Hazelwood Marshes - 24/12/2017

I'd visited Hazelwood a couple of times in the past, before it became inundated by the river. Its hide was the only vantage point overlooking that part of the river Alde. The estuary side was always good, but the wet grassland which made up the reserve, was never very good for birds, the odd LAPWING or REDSHANK, but that was all. Since the inundation, back in 2013, when the river burst through the banks and turned the reserve from wet grassland to mudflats, the number of birds has increased massively.

Overlooking Hazelwood Marshes and what used to be wet grassland. The hide is in the mid foreground.

 



We had a quick walk to the reserve before the Christmas Eve meal, at the time the tide was high on the river but low on the marshes. The hide was new, replacing the rickety structure which used to stand there. On the marshes there were plenty of birds including BRENT GEESE, lots of WIGEON and SHELDUCK, and some LITTLE GREBES. Wader wise there were plenty of REDSHANK and BLACK TAILED GODWITS. A female MARSH HARRIER was around, but didn't seem to affect the birds present.
As we walked away from the hide to the exit of the reserve an immature PEREGRINE FALCON was spotted in flight. As we watched it it suddenly tucked its wings in and diver bombed some unknown prey. It did this several times although it didn't seem to catch anything.

View from the hide of what was wet grassland before it was inundated. It is now a species rich habitat so there was a balance to nature, natural forces sculpting the countryside