Sculthorpe Moor - 24/10/2018

Two CHAFFINCHES

Sculthorpe Moor  is one of those reserevs I have driven passed plenty of times whilst in North Norfolk but never got around to visiting. I mean there are so many great reserves around this location its hard to fit them all in.
However today I had a couple of hours to kill before heading home, and with this reserve being on the way, it seemed the perfect place to while away those hours productively.

A view of the fenland, the most important habitat on the reserve

 



Its a small area, only 45 acres or so, but contains an important and rare habitat, lowland fen, that a reserve of that habitat of any size is important. Its owned by the Hawk and Owl Trust, a fairly small and not very known bird conservation group. They have a couple of other reserves but Sculthorpe is their main one, where their head office is.

 SISKIN

Sculthorpe must be the only reserve in the country to have turned all their paths to boardwalks, including one that rises up to a tower hide. The paths wonder through a variety of habitats, dry woodland, alder carr and the important fenland.

 GOLDFINCH flock

 

There were a lot of hides dotted around the reserve, but they could be a bit hit and miss, at some you see birds at others you don't.
At every hide they had plenty of stocked bird feeders, and as you can see from the photos there were loads of birds using them. The tower hide was the best one, being up in the tree canopy with feeders way up in the trees, and just outside the window, within arms reach as you see birds coming in to feed.

 GREENFINCH

 

CHAFFFINCHES were everywhere, as were MARSH TITS, although they were present as singles in the different locations. A TREECREEPER was found in the dry wood, whilst the canopy of the wet wood was ringing to the twinkling of GOLDFINCHES and the sighing of SISKINS.
One unusual bird was a REED BUNTING using the bird feeders, an unusual occurrence as their habitat doesn't often intermingle with bird feeders. Also using the same feeder was a nice NUTHATCH and a male BULLFINCH was a good find as they are scarce at the best of times.
A flock of twenty FIELDFARE flew over the fen, a harbinger of colder months to come.

 CHAFFINCH

 

Larger birds were noticeable for their absence, just a few MALLARDS, one BUZZARD drifting lazily on thermals. Being a small reserve it doesn't really have the scale to attract those birds that need larger areas to exist.
However there are plans to extend the reserve, nearly tripling it in size and adding some important habitats. I hope they are successful in raising the funds to complete it, as bigger reserves are always better, as they protect more. It would also open up new areas for people to enjoy.

A cracking male BULLFINCH

 



This is a cracking little reserve and a great place to spend a couple of hours. Sure it doesn't compete with the larger reserves in the area but its not really a place for that. Its so accessible for birders, so gentle and relaxed that it would be a great place to bring beginner birders who won't be bamboozled by all there is on offer. We need more of these reserves around the country, places where every person can access nature, places that are so lovingly maintained.

Freiston Shore - 23/10/2018

Two of the four WHOOPER SWANS

The second reserve of the day is Freiston Shore, just over the river from Frampton. Unbelievably this reserve is even more remote than Frampton, with few signs of civilisation and no body else there on the entire reserve! The main part of the reserve is an area of managed retreat where they broke holes in the sea wall and allowed an area of unimportant farmland to flood nayturally with salt water to create an area of saltmarsh. The saltmarsh is the original habitat in the area before it was reclaimed to create farmland, so allowing the sea wall to breach allowed the area to return to something more natural.
Looking on the map the RSPB give for the reserve it actually looks fairly small in scale. Boy was I in for a shock. On reaching the managed retreat I was surprised to see how vast it was. It extended for several miles into the distance, covering a large area. However there weren't many birds about as it was mainly saltmarsh, any areas of mudflats were far in the distant, which is where the birds would be feeding. The only bird seen was a female MARSH HARRIER lazily quartering the area.

From the car park, before I got to the managed retreat, the path skirted the lagoon, looked over by a hide. An area of shallow water and shingle islands it was fairly quiet, mainly WIGEON and BRENT GEESE, but also with four WHOOPER SWANS, a family party that included one juvenile. Also present were five LITTLE GREBES which are nice little birds to see.

 

The lagoon seen from the sea wall

 



On the other side of the reserve to the managed retreat is a large area of wet grassland, also created from farmland. Unfortunately due to the time of year it was dried out so there wasn't any water to attract ducks and waders, but I guess in winter the place would be heaving with birds numbering in their thousands. I skirted this habitat and returned back to the car park, with just the odd REED BUNTING and MIPPIT for company.

I spent a couple of hours here in total, and although I didn't see much bird wise, compared to Frampton, this was a visit just to experience the place, the wide open skies, horizons that stretched on to infinity, the peaceful solitude, all the qualities that make up great birding locations. Once again hats off to the RSPB for creating such a stunning landscape, to have such far reaching vision to create a reserve on this scale. They do such a good job, its just that there are so few people to witness it.

Frampton Marsh - 23/10/2018

 The 360 degree hide

 

The main reason for coming up to North-West Norfolk was to visit two Wash-side nature reserves over in Lincolnshire called Frampton Marsh and Frieston Shore. Both reserves have had good write ups so I was looking forward to visiting them.
I decided to visit both reserves in one day, as they were both close to each other. I decided to  visit Frampton Marsh first as it was the closest. Despite being only four miles from Boston it was very much out in the wilderness, flat featureless fenland, with the odd farm the only sign of civilisation. On arrival I had a quick look in the visitor's centre, which was pretty much just a café and with some information headed out into the reserve.

 Sleeping WIGEON

 

The reserve is made out of blocks of different habitats, with the nature trail skirting the edges. The visitor's centre overlooked an area of water with reedy edges where a few lingering AVOCETS rested. However the main habitat was the area of wet grassland. Wet flashes, scrapes and ditches created a wildlife haven heaving with DUCKS mainly WIGEON, with smaller numbers of TEAL and PINTAIL.

 A view across the wet grassland and all its ducks

 

The main bird attraction was a LONG BILLED DOWITCHER, present in a ditch in the grassland area. A wader from North America, it was small, smaller than nearby REDSHANK, with an oversized bill. It had an unremarkable plumage, mainly brown with a distinctive eye stripe. Its cool to think this bird travelled all the way across the Atlantic, to rest here in a Lincolnshire ditch. It was a first for me, a bird I should have spotted a long time ago, but its good to finally get the "tick". Apart from the DOWITCHER the only other wader I saw was a RUFF.

 A female PINTAIL

 

Upon reaching the sea wall the flat landscape beyond stretched out to infinity, saltmarsh that went on for as far as the eye can see, in fact it was one of the largest examples of this habitat in the world. Its amazing that this habitat exists in lowland England, a place I think of as the suburbia of the world.

A flock of BRENT GEESE flying in

 



A large flock of BRENT GEESE were feeding on the saltmarsh, something spooked them and they all flew onto the reserve pools where they settled down.

 BRENT GEESE settling down

 

There were several hides on the reserve overlooking different areas of water, and it was a fairly busy day with small numbers of people dotted about.

A pair of CANADA GEESE

 



So a first for me both with the reserve and the DOWITCHER, and I wasn't disappointed. There was so much present it could be over whelming at times, with huge numbers of birds present it would probably take several days and visits just to come to grips with the place. I would definitely recommend a visit to this reserve for anyone looking to explore the region or looking for anywhere to go on a day trip. The RSPB really does it better than anyone else, creating this kind of place from dead lifeless arm fields. Well done to them.

Snettisham - 22/10/2018

For a couple of days this week I went for a quick holiday over in North-West Norfolk, specifically to birdwatch the Wash, the UK's largest and busiest estuary. The principle area I was focussing on was two reserves in Lincolnshire (see the next posts), an area I hadn't been to before, which I was to visit on the 23rd.
Having travelled up in the morning I still had half a day left for birding, and with Snettisham being only ten minutes away from where I was staying, and with favourable high tide times, it was worth a visit.

The main reason for going to Snettisham was to see the big WADER flocks, as the Wash, the estuary here, had the largest number of birds of any kind in the UK. The birds were principally waders and ducks, which fed on the estuary's fertile mud. These birds inhabit huge flocks, some thousands strong, which rise and swirl through the air as the tide comes in.

It was a short walk from the car park to the shore, and fairly uneventful. On reaching the sea wall the tide was way out leaving a vast expanse of mud. On the mud were large numbers of WADERS all strung out and in single figures, no large flocks yet. Also present was a large flock of PINTAIL resting on the mud waiting for the tide to  come in.
From the sea wall I got views of the fields behind, and in one of them there was a flock of seven WHOOPER SWANS, no doubt new in to the country and a nice find away from their main wintering areas.
Snettisham has a series of gravel pits, just behind the sea wall, excavated for something long forgotten. Most of the pits were quiet except for the furthest one, which were full of DUCKS. By focussing on the pits they held my attention long enough to while away the time before the tide came in bringing the WADERS with it. The main species on the furthest pit was WIGEON in large numbers, with small numbers of TEAL,GADWALL and PINTAIL.

There were huge numbers of GEESE on the pits, thousands of GREYLAG and CANADA. However, of the genuinely wild PINK FOOTED GEESE there was only a small skein of around forty seen, with several singles dotted about.
One time a motorised hang glider came over the mud flats putting huge numbers of birds in to the air giving an indication of what was to come.

The tides today were only medium tides, so large area of  mud was still exposed at high tide with the birds being seen distantly on the water's edge. However the huge numbers of birds present meant I could appreciate the experience even from where I was standing. And an experience it was, great swirling flocks of birds, giant murmarations, thousands of birds moving together as one. This is why I go bird watching, this is pure spectacle.

So it was a great trip over to Snettisham, a reserve I don't go to regularly, but one that repays any visit I have had. For anyone with any interest in the wild side of this country you have to come here on a high tide to experience one of the country's greatest wildlife  spectacles. It is amazing things like this can still survive in a country as industrialised and anti-nature as England, thriving despite our best intentions to destroy.

Minsmere - 4/10/2018

We have enjoyed an Indian Summer this Autumn, with temperatures staying in the twenties well into October, creating great weather to spend time outside and to do some birding. However this great weather has a down side, as a bout of southerly winds has created a barrier of sorts for birds. Southerly winds stop the birds from northern climbs heading south as the winds are against them, and so it slows down migration. For decent birding in Autumn you really need an easterly, north easterly wind to blow birds in from the continent, the southerly winds just keep them from migrating.
This being the Autumn migration period, an early October day at Minsmere usually has the potential to bring in something unusual whether it be a wader or a passerine, but today both types of bird were thin on the ground.

As you can see from the photos there was a bird ringing demonstration in North Bushes, and they had managed to capture a family party of BEARDED TITS, an adult male (with the grey head and moustache) and two juveniles (with brown heads). They were kept in the hand for only the shortest of periods before they were let go, so I was lucky to be there to get the photos. We often heard BEARDIES around the reedebeds across the reserve, their distinctive 'pinging' call like two rods of metal hitting each other. Their relative abundance means they must have had a decent breeding season, and are hopefully recovering their population after the hell of the Beast From the East.

The Scrape was quiet today. There was a large amount of DUCKS, of the usual species, with the males starting to get out of the drab eclipse and into breeding plumage finery. However numbers appear to be lower than normal for this time of the year.
Star bird was the FERRUGINOUS DUCK, a migrant from the Med, maybe brought in by the southerly winds. They are given their name because of the rusty brown plumage and resemble a female TUFTED DUCK in shape. They are declining in numbers, so a visit to Suffolk by one is fairly unusual and not annual. Luckily this one has hung around for a while finding the little pool behind South Hide much to its liking.
Also present were four PINTAIL on East Scrape, which is a decent number for this time of year, as they are not particularly that common at Minsmere.

Usually at this time of year you would expect to see passage WADERS passing through on the Scrape albeit in smaller numbers than August and September. There was a fair amount of mud on the Scrape, however WADER numbers were slight. A few AVOCETS were still lingering, with some CURLEW and large numbers of GODWIT. A flock of two DUNLIN and two RINGED PLOVERS were on East Scrape and a couple of SNIPE on West Scrape.

The sea was so very calm, like a mill pond as the old expression goes. Not much was out there but a RED THROATED DIVER was good, the first of the winter. Also about was a SKUA species, which I'll bag as an ARCTIC, being an expert having seen so many in the Outer Hebridies, it flew south just above the horizon.
For the briefest of periods a SEAL poked its head above the water near to shore then disappeared to who knows where, I wasn't even able to determine its species, which is a shame as I like seals.

The Reedbed Hides were fairly quiet, Bittern Hide packed whilst Island Mere was quiet, the usual fly bys of MARSH HARRIERS. Outside Island Mere they had cut back the reeds to give better views from the hide and were burning the reeds, with the wind changing direction to blow smoke into the hide on occasions. There wasn't much on the mere except for a few GADWALL and SWANS.

 Burning reeds in front of Island Mere Hide

 

So it was a quiet day, all told, except a quiet day at  Minsmere is still quite eventful. The sunny days which are great for being outside, are not that great for bird migration. What they need is a cyclone over Europe to blow birds in our direction, maybe blow in something unusual. As it is the birds seem to be coming in in dribs and drabs, which makes it harder to find them as they are appearing in smaller numbers. Birds are unpredictable, which is one of the reasons why they are so interesting and there is no predicting the perfect conditions for them. However a reserve of Minsmere's quality will always attract lots of birds, and that is why I will keeping returning to this jewel of a place.

 





LITTLE EGRET and some MALLARDS - West Scrape