The Sailor's Path - Snape to Hazlewood Marshes - 24/2/2019

I was up at Snape for the weekend, and decided to spend Sunday morning walking the Sailor's Path. This is a well used route that links Snape with Aldeburgh, its around four miles long and travels through some tip top habitat, the heaths of Snape Warren, the forests of Blackheath Wood, and the Suffolk Wildlife Trust reserve of Hazlewood Marshes.
As with yesterday at Titchwell, the weather was again beautiful, rising to fifteen degrees, which for a February is quite sweltering. The walk was fairly uneventful, some rare breed sheep were grazing the acid grassland of the Warren, some of the trees in Blackheath Wood had been harvested and some cows were now grazing the area.
So it wasn't with great expectations when I got to Hazlewood Marshes. The tide was out, as I had expected, in fact it was at the lowest tide, and there was little evidence that there was a river in this estuary. I knew this but still wanted to visit, because its such a fine walk and on such a fine day.
Out on the mud were the usual suspects, the DUCKS, SHELDUCK, WIGEON, TEAL and PINTAIL, and the usual WADERS, with some AVOCET still about.
On the way back we came upon a COMMA butterfly, standing out by its tatty wing edges, an early rising butterfly, but this one is earlier than most.
As I walked back through Snape Warren, I heard a familiar song, and looking for its host spotted a bird perched upon a bush - it was a WOOD LARK. Its song is not as complex as that of its relative, the SKYLARK, but it is a rarer bird, mostly confined to heathy areas, of which Suffolk is a stronghold of the species. This was an early singing bird, so hopefully more of his species will join him soon.
So a fairly quiet walk birdwise but through such a beautiful landscape, it was never dull. When the countryside is like this do I feel truly blessed, and this is why the Suffolk coast is so truly special.

Sculthorpe Moor - 23/2/2019

Having spent most of the day at Titchwell, there was still time left to visit one further reserve as I headed home. As Sculthorpe was on the way I decided to stop off there, because its a reserve I enjoy going to and it often gives good views of birds. However as I discovered at the visitors centre the reserve had a crazy closing time of 4 o'clock, which gave me just over an hour to spend at the reserve, which is no time at all. At this time of year, dusk is around half five, so it seems strange to close so early, its not really too difficult to extend the opening times.
The birds of the moment, reported on all the twitter feeds were three species of REDPOLL, and they were luckily hanging around near the entrance to the reserve in an area of alders. There was a bit of a twitch going on, around ten people present, telescope and binoculars at the ready, but the birds hadn't been seen for sometime. I hung around for bit, but with so little time remaining, I decided to move on. Further along in some alder trees were a pair of MARSH TITS, very active and issuing their 'pitchu' call, whilst at Whitley Hide a female BULLFINCH was present feeding on the ground beneath a bird feeder.

The female BRAMBLING (second bird from the left) and the male (fourth bird from the left)

 



In the aerial, treetop hide, windows looked onto bird feeders, and amongst a flock of CHAFFINCHES, were three BRMABLINGS, a male and two females. These finches are winter visitors, arriving in this country in moderate numbers, but can be quite tricky to find, they nest in the huge areas of forests in northern Europe. They are an attractive finch, and this has to be the best view I have ever had of one (or three), the birds were literally at arms length from me. Also present, strangely in some treetops, was a male REED BUNTING.
I made it down to the furthest hide, but there was a volunteer telling us to head back as the reserve was closing. Its a bit annoying, with such a relaxed hobby, as birdwatching is, to have such a strict opening time policy, on a weekend when there was still an hour and a half of light left. Don't get me wrong, this is a great reserve and you can see I saw a lot in such a short time, but the birds don't shut down when the reserve does. Oh well.

Female BRAMBLING (in the centre of the bird table)

 



On the way back to the car park I saw a RED KITE flying over the bordering farmland,and there were several chickens walking about around the car park.
I left Sculthorpe and I headed back home, a little disappointed for sure, but still buzzing from a great day with some great birding done. It beats work that's for sure.

Titchwell - 23/2/2019

Some birders see North Norfolk as the greatest birdwatching area in the country, a long stretch of wetland haunted by rare birds found nowhere else, of well maintained nature reserves which are meccas for wildlife watchers from all over the country. But its subjective, I mean the Suffolk coast isn't too bad either, as well as other places, but North Norfolk just has that aura. Titchwell is the RSPB's main reserve in the area, a site well known for its rarities, especially WADERS. Sometimes its hard to judge the reserve as it can be a bit hot or cold, at times quiet whilst at others its heaving with birds, but usually there is always something good to see.
With the early fog clearing to welcome in an extremely hot February day I descended onto the reserve to catch up on some wintering birds that I haven't been able to see so far this winter. Judging from the car park, it seemed a lot of other people had the same idea, and I had the fear of crowded hides and screaming children, but I needn't have worried, as with most nature reserves the further you get from the café and visitor's centre the less people are present. This was the case today, with most people seeming to have legged it to the beach, rather than hang around the rest of the reserve, which I shall get to later.
The reserve itself consists of a range of habitat succession, along which trundles the footpath, descending from woodland to reedbed, fresh water marshes to saltmarsh, tidal estuary to sandy beach and finally out onto the sea.

An AVOCET on Freshwater Marsh

 



As the path started through the reeds there was a very showy pair of BEARDED TITS, with both birds displaying themselves on the top of the reed fronds, the male distinguished with his little black moustaches. This was quite unusual for such a timid species. There were a few singing CETTI'S WARBLERS, but this is a bird decimated by last year's Beast From the East, and several singing REED BUNTINGS along the path to the sea, but bird song had yet to fully reach a full crescendo yet.
With the warm weather over the last couple of weeks there was very much a feeling of Spring in the area and in the deeper reedbed pools, TUFTED DUCK, POCHARD and COOT were all pairing up or establishing territories, the same with GADWALL and SHOVELLER on the Freshwater Marsh, although it doubtful that they will all nest here, the birds nest at low densities so may spread out further into the local area.

There was still a flock of BRENT GEESE wintering in the area.

 



On the Freshwater Marsh further signs of Spring were heralded by the presence of around forty AVOCET, a bird which nests here in large numbers. Also present on Freshwater Marsh BLACK HEADED GULLS were establishing territories and courting, amongst whom were several MEDITTERRRANEAN GULLS, all hanging around this one island which was protected by an electric fence, a device to keep hungry foxes from stealing their eggs.
Signs of winter were still apparent with a flock of BRENT GEESE flying in from nearby, and there were still some WIGEON left.

Some WIGEON on Freshwater Marsh

 



The rest of the walk was fairly quiet as it headed to the beach,with the other marshes having nothing unusual, a few WADERS feeding on the mud here and there with out anything interesting.
Where the path ended, finally coming out onto the beach, was where it seemed everyone had headed to. The beach is huge, a great sandy expanse that runs to the horizon both ways, but it still being February there weren't many people using it.
On the beach there were around twenty birders present, training their telescopes out onto the sea, occasionally commenting on something they had observed. Sea watching is a birdwatching niche, which entails looking at distant specs against the blue background, straining to see any detail on that far away bird, maybe being brave enough to get a definite record. Having been brought up inland its still not something I'm really used to.

Sea watchers on the beach

 



The North Norfolk sea is much shallower than here in Suffolk, so as a result has lots more birds out on the water. However, maybe because of the warm Spring weather, or because of a slight mist, the sea was fairly quiet. There were still some birds out, best of all was a huge GREAT NORTHERN DIVER close to shore, and there were at least two BLACK THROATED DIVERS about. DUCKS were quite good with a pair of RED BREASTED MERGANSERS, a solitary male LONG TAILED DUCK, and at least seven GOLDENEYE. Also present were a couple of GREAT CRESTED GREBE and a COMMON SEAL.

OYSTERCATCHERS roosting on the beach

 

On the beach most of the WADERS had dispersed, with just a small flock present, containing, BAR TAILED GODWITS, KNOTS, OYSTERCTCHERS, CURLEW, GREY PLOVERS, TURNSTONES and SANDERLING all feeding on the area where sea met sand.
From the beach it was a walk back down the same path seeing the reserve in reverse, finally making its way back to the visitor's centre to have a coffee and a scone. Time well spent.
Well I had a good time today at Titchwell, I saw a lot of birds, some rare, some not, but all great, and its times like these when I find this pastime so enjoyable. It really pays off when I get to go to a place like this and I am really able to immerse myself right into its soul. These places are special and are unfortunately so rare in our countryside that it attracts so many people from far around, but they are well protected  an managed, with these wildlife societies they are in safe hands.

 

Minsmere - 14/2/2019

KONIK ponies have free reign to graze the Scrape.

Its been a funny old winter. Temperatures have remained high, except for a brief snow flurry, and winter bird numbers have remained low. For around a month I have been chasing birds with little result. Mid February is more associated with deep winter, but today on a visit to Minsmere it really felt like the beginning of Spring. The temperature was high, around fifteen degrees and I really wonder whether that's it for Winter so far.
A February visit to Minsmere is usually associated with wintering DUCKS, and it was the case today with all the usual suspects, though numbers were in the hundreds rather than the thousands I would expect. Six TUFTED DUCKS on South Scrape were fairly unusual for Minsmere at this time of year, and a male PINTAIL was on East Scrape, this species is fairly rare here when compared to other reserves on the coast like North Warren and Trimley. A flock of 25 BARNACLE GEESE were lazing around, and there were big flocks of GREYLAGS. The Levels, the area of grazing marsh between the Scrape and Sizewell were flooded but had few birds on, loafing GULLS and a large LAPWING flock.

 The short grass and mud the ponies create are ideal for nesting LAPWINGS

During winter WADER numbers are low on the Scrape, preferring the rich mud of the estuaries. Those that were present were harbingers of Spring, the first returners of the breeding season. On East Scrape there was an AVOCET, whilst on South Scrape was a pair of OYSTERCATCHER and a RINGED PLOVER. Also present were two DUNLIN on South Scrape, probably misplaced winterers.

 Male SHOVELLER showing off its distinctive bill.

The sea was fairly quiet but had a RED THROATED DIVER, which is usual for this time of year.
On the small bird side signs of Spring was in the air. A pair of STONECHATS were on the beach, this being a prime breeding site for this species, and a singing SKYLARK were present on the Abbey Field, and a singing CETTI'S WARBLER by the West Hide.
The woods were alive with the twinkling of birds, but proper singing won't happen for another month yet. On the feeders by the visitor's centre were a MARSH TIT and several COAL TITS providing highlights amongst the usual birds.

 Male and female SHOVELLERS

The Reedbed Hides were on the whole good. A BITTERN was seen briefly in flight at the Bittern Hide, although they haven't started booming yet, the big sound they produce to establish breeding territories. MARSH HARRIERS were everywhere. One pair did a sky dance above Island Mere, a beautiful aerial ballet between the male and female to establish pairing, one of nature's great marvels. Another female was chased off by a pair of CROWS as she strayed to close to their territory.
After leaving the main part of the reserve, on the exit road, heading out of the reserve, we came upon a herd of RED DEER feeding on a heathy field. I counted 55 deer a large number for a species that inhabits the woods and heaths of Minsmere, a British Serengeti if you will.

 Some of the herd of RED DEER

As a whole there were a lot of birds present with a good variety. This is a strange in-between season - not quite winter, not quite spring, that has muddied all the bird's seasonal rhythm. The fact is that winter is getting shorter and shorter until maybe it will disappear altogether thereby confusing many species. With warmer temperatures on the continent the birds aren't forced to come to our temperate island, and therefore wintering numbers of birds are lower here. Its a shame and with something as complex as the weather I don't know who or what to blame, but no doubt it will be down to us humans.

 

 

 

 

 

The Norfolk Broads - Strumpshaw Fen & Buckenham Marshes - 7/2/2019

Just a few miles outside of Norwich lies a series of connected RSPB reserves collectively known as the Mid Yare Reserves. They snuggle along the river Yare within The Norfolk Broads national park, an area made up of all sorts of wetland habitat, that's great for a wide variety of birds, many rare. Its not only the birds that are rare but all sorts of plants and insects that attract and feed the birds, in some of the last remaining freshwater wetland in the country. So as a birdwatcher I was naturally attracted to such a place.
On a truly terrible day I decided to have a look at two reserves from the area, Strumpshaw Fen and Buckenham Marshes. Unfortunately due to the weather and other reasons, at Strumpshaw I failed to see anything at all. Oh well, such is life.
Strumpshaw Fen is the Gateway to the Mid Yare Reserves, having facilities like hides and a coffee machine, and has nature trails winding their way through the different habitats on the reserve. These habitats are mainly made of reedbed with small areas of open water, fen meadow and woodland. Unfortunately the very strong winds and heavy rain  made a lot of birds put their heads down. The only animals stupid enough to go out in this weather was us homo sapiens, even more stupid as we saw so little.
The only sightings came from the reception hide where a flock of COOT were out on the water whilst a BLACK SWAN rested and some SHOVELLER kept their heads down in the foreground. All the other pools were completely empty, which was a bit disappointing.

On the way round we came upon some work men working on restoring an old pump house, on the river wall in the reserve. One of the guys was pretty friendly and told us that this was a series of restoration work on different pump houses in the Broads, using students from Norwich College. The building they were restoring on the reserve was typical Victorian, overwrought and a gothic masterpiece, completely over the top for a pump house, but great in the same way.

With heavy winds keeping everything down, only a few MARSH HARRIERS braved the turbulence, the best bird on the reserve was a female BULLFINCH on the reserve feeders.
This is the fourth time I have been to Strumpshaw, and the first in Winter. I have previously visited in Spring/Summer and then the reserve was full of birds, those species who inhabited reedbeds, and lots of nesting waterfowl. I guess the reserve just isn't a winter one, certain reserves are like that.  To any time stretched birders out there - visit Strumpshaw in Spring or Summer, not Winter, I have saved you the bother.

Buckenham Marshes

After a fruitless visit to Strumpshaw, I decided on a visit to Buckenham Marshes just down the road from the other reserve. Its a different kind of habitat, being a huge area of grazing marsh, which attracted large numbers of birds, in stark contrast to Strumpshaw.
Grazing marsh is in theory a fairly simple habitat to create and in turn attracts lots of birds, the grassland flooding in winter attracts hordes of DUCKS, whilst drying them out over summer attracts breeding WADERS like snipe and lapwing. However the reserve is a complex system of water management and grazing by cattle to provide the variety of habitats to attract the greatest range of birds.

The Cantley Beet Factory looms over the reserve

The reserve had flooding but not much, so the DUCKS were mainly represented by WIGEON, which graze the grassy areas. There were around several thousand present all in groups a hundred or so strong.
There was a hide on the reserve - the only token of civilisation in an otherwise wild place - which looked over a large pool which attracted some TEAL and a couple of SHOVELLER.
The large area of grazing marsh was particularly attractive to GEESE, and through a very simple count I saw fifty WHITE FRONTED and a hundred PINK FOOTED GEESE, they, as wild GEESE do, kept as well away from any humans on the other side of the reserve.

One of three CHINESE WATER DEER on the reserve - they really have found a niche not occupied by native fauna.

LAPWING flocks were diminishing with birds starting to claim territories for the breeding season, being one of our earliest nesters. Amongst them I spotted two RUFF, and a SNIPE flew right over me.
I only had a short visit - a couple of hours - so I barely scratched the surface really, if I was able to stay longer and have a thorough look I would have seen more, because there was a lot out there.
I have only been to this reserve once before, in June, fifteen years ago, so this was the first real experience of the place. In Winter it really is a wind swept bleak area, but that's part of its charm, and why I like these places, they really have character, a poetry about them.

 

 It wasn't an overly successful trip to the Norfolk Broads really, with a disappointing visit to Strumpshaw Fen, but with some success at Buckenham Marshes. With the weather so turbulent at the moment it is hard to predict a decent day for birding, especially as I only have a small window off from work. However I have hardly visited these places before so its good experience to just see them and appreciate them for what they are, great reserves where a lot of hard work is put into looking after the land for wildlife.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ipswich - the Belstead Brook area - 5/2/2019

 GREY WAGTAIL along the river at Ashground Plantation

 

Being an urban area Ipswich doesn't really come across as having good birding sites. However in the southern belly of the town is an area of great habitats that would be important if they were found outside in the country. Being in an urban area these places are constantly under threat from development, and there have been some high profile cases of their destruction nearly happening. Collectively they are known as the Belstead Brook reserves, due to the little river that joins them all up.
The most important of these habitats is Spring Wood an ancient forest famous for its bluebell displays. However today although noisy through birds starting to make territories, the woods didn't hold anything unusual, although a singing SONG THRUSH, was my first proper one of the Spring. The path leads through Spring Wood and comes out at Bobbit's Lane Meadow and completes a circle back to the car park. The meadows are another reserve and they have a gradation from dry grassland, gradually getting wetter, to turn to reeds and ultimately a pond. On the pond was an Ipswich mega in the form of two SHOVELLERS, a male and female. However the male wasn't in breeding plumage finery and was barely more decorated than the female. They were with four GADWALL, themselves rare in Ipswich, I have only seen them here in the town.

The strange male SHOVELLER

 



Having returned to the car park I turned my attention to Ashground Plantation, an overgrown area of alder carr. Usually at this time of year the forest floor is under several inches of water, but with this dry winter it was parched. There were lots of birds, with TREECREEPER and GOLDCREST amongst the commoner birds. A pair of CHIFFCHAFF were along the river as well as a GREY WAGTAIL and a flock of 20 SISKIN high in the alders. I left the area and drove  on to Stoke Park, a large urban park, mainly grass, but with some old trees. The usual parkland birds were present, STOCK DOVES, MISTLE THRUSHES and GREEN WOODPECKERS, birds that like a light scattering of trees.
Despite being on the doorstep of thousands of people it is quite easy to get away from people in these places. I would usually think that was a good thing, as would most people, but it also means people don't understand what they have in these places. These sites are only diagnosed as Local Nature Reserves, surely the least protection possible, and if people don't appreciate what they have here, it could all be lost the next time they are threatened by development.

Book Review - Curlew Moon by Mary Colwell

No book of recent times has shed light on a glaring conservation issue in such a way as Curlew Moon. The book is a journey through the UK and Ireland, in the areas of the country where curlews live and charts their alarming decline. The UK and Ireland at times hold half of the world's curlew population and a quarter of its breeding population. Yet this responsibility to protect the bird has largely been neglected and in a lot of places the population is crashing, at a great rate.
The curlew is well known as a bird, our biggest wading bird, with its distinctive curved bill. It is common on the estuaries in winter and is well known to mountain walkers in summer where it nests on the fells. Yet a few pairs still hang on in lowland England and this is where the front line in curlew conservation is taking place, where if they disappeared from here then it may be too late to save the species altogether in the rest of the country.
In Curlew Moon the author Mary Colwell takes a 500 mile journey through curlew country, from Ireland, through Wales, the Midlands and Yorkshire, at a time when the curlews should be nesting. She really shows her passion for the birds, and her attempts to stay positive in the face of such gloom. What is evident from the book is how few curlews are left in the places she visits that once held so many. The author tries her best to bring the landscape alive, how they are attractive to the birds but there are so few curlews left now, often just the odd solitary pair seen in these places, the last hangers on to a country that doesn't want them. Habitat destruction, disturbance, an increase in predators means too few curlews are raising young to replace the current population. Worse off seems Ireland, where the population has crashed greatest of all, but there doesn't seem the combined effort to protect the few remaining pairs left there.
In her journey in Curlew Moon Mary Colwell meets the people who try to protect the curlews, and a part of this book is about their struggles, the single person facing all the different forces that are against curlews, their often hard fought struggle to help this species survive. The conservation of curlews is as much about their effort as it is about the large organisations, the local heroes who work tirelessly to protect the birds.
Although about curlews Curlew Moon is a daming state of the countryside in general, where the niche and unusal animals have no real place in modern day agriculture and hence the modern day landscape. The author  really brings alive what curlews mean to the landscape, through lore, the place names, poetry, how much a longing for place can be created by the bubbling sound the curlew makes, but also how much has been forgotten in modern times, that most farmers and users of the countryside no longer remember them or what they meant.
What Curlew Moon leaves us with then, is not something positive, there is so much to do to even stop the decline, but provides a germ, a turn around in perception, and an identity that there is something wrong and a need for something to be done. With a joint effort, maybe, just maybe, the curlew may survive as a breeding bird in this country and its bubbling song may be heard by future generations. With people like Mary Colwell behind them the curlew has at least some hope of survival in this country.