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.
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