Minsmere - 26/2/2020

 

 

Its a funny old time of year, winter's almost finished, spring's not quite begun. And on top of that nature is finding diificult to adapt to this unnaturally warm winter. The ducks are leaving, heading off to their various breeding grounds, yet the birds that breed here, such as the gulls, have not arrived.

An upended PINTAIL

 

As a result the scrape was very quiet today. Just a few ducks, including around ten PINTAIL, loafing around on the water.Yet bucking this trend was a mid winter specialist, a female SMEW, staying late into the season, which was very strange. A family group of six WHOOPER SWANS, which I saw back in January, were still present, this time in the pool behind South Hide.

Pair of SHOVELLERS

 



A few LAPWING were starting to hold territory on the grassier areas of the scrape, and some AVOCET and OYSTERCATCHER had turned up, but not in any large numbers yet. There were some GODWITS and a couple of TURNSTONE, but the high water levels on the Scrape weren't attractive to waders.

Two male ADDERS

 



One sure sign of summer though was a sighting of two male ADDERS that had awoken from hibernation. In the North Bushes a mini twitch had turned up to view these incredible animals, hidden in the undergrowth. Even for an experienced nature watcher, like myself, the sighting of a poisonous snake, something  exotic that inhabits our countryside, is still a surprise. Minsmere hosts a good population of these snakes, its just most of the time they live their lives away from any human contact.

An OYSTERCATCHER on an island, East Scrape

 



At Island Mere a BITTERN gave good views as it flew in from the left, over the reeds, across the mere before settling in the reeds to the right. A GREAT CRESTED GREBE had arrived for  the breeding season, but the rest of the mere was quiet.

Male STONECHAT, North Bushes

 



A couple of BEARDED TITS were in the reeds between the beach and south hide, the odd CETTI'S WARBLER was bursting into song. A pair of STONECHATS were in North Bushes, classic early spring migrants they'll soon be on the way to their breeding grounds.
The woods were still quiet, however a GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER was heard "drumming", the noise echoing through the silent trees. As usual a MARSH TIT was on the feeders outside the café, but in general things were quiet on the small bird front.

 

 

This CHAFFNCH was king of the feeders. He was twice as big as the other chaffinches.

 

A quiet day all in all, the confusion of this mild winter has meant a lot of wintering birds have left, yet the summering breeding birds have yet to arrive. Things are only going to get worse, what matters most is if the birds are going to adapt to the changing climate, or if they'll decrease even further. Climate change is here, its happening in our time, we just have to do something about it, now.

Thornham; Holme - 18/2/2020

 

This is the second blog detailing the day I had up in north west Norfolk. After a relatively disappointing time at Titchwell, my efforts tuned to Holme, another top class bird reserve close by. In between I would spend a short time at Thornham, where I would see a small flock of TWITE.

Thornham
Between Ticthwell and Holme lies Thornham, a little hamlet that dissolves into a little channel that heads out to sea. This channel is the reason why you can't walk from Titchwell to Holme along the beach. There's nothing much there, and at this time of year its stark and wind blown.

The only building in Thornham harbour. The TWITE originally roosted on the roof of the building.

 

Star of the show was a flock of eight TWITE. I noticed the flock perched on top of the only building in the area, before flying around and eventually alighting in a muddy ditch where they fed. Looking back through photographs it seems the birds are colour ringed, with red and white on the legs of  a couple of birds.

  

TWITE feeding in a muddy ditch

 



The best way to describe this bird is as a mountain linnet. It breeds in the uplands of Britain and winters around saltmarsh in eastern England. Its not a showy bird, its another brown job, and its very easy to overlook as there are linnet flocks in the area, but the bird has a certain charm. As with most of our birds, its declining, the weedy upland fields the bird likes have been tidied up so there is less food for them. You would think there was enough space in this country to both satisfy the humble twite and our need to produce food, especially on such marginal land that the bird is found on.

Holme
After a brief stop at Thornham it was a short drive, along a very pot holed road to Holme. Its a local wildlife trust reserve and consists of a huge complex of sand dunes, which converges into grazing marsh full of wildfowl. It is a place of big skies and big bird flocks.

There was a large flock of WIGEON on the grazing marsh

 



There are a couple of hides whch overlook some scrapes and the grazing marsh. It was absolutely full of birds with 3-400 BRENT GEESE and the same number of WIGEON all feeding in the grassy areas in tight flocks. Several hundred GOLDEN PLOVERS joined the more numerous LAPWING reeling through the air, again more spectacle. There were roosting CURLEWS and a pair of PINK FOOTED GEESE were about.
Whilst I was in the second hide, a large bird rose up from just behind the scrape, before alighting in the middle of  the field - it was a female PEREGRINE FLACON! It had caught something and was busy eating it in the field. It provided some great views which is rare. It was absolutely huge. There were also four or five MARSH HARRIERS quatering the grazing marsh areas behind, we really are living in a raptor golden age here in East Anglia.

Female PEREGRINE FALCON

 



After the hides I walked along the road to the reserve entrance and then back along the beach, in a kind of circle. From the road a WOODCOCK flew over me, not a rare bird but one that's always difficult to see, so I was pleased to have encountred it. I would only see a single STONECHAT, a male on a bramble bush, I was expecting to see more, this is their sort of wintering habitat.

Roosting CURLEW and WIGEON

 



The walk back to the car park along the beach was awe inspiring. I was the only person on the sand, a landscape that stretched into the horizon. There weren't many waders, mainly RINGED PLOVERS on the shoreline. Like Titchwell there was little on the sea, just a couple of RED BREASTED MERGANSERS as well as some GREAT CRESTED GREBES. I returned to the car, the only one in the car park feeling justly good about the day.
It was a great time out, as you would expect from an area like North Norfolk, one of the top bird watching areas in the country. Its a landscape made up of many reserves morphing into each other to provide a huge area of country for the birds to call home. Its only though landscape areas like this that we can hope to preserve our wildlife. Once habitats become disjointed it becomes easier for populations to die out. I must thank the various wildlife charities for creating such a bird rich, and also people rich, countryside, having the foresight to protect what is so valuable, our soul.

 

 

Titchwell - 18/2/2020

The plan was to travel Welney to see the Swans Awake event, arriving at the Ouse Washes at dawn to witness the swans leaving their roost sites. However with storms Cliara and Dennis blustering their way through, the reserve was flooded and accesss to the swan's habitat was unreachable, so in the end the event was called off. This was a bit of a downer, but led to an interesting day in Norfolk, instead.
Having booked a hotel near to Welney in Ely, and not being able to get rid of it, I spent the day before in North West Norfolk, and then seeing the city of Ely the next day. I targeted two sites in the area, Titchwell and Holme, both good reserves, to somewhat compensate for missing out at Welney.
On the way up I saw several RED KITES, a bird I look forward to seeing in my local area sometime as they finally spread into East Anglia. However in Suffolk its still a scarce bird.

Male and two female TEAL

 



Titchwell
What was unexpected from my visit today was how little there was to report from Titchwell. This must have been the quietest I have ever seen the reserve, the birds mainly small numbers of DUCKS and shoreline WADERS. Water levels were high, as you would expect, with TEAL in the largest number with several hundred present, mainly on Freshwater Marsh. SHOVELLER were present on Freshwater Marsh, and GADWALL and POCHARD were in the deeper reedbed pools, although numbers weren't high, numbering 40-50 for each species. There were small numbers of BRENT GEESE around on various pools and a pair of PINTAIL on Volunteer Marsh (the tidal area). Its anecdotal I know, but it seems to be that the really mild weather is having a serious impact on wintering ducks this year. I have noticed lower numbers than usual at a lot of places, and maybe the warm weather is allowing ducks to stay longer on the continent instead of being forced into the warmer climes over here. Who knows, but by the time we have all the information it may already be too late to do anything about it. These are scary times.

BRENT GEESE

 



It was good to be able to compare BAR & BLACK TAILED GODWITS together as indivduals of this species were nearly side by side. Although they might appear to look the same, once you get your eye in you can see the subtle differences in plumage and shape of the bird and really appreciate their understated beauty. There were plenty of KNOT, GREY PLOVER CURLEW, TURNSTONE etc. on the beach and tidal areas of the reserve, often flying around in small flocks.
On the freshwater Marsh AVOCETS have started to return, with around thirty birds present today. As the days get longer and warmer the birds will get pumped up for the breeding season in a bid to raise as many avocet chicks as possible. Titchwell has a large colony, with them mainly nesting on the islands in Freshwater Marsh.

AVOCETS

 



Usually the sea is the best place to see birds at Titchwell in the depths of winter, its a good bet for a diver or sea duck, but today it was unusually quiet. The sea was quite choppy which had some impact with birds harder to see on the undulating water, but doesn't really account for so few birds.

REDSHANK

 



I heard BEARDED TITS in the reedbeds, but there was just one CETTI'S WARBLER singing, which is unusual. A WATER RAIL was proving particularly showy on Volunteer's Marsh, out in the open by the bank, always good to see such a tricky species, a wary bird away from cover.

 

 

 

This WATER RAIL proved to be very obliging out in the open.

 

 

You can never predict what's going to happen when you go bird watching, but Titchwell is usually a safe bet when looking for birds. Its one of the most famous reserves in the country, but today just didn't deliver. Is climate change to blame yet, or is this just a blip, just an unusually warm winter, something not to worry about, who knows.
Things would get better as I head west to another big bird reserve, Holme Dunes (see next blog).

 

 

Lound Lakes; Knettishall Heath; Lackford Lakes - 14/2/2020

Sometimes there's the need to find somewhere new, to explore the unknown, to tread where my feet haven't yet trod. And bird watching is all about finding the new, the whole past time is built around seeing things not seen before.
New places unknown to me in Suffolk are only to be found around the periphery of the county, places well away from the usual sites that I visit. Today I would visit two new places, both managed by Suffolk Wildlife Trust, Lound Lakes and Knettishall Heath, topped off with a vist to Lackford.

Lound Lakes
The most northerly place in Suffolk, Lound Lakes is a large, landscape scale reserve managed by the local wildlife trust. It was my first visit, and although it was nice visiting it, the place didn't particularly stand out bird wise.

 

The reserve is a picturesque landscape of many different habitats. The centre of the reserve, literaly as they inhabit a valley in the middle, are several lakes, long and thin, that stretch along the reserve. On them were small numbers of GADWALL, SHOVELLER and TUFTED DUCK, the usual ducks.
The rest of the reserve consists of woods and pasture land, which although nice, didn't really reveal many birds.
The woods were alive with bird song, and a small flock of SISKIN were about in the lakeside alders.
Lound Lakes would be a nice reserve to have as a local patch, with the time to explore it, not so much for a one off visit like I made today. However its still better than the farmland that makes up most of the countryside.

Knettishall Heath
Another Suffolk Wildlife Trust reserve I have been interested in seeing but hadn't been to before is Knettishall Heath, situated near Thetford, in the Brecks. Its a fairly new reserve having been bought a couple of years before. It used to be a country park, and still has that vibe, but with further better management could become a more wild landscape, better for wildlife.
On the approach road I saw a pair of GREY PARTRIDGE in a field. This used to be the most numerous bird in the countryside, but its population has crashed. When such common birds disappear so easily, something must be wrong with our countryside, its scary thinking about how bad things may become out there in the wild.

The reserve is a landscape of open heath bordered by pine and birch woods. Today the birds seemed to be having an afternoon nap whilst I was here as the woodlands and heaths were very quiet as they can be in winter.

A primordial scene, one dating back to the ice age

 

Despite this quietness a large herd of EXMOOR PONIES were very obliging. These animals are doing all the management work here, chomping down the vegetation on the reserve, a natural process that mean humans have as little impact on the reserve as possible. In the days before humans inhabited these lands, wild animals like what the exmoors were descended from, would keep open these areas of heathland in a natural way, creating a landscape of differing habitats. Its only when humans hunted those animals to extinction that heathlands had to be artificially managed like a lot of them are today.

 

Lackford Lakes
...And last of all we come to Lackford Lakes. The thing I find with Lackford is that no matter when I go there, I never see anything different, I see nothing new. Its not putting a downer on the reserve, I enjoy going there, its just not the kind of place to see the unexpected.

TUFTED DUCK and GADWALL
 

Duck numbers were really low today, probably the lowest I have seen them here for any season. There were no pochard, a couple of wigeon, the usual TUFTIES, GADWALL and TEAL, making up most of the numbers. Three GOLDENEYE were present on the Sailing Lake, two males and a female, but that was about it.
There was a small flock of SISKINS in the alders by the Sailing lake, there were TREECREEPERS in the woods, REED BUNTINGS in the reeds, a KINGFISHER on the Slough, but not much else.

 

 

An interesting day if not one that was terribly rewarding. Its always good to visit new places, and the search for birds always makes me look for something new. I didn't see a lot today as it probably wasn't the best time of year to visit, although Lackford was disappointing. The Suffolk Wildlife Trust does such a good job looking after these special places, because without them this county would be a poorer place, these reserves are the last bastion of something wild in an industrial agricultural land designed to destroy as much as possible.

River Gipping Lakes - 8/2/2020

After the excitement of the Ouse Washes, it was time for the meat and potatoes of local patch bird watching. The river Gipping holds several lakes that run south from Needham Lake to Claydon and down to Suffolk Water Park near Bramford. I have to admit, they aren't that great, but they have the tendency to throw up something unusual, so I can't complain. The lakes occur in different areas and this is how I'm going to describe them. Numbers of ducks are low on these lakes so don't expect anything amazing. Most of the lakes held SWANS, GREBES, COOTS and GEESE, so to save time I haven't listed them unless there is something unusual.


Suffolk Water Park
The BLACK THROATED DIVER, mentioned in a previous blog, has been present since late December. I visit this site every Saturday and the bird has always been present. I don't know why he likes this place so much, maybe because they stock fish on some of these lakes. Still its a great sighting for inland Suffolk and I hope it stays longer.

 

 

There were other wildfowl about, the TUFTED DUCK flock peaked at 32, a POCHARD was about, and 15 COOT and 10 GREAT CRESTED GREBE stayed the winter. The pair of SWANS disappeared for a while, wintering somewhere else before returning at the end of January.

Pipp's Ford area
This area consists of a working quarry at Pipp's Ford and several small lakes, River Farm and Pippins. On Pippins the wintering flock of DUCKS increased to an impressive 45 GADWALL, with 3 WIGEON amongst them.

 

On the working quarry, there were 15 TUFTIES, and 8 LAPWING. The scrubby grassland around Pipp's Ford is good for farmland birds finding it tough out in the general countryside, with a flock of 20 LINNET and some singing SKYLARKS.

Causeway Lake and Shamford Mere
Both of these lakes are a bit out of the way, so go under recorded. They are both the same kind of lake, medium sized and reed fringed. On Shamford there were 8 TUFTIES and 8 WIGEON.
On the river that flows by Shamford I disturbed a WATER RAIL, which was a great sighting, a new one for the Gipping for me.

Causeway lake held a female RED CRESTED POCHARD, also a new bird for the Gipping valley, but little else, its heavily fished and so there is a lot of disturbance, meaning few birds use it.

Barham Pits
There was nothing out of the ordinary here, although a pair of GREAT CRESTED GREBES had already started nesting on Pit B. Its not unusual I have seen them starting to nest at this date a few times following a mild winter.

GREBE carrying nesting material

 



What's upsetting is the "management" work going on at the pits. Taken over in 2018 the new owners have gone out of their way to decimate the area. Pit B looks pretty bald with a lot of trees cut down. Now Pit A has had large areas of trees cut down, and the reedy area cleared. Now they have started to cut down the trees along the river. What's distressing is that it doesn't need to happen, it doesn't affect any fishing, its just environmental vandalism. People who don't understand the land they own think management is about cutting things down, rather than protecting what you have and then enhancing it. Its a shame really, that this countryside I enjoy is out of my control, and it makes me sad to see it destroyed.

Welney & the Ouse Washes - 6/2/2020

 

A thousand GOLDEN PLOVER took to the air, twisting and swirling as one great flock in the skies over Lady Fen. Was it caused by a bird of prey, or just the fact that these birds are so naturally jittery, its hard to tell. As they settled back down they would turn a whole field golden before returning to the air again.
This is just one of the bird spectacles to be witnessed at the Ouse Washes, the best inland bird watching site in the country. A long, thin area of seasonally flooded wetland, this place attracts tens of thousands of birds in winter. This isn't something that's common in our country, even in Europe, this place is of international importance for its water birds. With the wet winter the washes have had wall to wall flooding, creating a giant lake, but the water has receded somewhat, with banks and islands and tufts of grass emerging above the surface, which is more attractive to birds.

 POCHARD
 

Welney was the first port of call. This reserve protects the north of the washes just over the border in Norfolk. Love it or loathe it, this place has some of the best amentites for any nature reserve in the country. A great café. A heated observatory looking out over the washland. A swan feed. This might put off the purists, but it gets people closer to nature, including a school visit today. It allows those who might be interested in nature to witness a spectacle first hand. Who could disagree with that.

As the water recedes new islands are beginning to appear above the water

 



The nice heated observatory looked out over the washlands, in front of which were large numbers of WHOOPER and MUTE SWANS, as well as a congregation of MALLARDS and POCHARDS. Around midday they did the swan feed, where a man with a wheel barrow full of grain goes out and feeds the wildowl immediately in front of the observatory whilst bird watchers looked on. Whatever you feel about this, it really creates a spectacle. The birds loved it with there being more ducks than water as they wrestled with each other to get to the grain.

A swarm of ducks at the swan feed

 



There isn't much of a walk at Welney, just a saunter up to some hides to the north and back. Away from the observatory, birds were scattered more thinly over the washes. There were smaller numbers of other DUCK species about, including some PINTAIL, and a male GOLDENEYE was seen in flight. Overall the WIGEON was the commonest duck, numbering in the thousands as they called the washes home.

More ducks at the swan feed

 



A female MARSH HARRIER quartered the marshes several times but the ducks sleeping beneath seemed unperturbed by the bird of prey. There was a flock of 150 BLACKWITS roosting on an island and a few REDSHANK may be early returning breeders, whilst there was also five SNIPE on one of the islands, but there were probably more hidden about, as is usual with this species.
It really was a day of quantity, with there being so much about, it just lacked the rare bird to make it extra special, but who knows, nestled within all those duck flocks something unusual was lurking.

 

It wasn't all about the washalnds. As I drank coffee in the visitors centre, the feeders below were full of small birds, with both TREE and HOUSE SPARROWS feeding, one of the few places in the country where you an compare the two birds side by side. There were also plenty of REED BUNTINGS, feeding below the feeders, it was just such a good place for birds in general.

RSPB Ouse Washes
After the birding intensity of Welney I had some time to head south to the RSPB part of the washes. Along the way the large stretches of arable land held flocks of SWANS, birds that feed out in the fields before roosting back on the washes at dusk.
Although no better nor worse than Welney, things at this reserve weren't so hands on, the birds were more distant, usually congregating on the far side of the washes, in a more natural manner, as they weren't being fed. The reserve access, like Welney, consisted of a walk up the sides of the washes and back, with a lot of hides to visit along the way. Unfortunaelty due to time constarinst I only had an hour to spend at this amazing place, too little time to see all the masses of birds present. Its hard to bring across how much bird life was on the Washes, how difficult it is to describe the sheer scale, what tens of thousands of birds looks like. Its just as difficult to show it in pictures, as you can see.

POCHARDS

 



The reserve held pretty much the same sort of WILDFOWL as Welney, with the most common species being WIGEON. There were some WHOOPERS, their distinct "whooping" call carrying over the still fenland air, such an amazing sound.
Walking along the river a ghostly shape emerged into view, a BARN OWL quatering low over the other side of the river. A beautiful sight, it flew below the reeds, then came up again, following the river it flew through some trees and then came back on itself, before disappearing into the distance. This bird always adds a sense of mystery to a palce, creates the aura of a wild land, something distant from humanity.

Male REED BUNTING, coming into breeding plumage

 



As at Welney, there were flocks of REED BUNTINGS, and from an osier bed what must be the earliest time I have heard this birds sing, was a CHIFCHAFF.

 

I hope this blog has been able to recount what it is like to experience such a large scale of birds. Its not often I come here, and next week it will be back to the local fishing lakes, seeing the odd coot or Canada goose. This has been a long blog - well done for following it to the end. I hope you enjoy my blogs, and maybe you could be inspired to leave a comment sometime.