Pipp's Ford - 26/4/2018

LITTLE RINGED PLOVER

 



Still having more time off work I decided to spend it wisely and biked over to Pipp's Ford. It is a half hour ride away, down Old Norwich Road, through the villages of Claydon and Great Blakenham and almost as far as Needham Market. Its a decent bird area containing disused quarries, active quarries and old pits, attracting birds not seen that much in inland Suffolk.
Locking my bike up, crossing the train line, the path cuts the site in two. To the south is the older finished pit, an area of water and dry and wet grassland. To the north is the active quarry, deep water, sandy cliffs and exposed mud.

The finished quarry

 



The finished pit to the south didn't really hold that much, two pairs of LAPWING, a pair of OYSTERCATCHERS and a LITTLE GREBE. An area of wet mud on the active quarry looked good with a pair of EGYPTIAN GEESE, a pair of GADWALL, a pair of LAPWING and a pair of LITTLE RINGED PLOVERS. The last species shouldn't be confused with RINGED PLOVERS a bird common on the coast but are rarer inland. LITTLE RINGED PLOVERS prefer nesting in working quarries and are subtly different in plumage. A further pair of GADWALL was on the deeper water of the active quarry.
SAND MARTINS nest in the active quarry, in the sandy cliffs, but each year there nest sites are destroyed as the quarry is dug out. So every Spring the birds have to dig out new nest sites, and it seems the area they nest are not quarried through the breeding season, which is a nice touch.

The path meets the Gipping and follows the river north. It moves through areas of rough grassland and scrub. A TREECREEPER was seen but not much else beyond the usual birds.
The path leads to Pippin's Lake, which held a pair of GADWALL which moved between here and Riverside Farm Pit. Riverside Farm Pit is a small lake set in grassland, and held a pair of SWANS, which usually nest here every year. The path carried on along some giant Poplars to Alderson Lake, a heavily fished pit that only held a pair of COOT. Ok that last paragraph just reminded me how terrible those pits are for birding. Beyond a local patch they shouldn't be visited by anyone! No I joke do what you want.

Pipp's Ford lock

The path meandered its way back to Pipp's Ford, and I cycled home.
So a nice way to spend a couple of hours whilst I have some free time. Although as I write this the day didn't really seem that exciting, that's what its like birding away from the best sites. Its really is about how much you enjoy the pastime of birdwatching. Its not all about the glory of the rare birds. Much love, Keith