Snape - 25/12/2019

With some time off for Christmas, I took the trip up to Snape to spend some time with the family. On the day, whilst the dinner was being cooked, I had some time to visit various nearby reserves to build up an appetite.

WIGEON and TEAL at high tide

 



Hazelwood Marshes
The tide was fully in, the first time I have ever seen it so, covering the whole of the marshes with a layer of water. There were still plenty of DUCKS about, mainly TEAL, WIGEON and SHELDUCK, with smaller numbers of PINTAIL further out, seen from the hide. However there were few WADERS about, as there was little habitat for them. GREAT CRESTED GREBES were present on the deeper channels, where they can fish.

High tide view from the hide at Hazelwood

 

On the walk to the hide two WATER PIPITS were about, told about by their monosyllabic call (just a one note call). From the hide a KINGFISHER was seen to fly into a dead tree, briefly posing before flying away.
As I walked back a MARSH HARRIER put some of the ducks to flight.

Snape Marshes & Snape Warren
After Hazelwood I went to have a look at the reserves immediately around Snape. Walking along the river bank, Snape Marshes had a lot of water, where a small flock of CURLEW probed the mud. Again it was high tide, this time there were several LITTLE GREBES in the main river channel.
On the marshes a male STONECHAT posed on a fence post, while there were plenty of REED BUNTINGS, in the reeds around the ditches.

View of the Alde river

 



After the river bank I moved to higher ground and the heaths of Snape Warren. It was fairly quiet, desolate even, except for a pair of DARTFORD WARBLERS, making up for what they lack in size, by the noise they made.


So a nice little morning's bird watching, Snape is one of those places where there is so much bird habitat within a small area, its easy to see a lot without much effort.

 

 

 

If your reading this before new year, have a good one and may you see many more birds in the future. As long as places like these are still protected, then maybe our birds will continue to thrive.