Being the flagship reserve of the Northumberland Wildlife Trust, the lake that forms Hauxley provides some good birdwatching, combined with the comfortable visitor facilities to pamper the birder. It was nice to just sit in the café and look out on the lake and watch the birds while having a coffee, something fairly unusual in birding. I spent a couple of hours here, and it was alright, its just that this time of year, mid July, isn't really the best for any kind of birding. Its an inbetween time, summer has faded and autumn has yet to get going, creating a fairly unremarkable period.
The reserve is centred around a large lake. Formed from open cast mining the body of water is situated a mile from the coast. Fairly shallow, several islands have formed in the middle, creating an attractive place for birds. The lake is still young so hasn't developed any surrounding vegetation, like reedbeds, so when this develops, the place will become more attractive to birds. There are a series of hides that look at various points of the lakes, providing comprehensive viewing . Other habitats include scrub and hay meadows and the rough grassland which abounds around the reserve was species rich, creating a colourful carpet of flowers.
As you would expect for a lake there were a few WILDFOWL about. Apart from the hundreds of GEESE present, there were a few DUCKS. POCHARD, SHOVELLERS, GADWALL and TUFTED DUCKS were present in small numbers. TUFTED DUCKS are late nesters, with youngsters not seen until the end of June, a month later than most other ducks, and two broods were seen today, of one and two ducklings, they are common nesters on lakes like this one. Two WIGEON may be summerers or early wintering birds.
Having not developed vegetation the lake had plenty of mud, which attracted a few WADERS. A GREEN SANDPIPER was present, with four or five COMMON SANDPIPERS, about, related birds but very different once you get your eye in. Forty DUNLIN were also present around the lake, and there were also small numbers of REDSHANK, OYSTERCATCHER and CURLEW.
A juvenile STONECHAT may be a local breeder as they nest in decent numbers on the nearby dunes, and a single TREE SPARROW alighted out of the hedgerow in front of me, but in general it was a bit too hot, and a bit too out of season for the smaller birds.
Bird flu has hit Hauxley hard, and dotted round the reserve were the remains of dead birds, what mainly looked like gull, their corpses left to rot away. Its a real shame, as our birds are under so much pressure anyway, from habitat destruction, among other reasons. At a point where a lot of birds live in isolated populations in the country, reduced to one or two places, bird flu could wipe out populations that may never recover.
It was as good as you would expect from the off season, on a swelteringly hot July day, so I can't really complain. This is one of a series of reserves that protect wetlands formed from open cast mines that stretch down the coast. Unfortunately I didn't have the time to visit them all, but Hauxley was a good introduction to them. Maybe in the future I can visit in a time when there are plenty of birds, like winter or spring, and have the opportunity to have a more in depth look.
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