June on the Local Patch - 2018

 

 

 

This June has proven to be quite a purple patch for the local area. For a quiet month I found quite a lot of wildlife present. I know this patch so well now, I have lived in the area for five and a half years, I have certain positions I go to take photos, knowing that's where the most birds will be. The best position is towards the north of Suffolk Punch Field, where the corners of four fields meet, providing a diverse amount of habitat, viewable from one standing point.

 

 

 

A new sighting for the patch was a TUFTED DUCK, present on the reservoir, which didn't look quite old enough to be a breeder, but maybe one for next year. Other unusual birds included COAL TIT and GOLDCREST, unusual  because of the lack of conifer plantations in the area.

 



 

As of last year PYRAMID ORCHIDS were present in an area of set aside, with around twelve spikes growing at the moment. However other plants were thin on the ground. There hasn't been a proper display of POPPIES for three years.

 

BROWN HARES have nested successfully in the area, in the large arable field north of the Suffolk Punch field. I had the perfect shot lined up to take of them before a naughty dog ran down the path and scared them off. On 18/6 a ROE DEER was present ploughing its way through a field of barley, with only its head showing it didn't make for a good photo.

 



 

 An unusual sighting was this BEETLE. I took this photo and posted it online to see what it was and it turned out be a female STAG BEETLE, the largest British beetle, ultra rare and red listed. An animal of ancient woodland, what it was doing walking along a footpath in an area of arable land is anyone's guess.

 Juvenile GOLDFINCHES lack the red on their faces like the adults have.

GOLDFINCHES have done well with several juveniles present - the birds have started to assemble into small flocks. Several pairs of GREENFINCHES are present although I haven't seen any young ones. A pair of BULLFINCHES passed through, they have bred in the past, but again I haven't seen any young birds this year.
The first fledged STARLINGS appeared towards the end of May, with the post breeding birds forming small flocks in the area. At one point a flock was constantly raided by a passing SPARROWHAWK.

 There are lots of TITS present in the area as post breeding birds form flocks and move through the countryside.

 

 This CHIFFCHAFF was present going to and fro in the area feeding demanding chicks.

 

YELLOWHAMMERS have started singing again probably to attract females to raise a second brood. There were four singing males in the area I was watching, with maybe as many as ten in the entire patch.

 HOUSE SPARROWS are common in the area, in country houses, or in the area of Ipswich where I live.

 



 

 

Quite an interesting time from an area of arable fields in June, a month that seems to be the hottest in history. Already the grass looks scorched and brown and I don't know how the animals will fare going into high summer. The birds have settled down and bred successfully after the disaster of March, showing just how nature can recover if given space and time.

KINGFISHER - finally! - River Gipping Lakes - 26/6/2018

KINGFISHERS have been really hard to find this year. At the places where they are usually common, such as Lackford Lakes, and at my local patches along the River Gipping, they have been absent. They have seemed to have suffered from the cold weather in March, with few returning to their breeding grounds. So it came as a surprise to find one today, on a scorching June's mid morning, disturbed from a branch along the river. It was a great sight to see that brief flash of beautiful turquoise and its piping call, one I have missed for most of the year.

 On the disturbed soil in the quarry there is usually a good show of POPPIES, but this year there has been only a poor display.

I have had some time off work recently, and to keep myself from getting bored did some patch work at my favourite working quarry, Pipp's Ford. Half an hour's cycle ride away is probably pushing the limit of being local, but I enjoy going there, as its the best birding site in the area.

This LITTLE RINGED PLOVER did an unexpected and awkward swim across this small puddle of water - it looks like a juv, so breeding may have been successful in the area.

The area was very much overgrown, with spikes of the blue VIPER'S BUGLOSS standing out amongst the sandy grassy areas.
The wetlands themselves were very quiet, sweltering in the heat, the hottest period we have had this year so far. On the restored quarry, a family party of LITTLE GREBES were present, with two chicks. Autumn was in evidence with an influx of post breeding LAPWING with around fifteen present. Eight GADWALL were present, possibly post breeders, whilst the pair of OYSTERCATCHERS were on the active quarry.
A pair of LITTLE RINGED PLOVERS were very much present, close to the path, often calling out. This is the best site in Suffolk to find these little birds and they are usually present all summer.
What was very noticeable was the absence off any SAND MARTINS. Every year they would create nesting burrows in the exposed sands of the quarry walls, but this year after being present in April, have completely disappeared.  It seems their nests have been destroyed maybe as part of the quarrying.

 LRP



 

As the footpath crosses between the active and restored quarries it meets the River Gipping - the one that flows through Ipswich. As usual it was all overgrown and full of family parties of the smaller birds. Of interest was a singing GARDEN WARBLER, amongst all the commoner ones.

Riverside Farm Pit, a wander down the river, held the usual pair of MUTE SWANS, but they had decided not to nest this year.

 

 

After I finished birding Pipp's Ford, I decided to stop off on the way back at Barham Pits. As usual not much was present. Management work on the surroundings had absolutely butchered the landscape, cutting down water side alders, and turning the overgrown marshy areas to dirt. Anyway beside the lake's edge I came across a family party off GREY WAGTAILS, having successfully fledged young were making as much noise as possible. Like the KINGFISHERS this is a bird I haven't come across much this year, so maybe its a river-bird thing to have suffered from the March snows.

The lakes at Barham are in places over grown with WATERLILLIES.

 



Breeding birds on the pits were as usual fairly thin on the ground - this is not a nature reserve or in any way managed for wildlife, except for fish. On Pit B a pair of GREAT CRESTED GREBES had raised a whopping four chicks, whilst breeding birds further along on Meadlands Lake included a brood of three of both COOT and GREAT CRESTED GREBES, and a brood of three CANADA GEESE on Pit A. The pair of MUTE SWANS on Pit B have decided not to nest this year.

 



Its surprising how an unassuming day out in June could actually turn out to produce some good birding. I enjoy going out to these areas, places you would never visit unless you were a birdwatcher, little gems of places that only a birder can appreciate. Its just a shame there are so few of them.

Minsmere & Westleton Heath - 20/6/2018

 

 BLACK TAILED GODWITS

With a fairly quiet June so far I decided to go over to Minsmere on the chance of catching some interesting breeding birds. Unfortunately the warm weather meant that a lot of those species were hiding away, but the first signs of Autumn were already present with returning WADERS already on their way down south.
We started off as usual around the scrape trail, a square shaped path that wanders around the Scrape. First stop was the North Hide. From here it was immediately obvious that everything was overgrown, the grassy areas in front of the hide now covered in reeds, the West Scrape inundated with marestail. Allowing things to go fallow is a deliberate act to allow breeding birds and their chicks to hide amongst the reeds to escape notice from predators like the MARSH HARRIER. In a channel right in front of the hide was a family party of SHOVELLERS, containing six ducklings along with their mum, rare breeding birds with only around 500 pairs in the whole country. The North Hide is not the best place to watch with the Scrape being some distance away, so there aren't really many close up views to be had there, so we didn't linger to long.

 SHOVELLER mum with some of her ducklings

 

We moved onto the the STONE CURLEW field, an area of acid grassland where the HEATH CHICKEN breeds and where it is possible, with luck and a telescope, to see one. Today was not a lucky day and the bird remained elusive. So we moved along to the North Wall, a path that cuts through the northern reedbeds, serenaded by the simple song of the REED BUNTINGS, but apart from that not much else.

We reached the sand dunes but saw nothing much on the sea. We walked further onto East Hide, which looks over a large chunk of the Scrape, almost opposite North Hide, somehow. There wasn't too much here either. The water levels were very low for this time of year with lots of exposed mud. There were large numbers of BLACK HEADED GULL chicks, but in general there was a noticeable lack of any other young birds. Large numbers of MED GULLS were present without seeming to nest and there were usual numbers of nesting COMMON TERNS with some larger SANDWICH TERNS, which may be nesting, they usually don't stay over the Summer at Minsmere.

AVOCETS were nesting, but they usually have chicks by now which wasn't the case today, so it seems they have had a bit of a disaster this breeding season. There was a RINGED PLOVER and a couple of REDSHANK. All these nesting birds use different areas of the Scrape to nest in except the BLACK HEADED GULLS which nest anywhere.

 

 





BLACK HEADED GULL fledglings.

 

The most common WADER was the BLACK TAILED GODWIT with around two hundred present on the Scrape. These birds don't nest here, they are a subspecies that nests in Iceland, but has a surplus population that over summers around here. There were also a couple of KITTIWAKES on the Scrape, a bird which nests on the power station out riggings further down the coast at Sizewell. These are the real 'sea' gulls, spending most of their time out on the oceans.

 



 KITTIWAKES - note the black legs, the clean white head and the jet black wing tips

 

We went to the Public Viewpoint along the beach from East Hide, but overlooking a different part of the Scrape. From there it was fairly evident there was an unusual TERN. About the same size as a COMMON, it had an all black bill, which was slender like a COMMON'S. Its forehead was bald, with the black crest round the back of its neck, a bit like a monk. I had no idea what it was but I was certain that what we had found was a rarity. The pulse was racing. Present next to the TERN was a beautiful SPOTTED REDSHANK, still in its black summer plumage, spotted with white. This bird is the first sign of Autumn, one that for some reason didn't breed, and will be wintering somewhere to the south of the UK.
From the Public Viewpoint as we walked along the sand dunes we were bombarded by what felt like rain if it consisted of little pellets. It was a swarm of BEETLES, tiny little ones that covered the arms and clothes. What they were doing swarming on a sand dune I don't know, so close to the sea, a sudden gust of wind would blow  them out to the water.
We walked over to the Levels, an area of grazing marsh, looking pretty dried out at the moment with nothing much present. From the beach we moved into the hinterland. There were no horses on the Konik Fields, but a beautiful WOOD SANDPIPER was present, ever so tiny, keeping to grassy edges of one of the pools, and not venturing too far out of cover. A great bird and my first ever June record.

View of one of the South Scrape islands.

 

 

South Scrape was quiet but we got better views of the strange TERN. There was something about it that just screamed out rarity. I had never seen in a life time of birding seen anything like it. With a very poor record shot from my brother - camera phone through a telescope - we headed back to the visitor's centre to report our sighting.

On the way there we were on a high, wondering what we had seen. At the centre, at the reception point we met one of the staff and told him 'we have seen an unusual tern'.

He had evidently heard this a lot before as we were told fairly quickly that the strange bird was a COMMON TERN, a variety known as the PORTLANDICA TERN, a bird that is quite common out at sea, its a young bird, not quite of breeding age, and this individual came in with an influx of COMMON TERNS. So there you go. How do I keep birding after so many years - the answer is the fact that after all this time I am still blind sided by a strange COMMON TERN.

We had a look at the reedbed hides, but saw nothing in a packed Bittern Hide and an empty Island Mere, of any particular note. SOUTHERN MARSH ORCHIDS were growing along the path to Island Mere Hide, with some impressive spikes poking through the reed fronds.

We strolled back to  the car, and exited to go to Westleton Heath.

 

Westleton Heath

 

Westleton Heath is an area of heath which joins onto the other heaths of Minsmere and Dunwich creating a large landscape of a rare habitat. Heathland isn't a fertile habitat, like say an oak wood, so the number of birds is quite low, but a large number of birds that nest here do so only on heaths and nowhere else.

We decided to head over to the deer watching mound first of all, a place to view the deer rut in October. We checked the grassland for any HEATH CHICKENS, just on the off chance of seeing one, but we were not in luck there. What we were in luck with was stumbling upon a colony of SILVER STUDDED BLUES.

You can see from the photos they liked the nectar of the BELL HEATHER which was coming into flower. This is a rare butterfly which is restricted to lowland heaths, like the type we get in the Sandlings of coastal Suffolk, and this area is a stronghold. They have a complex life cycle, being reliant on a species of Ant which take in their caterpillars, which in turn feeds on the ant's eggs and grubs. A really strange species and worth protecting because of that. This is my first encounter with this species. Despite all the heath habitat they inhabited only a tiny area.

 

 



 

 

We carried on the path that ran parallel to the acid grassland and we came upon a herd of RED DEER, which included a hind and a fawn. Most of the time the deer are not bothered by people, but the hind and fawn quickly disappeared from our view.

We crossed over the road and headed north, took a circular route around the heath and through open woodland. The heaths were quiet with the odd pair of STONECHATS. We caught a brief view of a DARTFORD WARBLER, but not enough really to satisfy. There were lots of paths through the heath, a lot of them fire breaks, which meant we could walk around without disturbing any birds. Eventually we struck gold and found a pair of DARTFORDS. They flew low, not much over the heather, and were in and out of the heath, with the occasional bird posing on top. It provided some good views.

With that success we headed back to the car. On the way we heard another DARTFORD singing, so we encountered them from three areas which means some survived the snowy March. After this we headed off back home.

It had been a successful day's wildlife watching, the birds weren't necessarily the stars. For a June's day birding it was very good. Such is the high quality of birdwatching at Minsmere that even in the "quiet" breeding season there is still a lot around to be seen. Such is the range and scale of  habitats that make up the landscape of Minsmere it is home to so many rare breeding birds being present that can only be seen in this area of the country at this reserve.

Spring in the Local Patch - Mid March - Late May

My local patch doesn't have any good habitats like woods or wetlands, its just fields like most of the countryside. There are no nature reserves or anywhere managed for nature, this is pure monotorised farmland, countryside as an industrial landscape not some Garden of Eden where man is at one with nature. Its nice walking and close to where I live so I can walk it any time, get back in touch with whatever nature is present and it eases my soul.
In the early Spring, after the first snow storm - the Beast From The East - had finished and escaped from people's memories everything went up a gear as Spring arrived...
Then from nowhere a second snow spell hit us. I went out on the local patch and what was before full of bird song and nesting, was eerily quiet. Nothing. I saw a passage of WOOD PIGEONS, a few REDWING, but the landscape was dead. It was absolutely amazing, terrifying, but amazing. It will forever stay with me that lifelessness in such a fertile time.

The River Meadow encased in snow.

 

But the snow soon disappeared and life began again and Spring arrived in earnest.

 



BLACKTHORN, several weeks late, exploded out overnight.

 

On 27/3 I had a new species for the patch in the form of a COOT on the little pond, I don't really get many water birds present here. The resident flock of GREYLAGS had reduced to one pair, sometimes joined by a pair of CANADAS, the other GREYLAGS maybe casualties of the snow storm. On the 22/5 there was a LITTLE  GREBE on the Reservoir, an occaisional visitor to the area.

 



 

 

There were four singing SONG THRUSHES, from the scrub at the entrance, the River Meadow, the Suffolk Punch Field and the Reservoir. Three YELLOWHAMMERS were singing, from the First Field, the Suffolk Punch Field and Lark Field. A GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER was drumming from the large trees around the pond. There were plenty of SKYLARKS ascending and descending in song flights across the many large arable fields.

The Pond: home to GEESE and birds on the surrounding tall trees.

 

Spring, the season, is all about passage migrants. WINTER THRUSHES moved through in March, joined by a few GOLDCRESTS. BLACKCAP first appeared on the 14/4 much later than usual, you usually expect them back in late March. The first WHITETHROAT appeared on the 27/4 and the first LESSER WHITETHROAT on 3/5 with one singing on the First Field and one in the Suffolk Punch Field. The first Swifts appeared on the 8/5 with the usual pair present flying overhead.

On 19/4 six BUZZARDS were flying over the church, a bird that is very common in the area, but still a good sight.

 

 The Suffolk Punch Field. Unfortunately no Suffolk Punches are present. When I first walked the area, five years ago, I found a sign saying 'do not feed the Suffolk punches' but found no Suffolk Punches, which is a shame.

 



So nothing unusual, but away from all the nature reserves, all the land managed for wildlife, the country is pretty quiet for birds. Wildlife is only a small part of our countryside, even though it is dependent on it. Farming is a business, and those areas that are good for wildlife, those unkempt areas of the land have been destroyed so that as much as possible can be squeezed out of the landscape for profit. The time we go back to working with nature, not against it, will be a great step forward for mankind.

 

The Norfolk Broads - Strumpshaw Fen & Hickling Broad -29/5/2018

 

A stunning male GARGANEY

 

Having recuperated from my holiday, it was time to do a bit more birding. We decided to look further afield than Suffolk and aimed for the Norfolk Broads, at arguably the national park's two most accessible reserves, Strumpshaw Fen and Hickling Broad. The aim was to see those two classic Norfolk Broad species - the CRANE and the SWALLOWTAIL BUTTERFLY. However despite the many birds we saw we were just unable to catch up with those two iconic animals of the national park. But don't stop reading, we really had a good time.

I got the train to Saxmundham and met up with my brother and we drove to Norfolk, stopping off first at Strumpshaw, which was nearest, just outside of Norwich. This reserve is just one part of a large string of RSPB reserves that hug the river Yare. It is the main access point for those reserves, having a visitors centre and hides, allowing people to experience the Broads here, while keeping more sensitive sites quiet.

 

 

It was a nice day to begin with, sunny, but with a bit of wind. We had a coffee at the visitor's centre, a hide overlooking a pool, before setting off. The path ran around the reserve in the shape of a square, passing through various habitats, starting with woodland where we heard but didn't see a SPOTTED FLYCATCHER. The trees thinned out and changed to fen meadow which was grazed by Highland Cattle, and was full of wild flowers, like RAGGED ROBIN and YELLOW IRIS. It was all very beautiful, characteristic Broads habitat but we hadn't seen any birds up to this point.

The fen meadows started to be overgrown and turned into reedbed, a monoculture of a habitat, comprising mainly of one species of  grass. However all the pools found in reedbeds attracts a lot of birds, so there's usually a lot to see. We came to the first hide - Fen Hide - which overlooked an area of water. In it were a family party of MUTE SWANS and also a rather lost BLACK SWAN, which I guess was an escapee rather than a migrant from Australia.

We moved onto another pool where from the viewpoints there was a GREAT CRESTED GREBE nesting on a rather flimsy construction, barely able to take its weight.

It was only when we got to the final hide - Tower Hide - that things became interesting. On the pool were large numbers of GADWALL with smaller numbers of SHOVELLER and TUFTED DUCK. What was immediately striking was a male GARGANEY, mainly asleep, in front of the hide. It is quite possible a female might be nesting a short distance away - a rare thing in the UK - there are only around 50 pairs in the whole country. Also present were a single TEAL and a pair of POCHARD, both rare nesting birds.

 

BLACK HEADED GULLS were nesting on an emerging tree trunk, some already had young birds hatched. A BITTERN was heard booming, one of those atmospheric sounds which really create the reedbed experience.

We followed the reserve path back to the car park but didn't see anything overly interesting. One of the key species - SWALLOWTAIL BUTTERFLY - was noticeably absent, which was a shame.

So ok, I guess, saw a fair amount of birds, with out it being overly amazing. As you can see from the photos the birds were all fairly close, which is what visitors and children like to see. Its been fifteen years since I last was at Strumpshaw, with so many reserves around the area its hard to fit them all in, but maybe it might be awhile before I'll come back again. It felt like a small reserve, even though its only part of a much larger chain, which kind of went against it.



Hickling Broad

 

After leaving Strumpshaw we travelled forty minutes over to Hickling Broad nature reserve. This is probably the best broadland reserve accessible from the land. It consists of large reedbeds, areas of fen and grazing marsh.

 

The day had clouded over significantly, which affected the chances of seeing SWALLOWTAILS to zero. The two central hides which overlooked pools in a fen like moorland were quiet. Lots of WARBLERS were around and plenty of REED BUNTINGS, all singing but fairly subdued.

We reached a viewpoint over the Broad where there was a large herd of MUTE SWANS, non breeders all gathering together for company.

So far it had all been fairly quiet, with not many birds seen. We were a large part round when we came to the Observation Hut. Before we went in we saw a BEARDED TIT briefly in the broad-side reeds, but didn't see it again. Climbing the steps up to the Observation Hut we had good views over the reserve. From this vantage point I again saw a BEARDED TIT, this time carrying food, so there must be a nest nearby. BEARDED TITS have been badly affected by the bad weather in March, and these are the first birds I have seen this year.

We walked along to the Bittern Hide, but there wasn't much there. Walking on the path back to the visitor's centre we saw a BITTERN in flight for quite a while for the notoriously shy bird.

Just further along we saw a pair of GREAT WHITE EGRETS towards the back  of the reedbeds, birds that used to be rare but are now becoming more common, which is always a good sign.

As we returned to the centre we took the path out to Stubb Mill. It ran the reserve boundary, on one side grazing marsh the other arable land. A couple of BROWN HARES were seen in the arable fields, large crèches of young geese of three species on the grazing marshes. WADERS on the grazing marshes included LAPWING, OYSTERCATCHER and an AVOCET.

Stubb Mill didn't really have anything present, but it was worth a check, as its usually the best place to look for  CRANES. We walked back to the car and drove home.

As you can see from the lack of photos, the birds at Hickling were much further away and didn't provide much photo opportunities. The reserve felt like much more of a wilderness than Strumpshaw, with wide vistas, large skies and rare habitats that stretched on to the horizon.

Again we missed out on another target species - the COMMON CRANE - as well as SWALLOWTIALS. But otherwise we saw some good birds as good as you'll get in most places in East Anglia, so it was worth a visit.





Travel and Conclusion - 19/5/2018

Travel

The journey back was unnecessarily complicated. Taking a taxi from the B&B to Aviemore station, I then had to change at Perth and Inverkeithing stations, with only a few minutes transfer period. But I managed it, which was really surprising. The train from Inverkeithing went all the way down to Kings Cross. From there I took the tube  to Liverpool Street and then a train home. Simple.

Conclusion
So with the holiday well and truly over and looking back from a couple of weeks since it happened, I can kind of evaluate its worth. So was the holiday worth it? Yeah, I thought it was. The aim was to see birds and we saw a lot. We had once in a life time views, especially of the CORNCRAKES. Put into the mix a lot of other birds, ones I did not expect to see, then, yeah it was good. The sheer numbers of birds on the island was fairly mind boggling when compared to the fairly gentle East Anglian countryside.
Perhaps the holiday ran out of steam towards the end, maybe because we had got all our target birds on the first couple of days. The target bird had been the CORNCRAKE, and seeing it and getting such good views maybe left a hole in the schedules. It maybe contradicting myself but the islands didn't really have a birding centre. The nearest was Balranald, home of the CORNCRAKE and the sea watch, but away from that, there weren't any other reserves or centres for birds. I'm used to birds being restricted to reserves, but those reserves to be intensively managed and therefore outstanding for birds.
Anyway that's only a minor thing. Even if you don't want to do the whole tour thing then I would recommend the Uist Islands for three or four days, they are worth seeing. I don't know the Western Isles well, so I'm not sure if they're worth visiting over other islands. But any place where you can bag several HARRIERS and EAGLES a day is well worth a visit.

Day 7 - Last Day - 18/5/2018

So, the last proper day of the holiday, yeah a bit sad, but I'm glad I don't have to write any more posts. It was a day of travel, we said goodbye to the Uists around lunch time, drove through Skye and the western highlands.
Although we had seen a lot of birds here there was still one bogey bird of the trip. That was a RING NECKED DUCK, which had been recorded on a small loch in South Uist. On the three days before we would drive down to the loch to look for the bird and every time we failed. It wasn't a big loch so it was obvious the bird wasn't there...yet it kept getting reported. So on the fourth time of trying, and knowing we can never have another chance of viewing it, we drove down anticipating another blank. And what do you know? The bird was right bang in the middle of the loch with a femal TUFTIE. He seemed to be displaying to her, so it is quite possible the duck might try to settle down here. I mean its a long way back to America where he came from. Anyway a good sighting and I'm glad it didn't prove a downer for the trip.

A male RING NECKED DUCK with a female TUFTIE. The duck did resemble a TUFTIE, but was subtly different.

 

 

We headed up to the ferry on North Uist. We travelled through Committee Road, saw some SHORT EARED OWLS and two HEN HARRIERS, great reminders of how good the Islands are for birds. We took the ferry at Lochmaddy and crossed over to Skye.

 Lochmaddy

We saw the same birds going back as we did coming over, lots of AUKS on the water or flying thorugh, GANNETS, FULMERS, KITTIWAKES and TERNS. It was very windy, of course, and we were all tucked into the sheltered side.

 



BLACK GUILLEMOT seen from the boat.

 

We arrived at the port in Uig on Skye and continued our journey onwards. The journey took a long time and although there were more stops we didn't really see anything at them.

It was evening time when I was dropped off at the B&B, the same one as before, said my farewells and left the group. I spent the evening at the Boat of Garten, a nice quiet place, walked along the River Spey for a bit, had a drink at the hotel and went to bed quite early.

So we got the bird - the RING NECKED DUCK - but with most of the day spent travelling it was fairly quiet bird wise. It was a shame to end the holiday, I had a nice time, but now my thoughts were directed towards the journey back and the overly complicated train schedule I had chosen for myself to return home. One more post of the holiday and it will be over, I promise.