able to.
Arriving mid-morning the sun had yet to reach it sweltering height. On the exhausted quarry ground water was still high, covering part of the land. SKYLARKS chirruped in the grassy areas with some occasionally started into brief song before realising they had no need to sing anymore.
Walking the path that cuts the site in two, a path that leads down to the river, the deep water of the active quarry shimmered in the sun, too distant to yet see.
As it still harboured water the exhausted quarry had a decent amount of waterbirds. The nesting COOTS had finally hatched their  brood, joining the older ones present since mid-May. Also newly arrived were four tiny LITTLE GREBE chicks, the adult pair getting quite territorial when a third bird turned up, and a fight broke out.

A BANDED DEMOISELLE, distinguished by its black tipped wings

The river was quiet. The Gipping becomes overgrown with reeds in its quieter sections and attracts singing REED WARBLERS. Clouds of BANDED DEMOISELLE were along the river, dainty little damselflies with distinctive black wing tips, they would alight for a short time, giving time to take a photo before fluttering off.
I followed the path north to Riverside Farm Pit, a small lake bordered by bulrushes and rough grass. Its fairly quiet here, being fairly small, but including young birds there were a whopping 20 CANADA GEESE present.

A family party of CANADA GEESE, Riverside Farm Pit

From this lake I walked back south along the river. As a bridge crossed a tributary a MARSH TIT was a good find, looking for insect prey it must be nesting nearby.
To get to Pippins Lake and the Active Quarry the path branches off to follow this tributary.
Pippins Lake is surrounded by tall trees and there is no view until you reach the top of the lake. On 16/6 a HOBBY was a brief delight, flying over the water before disappearing from view. Three broods of GADWALL were present with another 16 adult birds, which is a great number for mid-Summer. However when I came back on 25/6 all the birds had gone, and the lake was overgrown with this thick algae. However, still around were the family of SWANS which have been present since lockdown eased.

Bulldozer on the Active Quarry

From Pippins Lake, the path wanders over to the back of the active quarry, which allowed a closer look at the deep sided lake. This is a sand quarry, the excavation of which has shaped the land in the area, and it changes from year to year.
Around ten TUFTED DUCK are over summering here, whilst a pair of GREAT CRESTED GREBE were nesting on one of the islands. SAND MARTINS as usual drifted through the air.
A pair of LITTLE RINGED PLOVERS were present on a nice area of wet mud, and are probably breeding there. If this habitat stays this way it might attract some migrant WADERS down to feed as we get later into the year and Autumn migration starts.

The active Quarry

From the active quarry the path reconnects with the river. Walking back along here I disturbed a CUCKOO, which flew from perch to perch in front of me as I unintentionally disturbed it. Cuckoos have the appearance of a sharp winged bird of prey in flight but a closer look can always distinguish them. It was good to see such an iconic yet now scarce bird, I just use have to think back to my childhood when I used to hear them from all around the general countryside.
The cuckoo was the last interesting bird I saw and rounded my trip off nicely.

 The river Gipping is full of life

The height of summer isn't really the best time to go birding, as birds are being secretive raising families, and adding in the factor of high temperatures it really isn't the best time to go looking. So I count it as bonus that I was able to see the birds I did. I like this area, its easy to birdwatch, and you don't really see a soul, being so far from the nearest built up area. Autumn migration should be starting soon which should bring in the first of the WADERS, this site being one of the best for inland Suffolk, and hopefully something interesting should turn up.

Newbourne Springs & Hemley 23/6/2020

Today I took the road less travelled, exploring areas to the east of Ipswich. I chose the Suffolk Wildlife Trust reserve at Newbourne Springs and nearby Hemley, a little hamlet near the Deben estuary. The day was one of high summer, so it was sweltering and extremely hot, and as a result I didn't  really see much in the end. However despite this it was an enjoyable day out, getting to see some overlooked places (mainly by me) and exploring new areas of the countryside.

Newbourne Springs

A wet wooded valley with some fen meadows, Newbourne Springs is a nice little Suffolk Wildlife Trust reserve. Situated in the same named village I decided to visit this place first. 

 Juvenile LONG TAILED TIT

The woodland, which makes up most of the reserve, was all overgrown, with thick brambles growing under tall trees, where dappled sun light would steal through the canopy. In the middle of the valley the woodland was nice and wet, a habitat that is quite rare in our over tidy countryside.
The overgrown woodland, was a boon to WARBLERS, and were full of BLACKCAPS, plus a few GARDEN WARBLERS, and WHITETHROATS in the more open areas where the reserve opened to farmland. I also saw a GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER and a BUZZARD flew over high above.
But in the main it was very quiet.

The road to Waldringfield Heath
I got lost driving to Hemley and ended up heading north to Waldringfield. Strangely enough this led to good circumstances. In the middle of this single track road a YELLOW WAGTAIL was feeding one of its young on the tarmac. Now this is one of those birds that was once common, but has unfortunately vanished from a lot of the countryside. They are birds of wet grassland that has suffered when that land became drained. Seeing them is quite hard, even in a county such as Suffolk, which is less intensively farmed and has a lot of their favourite habitat remaining.
The birds I saw today seemed to be nesting in a potato field, (ok forget what I said about them using wet grassland, that's whats so good of birds they don't do what the books say)

Hemley

A couple of miles away from Newbourne is Hemley, a hamlet close to the Deben estuary.

A SWALLOW on wire. Hemley had a staggering amount of HIRUNDINES and SWIFTS

The most noticeable thing about Hemley was the sheer numbers of HIRUNDINES and SWIFTS in the built up areas. HOUSE MARTINS swooshed through the air flying in and out of their nests, muddy constructions under the eaves of the old houses. One house had five nests plastered under the roof whilst another had six, and they were full of life. This is what a lot of towns and cities would have looked like before those houses were modified and air pollution killed the insects the birds fed on. Seeing all these birds flying around really took me back in time, to a less tidy natural world and all this from just ten houses.

 A pair of COMMON TERN - will they nest here this year?

From the hamlet I walked to the river wall. The footpath crossed some beautiful area of country, lots of hedgerows, scrub with low lying cattle grazed meadows near the estuary. Like the hamlet, this is a landscape that felt like I was moving back in time to a less intensively farmed time.
As I approached the river I could tell this was a quiet stretch of the river, and it felt like not many people visited here. The tide was high on the river, but there were still some mud showing. The end of  June is probably the worst time of year to visit an estuary, as all the birds associated with this habitat are off on their breeding grounds. As it was there were just a few loafing GULLS about.
Some LAPWING were about, they nest early and are one of the earliest returning WADERS, and there were some OYSTERCATCHERS which nest on the estuary. Further down the river there were a pair of COMMON TERNS mating, and its possible they might nest on this area of dried mud above the water line.
Also about were a pair of SHELDUCK which had a staggering fourteen ducklings with them, quite the brood to look after. There was another pair further up the river, but I couldn't see how many young they had.

A view of the Deben 

Not really a remarkable day, but an enjoyable one non the less. Its good to visit these out of the way places, and seeing something unexpected merely adds to the value. I am so lucky with Suffolk having so much beautiful countryside to explore and I don't just mean the big reserves like Minsmere. There are acres of countryside out there, with a lot harbouring birds that are overlooked because they are in underwatched areas of the country. So dear reader, look on a map, find an area of countryside, find a route and start birding, I bet you will be rewarded.

Pipps Ford - 27/5 & 6/6/2020

For a time that can be seen as historical, not a lot has happened. The era of the coronavirus, is marked by how inactive people have been, a time which is defined by being stuck indoors. As with most activities that rely on travel, birdwatching has been badly effected. Reserves are closed, and for two months now travel has been forbidden. I'm not complaining, because there are bigger things at stake, its just that I miss going out on my little birdwatching adventures so much.
However as lockdown eases, travel is now allowed and reserves are open, although at the moment most hides and visitor centres are closed. This has a big effect for the likes of Minsmere, or Welney, reserves which provide the visitor experience, but aren't allowed to open.

A newly fledged BLUE TIT, on the river by Baylham.

I'm still birding locally at the moment. Pipps Ford as I have said on many previous posts is the best birding site in the area. Being an area of public footpaths and countryside, it is always open, and few people visit, so there's no problem with social distancing and getting infected.

I've always found photographing SKYLARKS really difficult. This is one of the few times I have ever seen one perching.

The area consists of an exhausted quarry, an active quarry, two small lakes, areas of wood and rough grassland, all along the river Gipping. This good selection of habitats means there is usually a lot to see, and occasionally it hosts the odd rarity.

The exhausted quarry at Pipps Ford. This year the area has been able to keep a decent amount of water which has been good for birds.

With the calendar turning to June, the breeding season is well underway. Despite months of incessant sun, the exhausted quarry still holds a good amount of surface water which has been good for water birds. A GADWALL brood of 4 was a good find, as this is a scarce breeding bird away from the main wetlands. There were small numbers of this understated duck around all the areas of water, but no other signs of nesting. There were two brood of GREYLAGS, a brood of COOT, with another nesting and one LITTLE GREBE. WADERS were represented by LITTLE RINGED PLOVERS and LAPWING. Both species were very noticeable, as birds would fly into the air to see off a marauding crow. This is a sign of breeding activity, with the birds protecting their chicks. The chicks however are very difficult to see, as they are very well camouflaged. Breeding waders are scarce inland and away from the coastal wetlands, such as Minsmere.
On the grassland that surrounds the water, there are good numbers of SKYLARKS in what is a small area. They have stopped singing now, but are very active with flights to and from the nest to feed their chicks. They have a very distinctive way of moving their wings in flight and are quite bulky, which distinguishes them from other small birds.

The active quarry

The footpaths network in the area is strong, providing good access to the many different habitats around Pipps Ford. A good place is the active quarry. The path gives good views of the changing landscape here. There were no diggers present today, but there was a bulldozer moving sand out of the way to create a new road for access.
At the moment the active quarry is a deep sided lake with a few islands. There weren't too many birds, except for a pair of TUFTED DUCK and a pair of GREAT CRESTED GREBES, which might be colonists that have failed at other sites.
What is disheartening is the low numbers of SAND MARTINS present. They nest in the shifting sandy cliff faces of the quarry every year, but there seemed to be less about at the moment, hawking low over the surrounding grassland. As they are birds of transitional habitats, their numbers do fluctuate from year to year.

One of the SWANS, with a mallard, on Pippins Lake

Up river from Pipps Ford, Riverside Farm Pit is a small lake surrounded by grass and bulrushes. It has small number of birds and today there was a creche of multiple broods of different sized CANADA GEESE goslings, as well as some young MOORHENS.
Pippins Lake, a larger lake bordered by tall trees, had a SWAN family with five lovely young cygnets, but not much else.

The woodlands are full of young birds at the moment, and it seems to be a good year, although it's hard to tell, from just today's visit. There were flocks of young birds newly evicted from the nest but still dependent on their parents. They would make a lot of noise as they demand to be fed. Those adults still raising young are making food flights and have no time to stop, its a race against time to complete everything in the short summer months.
By Riverside Farm Pit there were three fledged MISTLE THRUSHES in a sheep field, and a juvenile GOLDCREST nearby, the young bird lacking the distinctive head crest of the adults.
A nice spot, just down from Pipps, is where the river passes Baylham Farm Park. Here the river splits in two, and there were masses of young birds in the surrounding mature trees. There was nothing unusual, but the sheer number of birds meant that I had some great photo opportunities, a lot of  the photos on this blog were taken from this site.

The fledged BLUE TITS have yellow face and bellies, which are white on adults.

Sometimes its not about the birds you see, its just enough to see them. With lockdown still in force it has really made me appreciate my feathered friends and the countryside they live in. For several months now, I have been birdwatching my local area, no visitor centres, no hides, no other birders. These are places not manged for birds, yet the birds live here none the less, and I have greater respect for them. They have defined the lockdown period for me.
I must admit I do miss Minsmere though. I mean its the greatest reserve in the country. Maybe when things return to some form of normalcy, I will return. But at the moment I look forward to a morning's birding at Pipps Ford, a more humble destination, but one that still satisfies.

Late Spring on the Local Patch

At the moment, whilst I write this blog, its strange times we live in, a one in a life time event, one for the history books. Looking back from the future, we might ask what all the fuss was about, or maybe what a tragic time it was. Lockdown really has brought the country to a full stop, yet nature carries on regardless, and spring has come and sped past as we sit indoors.

LONG TAILED TIT

It really is a frustrating time, compounded by the fact that the only area of countryside I can visit is the Local  Patch, an area within walking distance. Somewhere I only used to visit once a week is now the place that I visit every day, going out spending hours wandering the footpaths that cross this landscape. Keen to get out of the sterile homestead it feels so good to be out, to breathe in the fresh country air, something good for the soul as well as the body.

River Meadow

Nature means so much more when its rationed, something precious now we no longer have much access to it. People are now becoming aware that nature is good for the soul and that too much of today's society is isolated from it. After this lockdown it seems that its not a case of returning to a world run on economics, but one run on people's wellbeing. And nature is a key part of people's wellbeing.

With Brexit happening, its now a time to create a greener society, to create an agricultural policy that actually has the importance of nature at its core and that recognises that nature is important to people. Its quite simple, food can be grown alongside nature, the two existing in the counrtyside together, they are not opposing forces.

Suffolk Punch Field, the bushes white with HAWTHORN flowers

At the moment the countryside is so lush, so green and verdant, life really has fully come on with such power that it can be quite staggering. Its such an amazing time of year, my favourite. With life supercharged at the moment, its quite difficult to realise at the same time, nature is finding it difficult out there in the general countryside, that we have destroyed a lot of our natural world, in an insane drive to overproduce food, based on world war two ideology, one so dated and out of context with our times. Things need to change and maybe lockdown will help turn things in a better direction.

Looking across from Second Field

Over the late Spring, the weather has in general has been quite hot. At the end of April there was a week of rain, after which everything just grew and grew. In mid May, for a week. the temperature halved to 10 degrees as a cold wind blew down from the Arctic, and there was frosts in the mornings, but that didn't affect things too much.

LINNET in dappled light, subtle colours, but still pretty

Despite visiting the Patch every day, not a lot was forth coming, bird wise. A NIGHTINGALE was heard singing for a couple of days from the scrubby area behind the church. I don't know whether it just quietened down to breed or just moved on, as I didn't hear it later on, but it was in suitable habitat.
Nightingales are one of those mythical birds, the greatest of our songsters. Their song, a variety of melody, comes out like a machine gun, hitting your ears with force, making it unmistakable. If you wonder if a song belongs to a nightingale, it probably isn't a nightingale. This bird, like many, is finding things difficult in the countryside, due to many varied causes, internationally, but Suffolk is a stronghold for the species, and there are still many to be found in the county.

female LINNET

The first WHITETHROAT appeared on the 18/4, with LESSER 'THROATS on the 23/4. These species are birds of the open, farming, landscape. 'THROATS prefer hedgerows and areas of grass with scattered scrub, and are quite common. LESSER 'THROATS, which aren't in fact smaller than their cousins, inhabit taller, overgrown hedgerows, and are a lot more secretive and rarer.

Flock of LINNET, First Field

LINNETS have been late to start breeding this year. They winter somewhere else than the Patch, and so I don't see them for half the year. This Spring there have been two large flocks, a flock peaking of 60 on the First Field and one of 30 near Rise Hall. The flocks would fluctuate in number as birds come and go, with pairs breaking off to find a territory. This bird had been in decline but I think their numbers have now steadied, and as you can see are plentiful on the Patch.

Most of  the Patch is given over to agriculture and crop growth, which isn't productive for nature, but put food on our plates.

Towards the end of the period, bird song slowly began to curtail as most of the resident, early singers, were now busy rearing families, and so didn't have the energy to do sing anymore. By mid May, most of the Spring bird migration had mainly come to a stop, with only a few late birds passing through.

Brood of MALLARDS, miles away from the nearest body of water, they must have got lost

HARES haven't been that common on the Patch during this period with just one record in the Prairie Field north of the Suffolk Punch Field. A HEDGEHOG was found dead on Byron Road, the street I live on, crushed under the wheels of a car, just one of the many obstacles our wildlife has to face.

The Pond

Even somewhere as unremarkable as the Patch can still throb with the energy of Spring. There is so much life out there at the moment, anywhere, in any scrap of land. Nature really is a power, something humanity has been incapable of properly harnessing. Its always assumed that man has to tame nature, but that's not the case. I think humanity will have a better future if we can just regain some reconnection with nature, because I think its possible with a little bit of creativity.

Pipps Ford - 19/5/2020

With lockdown easing a small amount, the powers that be have now deemed it OK to travel to places for leisure activities. This means I can finally leave the Local Patch, a place I have been visiting everyday for two months, and I was finally able to explore somewhere further afield. So with this inaugural leisure activity day I decided to travel to Pipps Ford, for a mornings birdwatching. This is a good local birding spot, and with few other people there's no need to worry about social distancing and transfer of Covid-19.

River Farm Lock

I haven't visited the area for a couple of months now and things have changed. The glorious Spring we have been having, has galvanised the birds into life, with a huge quantity of bird song and calls belting forth from every tree and bush. Pipps Ford has a good variety of habitats, something which makes the area a local hotspot. And for a local site, it has a good mix of wetland habitats, something rare in inland Suffolk.
Part of the site is an active quarry, with another area already worked out, which is now being restored, and there are two small lakes as well, all adding to the mix.

BANDED DEMOISELLE, a kind of damselfly, are common on the river

Water levels were still high at Pipps Ford, despite the long months of heat. By this time of year, the water usually subsided by now, leaving areas of grass, but this year the water was still lingering, lying on the land. This has been a boon for wildfowl, but has been less good for waders.
The footpath splits its way through the quarry, between the worked out area and the active part. The worked out area of the quarry, held decent numbers of COOT with brood of 2 from one pair, with another pair nesting, with other birds lingering. There was also a GREYLAG GOOSE brood of 5, which were paraded about by their wary parents. There were four TUFTED DUCK, and one LITTLE GREBE, the latter usually nest here, so maybe there is a female sitting on eggs somewhere. Five LAPWING were about, tumbling around in the air, seeing off any crows, which is a sign some will have chicks, or are maybe late nesters. A ROE DEER, was present at the back, taking a drink from the quarry, a mammal I see here fairly regularly, I think one lives in the area. In the surrounding rough grassland there are good numbers of SKYLARK, most had stopped singing and were now looking after chicks, often seen carrying food to their hidden nests.

BANDED DEMOISELLE, these insects have newly emerged

The active quarry, which shifts in shape from year to year, was just a deep lake with little mud this year. A LITTLE RINGED PLOVER was present, this is the only site in Suffolk where they nest, there isn't much suitable habitat in the county. There were three TUFTED DUCK and three GADWALL, birds which may stay to nest here. The sand quarry, is a good inland site for SAND MARTINS which nest in the sandy walls that form part of the active quarry. Large numbers of birds hawk over the landscape, dashing here and there as they catch insects in the air. The constant changing in habitat, as the quarry evolves mean the birds have to build out new nesting sites each year, but the birds don't mind, they come back to nest every time.
The martins, the plovers and lapwing are all birds of habitats in transition, they like places that change from year to year. The martins nest in constantly eroding sandy cliffs, whilst plovers naturally nest around rivers, that change from year to year, whilst lapwing favour areas that are newly flooded. In a natural environment, dynamic natural forces create these transitional habitats, and those species would  be common. In today's tidy, overly manged countryside they are restricted to a couple of sites such as Pipps Ford.
As soon as the quarry at Pipps Ford becomes exhausted and becomes unprofitable, then the transitional nature of the habitat will end, and once the diggers leave, so will those birds. Even if this place becomes a nature reserve they still won't be able to replicate the quarry habitat those birds need.

Pair of GREYLAGS, River Farm Pit

A bit further on from Pipps Ford are two other, smaller, pits, which had a small number of birds. Pippins Lake had a SWAN brood of 5, as well as two pairs of GADWALL accompanied by a TUFTED DUCK, the ducks may nest this year. River Farm Pit had a CANADA GOOSE brood of 5, but the SWAN pair seems to have decided not to nest.

Having been in lockdown for two months any place other than the Local Patch is going to seem like a birding hotspot. Pipps Ford is probably the best site in Suffolk for the active quarry habitat, and so is good for the species associated with it. Being inland also adds to its importance, as inland Suffolk is lacking in many wetlands. All we need now is for the Suffolk Wildlife Trust to take over management of the site, once quarrying ends, to turn this into a regional hub for wetland birds. I can only hope, but more likely it will be turned into a fishing pit like every other lake in the area.

A year on Byron Road Part 1- Jan-June

Nature is all around us, we might not notice it, but its always present. Among the parked cars and tarmacked drives many species thrive, going about their business just as we do, their lives in parallel with ours. Lots of wildlife inhabit our gardens, nest in the eaves of our houses, share the same landscape. Wildlife inhabits every house and garden in every city and town, everywhere nature still abounds even in the least wild of places.

These HOUSE SPARROWS used the feathers from a dead pigeon as nesting material

Byron Road is no exception. A non-descript road in Whitton, a suburb of North West Ipswich. Built around the middle of the twentieth century, the front parts of the street are mainly concreted over, not offering too much habitat. But behind this grey facade the street has large overgrown leafy gardens, with large hedgerows and trees providing a great environment for birds. However this is still an urban setting so the numbers and species are fairly limited, and a lot of the vegetation is alien to native wildlife creating little food to feed young families, but the gardens are still better for birds than the surrounding farmland.

STARLING

The gardens together form one large habitat beyond the borders of each house. Whilst working in my garden the birds will be around me, they are so used to humans that unless I get too close, they are fine with my presence.
Like every house in the street I have a large garden, although it is shared with four people. Centre stage is the large sycamore tree, with various smaller trees growing around. The main weed, a wild plant I don't want to keep are little sycamore buds, which grow in profusion, and I often have to pick them out of my allotment plots.

A local pair of COLLARED DOVES

When we talk about urban birds there's one species that is characteristic of the concrete world. The formerly ubiquitous HOUSE SPARROW, is a species that lives only in urban areas, it is not a native species having followed civilisation out from the Middle East. There is a small flock in my area, numbering around twenty individuals. They descend upon my feeders, eat its seeds and strip it clean in one day. All the Sparrows in the area form distinct, separate flocks that don't seem to interact with each other, they are each different entities. They are resident birds spending all their time within a small area, that consists of a few houses. Although still common in a lot of places, such as Whitton, this species population has crashed. A lot of urban Ipswich lies empty of this charismatic species, a part of the city as any church or football ground.

WOOD PIGEON

During the winter months, a time of cold, the street is inhabited by a large flock of STARLINGS. Several hundred strong, this flock perches on a tree or a TV antennae and I can see over a hundred in my garden at any one time. In the evenings there are many small murmarations as birds roost in the area.
Their numbers decline around March until there is only the local breeding population left. One pair usually nests in the eaves of the roof of my house. They are one of the first birds to fledge young, around the middle of May, maybe raising a couple of birds. The locally bred birds form flocks for a couple of months before disappearing in the Autumn and thereafter returning in the winter.

Fledged STARLING

A pair of CROWS are resident in the area, although they change their nesting location each year. I have seen them predate the nest of a blackbird, as the adult birds looked on helpless. However they keep the large gulls away flying up to chase any birds away. Another resident species is the COLLARD DOVE, which are doing pretty well, I can often have 25 or more in the garden.

One of the local cats. Thankfully they are too fat and lazy to catch any birds

The garden I inherited was a just a grass lawn, which is so boring and sterile for wildlife. So one Autumn I decided to create an allotment bed, when I had time between jobs. This soon increased to two more. I now have enough to rotate crops, broad beans and potatoes which grow anywhere and can withstand anything the weather throws at them, to carrots and parsnips which are a bit more delicate. I also scraped away the top layer of soil nearby and planted with wildflower seed, which worked really well, and the area is now an overgrown mess, which is good as nature loves mess. Come mid-April, the first of the flowers to come out are BORAGE, followed by RIBWORT, RED CAMPION and SORREL.

Young BLACKBIRD

As the garden flowers start to bloom, so the dawn chorus comes to a peak, and I savour waking up to their music every morning.
The garden is bounded by a large conifer hedge which somehow has elder trees growing in the middle. This thick foliage is the man nesting area in the garden, attracting ROBINS, BLACKBIRDS and WRENS, where in a good year they can raise several broods.
Most years CHIFFCHAFFS and BLACKCAPS are enticed to sing in the garden but they only last a day or two before moving on.
I have several nest boxes around the garden, which often attracts the attention of the local GREAT TITS, who often raise several young.

RED ADMIRAL

By late April the leaves appear on the trees, it often takes me surprise, they tend to appear as if overnight. This makes bird watching a lot more difficult as the birds are now hidden under the dense foliage. I have one BLUEBELL plant growing in my garden. I rope off the area immediately under the tree, to protect from being cut, allowing flowers to grow and apart from the bluebell, its an overgrown mishmash of RED DEAD NETTLE, CLEAVERS and COW PARSLEY.

BLUEBELL

In the first week of May attention is shifted to the skies to look out for the first returning SWIFTS, and there can be as many as thirty birds reeling through the skies before they settle down to breed. Some still nest in the area, under the eaves of the rooves of a few buildings. Swifts originally nested in holes in isolated trees. But as the trees have been cut down and villages and town have grown up, the species has completely forgotten its natural environment and now nests exclusively in the urban environment.
However other urban birds like HOUSE MARTIN have all but disappeared from Ipswich.

MAGPIES drinking from the gutter

Come the spring butterflies emerge and there are plenty of the commoner species in the garden, but I think its the HOLLY BLUE,  a species which comes out mid-April, which I see as the quintessential garden butterfly, feeding and laying eggs on the profusions of ivy present. They have increased a lot since I let the garden grow a bit more wilder, their blue wings fluttering on the breeze.

HOLLY BLUE - the quintessential garden butterfly

Gardens form an area larger than all the nature reserves in the country. Just think what could happen if people allowed part of their garden to revert to nature. Sure its mainly the commoner birds that are found in this habitat, but a lot of our urban wildlife is under serious threat. Half of the bird population that has decreased since the 1970s is made up of one species - the house sparrow.

DANDELION seed head, one of the few flowers to grow on the lawn

The garden is one of those accidental  things that somehow benefited our wildlife. These private refuges of ours offer a home for animals just as much as it does to people. With such massive habitat loss happening in the countryside gardens are a good refuge for a lot of species, and they rely on us to help them.

This blog covers the first six months of the year. Another blog will follow, probably at the end of the year.