A Muggy Day Down at Trimley - 29/8/2017

It being the end of August, and with Autumn reaching its heights I decided to take a trip down to Trimley in the chance of maybe encountering a migrant wader or two. The day, although not particularly sunny, was very hot and muggy, and I was sweating buckets. When I got to Trimley Marshes, it was quite shocking to find a lot of the reserve dried out, and pretty bird less.

Looking to the docks over the Managed Retreat

 

The long walk down to the reserve provided little except for one STOAT that dashed across my path. The approach track was pretty busy with construction traffic, which often meant getting out of the way of trucks loaded up with stuff. They were busy constructing something near to the reserve.
The first stop at the Reservoir provided the usual mix of COOT, GADWALL, TUFTED DUCKS and GREYLAGS, all congregating as a mass of birds in the middle of the reservoir. New about was a family party of LITTLE GREBE.

GREAT CRESTED GREBE having a shake

 

Immediately in front of the hide is an area of reedbed on either side of the view onto the reservoir. Two BEARDED TITS flew across, providing brief views as they "pinged". They were juvs, so maybe they have nested on the reserve this year. Anyway it was a site tick for me, and for the numbers of species seen Trimley may now be my second best site, but still some way behind Minsmere, which is first.

The new scrape behind the Reservoir hide had dried out and was now being grazed by cows. Other areas of the grassland had been mowed, providing different habitat types.

So it was on to the scrape hides, and expectations were high as Trimley is often good for waders. However, both the Permanent Lagoon and the Summer Flood were completely dried out. Considering all the water in the Reservoir, it seems strange they didn't try to  keep  these scrapes wet. I don't really know the mechanics of water management, but some water could have been maintained.

The Winter Flood still had a little bit of water, and crucially wet mud, and so attracted a few waders. Two GREEN SANDPIPERS, four SNIPE and one COMMON SNADPIPER were present, amongst the LAPWING and GODWIT.

On the river the tide was coming in, leaving some mud exposed. The most common waders were GODWITS, with small numbers of GREENSHANK, REDSHANK and OYSTERCATCHER.

 

 

SWAN with GODWITS

 



By the Managed Retreat there was a SEAL briefly putting in a performance before drifting up river.

 

SEAL

 



Finally, Loompit Lake held just a few GADWALL and TUFTED DUCK, with no COOT present.

The walk back, through farmland, held a large flock of nearly 100 GOLDFINCHES feeding in a thistle bestrode area of set-aside.

As I walked back through Trimley a female SPARROWHAWK dashed across the road, disappearing behind another house.

So, although I didn't get what I had primarily looked for, migrant waders, the day was fairly eventful, and I can't really expect more on a hot muggy August day. September is coming soon and I have a few trips planned for that month. As always I'll keep you posted.