Alton Water - 11/8/2022

Pair of EGYPTIAN GEESE.

Being the largest body of freshwater in Suffolk, Alton Water can be a magnet for some rare and interesting birds. On the other hand you can get days when you slog round the vast reservoir and see nothing except the odd coot. Today's visit was like the latter, a fairly fruitless attempt to try and pickup a somewhat underwhelming August so far for birds.

The view from the Northern Hides, Part 1: Plenty of mud, but still plenty of water

Being August, and the hottest August in recent history, birdwatching was going to be difficult, a dying landscape, with all the birds sheltering from the intense heat. So with that in mind I decided that areas of water would be the best bet to find birds, and one place where it will still be wet was Alton Water. Despite large areas of mud, especially on the Dog's Tail, there was still large amounts of water left, even if, in the end, not many birds.

A HERON from the Northern Hides

With all the mud about I thought that  maybe some WADERS may be attracted, those birds that feed on muddy margins. However, only two COMMON SANDPIPERS by the Northern Hide, and a GREEN SANDPIPER on the Dog's Tail was about it. Similarly, August can be a good time to see DUCKS, as they become flightless and seek deeper water as they moult their feathers. Again only a handful of TUFTED DUCK and POCHARD were about in a small flock near the causeway. For some reason Alton Water is pretty poor for ducks, I never see any big flocks of anything there, which you would think is surprising for such a large body of water.

View from the Larchwood Hides (the southern ones)

On the various rafts on the water, Alton is the site of Suffolk's second COMMON TERN colony, but although successful, the whole colony upped and left last week, for no reason. This was according to a local birder, and as a result of this only a couple of birds were about. Other hawkers of the air were over the water, as small numbers of SWALLOWS and SAND and HOUSE MARTINS passed through, dipping and corkscrewing through the air in pursuit of some flying lunch.

Birding at Alton Water means bored looks through hundreds of geese

As you would expect, large numbers of GEESE were about, with around a hundred EGYPTIAN GEESE here, I wonder where they all come from, as I have never see any nest here, never any goslings. These birds are bucking the trend and increasing in plague proportions, there are now so many about, on most bodies of water.

A FOX on the Dog's Tail, old and dishevelled he was of no threat to the nearby wildfowl

Out on the mud of the Dog's Tail, a FOX slinked around, old and dishevelled, he was of no interest to the nearby resting ducks who nonchanontly watched him saunter past. Nearby a SLOW WORM, slithered passed, in the thick undergrowth. Although they look like snakes, they are really legless lizards, and they are hard to see, as with all animals in a human controlled world they are used to disappearing quickly.

View from the Northern Hides part 2: One of the tern rafts, in June this is a thriving colony, but had now been abandoned

A fairly underwhelming show from the big blue. It can be hard work watching Alton Water, as there are so few observation points on such a large place, which means anything can escape observation. However its still a decent place to go bird watching, I've seen interesting birds here (gull-billed tern for one), and I'm still going to keep visiting, because under the shade of the trees, with the water lapping on the reservoir edge, its still a great place to spend some time.