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.