Alton Water - 11/10/2021

HERON

The peaceful, calm waters of the reservoir gently lap on the shoreline, a calm movement accentuated by the peaceful sound of the place. Out on the reservoir GULLS swirl about, as the shape of a GREAT CRESTED GREBE is silhouetted against the blue grey expanse. Alton Water, the largest area of fresh water in Suffolk, is a very manmade place that has bee softened by nature over time. And nature thrives in this area making it a good destination for local bird watching.

CORMORANT

Its been a year since I last visited the place, due to lockdowns, and a lack of leisure time, leading to less time for birding, leaving me to prioritise the better places to bird at. As a birding site Alton Water is a tough place to categorise. Due to its size and location it attracts many rare and unusual birds, but a lot of time it can be bleak and birdless. There have been times when I've turned up and all I've seen is a solitary coot. The mild sunny weather this October has meant that waterfowl are present in low numbers and there wasn't much about. When weather is harsher on the continent, birds get pushed to our more relatively mild climate, and we get large numbers of ducks turning up.

Female GOOSANDER

Today was a quiet day in a fairly uneventful Autumn migration time. Most unusual was an early female GOOSANDER, a nice redhead, seen from the northern hides. This female has arrived at the earliest date I have recorded the bird in Suffolk and is a first for me at Alton Water. Although a common winter visitor to reservoirs and gravel pits across the country, the relative lack of these habitats in Suffolk, makes it fairly scarce in this county. Otherwise, DUCKS were present in surprisingly small numbers at the reservoir as around thirty TUFTED DUCK were about, with small numbers of SHOVELLER and TEAL.

Pair of SWANS, note the red ring on the cobb's leg

With all the woodland planted around the edges of the reservoir there is lots of room to give the smaller birds a home. There have been influxes of BALCKBIRDS and GOLDCRESTS recently, the latter forming small flocks, twinkling in the trees, and among some of the flocks there were some TREECREEPERS about. An area of scrub in the Dogs Tail held a female BULLFINCH, which is a nice record, as I haven't seen too many of them recently. Also about on the Dogs Tale were two KINGFISHERS an all too brief sighting, little shots of sapphire blurring past at rocket speed.

Gaggle of GREYLAGS

Its always a shame that the best of days for being outside, like the warm sunny day today, are always the worst for birdwatching. It seems to have been a very poor Autumn migration so far, not merely for rare birds but also the more common or just scarce ones. And its not just for me, across the country it seems to be the same, and I wonder if something has gone wrong, have bird populations crashes, or is it that just the winds have been blowing in the wrong direction. This may be nothing or it maybe the beginning of the end, a little blip or something more serious?