Winter wildfowl at North Warren - 27/12/2016

Often forgotten, though sandwiched inbetween two honey-pot sites of Aldeburgh and Thorpeness, is Minsmere's little sister, a mix-up of habitats called North Warren. It has a similarly diverse range of habitats, though apart from the wet grassland has nothing in Minsmere's league.
The start point for the reserve was the car park just outside Aldeburgh. From here the walk goes north along the beach, that is literally heaving with people, with the reserve's wet grassland running parallel.
The marshes were fairly dry for this time of the year, due to low rainfall, with wildfowl numbers very low. Usually there are thousands of TEAL and WIGEON, but there was  only a scattering  of these ducks around, along with small numbers of SHOVELLER and PINTAIL.
Halfway along the beach a footpath leads off and cuts the marshes in two, and as it did so things  got a little better. Here the wintering flock of WHITE-FRONTED GEESE was very confiding, often getting close to the path, and mixed in with them were the ubiquitous feral BARNACLE GEESE, literally hundreds of  geese being present. In the north marsh despite some flooding there were few other birds about.

Geese feeding in front of the ponies

 



Past the wet grassland is the old rail line which cuts through the reserve. It's heathy-scrubby area with some small areas of wood. Along here we found female BULLFINCH, always nice to see and never common.
The route we took turned into Thorpeness, then it hit the beach and went all the way back down to  Aldeburgh, making the route a kind of circle. Amazingly despite the huge numbers of people on the beach constantly disturbing things, there was a flock of 11 SNOW BUNTINGS, who didn't seem to mind, often feeding within a few metres of people. Further along, by the clam sculpture was a STONECHAT, this has been a decent winter for them.
It isn't often North Warren out shines Minsmere, but this holiday it has and all the better for it. Maybe I might just visit this site more often instead of ignoring it for the larger reserves.

Minsmere's closed! - 26/12/2016

Boxing Day and without checking opening times went to Minsmere, only to find it closed. All the paaths and hides weren't open. So we had to stick to the public footpaths that kind of skirt the edge of this huge reserve.
The first footpath skirted around behind the reeds of Minsmere, through grazing marshes and out onto the sea. The marshes themselves were fairly quiet, as was the sea.

Sizewell Power Station across the marshes

 



Further along the beach was a lookout over the Scrape. Water levels were high, but there were some flocks of DUNLIN and TRUNSTONE present.
The walk took us into Dunwich Heath then around the woods and heaths of Minsmere again, before going full circle to finish with a drink at the Eels Foot Inn.
So... we were unable to visit Minsmere proper, and we didn't see many birds, and it was very busy... but as a walk in the countryside it was top notch.

Ghost of the Marshes - Hen Harrier - Snape Marshes - 25/12/2016

Over the Christmas period I spent time with my family in Snape which led to me being able to visit some good bird locations in that area. This included the magical Suffolk Coast and Heaths area, a near continuous area of wild coastal habitats.
On Christmas day, before we opened our presents, and to get out of my mum's hair as she cooked the turkey we walked the Snape area. Snape is a small village surrounded by rich wildlife habitats which includes Snape Warren, a large patch of heathland, Snape Marshes a local wildlife reserve, and the Alde estuary, which has loads of mud to attract waders.

Snape Warren

 



Snape Warren was fairly quiet, and there were a few waders on the mid tide on the Alde, including some AVOCETS. It wasn't until we reached Snape Marshes where things changed. A beautiful male HEN HARRIER was discovered where it flew around waist height over the rough grassland. This is an attractive, scarce bird, white-grey with black wing tips, that winters in the wild marshes of Suffolk.
As the bird quartered the marsh it flushed two JACK SNIPE from a wet tussocky area, the two little birds zipping around in the air.
The HARRIER went to ground, before reappearing and drifted around before it eventually flew up over the trees to head off towards Snape Warren.
This was a completely unexpected bird which makes it even more amazing and was the perfect Christmas present.

In Search of Owls at Shingle Street - 18/12/2016

With several web sites broadcasting news of SHORT-EARED OWLS around the Shingle Street area I decided to go over and have a look. Shingle street is a tiny hamlet built on the shingle ridge many miles from anywhere, and in the cool mist of today it was bleak.

The shingle ridge was populated by these weird Triffid type plants

As a land lubber I couldn't resist a quick look ate the sea the hamlet looks out to. Several RED-THROATED DIVERS were present, though mainly in flight; also present were a COMMON SCOTER and a SEAL which is always good to see.
To look for the owls I tried the rough grassland that lay behind the hamlet. This area was intensly grazed by sheep and was therefore of not much interest to birds, especially not owls. Small birds were present in small numbers with a flock of 15 YELLOWHAMMERS, a pair and a single STONECHAT, and a beautiful KINGFISHER flew down one of the ditches that border the fields.

Out where the grassland met the shingle ridge there was a flock of approx. 30 non-descript finches I reckon to be TWITE. These are a form of finch from the uplands of Scotland which winter on lowland marshes in East Anglia. And sill no owls...
And lo! just as we were driving off there was a SHORT-EARED OWL quartering the fields and back gardens of Shingle Street.

 

 

The quality of the photos aren't great, but it was a misty day and the bird was far away and mobile. But a great bird and worth the trip out. Nothing describes the wilderness of winter Suffolk better than the SHORT-EARED OWL.

Hey I want to know what you think about my blog, so I would like to hear some comments. Many thanks.

 

 

 

 

 

Local Patch - Rede Wood -11/12/2016

Nestled amongst the large fields that carpet the area is REDE WOOD. A tiny area of ancient woodland, it represents the only forest in the area and as such is a refuge for different species than those that inhabit the arable land. Woodland is a very fertile habitat and this small patch harbours more species than any large arable field does.
The main species I saw today were singles of MARSH TIT and NUTHATCH two species that are indicative of ancient woodland. Other birds were present in the woods, formed mostly in loose flocks, with their light movements giving their presence away. About were a TREECREEPER, a SPARROWHAWK (disturbed it shot through the trees), and there were small numbers of GOLDCRESTS scattered around the wood.
Over head, above the tree line, a pair of BUZZADS were displaying. The wood represents the main breeding habitat for buzzards although they are very common in the area, whatever time of year.
These ancient sites are the cathedrals of the natural world, very serene and spiritual places, sculpted over the centuries, and are worth a visit as much as any man made building.
So a nice hidden gem of an area, of a habitat that is very rare, and of a great local patch.

Barham Pits - Local Patch - 3/12/2016

Oh the joys of local patch birdwatching. These are birding places right on your doorstep that are easiest to get to and therefore the most birded. As most people don't live near Minsmere, local patches are usually terrible. But you keep birding them because you hold the belief that one day you will find that one mega rarity.
Barham Pits is one of those. Composed of three pits - One unnamed, Pit A and Pit B - these are old lakes used for fishing. As a result there are bird scarers on location which results in few birds about. But hey its ten minutes cycle ride away. One day I'll get that lesser scaup.
Pit B had nothing on it except a GREY WAGTAIL along the river. There was an overwintering CHIFFCHAFF amongst a tit flock, which is usual as they overwinter next to water. 40 MOORHEN were grazing just over the river next to a pond.
Pit A had nothing much more - 4 TUFTED DUCK, 3 COOT and 1 GREAT CRESTED GREBE.

Goosander at Christchurch Park 1/12/2016

Today I again had an hour or two to in Ipswich and where else to spend it than that great green lung that is Christchurch Park. Centre of any visit is the wilderness pond - this glorified duck pond occasionally pulls off something interesting.

 

Usually the haunt of mallards, moorhens and mandarins a check around midday allowed me to spot a GOOSANDER flying around at the height of the tree tops. it didn't alight but eventually flew off. GOSANDERS visit most years, but are fairly uncommon in Suffolk as there aren't many gravel pits or reservoirs around which are their usual haunts in lowland England.

A LITTLE GREBE has been present there as well for a couple of months, they're not particularly common in Ipswich.
I checked on Mable the owl but she wasn't about in the usual tree.

There are lost of interesting ancient trees in Christchurch Park. This one looks like it has lost souls swirling around underneath the bark.



Fingringhoe Wick 26/11/2016

As the day entered into afternoon we moved from Abberton to Fingringhoe (don't laugh). This is an Essex wildlife trust reserve, consisting of scrubby heath with views over the Colne estuary.

 

The reserve was recently doubled in size when an area of unimportant farmland was allowed to be flooded and become part of the estuary.

Redshanks are very common on estuaries throughout Britain

The tide was out when I got there, but there were still some birds about. A large variety of waders and BRENT GEESE were present.

The beautiful Essex marshes with their grand skies

A bittern and a smew - Abberton Reservoir 26/11/2016

Following a heavy frost the day turned out to be nice and sunny, perfect for a trip down to north Essex. First port of call was Abberton Reservoir, which is huge in area, almost like an inland sea.
This was all new to me as I haven't explored this area of the country for some years (maybe 20+), despite it being relatively close to where I  live. The reservoir seem to be going through a transformation, as all the facilities were brand new, with newly planted trees round the reserve.

It is not an easy place to birdwatch as there is only limited access, only on the southern shore, and two causeways that cut across it at different points.
First access point was the Visitor Centre a nice brand new monument to man's achievement over nature. The reserve area sticks out into the reservoir with hides on three sides. Out on the great expanse of water there were few birds about, they were mostly hanging round the edges. The sheer numbers of ducks (claimed to be over 40,000 present) had me hoping at there would be huge flocks, but there weren't any really.



As the reservoir was so big, most birds were too distant to photo. Here are two pictures of two PHEASANTS squaring off.

After the visitors centre, then across one causeway to a screen that looked across Wigborough Bay. For some reason this was very attractive to PINTAIL with more than a hudred present - easily the commonest duck there. Also present on the mud were small flocks of GODWIT and DUNLIN.
The second causeway, to the south of the visitor's centre was called Layer Breton and whilst it didn't have the numbers of birds, it had the variety. The only duck present was a female SMEW with its beautiful red headed plumage. A WATER RAIL was present in a small clump of reeds, whilst even better a BITTERN was seen flying across the back end of the reservoir between clumps of reeds.

Christchurch Park - Birding in the heart of Ipswich 11/11/2016

I had an hour to spend in Ipswich, so I spent the time in Christchurch Park. The park is the usual mixture of grass and scattered trees including some huge ancient ones. Despite its location in the centre of Ipswich it is still good for birds.

These pictures are of a very friendly ROBIN who badgered me to take photos of it!

 

 

 

 

There is also a duck pond, where geese, ducks, and even a turtle live. The next picture is of my favourite duck, which despite everything is actually a farm yard version of a mallard.

 



 

 

Of course no mention of birds in Christchurch Park could be without Mable the famous TAWNY OWL. The owl sits on the top of an old tree, out in the open, modelling herself for many photographs. TAWNY OWLS are very hard to find, as they never come out in daylight, so this owl is special. 

Photos Published!

Two of my photos were printed in the local paper - the East Anglian Daily Times - today (8/11/2016).
Here they are:

Tree in Autumn sunshine

 



Hawkes Mill, Needham Market



Winter waders and wildfowl at Loompit Lake and Levington Creek 7/11/16

Apart from Trimley Marshes, Loompit Lake is the only fresh water habitat on the river Orwell. As a result it is an important place for wintering and nesting wildfowl. At this time of year wildfowl numbers are quite low with the maximum peak around late summer/early autumn period. The most numerous wildfowl was the GADWALL, with over 100 present of this discrete, grey duck. There were also smaller numbers of COOT and TUFTED DUCK out on the water, but they didn't break double figures.

 

 

In one corner of the lake large numbers of CORMORANT had started to arrive, as a prelude to the breeding season. Around 200 pairs nest  in trees in this corner of the lake. This area was strictly reserved for the cormorants so there were few other birds there.



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Adding a taste of the exotic was a pair of BLACK SWANS. Now I can't count these birds on my bird list as these birds did not arrive here naturally - the nearest population is in Australia! This pair had probably escaped from captivity, so good on them. They still provided a good sight.

 





 

There weren't too many small birds about - this STONECHAT, a GREY WAGTAIL and a ROCK PIPT.

 

 

 

It was approaching high tide and most of the mudflats had become submerged. Levington Creek is the last place in the area to get covered in water, so birds are pushed further in as the water rises, so there are large flocks of waders and WIGEON there. It was all pretty much the usual suspects - REDSHANK, DUNLIN, GREY PLOVER, CURLEW, OYSTERCATCHER, GODWITS. There were small numbers of BRENT GEESE about as well.

 



Okay, so it was a fairly bog standard early winter's day, November always seems to be a fairly uneventful month as Autumn migration has finished and Winter hasn't properly begun yet. But I'm glad that these places still exist in such an industrialised countryside and our feathered friends can keep a toe hold in this world.

 

Dipper 25/10/2016

The river at Needham Market

Although common up north, DIPPERS are rare visitors to Suffolk, with individuals making trips to this county every 3 or 4 years. And luckily this one was easy accessible, making its temporary home on the river that flows through Needham Market, a town only five miles from where I live.
When I arrived at the site there were around ten people huddled into a corner overlooking a river. It transpired that the dipper was viewable on the river only from a certain angle. Despite an annoying clump of nettle that proved a partial obstacle I was able to get fairly good views, as it ducked and bobbed in the water.

The river the dipper was on, just about present on the top edge in the photo

 



Two no shows and a sprint round Minsmere 23/10/2016

Went to Westleton Heath today to look for the deer rut and to twitch two shrikes that were present. These two were a GREAT GREY SHRIKE and a RED-BACKED SHRIKE. They were very elusive, so I heard, and indeed they weren't there when I turned up. One group had 2 sightings in 4 hours of the RED-BACKED so I didn't bother hanging around too long. Even the deer rut, a feature of the Minsmere area in October, when red deer stags come to compete for the hinds, seemed to be over.
So I ended up walking the short road to Minsmere.

 

East Hide looking across the scrape

 



Now Minsmere is a great place to go bird watching, in my opinion the best, but occasionally, occasionally mind,  it can be a bit samey and that was what it was like today. I only had a couple of hours to look around which in bird watching terms in a place the size of Minsmere, it is a very short time indeed. It felt like a sprint going round.
There were the usual lazy ducks, mainly TEAL, with smaller numbers of SHOVELLER and GADWALL and 3 PINTAIL were also present.

 

 

This picture of a TEAL got me 30 likes on Facebook. Well over a thousand were present at Minsmere

Waders feeing on the last bits of mud as water levels rise for the winter included 3 SPOTSHANK, 1 GREENSHANK and 1 RUFF.
CETTI'S WARBLERS were beginning to sing and there was a STONECHAT and a small SISKIN and REDPOLL flock by West Hide.
It was an ok day, but when you've been bird watching as much as I have, it all feels bit same old. But hey its not a hard life and I'm very lucky such places as these exist so I can't complain.

A harrier and winter waders at Snettisham 13/10/2016

 

 After lunch we made it to Snettisham, and the immense wilderness of the Wash estuary. For as far as the eye can see there is just gloopinous mud. This provides lots of food for wading birds, and they were here in their (at least) tens of thousands.

 

 

By the time we got there it was 14:30, which was pretty much at mid tide as high tide was 17:15. We had the intention of looking round the reserve before hopefully hitting high tide, when all the birds would come close to shore  in their (we hoped) thousands.

Other than the mudflats the reserve had some gravel pits just behind the sea wall which were extremely popular with the usual ducks. 2 BLACK-NECKED GREBES provided a most satisfactory find.

 

 The geese are unfortunately only greylags

Beyond the furthest lake, behind the shelter a male HEN HARRIER flew in off  the sea and quartered the grasslands there for a while before disappearing. I didn't get a picture, but here's what one looks like. The most amazing ghost-like bird and a great find.

 

 

Finally after some waiting the tide came in. Unfortunately it wasn't a particularly high tide so not all the mud was covered and the bigger bird flocks, on the water's edge, were still quite distant.



 

 The black birds are mainly oystercatchers

 

 

The usual birds were present, DUNLIN, KNOT, BOTH GODWITS, CURLEW, OYSTERCATCHERS, GREY+GOLDEN PLOVERS, TURNSTONE, SHELDUCK, PINTAIL and may more.

This ended a great day with some excellent birds, it was a good experience.



 



Bird ringing at Holme 13/10/2016

To reinvigorate my birdwatching, I took a trip over to north west Norfolk, specifically Holme Dunes and Snettisham. In this section I'll deal with Holme Dunes Reserve.
This is the first time I've been here in 13 years, when I last visited back in 2003 after hiking the North Norfolk path.
Holme is a great reserve on the corner  of North Norfolk, that is a windswept mix of large dune complex and the grazing marshes nestled behind them. It is positioned such on the map, to attract loads of migrants from all over the country and western Europe.
October is great for birds. The sheer dynamic of a coastal site at this time of year, as thousands of birds fly in from the sea on their migration routes.
The reserve was buzzing with large flocks of hundreds of REDWINGS and STARLINGS around. There was also a RING OUZEL in a field grazed by ponies.

 

There was also a few STONECHATS about. On the long sandy beach were a few waders with GANNETS flying not far off the coast.

There is a second reserve at Holme the Holme Bird Observatory. It is a small area of pine trees swallowed by the bigger NWT reserve. Here they ring birds that come in as migrants.  I saw them ring a DUNNOCK,

 

ROBIN

and BLACKBIRD.

Also around the reserve 2 GOLDCRESTS and a ROBIN were caught in drift nets and unable to escape. Free flying birds in this reserve were 2 REDPOLLS and a BRAMBLING.

October at Landguard Point 8/10/2016

So I decided to take my monthly sojourn down to Felixstowe today, trying to catch up with a rare type of stonechat. The bird seemed to be blown all the way from Siberia and was a real rarity. Of course it wasn't present when I turned up. There was nothing much else about, apart from a couple of RING OUZEL, marking the start of their Autumn migration.
The day promised a lot with stormy weather looking to ground migrants. There were more birds present than when I came down last month with flocks of GOLDINCHES and LINNETS around the more bushy northern section and MIPPITS on the short grassland to the south. Also present were a few lingering WHEATEARS, the last gasp of summer, with a few SWALLOWS flying south.
CHIFFCHAFFS and BLACKCAPS were present and there was one GREY WAGTAIL amongst all the PIED.
It's been a while since I've seen anything unusual now so, with all my local patches coming up empty, but you know fingers crossed and everything. Here's to the future couple of months.

The West Coast - Buskett, Dingli and Hagar Qim



At last after binging on architecture and culture it was now time for some bird watching. Malta isn't really blessed with much natural heritage, being a heavily urbanised, desert, where large scale hunting is allowed. But there were a few sites and Buskett Garden was the most recommended. This entailed a trip to the more rural west coast. Buskett Garden is a cross between a garden for a stately home and natural woodland. Whilst here I saw some hobbies and a couple of black kites, but not really much about.

 

Buskett Gardens

 

 

With nothing much at Buskett we moved onto Dingli cliffs.

 

Dingli Cliffs

 

I saw some large pipits with distinctive markings which I took for Tawny Pipits. But again there wasn't much about. And it didn't get much better...

Up till now the weather had been very sunny with temperatures reaching the late 20s. But today the weather started off as overcast, and by the time we reached Dingli (around noon) it started raining. As we waited for the bus it was full on. By the time we got to Hagar Qim it was like a monsoon. It only relented when we left the site to travel back to Valetta.

 

 

Hagar Qim is very much like Ggantija in Gozo, a temple of standing stones that were created right at the dawn of civilisation. There were a large number of large temples spread around the area, all situated on the rocky cliffs..

 

Hunting in Malta

 

While I was in Malta I saw no hunters so I guess it was out of season. However on the west coast there were large number of hunters hides, pretty much everywhere.

 

 





 

 



The interior - Mdina and Rabat

With Gozo and Valleta dealt with, it was now time to direct our attention to the middle of Malta. So we took the bus to the towns of Rabat and Mdina. Now don't confuse Maltese buses with Britiah ones. Maltese buses are punctual and well used. They are new and clean, and the driver didn't stop the bus in a random place to go out and have a ciggie like they do in Britain.

 

 

 

The town of Mdina is and ancient walled fort, which overlooks the much larger Rabat. It still functions as an inhabited place where the residents mingle with the throngs of tourist. The architecture was very ornate, and like most of Malta, was crushed into a small area.

 

 

Down in Rabat the attractions included Roman catacombs and St Paul's grotto. I wasn't sure about the St. Paul's grotto. It was jammed packed with tourists underground and when I got to see it the photo didn't turn out too good. The catacombs were fairly nondescript just passageways underground.

 

 

 

 

 So it was kind of interesting to see the area, and there is a lot to see. Malta sure does pack a lot in its small area.