Spring on the River Gipping Lakes - North Section

Newly fledged LONG TAILED TITS in May

 



This post describes the north section of the Gipping Valley Lakes - From Needham Lake outside Needham Market, down to Pipps Ford, a route that takes a couple of miles, walking down the river Gipping.

Its been four years since I first came to Pipps Ford. A report of a lesser spotted woodpecker was posted on the SUFFOLK BINS website which opened my eyes to the site. Because it is a new quarry nothing about the site is shown on any map, its just a blank, so I had no idea anything was there. So one Sunday I cycled over, it took about half an hour, and walked the footpath from the road to the river, didn't see particularly much and went home not very impressed.
However, with a paucity of any actual decent local birding sites I came back. The best bird I have seen there was a GLOSSY IBIS, a bird that looked completely out of sorts at the site. Gradually I started to explore more of the area and I began to acquire more of the general area into my birding, and I gradually learned more about the site.

I can't admit that its a good birdwatching area, it isn't really, but for inland Suffolk, close to Ipswich, its the best I've got. Trust me the area is fairly birdless
So over the years I have built the routine that gets the best out of the site. I get a bus to Needham Market, and just walk down river, maybe stopping at Pipps before heading back to Needham, or walking all the way down to my house, which is a very long walk.

 

 Needham Lake is a very busy green space on the edge of town, full of families, fishermen and model boat enthusiasts. The birds are typically very tame and quite boisterous about getting fed.

The lakes that line the river are of various sizes, the larger ones having nesting COOT, SWANS and GREAT CRESTED GREBES. Around Pippin's lake, a small tree lined pit a pair of GADWALL have taken up home with an extra two males hanging about as well. At Pipps Ford a pair of LITTLE GREBE were present as they are most years.

On Pipp's Ford when I visited in March there were four pairs of LAPWING in the area. However by May that population had dropped to just one due to the drought conditions, that pair in the active quarry, where there was still wet mud for them to feed on. Just one LITTLE RINGED PLOVER was seen this Spring, despite this quarry being the most regular site in the county for this species, with a few nesting each year. However this year may see their local extinction. A pair of OYSTERCATCHER were also found in March, the usual nesting pair, but I couldn't find them later on in the year, and this being a very obvious and easy to see species, maybe they too have deserted the area.
On the migration front on the 17 April I disturbed a JACK SNIPE along the river, the bird breaking into the air as I walked past, but I didn't see much else this Spring.

Several MALLARDS nest along the river

 



Away from waders there was a HOBBY over Riverside farm pit, on the 14 May, its appearance like a giant swift, with its red legs, dashing over the water catching dragonflies on the wing, it didn't linger and gradually drifted towards Needham.
Small birds are always a feature of the area as the mix of woodland, rough grassland and wetland sites attract lots of them. Perhaps the latest flock of FIELDFARES I have for Suffolk were found on 17 April typically feeding in a sheep paddock. Around Pipps Ford a large flock of LINNET lingered.
The heathy grassland around Pipps Ford attracts good numbers of SKYLARK, with five males on territory.
There were lots of WARBLERS in the area, CHIFFCHAFFS appearing in March, BLACKCAPS and WHITETHROATS in April and with several REED WARBLERS singing from the lake side reeds come May.

I hope this post gives a sense of what its like to birdwatch a local area. These places aren't usually the best for birds, but being so local, and under recorded, makes them somehow important.