Christchurch Park - Early Spring

 

A pair of MADARIN DUCKS

 

The Wilderness Pond in Christchurch park is an artificial lake, with wooded islands, and is absolutely jam packed with birds. It is the best bird watching site in Ipswich, just a short walk from the town centre.





There are three TURTLES living in the pond. In the summer months they spend their time sunning themselves on a log.

 

The most obvious birds are the CANADA GEESE with seven pairs present on the Pond this year. There is a large squadron of mongrel MALLARDS of various plumages. There are also three pair of MANDARIN DUCKS, surely the most beautiful of British birds. They originate from China, where they are not doing so well, and now the breeding population in the UK is of some importance. All these wildfowl gorge themselves on the food given to them by the many families that visit the park.

 

 Nesting COOT - the first ever in Christchurch Park

 

A pair of COOT turned up at the end of January. This is unusual enough as its a very rare bird here. But the birds stayed and ended up nesting! This is the first case of this species nesting here in the long history of the park. On 14 March a pair of LITTLE GREBE were briefly present, a young pair prospecting for a new breeding site, but didn't stick around.

 SNAKES-HEAD FRITTILLERY -  there is a small fen area near the Pond

 

 

Unfortunately at the beginning of March a pair of LESSER BLACK BACKED GULLS turned up. They nest on the roofs of buildings around the park and are the main reason so few young birds are raised here - the gulls eat them all.

Whenever I am in town I always drop in here as it provides such a tranquil retreat from the hustle and bustle just an arms throw away. Its always an interesting place and although it might not have the birds of a more rural location, provides an important habitat for the town.

Landguard Point - 26/3/2019

 The point has good views over the largest port in the country

 

With Spring having officially begun it was time to look for migrants. This season oversees vast movements of birds, as they look to return to breeding grounds from wherever they have been overwintering. This movement means it is possible to see birds anywhere, and there is constant change, with birds turning up and leaving all the time, it is possible to see anything, and can be quite exciting.
A good place to see migrants locally is Landguard Point, an area of land shaped like a finger poking out to sea. Because of this strange shape, birds use it as a staging point as they fly in from, or fly out to sea. The point is completely surrounded land side by Felixstowe, and as such there are always people about, be they birdwatchers or dog walkers.
Looking for migrants is a game of chance and unfortunately the brilliant weather I experienced today, bright sun with no wind, was pretty much the worst possible and meant there wasn't that much present bird-wise.

DUNNOCKS are very common on the point

The problem with Landguard is that at times it can be pretty bird less, over winter nothing really stays there, and that was what it was like today. However it can be worth taking a punt on because Landguard has the habitat of attracting rare and unusual birds.

A flock of HOUSE SPARROWS is present by a little cottage on the point

The only migrants were two WHEATEARS, down to the southern part of the point, where the bushes thin out and it becomes mainly grass. They are usually the earliest of the Spring migrants, starting to turn up around this time, with numbers peaking in mid April.

The point has lots of crumbling, historical buildings

 

I was hoping to get some pictures of RINGED PLOVERS, which nest on the beach, but despite a few being present, safe from disturbance in the roped off areas, they were too far away, too well camouflaged, and all I got were images of a faint dot on the sand.
A few LINNETS had returned, they are a feature of Summer when loads of them nest on the common, but are absent in Winter/early Spring, they have started to turn up around now.

A look over the beach towards Felixstowe. 

Its still early days regarding Spring migration, but over the next month, bird movements will really heat up and things get exciting. It is difficult to predict what will turn up, and that uncertainty really adds to the enjoyment of bird watching.

Late Winter on the River Gipping Lakes

 

COOT at Needham Lake
 

One of the warmest winters on record didn't prove to be a boon to wintering birds in the valley. Small numbers of ducks were present on the pits, numbers not worthy of any mention. The area is probably more important as a breeding area especially as Suffolk has so little of this habitat within her border. For a lot of resident birds Spring can arrive quite early with breeding activity starting in January. I will write about Spring later on in another post.
On the 16 Feb at Suffolk Water Park there was a record of a POCHARD, which surprisingly enough is the first record I have of the area, when you consider this is the kind of habitat they are found in. There was also a record of LITTLE GREBE on the 25 Jan, from Needham Lake, a new record for that lake. As you can see there is not too much to report.

 
The active quarry at Pipps Ford
 

Around the Pipp's Ford area a flock of GADWALL was present commuting between the various bodies of water around the area. There number gradually diminished as birds left the area, with maybe a very small  population remaining to  breed. A GREEN SANDPIPER also wintered around the active quarry, feeding on the large amount of exposed mud. Birds of this species seem to stay most of the year, only disappearing over May time to visit their breeding grounds in the far north of the world.
On Needham Lake an immature SWAN had encroached on the territory of the resident pair. The male SWAN pursued the intruder around the lake until the bird lost patience and just chased the intruder off. This is prime SWAN habitat, as they get artificial food from all the families that visit the lake, being located just on the outskirts of Needham Market, so the pair here don't need to bother looking for food themselves. As it is its heavily guarded.

The male SWAN was chasing off an intruder from his territory
 

The SISKIN flock present in the area gradually dwindled in number until there were merely five present at the end of February. The flock of LINNET, at Pipps Ford, at times 30 strong, had dwindled to five birds as well with the other birds probably redistributing to their breeding haunts, as I guess the flock was made up of local birds.



The Gipping Valley Visitor Centre

 

 The visitor centre

 

Close to Barham and Meadlands lakes, tucked away down a country lane is the Gipping Valley Visitor's Centre. Closed down in 2010 due to Council cut backs the visitor centre has been left to grow derelict. Nothing has been removed - there is still a functioning toilet on site it has just been left to be reclaimed by nature. The visitors centre is still signposted off the A14.

The abandoned playground

 

As it is its an example of man's impermanence in the face of nature and its worth visiting as a curiosity, one of those forgotten areas of the world. Maybe, if we don't sort ourselves out soon this is what all humanity's endeavours will look like. 

Cley (again) & Morston Quay - 8/3/2019

After spending the morning in the company of David Tipling, it was midday and too early to go home yet. With the weather a bit better today I thought I would have a look at the sea and the beach at Cley habitats that I missed through the poor weather yesterday. Despite that the sea was still pretty choppy, and there weren't many birds about anyway.
The only exception to this, on the sea by the beach car park, were some COMMON SCOTER, a sea duck that is all black with an orange bill, in a flock around 600 strong. That was a fairly standard observation for the time of year, something I would expect.

Morston Quay, Blakeney Church in the background

 



From Cley I went over to Morston Quay, a few miles along the coast, which had a mixture of saltmarsh, and tidal creeks where boats were moored. Among the small numbers of WADERS, I heard a familiar call and a GREENSHANK flew in to feed on the creek. This is a common wading bird on migration, but in winter is quite rare, its winter plumage slightly different to its summer one, with a white face and a light grey back of the neck. It was a nice sighting to end the day on.

GREENSHANK



I left North Norfolk then and headed south to Suffolk, having spent a good couple of days up here. For anyone with the slightest interest in bird watching I thoroughly recommend a visit to North Norfolk. Aside from that it is a "heritage" area with lots of touristy places to visit, if you like that kind of thing (I do not).

Norfolk Safari with David Tipling - 8/3/2018

Internationally renowned photographer David Tipling runs North Norfolk safaris, where he takes people out to photograph some of the rich wildlife to be found there. This is a man who has featured in many magazines and has published many books, and is a driving force in bird photography.
Always wanting to improve my photography I booked myself on one of his safaris, to learn from the best, and to better my follower's reading experience. Mr Tipling had just come back from a working trip in the Solomon Islands whilst my most recent experience was finding some birds at the local fishing pits, such is life. Anyway the trip was fairly successful and I got some good photographs, mainly of HARES, without quite getting all that I wanted.

The HARES are such dynamic animals.

 



 

We met in the Cley car park, as the dawn chorus faded on the marshes, around 6:30, in some beautiful early morning light. Signs were good, a BARN OWL, was hunting along the grassy road side curb along the marshes. However despite seeing five different BARN OWLS today, we were never got the chance to properly photograph one. This was the only disappointment of the day as one of the reasons we met so early was to photograph the owls. I think David was desperate to just find some birds but as the day wore on the chances of finding them grew slim. We went all over the area, checking the available habitat, the nest boxes, but the birds just didn't show, despite David's local knowledge.

 

The hinterland of North Norfolk is full of wildlife, with lots of BROWN HARES, with as many as ten seen in several large fields. Lots of RED LEGGED PARTRIDGE were about, always running away rather than flying. Also around were YELOWHAMMERS and singing SKYLARKS, typical farmland birds that are getting scarce nowadays.

RED LEGGED PARTRIDGE

 



Some unusual birds were seen along the way, a WOODCOCK was flushed whilst looking for some owls. I also saw a pair of GREY PARTRIDGE briefly flying off after we disturbed them in a horse grazed field. This bird used to be very common, but has now seemed to be supplanted by the introduced RED LEGGEDS.

The HARES were the main target and there were many about. David had a recording of someone blowing into a blade of grass, and playing it out loud over the fields had different effects on the hares. Some ran away, some did nothing, whilst a few ran towards us, one attempting a challenge.

When David played a recording this HARE came towards us in challenge.

 

We got a look at some "Mad March Hare" behaviour, and I was able to get a picture of two of them boxing each other. Even David admitted that getting such a close view is difficult and it looks great in the early morning light.

 

Two HARES boxing

 

There were lots of BIRD OF PREY about, MARSH HARRIERS, RED KITE and BUZZARD, twenty years ago all would have been a rare sight, one of the few examples of nature making a come back. However they were hard to photograph, to get a focus on a tiny speck in a field of blue.

 

A picture of something that is not a Hare - here is a ROOKERY.

 





In the end we went all over North Norfolk, although at times it meant we seemed to go around in circles, as certain landmarks became a bit familiar. That's one of the problems,and yet one of the delights in nature watching, nothing can be taken for granted. In the end we covered ground I had never been to before, drew some attention to places that aren't Cley and Titchwell, real places that aren't just managed for wildlife.

The morning came to an end and we finished the safari around midday. I said goodbye and retired to the visitors centre to drink a well earned coffee and planned what I was going to do for the rest of the day.

I would recommend one of the safaris if you want a chance get shots of difficult to photo animals. It was also nice to meet David and to just to meet one of the leading lights in birdwatching, there aren't that many.

I think I have now exhausted North Norfolk and I'm thinking about doing a photo safari in another area of the country, maybe the New Forest, maybe, its always good to dream. Anyway, peace out.



SHORELARKS at Holkham - 7/3/2019

 

 

SHORELARK

I was walking along the wide windswept beach at Holkham when I disturbed a group of small birds, which flew off over behind a dune stack. Curious, I followed, climbed over the dune and spotted one of the birds - a SHORELARK. I was watching it through my bins, when another bird came into view. And then another, and then another. In the end I counted twelve, which for a bird that is so scarce is a huge total. Its a beautiful bird, the shape of a SKYLARK, but with a yellow face and little black horns. Its a great little find one that restores my faith with the world.
Holkham is a huge reserve with a vast area of grazing marsh, dunes, and conifer woods. The plan was to spend only a short time here with a brief look at the different areas. The grazing marshes are huge and are looked over by hides. On the grassy marshes were carpets of WIGEON, grazing in tight groups. A SPOONBILL was seen in flight, distant but distinctive as it flies with its head out, whereas EGRETS, of which there were many, tuck their head in.
Immediately in front of the hide was an area of reedbed, in which there were a pair of CHINESE WATER DEER, and it looked that MARSH HARRIER were looking to nest there, a female kept flying over and around it. One of the HARRIERS had green tags on its wings, a way of recording the bird.
For such a quick visit I saw a lot. The extremely volatile weather meant there were few people about, making the place seem more bleak than usual, but in more warmer weather the area can get inundated, its a big honeypot site.

 

Cley Marshes - 7/3/2018

 BLACK TAILED GODWIT

 

With the unseasonal heat of February fading into the more naturally tempestuous weather of March, I made my merry way up to North Norfolk to spend a couple of days. First port of call was Cley Marshes, a regular reserve for me but one I haven't been to for quite a while. The previously unseasonal weather has played havoc with the birds, with many having deserted altogether, and today was perhaps the worst birding I have ever had at the reserve.
Having had a nice coffee in the centre I descended onto the reserve. The footpath is shaped like a square treading round the edges of the reserve. First port of call when entering are the three fresh water scrapes looked over by hides. This is usually the best spot in the area and is good for waders on migration. Today over 100 AVOCETS were present, some maybe migrants, but most will probably spend the summer here. There was the odd TURNSTONE and RINGED PLOVER, but nothing of any note. GULLS don't nest at Cley in any numbers, like they do at Minsmere, with only a couple present on the scrape islands.

CURLEW

 



Six WHITE FRONTED GEESE were present, these birds are very much a winter bird, they usually stick to traditional sites like North Warren, and these birds are my first record for this reserve. Of the DUCKS, SHOVELLER were probably present in the largest number, feeding in groups scooping up food with their shovel shaped bill.
Moving away from the scrapes, the habitat turns to reedbed, which is a decent size here, maybe counting for half the reserve. Lots of MARSH HARRIER were seen floating over the reserve, they don't put any of the birds to flight, maybe because the birds were use to them, and maybe the fact that they fly too slowly to catch anything.
The path joins East Wall before taking a little detour to another hide, on a newly purchased part of the reserve. The path circuits wet grassland, and usually at this time of year the habitat is full of DUCKS like WIGEON, but there were virtually nothing today, all a victim of the strange weather. The hide wasn't particularly fruitful, but it provided shelter, as large parts of the reserve are open to the elements and the weather was coming in. A pair of EGYPTIAN GEESE was about all there was.

REDSHANK

 



The path went back to East Wall, and from here on the weather became seriously bad. Heavy winds mixed with pelting rain, were not the best when out walking on a raised footpath like East Wall, and there was no shelter. From now on birding was difficult, not just because of the weather, but also because the birds were hunkered down, and not flying or risking being exposed out in the open.
East Wall makes its way to the sea, but just before that, nestled behind the shingle stack is Arnold's Marsh, a great location to see WADERS. Unlike the fresh water scrapes mentioned earlier, this area is more briny and attracts estuarine waders. The usual culprits were about, including a GREY PLOVER. Some of the OYSTERCATCHERS and RINGED PLOVERS present, will no doubt nest here in the summer.
Heading out onto the beach and looking out to sea I was almost blown away, getting the full blast of the wind. I couldn't see anything out on the sea, it being too choppy, and the visibility being too poor. Walking along the water line, I could just about keep out of the wind, but it made walking difficult.
The last scrape of the reserve, North Scrape, viewable only from the beach, had a load of PINTAIL, with perhaps twenty present, but little else, it getting the full blast of the wind.

 

TEAL

I was pretty much the only person present on the beach, the only other foolhardy person was a beach fisherman, braving the elements for the same reason as myself, to maybe catch something unusual in the extreme weather.
Apart from that the walk back was pretty uneventful, and as I made my way back to the centre I was able to relax and grab a coffee.
Unfortunately today was pretty poor bird wise, especially for a reserve like Cley. This is a great place, well known as one of the best in the country for birds, yet it could not be able to produce the birds. It just shows how much trouble the extremely unseasonal weather has had on wildlife, that even the best reserves can't compensate for it, it effects everything. It may be global warming or it could just be a freak event, but this sort of weather creates havoc. It is unknowable if the wildlife will be able to survive this, but freak weather on top of habitat destruction could possibly push wildlife over the edge, and we can look forward to more and more loss of our natural world.

Alton Water - 27/2/2019

RED-THROATED DIVER

 

There are certain rare occasions, odd moments in human endeavour, where we accidentally create something that is of benefit to wildlife, while working towards some other goal. Alton Water is one example, a large reservoir created to provide water to the town of Ipswich and as a result wildlife that hadn't been present before now found new habitat in this big area of water.

The reservoir looks natural, is surrounded by trees, and the light on this beautiful day had an ethereal glow as the warmest February in history came to a close.

 





The bird is in winter plumage, in summer its a stunning bird

 

I have rarely visited Alton Water before, and not for about four years, I don't know for what reason, just I have always concentrated on the areas of water closer to where I live. Maybe I just thought it wasn't good as a bird place, but today I was pleasantly surprised - it was actually better than I thought. Its not  too far from my home so I shall be back again, probably when I have exhausted all the other local birding places again. 

 



 GREAT-CRESTED GREBES displaying

 

Key bird today was a RED-THROATED DIVER, a bird that has been present for a couple of weeks. When I got there I spotted it right away, I was surprised how easy it  was to find. It was seen from the causeway, a road that cuts a "tail" off from the main body of the reservoir, and it got very close so I could take a few photos without having to crop later.

 There are several car parks around the reservoir, with a couple of hides at strategic positions, which becomes a meeting place for birdwatchers, and there were quite a lot, probably as a result of being close to Ipswich, and it seems a good place to find out local bird news, whats been seen in the area.
Yesterday there were reports of BLACK-THROATED and GREAT NORTHERN DIVER, rare birds in Suffolk even more so inland. Unfortunately they weren't recorded today, despite the number of birdwatchers present, the birds would be easy to find if were still present, they are quite distinctive.

 

 MALLARDS in flight

 

The species seen in the largest numbers was the GREAT-CRESTED GREBE, with many birds starting to pair off. There were the beginnings of their display, where the two birds would straighten up towards each other, and then shake their heads back and forth (see photo). These birds have really benefited from Alton Water's creation, their main habitat is large deep bodies of water and there must be at least 20 pairs present at this site.
DUCKS weren't particularly common, with GOLDENEYE being in the largest number, scattered around the water, with a few TUFTED DUCK, and some GADWALL pairing off for the mating season. A female POCHARD was by the hide with three SHELDUCK, which could easily be nesters or migrants.

The causeway

 



There were the usual small birds gearing up for the breeding season, with various twitterings in the bordering woods. A KINGFISHER was seen from the causeway and another one from one of the hides, both briefly in flight, but I was still able to appreciate their beauty.
It was an interesting place to visit, and I was pleasantly surprised with what I saw today. A lot has been done on the reservoir to protect the wildlife there, which has to compete with other leisure activities like fishing and sailing. In the end everyone has to use the countryside in their own way, it shouldn't be off limits, and it should be free to all to appreciate the great outdoors. Its just finding that balance so everyone can benefit.