Lackford Lakes - 27/1/2018

 

 

With the year nearly a month old, a visit to Lackford Lakes was due, in the hope of seeing flocks of ducks and smaller winter visitors feeding on the trees around the lakes. However, there were no KINGFISHERS, I just had to bring that up if you were expecting loads of photos of them, there was just none present on the reserve.

Drinking coffee in the visitor's centre we were granted good views of two LESSER REDPOLLS and a NUTHATCH on the feeders amongst the commoner tits.

Heading off into the reserve, we rounded the side of the sailing lake, the largest lake in the reserve. Flocks of POCHARD were amongst the commoner ducks. Alas there were no large duck flocks on the reserve, the lakes registering small flocks of TUFTED DUCK, GADWALL and COOT.

Around the sailing lake SISKINS were feeding in the alders emitting a call that kind of sounds like a person sighing.

Eventually the path reached the Slough, and Paul's Hide, probably the best lake in the reserve, a mix of water, muddy areas and reeds. 

 

 

The Slough

 

 

 The mix of wildfowl on the reserve was pretty much like this, GADWALL, TUFTED DUCK,GULLS and COOT.

 



With its muddy areas the Slough had large numbers of TEAL present, with several hundred mixed in with the other wildfowl, as well as a few SHELDUCK. There was a flock of around a hundred LAPWING often seen in flight moving around the reserve.

TEAL mixed in with other waterfowl

 

From the Slough the path moved east through wet woodland, where a TREECREPER was found. The famous Stump, a fallen tree where tame birds are enticed down by seeds to pose for photos, was next port of call. MARSH TITS, NUTHATCHES, ROBINS, DUNNOCKS and BLACKBIRDS all fed on the stump. However my camera managed to be on the worst settings for small bird photography, and without realising it I had taken a lot of photos of blurred birds. When I got home and discovered this I was absolutely gutted. All I got was a couple of pics of a ROBIN.

 



 

 

 

Moving on to Bess's Hide overlooking the large Long Reach Lake, not much was present, except two LITTLE GREBES. On these eastern lakes there were around six GOLDENEYES present. On one lake there was a group of two males and two females, the males either fighting each other or throwing their head back in display to the females, aiming their beaks to the skies.
Steggall's Hide, the furthest one, is hexagaonal in shape, providing 360 degree viewing over  two lakes, and an area of grass between them.
Not much was present, a pair of WIGEON amongst the normal wildfowl, which shows just how few ducks there were about - just 2 WIGEON on site.

 

 

A pair of EGYPTIAN GEESE were present, the male seemed to notice us in the hide and was starting to get very agitated he looked like he was going to start a fight with me.

 

 

The cob SWAN was getting very territorial, chasing away all the last year's young, birds he so valiantly defended last summer, now getting kicked out.

 

 

 

A SNIPE was a nice surprise

 

 

As usual Lackford Lakes was very solid, providing a good range of birds without providing anything spectacular. The small amounts of duck present was a concern, but could have derived from the warm winter we have had so far. Still its a good reserve to go birding and maybe if I get my camera settings right I'll get some decent photos next time.

GOOSANDER at Christchurch Wilderness Pond, Ipswich - 19/1/2018

I have seen GOOSANDERS at two sites in Suffolk: a pair at North Warren, many moons ago, and the regular birds that turn up every winter at the Christchurch Wilderness Pond. Why are they so regular in what is essentially a duck pond, that is a gross green colour and which probably doesn't contain many fish, I don't know. They are probably more often seen here than at other places, such as Minsmere.
Anyway as you can see from the photos the bird is a female - or a red head. She frequented the main section of the pond, an open area that can be viewed from the main footpath. However she kept as far away from the public areas as is possible. She didn't hang around any of the other ducks, those birds that wait patiently for someone to come along and feed them.

What Christchurch Park Wilderness Pond looks like. There are gangs of ducks waiting around for people to feed them.

 

 

As winter is hailed with the GOOSANDER, there was also signs of Spring in the air. A GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER was drumming nearby, whilst pairs of STOCK DOVES and MAGPIES had taken up residence in the surrounding trees.



Everyone loves a ROBIN. Here is a couple of photos of a tame bird present near the pond.

 

 

 

 

Wicken Fen - 7/1/2018

When it comes to the National Trust, naturalists get a bit sniffy when they manage reserves. Most people think they should stick to stately homes. And then there are the featureless farmlands they own in our National Parks. They could do more.
And so with the second site of our trip to the fens we headed to Britain's oldest nature reserve, Wicken Fen. I have maybe been to this site once over twenty years ago, and I wasn't too impressed. I thought it was badly managed, the area was overgrown, and fairly boring, just walking beside a lode. Also there wasn't much  birdlife. Which could also be said of today's visit.
When we arrived the car park was overflowing, the café had a long queue, and the feeling was this was going to be hell. But as with most places, go away from the visitor's facilities, and the people soon disappear. And so we saw few people from then on.
The original area of the reserve had never been drained, whilst the area we were to go around had, many years ago, and due to shrinkage of the peat was a couple of metres lower down. One side of a lode, or dyke, was level with the water whilst the other side was well below.
We saw few birds. It was maybe over half an hour in that we saw our first bird, a STONECHAT, across the lode in a konik pony grazed area of fen. We had decided to go to the Adventurer's Fen area of the place, which with its meres, reedbeds and grazing marsh allowed for the greatest verity of birds to be seen.
The mere held a small selection of ducks mainly TEAL, with some MALLARDS, SHOVELERS and COOT. It was surrounded by a large reedbed but there wasn't much there. A CETTI'S WARBLER briefly burst into song, at the moment trying to find his voice for the spring. The path took us from reeds to wet grassland with large areas of open water looked over by hides. These were mainly dominated by WIGEON, with smaller numbers of SHOVELER and a pair of PINTAIL.
The path took us to the edge of the reserve, providing a contrast with the barren intensely managed farmland there, where nothing lived. A SPARROWHAWK dashed across a dyke, spooking the local FIELDFARES into the air.
New Guinea Fen must have held thirty KONIK PONIES. KONIKS are an old Polish breed of pony, that flourishes in wetlands, keeping them from overgrowing, and are therefore found in reserves all over the country, including Minsmere. It is an unintensive method of maintaining the land.
After we had finished the circuit of Adventurer's Fen we returned and with the light disappearing we decided to go to the oldest part of the reserve, Sedge Fen for a quick look. Two MUNTJACS were feeding in a grassy field completely oblivious to us, they must get use to all the people. We walked on the boardwalk went into the hide and in the twilight saw a BARN OWL flying right a the back of the expanse of sedge beds. As we walked back to the car park  I thought that was it, it was alright, nothing special. I was noting how surprising it was we didn't see a single harrier...
And in the almost dark two shapes appeared, HARRIERS! then they came below the tree line and I could see their colours - two male HEN HARRIERS! They briefly flew around for a while before settling to roost, with one male choosing the area between the boardwalk and the visitor's centre. An amazing sight.
So a great and dramatic end to the day, which just about paid for what was a fairly disappointing visit out to the fens. We couldn't help it with Welney, that was out of everyone's hands, but Wicken could have been better, it does look under managed, and if the site was owned by the RSPB you would think it would have been more productive for wildlife.

Welney - 7/1/2018

 

 Welney is famous for its wintering WHOOPER SWANS with over 7000 present

 
A trip to the fens was the order of the day, to go to an area I don't visit that often. For although there are some great reserves over there, the actual landscape is as barren as the Sahara, just miles and miles of featureless intensive farmland, dotted with the odd jewel.
Welney was the first visit of the day, a place I go to on and off, but have always had a good time there. It is an area of flooded grassland in the fens, where water drains in from the surrounding farmland, like an anti flood defence. I have seen many good species there, and there is the wildlife spectacular of thousands of ducks and swans attracted by the huge amount of wetland...
Yet it didn't happen. Massive rains had resulted in wall to wall flooding, which created this huge body of water, which wasn't the best habitat, resulting in only a few birds dotted round the area.
Only the observatory was open - all the other hide were cut off by the flooding, maybe up to four or five feet deep. We had brought wellies thinking we could be able to walk to the other hides, but no...
There was a flock of POCHARDS immediately in front of the observatory with a few TUFTED DUCK and COOT among them. WIGEON were more distant, with only single numbers of GADWALL, SHOVELER and TEAL.

POCHARD and WHOOPER SWANS

 



Lady Fen, an area of wet grassland reclaimed from arable fields, situated behind the visitor's centre, held a nice flock of WHOOPER SWANS, several hundred of them wee roosting by the flashes of water present. There were few other birds there, four PINTAIL flew over, and a REDSHANK was present. In the distance six ROE DEERS were grazing in some arable field. A flock of BLACK TAILED GODWITS flew over the car park.
Outside the café windows as we drank some coffee there were flocks of TREE SPARROWS, a bird that's rare by me, but whenever a site has them, then they have them in large numbers. Around four  HOUSE SPARROWS were present giving good comparison, the TREE SPARROWS were a much richer chestnut colour. Also present around the feeders were small numbers of REED BUNTINGS, not a bird to associate with garden bird feeders.
So with nothing much to do we stayed there for a couple of hours, half that spent in the café drinking coffee. We hung around for the SWAN feed, where a man goes out and feeds the birds immediately in front of the observatory. Its kind of like a stunt to get birds to come really close to the observatory, so people inside can ooh and ahh at the swans, rather than appreciating the wilderness for what it is, one of  the best wetlands in Europe. Its all a bit artificial really, but it gets the punters in and if that means more money going back to preserving Welney, then its not all bad.
To show how flooded the reserve was, the man feeding the birds was dressed in a wet suit, and the water came up to his chest.

 

 

 Swan feeding immediately in front of the observatory

 

So bit of a disappointing visit really, with not really much to do or see. As with all birding it is a bit of a hit or miss, because like a lot of reserves it has a dual purpose as a flood defence as well, draining most of East Anglia, so when it rains the water comes off the farmlands from a massive area. When its not so flooded it usually is a good reserve, with lots to see and this is the only duff visit I have had, and I would still recommend anyone interested to go and see. The more people go to appreciate these places the more power there will be to protect them.
Having seen everything we had time on our hands and decided to move onto another reserve covered in the next blog.

Barham Pits - 4/1/2018

 

So I had this grand vision of walking all the way from my house to Needham Market, a distance of six miles, and taking in around ten lakes and all their birds. Unfortunately the recent rain had caused the river, which frames the walk, to swell over and swamp the footpath. So I was stuck with Barham Pits, the most southerly and most accessible lakes, which was just about passable.

If you read my blog you know that these pits are pretty poor for waterbirds, being fishing pits birds are not encouraged. However the reedbeds, swamps and waterside woodland attract a lot of smaller birds. There was a lot of small bird activity with large flocks of TITS and GOLDCRESTS, amongst whom were a few CHIFFCHAFFS, this sort of habitat is ideal for wintering birds, the water providing a warmer environment. In a different tit flock were a pair of TREECREEPERS. Over by Great Blakenham Lock, bursting over with water, there was a flock of around 20 SISKIN in the riverside alders.

On the way back I saw a party of three BULLFINCHES, the three suggests that it was a family party from last year, as the birds usually hang around in pairs.

Oh and the waterbirds...Barham Pit B had one TUFTED DUCK and one GREAT CRESTED GREBE, Barham Pit A had 13 TUFTED DUCK, while Meadlands Pit had just six COOT and three SWANS.

So as usual nothing out of the ordinary, but for a day in early in January offered some tricky birds for the new year list.

Review of 2017

To be honest 2017 really does seem like a mediocre year, birding wise. Most of the best birding has come around just three months really, April, July and September, with the rest providing a bit part to the year. Also all the local patches have underperformed this year with little on offer, even at Trimley, which is usually reliable.
Over the course of the year I saw 185 species of bird, which sounds a lot and is better than some years I have had, but doesn't compare to the 350+ species seen in the UK every year. I had a birding holiday in Scotland, which added a lot of species to the year list, providing a lot of birds that are only found in Scotland, or hardly ever seen in Suffolk. Apart from a few brief sorties to Norfolk, most of the birding has been done in Suffolk, most of it really close to where I live.
January started the year off with the usual winter birds, with the exception of a flock of 15 BEAN GEESE, at Trimley, only my third record, involving 19 birds in all. February underperformed, as did March, and it took a trip to North Norfolk in early April to get things on track, with a trip to Minmsere later in that month also providing some good sightings.
In May I got a new camera, and although my photography got better, the birds dried up. It wasn't until I took a holiday to the highlands of Scotland that things went back on track. There I saw a wide vaierty of birds including three of my four lifers for this year WHITE TAILED EAGLE, PTARMIGAN and BLACK GROUSE.
August was rubbish and resulted in the lowest views I've had on this blog - 2 posts only had 1 view each!
September was better, visiting a good range of places and culminated in my fourth and final lifer of the year a RED THROATED PIPIT, attending a twitch, something I don't normally do.
October was alright, with two last date summer migrants, for HOUSE MARTIN and WHEATEAR both on the 22nd of the month, but providing nothing unusual.
November had some decent trips, but things kind of dissolved in December, where other commitments took control of my time.
Over 2017 I've spent a hell of a lot of time bird watching and writing about it, and sometimes it feels for no gain. I don't really know if anyone reads this blogs - and from the stats it can't be that many - so I wonder if its worth persevering with. As always I want to know what you think, so please leave a comment.