Local Patch Roundup - Sept & Oct

The Pond

 

Places like Minsmere will always have birds, but the barometer of how well the countryside is doing is through areas like my local patch, places not managed for birds. This is mainly an area of arable and pasture fields, with a few hedges, that just happens to be right by my house, and I visit several times a week.

 

September brought in CHIFFCHAFFS, with SWALLOWS over the cow fields. Two LITTLE GREBES were present on the reservoir on the 13th, only my second record for the area. There was an influx of GEESE to the pond, that stayed for a couple of weeks. There were flocks of FINCHES, mainly GOLDFINCHES, but with smaller numbers of LINNETS, GREENFINCHES and YELLOWHAMMERS.

 

 

At 8:30 everyday the farmer would come down to feed the cows.

 

 

October was fairly quiet with more GOLDFINCH flocks. JAYS were common, mainly in singles. Several SKYLARKS had been fooled by the warm October sun into thinking it was spring and had started singing. Lark Field (imaginatively named by me because of its breeding and wintering LARK population) lived up to its name with seven birds present.

Late October brought in more BLACKBIRDS, but winter THRUSHES were few and far between. Fifty MALLARDS turned up on the pond, but left after a couple of weeks.

 

So nothing exciting, as like most places in the countryside. To me this is an area to ease my mind an accessible area of country, away from the trappings of modern life.

Barham Pits - 31/10/2017

These pictures of a GREY WAGTAIL were taken from the river by Great Blakenham weir. This species is common on the river, nesting in several areas, mainly by weirs and bridges. October is the main migration time for this species.

There were not many birds out on the lakes, but on Meadowlands Pit there were three COOT, three SWANS and one GREAT CRESTED GREBE.

There were plenty of bird flocks, mainly of common TITS, with some TREECREEPERS, and a pair of BULLFINCHES.

And of course there were loads of KINGFISHERS.

Boyton & Hollesley Marshes - 22/10/2017

With a pub lunch on the cards we only had a limited amount of time for birding today, so we decided to do the smaller reserves over at Boyton Marshes and Hollesley Marshes. With my brother we have done so many reserves this Autumn, and yet there are still so many more to see. The Suffolk coast must have the highest number of RSPB reserves of anywhere in the country.

Boyton Marshes.
So we started at the little reserve at Boyton, a small, overlooked reserve. It is an area of rough and wet grassland, managed as a farm, heavily grazed by cows,with a few pools.
The field behind the farm buildings and car park had a flock of  SWALLOWS also held a HOUSE MARTIN, which may be my latest ever record for this species. At the first pool from the car park, amongst the usual DUCKS and WADERS there was an AVOCET.
Upon getting up to the river wall we were hit by a gale of south westerly's from some storm over in the west coast of the country. We headed north along the river before heading back south, along Butley Creek to where it entered the River Ore near Havergate Island, covering most of the reserve.
It was around mid tide with mud exposed on the creek and the main river estuary, just not many birds beyond the usual GODWITS and REDSHANK.
The reserve was fairly empty nothing much was on the grasslands except some cows lazily chomping away.
Along the dyke reedbeds that run parallel to the river wall was a small group of BEARDED TITS. A KINGFISHER flew along the river on the north edge of the reserve at the ferry.
A very late WHEATEAR was on one of the concrete tank traps, the huge second world war era buildings that standout amongst the grassland of the reserve, and more SWALLOWS flew down Butley Creek.
Best bird of the day was a MERLIN seen flying low across the agricultural fields on the edge of the reserve and there was also a MARSH HARRIER quartering the fields.
So although we saw a couple of good sightings here, there wasn't that much on the reserve. To be honest, an area of grassland isn't really going to attract many birds, not the flocks of birds you associate with wet grassland especially as there is only one pool on the reserve. However though, which ever way the RSPB manage this reserve, I'm sure they know what they're doing and its all for the best.

Hollesley Marshes
With time on our hands we decided to take a quick look at Hollesley Marshes, another small reserve just down the river from Boyton. Hollesley Marshes is basically a scrape surrounded by an electric fence with some area of grassland.
There were two viewpoints overlooking the scrape, and on looking from the first point, it was noticeable how dried out the scrape was. There were large areas of dried mud, and there wasn't any birds in those areas. Closer to the river there was more water and as a consequence more birds.
It was the usual estuarine WADERS and DUCKS, as is usual for this time of year, the TEAL and SHOVELLER feeding on the water and flocks of WIGEON feeding on the grass nearby. Two male PINTAIL were also present.
By the first viewpoint were a pair of STONECHAT, with small flocks of GOLDFINCHES everywhere.
What was probably the same MERLIN as at Boyton flew over the reserve, and there was also another MARSH HARIER.
So like Boyton, Hollesley is solid, with some birds in a small, easily accessed setting. Without anything special, really, sometimes its hard to fit all these reserves in. Its a good way to kill a couple of hours out in this area of the world though, especially combining with the nearby heaths.

GOLDEN EAGLE in Suffolk - 22/10/2017

 

We were on our way to Boyton Marshes today, when travelling past Tunstall Common, saw a group of birdwatchers, some with really hefty equipment gathered in what looked like a twitch. Thanking our good luck we pulled over to the side of the road (the carpark was full) and raced to where the birders were gathered.

It then came as quite a surprise to us that the birders were taking photos of a GOLDEN EAGLE, puffed up and posing on a branch. What are the chances of coming across an EAGLE in the midst of the gentle, heathy, Suffolk countryside!

However, it quickly dawned on us that the bird wasn't wild, in fact it was tied by a rope to its handler.

We talked to one of the birders, and they said they had paid for the eagle to photograph, so there were around twenty people all twitching a captive bird.

I was able to collect this record shot, of one of the strangest bird sightings I have ever experienced.

Benacre Broad - 15/10/2017

Living everyone's fantasy

Its been years since I've been to Benacre, maybe decade or more, which considering its not that far from where I live, is a long time. I don't know maybe because its just easily over looked, its a very humble reserve which never advertises itself at all, but its never on my birding schedule.
My brother was still with us in Suffolk, and we've been exploring reserves in the county, and eventually with most of them visited there was really only really Benacre left, selected by default.

Covehithe Church where we parked, with it's ruined nave

 



When we arrived at Covehithe the omens weren't great, it was so busy with people. Strong southerly winds had created a beautiful sunny day, making it closer to August than October. As a result everybody understandably wanted a part of it. However as is often the way, the further you get from a car park, the less people there are, and we soon left the people behind.
So we took the footpath to the beach and Covehithe Broad. There was nothing on that body of water, simply because of the large number of people there. I don't think it would be bad to put up a fence to keep people out, I mean it wouldn't do any harm, wildlife needs some room as well. Sometimes birdwatching clashes with holiday makers, but its simply the majority of people don't know about it, there are few signs about notifying people this is a nature reserve.

One of the fun things at Benacre is to see what's fallen off the cliff onto the beach

 



We walked north along the beach to Benacre, following the sandy cliffs. The broad had actually barely changed since I last came, it was pretty much an estuary with a large area of wet mud. Its good to see the old hide is still there despite been twenty plus years old.
On the broad was a smattering of ESTUARINE WADERS: 20+ RINGED PLOVERS, GREY PLOVERS, KNOTS, CURLEW, DUNLIN, REDSHANKS and OYSTERCATCHER. There were only a few DUCKS, some TEAL and MALLARD.
So we wound our way back to Covehithe, where we saw a STONECHAT, a species that is having a great Autumn. There were also four PIPIT SP., monosyllabic, and a dark brown/green colour with a distinctive white elbow, your typical LBJ.

To be honest not many birds to photograph today, so lots of pictures of the beach

 



As made our way down to Easton Broad, out at sea large flocks of BRENT GEESE were flying south, low over the water.
The broad was like Covehithe and fairly quiet. In the reedbeds there were several small flocks of BEARDED TITS, which we were to see all across the extensive reedbed, along with REED BUNTINGS and a quatering MARSH HARRIER.
To the south of Easton Broad we took a track inland that skirted the huge area of reedbeds. In the area of set aside in the framlands, there were SKY LARKS, YELLOWHAMMERS and MIPPITS, quite good as we hadn't seen many small birds up till then.
We took the track on to a road and then we hit the footpath to the west of Easton Broad. This footpath had been closed due to a broken boardwalk. We decided to give it a go, I mean how wet can it get? The path was overgrown and we had to watch everystep, as though the boardwalk was still present it tended to be missing in places, in others the wood broke under step and I nearly fell into the mud. In the end we decided to take a path where the reedbed met the farmland.

The day's weather was more akin to August

 



After that the footpath just went thorugh uninteresting farmland and we saw few other birds. A large flock of several hundred STARLINGS were feeding amongst the pig fields, but that was about it.
So it wasn't a particularly great day, or even one that was memorable, but that's what you expect when you get away from the main reserves. Okay so it may be less time than a decade before I come back here, but to be honest I don't rate Benacre, as important a reserve as it is, as a top birding destination, and there are more places that deserve my attention.

Christchurch Park, Ipswich - 11/10/2017

A family of BROWN RATS lives in burrows around the Wilderness Pond

 

Christchurch Park is one of the best urban parks around. Its a mix of parkland with some very old trees, woodland and ponds. I often visit this park when I'm in Ipswich town centre, its a very peaceful area, a place to escape the rush of modern life.

 

 GREEN WOODPECKER

 

The parkland attracts good numbers of birds associated with this habitat, including GREEN WOODPECKERS, STOCK DOVES, JACKDAWS and MISTLE THRUSHES.

 

 

 MANDARIN DUCKS

 

The Wilderness Pond  is a small tree lined pond, tucked away in an area of woodland. Its gross, the water's a kind of green colour, but is attractive to wildfowl. Aside from the gangs of CANADA GEESE and mongrel MALLARDS, are a small number of MANDARIN DUCKS. For the first time since I've been coming here, two chicks were successfully reared to adulthood. 

 

 

 

 DUNNOCK

 

Being an urban park, the birds are very tame, and allow you to approach very closely.
However, the most famous bird, perhaps the most famous owl in the world was absent. MABEL the TAWNY OWL was missing, but someone had carved this statue of her.

RED DEER rut at Minsmere - 8/10/2017

Okay, so this time we knew the RED DEER rut was happening and today was a great opportunity to witness it. The heaths around Minsmere and Dunwich were the best location for finding them, one of the largest lowland herds in England. However over the years culls have taken their toll on the herd, and there are a barely a fraction of the 400+ found five or so years ago.
We started the search at the lookout point on Westleton Heath, a small hillock on the edge of an old quarry. We were quite surprised to actually see a deer up close, a young stag, sprinting across the grasslands. We later found out that this animal was scared away from another herd by a larger male, and he just kept running and not looked back.
With nothing else much to see we headed off west, taking the path around the grasslands before hitting the Minsmere road. We didn't see any more deer and neither did anyone we met. We saw three deer safari 4x4s, those belonging to the RSPB, and apparently they were scaring away all the deer, so whenever one of them turned up it was always a bad sign.
On joining the Minsmere road we finally found a herd of deer, a decent number of hinds with a massive male. Annoyingly they were so far away, in a kind of haze, my camera had difficulty in focusing on them. So here is a record shot:

 

 

We took the Minsmere road until we met the bridleway, which winds its way through Minsmere's back woods to Dunwich Heath. Its a great path with heathland as far as the eye can see, with a mix of oak, birch and pine trees. From time to time a stag deer would bellow out, quite a haunting sound.

We came to another area of grassland as we entered the outskirts of Dunwich Heath. Here we found another herd, this time quite a bit smaller, with a smaller stag guarding them. They kept to a kind of depression so even though we walked around this field, we could only see them from one spot. Here are a few record shots.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The path took us from Dunwich Heath to Mount Pleasant Farm, an area of heathland restoration, bought back around fifteen years ago. Its amazing how an area of intensively managed farmland can be turned back to heath in such a short time. A short sward of heather mixed in with areas of acid grassland dominated the landscape. The path then led back to Westleton Heath, and we didn't see any more deer, but there were more people about.

The eventual route we took was a square that skirted the area of mainly grassy habitat favoured by the deer. The deer seemed to be mainly fenced in here, where they were mostly kept away from humans. It meant there were few places to observe them, despite the large number of people who tried, but also created a safe haven for the deer, and helped preserve this place as one of the last areas of wilderness in lowland England.

 

 



Minsmere -1/10/2017

We headed out to the Westleton/Dunwich Heath complex, with my brother, in the hope of witnessing the RED DEER rut. This is one of those wildlife spectaculars that happens in Suffolk, one that just has to be seen. However after scoring a blank from the viewing mound at Westleton Heath, we went to Dunwich Heath where the woman at the information centre told us we were rather too early in the season. The stags were only just starting to flex their muscles, just starting to gather the females. So with that information we decided to spend the rest of the day at Minsmere, and it was a fairly decent day.
At the Visitors Centre we were told that the PEC SAND had moved on, a species which has so far eluded me, although I have had many close calls where I haven't had the courage to fully identify the bird species.
However the Scrape still held a decent number of WADERS, with passage still going strong. Highlights were three LITTLE STINTS, a new bird for my brother, which would often associate with the four RINGED PLOVERS present, giving a good comparison of their size. Two RUFF, small flocks of DUNLIN, some remnant AVOCETS, a CURLEW, a BAR TAILED GODWIT and the usual common WADERS were also present.
DUCKS were emerging from their dull eclipse plumage, with the males starting to look a lot more colourful, with all the usual suspects about, mainly tucked up asleep on the Scrape.
The day was quite windy, so all the small birds were keeping low in the vegetation, but there were three STONECHATS in the dunes and a KINGFISHER flew in front of the South Hide. There was also a MARSH TIT on the feeders in the North Bushes, and some SWALLOWS were still about.
In the reeds immediately in front of West Hide we found a WARBLER SPECIES, with yellow legs, an olive green colour and some barring near the wing. It was like no species I have seen before, and looking through the bird guides in the shop, still couldn't identify it.
Over and around the reedbed hides, nothing much was present except the usual HARRIERS. A HOBBY was seen behind Island Mere Hide, probably the last one of the summer, and a BEARDED TIT right beside the path to the hide.
A CHINESE WATER DEER was present in the same place we saw it last visit, grazing on the reedbed edge in the Konik fields.
So it was good birding and at the end of the day we had encountered most of the birds present today, which is no small feat. Here's hoping October is a good one and lots of rarities end up in this corner of the world, I think we deserve that.