River Gipping Lakes - 13/11/2018

 

Having taken a break from birding for a couple of weeks, I thought where better to rekindle my interest  than my local patch, a series of lakes that cuddle the river Gipping. Although not especially rich bird wise, its a nice relaxing walk in a gentle landscape providing a breath of fresh air.
With this Indian Summer extending into November, with some really warm days, winter visitors are fairly low on the ground. There isn't any cold weather to  push birds out of the continent to this country. I always feel that November is the worst month of the year anyway, Autumn is over and winter hasn't really begun, so it really has the worst of both worlds.

I took the bus to Needham Market, thinking it was best to save polluting the world to go to the same destination I was heading. It cost a whopping £5 for two half hour journeys, extortionate and not the best way to encourage people to use the buses.
I disembarked on Needham Market high street and headed south, reaching Needham Lake, a local nature reserve, a duck pond where hordes of MALLARDS, CANADA GEESE and GULLS loiter around on the look out for a mother and toddler team to feed them. I had a quick look and with nothing much there I headed off into the country proper.

 

 Needham Lake

 

Crossing the road from Needham Lake the next pit I got to was Alderson Lake, heavily fished and mainly fenced off to non fisher folk. Through the bordering trees I could make out the pit didn't have many birds on, just a few MALLARDS and COOT. A TIT flock had a few COAL TITS and GOLDCRESTS amongst them, but nothing too interesting.

 

 

The path follows the river Gipping and apart from the lakes the countryside held areas of rough grassland, trees and bushes, including an impressive stand of giant POPLARS.

 

Riverside Farm Lock

 

The next lake I call Riverside Farm Pit, named after the lock on the river. To have a closer look I  left the river path and headed to the lake's edge. Whilst I was looking through my bins I heard the sound of a car horn repeatedly blasting. Turning round I saw a woman across the river standing half way out of her car and she shouted 'you can't go there its private property!'

Making my apologies I rejoined the river path and headed off before she called the police or something.

Anyway its quite a small pit which held a resident pair of MUTE SWANS and also a pair of GADWALL.

 

 

 

 

Shortly after the Riverside Farm Pit the path forked in two, and I took the one that went away from the river. This path took me to another pit called Pippins Lake. Its a small pit surrounded by woodland. Usually its quiet, but this time held 10 GADWALL, and a GREEN SANDPIPER was flying around, its dark wings and white rump vey distinctive.

The path headed up round the back of the active quarry, which had most of its water pumped out of, so was too dry for any birds. One area of mud looked really good for WADERS, and if it can hold out like that until the Spring has good potential for something interesting.

 

 

MUNTJAC behind Pipps Ford

 



I rejoined the river and finally made it to my main destination - Pipps Ford. This is an area where a footpath cuts between a finished quarry and an active one. It can be quite good, I mean I've seen Glossy Ibis here but today I shouldn't have bothered.
I met a local birder, who I see here a lot of times, he told me he had got a text saying a SWIFT species had been seen over Norwich Road in North Ipswich. Damn, I go all the way to Pipps Ford when the best bird of the day flies over my home.
There were no DUCKS or any kind of water birds, which was a bit surprising. However, as the excavated quarry had become overgrown with weeds, there were some flocks of small birds feeding amongst them. Around 20 LINNETS and 10 SKYLARKS were all quite noticeable.
The excavated quarry area was looking very much unloved. As nothing definite has been planned for its future, it looks quite neglected, with no one really knowing what to do with it. A half arsed plan to create a reedbed has come to nothing, and the drawing out of water from the neighbouring working quarry means the water levels remain low.
As I headed back I had a pair of KINGFISHER fly along the river at Pipps Ford Lock. I headed back the way I came getting the bus at Needham Market and headed home.
A nice walk in lovely countryside in lovely weather, what more could I want. Well, more birds, but that can't be helped. I could never really expect more for inland Suffolk, and this is the best birding destination in the area, and with a little bit of love could become a really good place.