Lackford Lakes - 21/6/2022

BLACK HEADED GULL and young, Long Reach lake

Among the pantheon of great photography reserves, one site sits above all others in Suffolk. Lackford Lakes is by far the best place to visit if you have a need to photograph birds. No matter if the birding is lacklustre, as it usually is at Lackford, I always return with some decent shots, and when you're writing a blog that's a god send. However although Lackford is a good reserve, its not really the place to go and see the rarer birds. But despite this, the site is a flagship reserve for the Suffolk Wildlife Trust, and is very popular with birdwatchers, experienced or novice.

Pair of TUFTED DUCK on the Slough

Being a hot day in June, things were pretty lazy, as you would expect. The usual water birds of Summer were present with nothing unusual, the sort of out of bird I hanker after. Lackford Lakes are a series of large lakes, man made but natural in appearance, with reed or tree bordering the water. The lakes are reserved for wildlife, with no fishing or any other kind of disturbance, which is great when compared with some of the fishing lakes I visit locally where wildlife is seen as something to be destroyed, not protected.

Female MALLARD

The Slough

The central lake is the Slough, which has a mixture of islands and large areas of reeds, it seems to attract the most birds at Lackford. As with most lakes there were a couple of pairs of TUFTED DUCK, and small flocks of moulting GADWALL hanging around the water. A SHELDUCK brood of one single duckling was present. Away from the breeding birds small numbers of LAPWING were present, and believe it or not, these birds are return migrants, its a strange quirk of nature that Autumn migration starts in mid June, when it feels like high summer. Lapwings nest early, and finish raising young by mid June, but these birds will be failed nesters, or those that didn't manage to find a mate, so are the first to return. A CUCKOO was calling and I eventually saw it in flight, the best time to see them is when they stop singing, which means they are moving about. Throughout the reserve today the sound of 'cuckoo cuckoo' rang out across the site, creating such a great soundtrack to the day. A male MARSH HARRIER flew over the hide, quartered the reeds before settling down on a bale of reeds to rest awhile. They are a relatively new nesting bird on the Lakes, its a testament to modern conservation efforts that this bird has increased to so such a large population from just a single pair in the 1970s.

Dinghy on the Sailing Lake

Moulting SWANS on the Sailing Lake

A feature of the lakes in mid summer is the flock of moulting SWANS present on the Sailing Lake. This year however, numbers were around half what they usually are, with only thirty birds present on the water. The nice weather had enticed some sailors out with a few dinghies on the water, this is the only lake in which there is any sailing, every other one is reserved for wildlife. 

Pair of nesting GREAT CRESTED GREBES on Long Reach lake

Long Reach lake

Lackford isn't particularly that bountiful for breeding birds, for some reason despite all the plentiful habitat there isn't the sort of birds you think would be present. The usual birds that nest on gravel pits were present. A pair of GREAT CRESTED GREBES were nesting on Long Reach with another brood on Plover Lake. The young birds are called "humbugs" for their stripey heads, they have the nice habit of riding on their parent's back, a little head popping up from the adult's feathers. A paltry single brood of COOT were present on the Slough, and two broods of SWANS again on Long Reach and Plover Lake. A sweet brood of five tiny LITTLE GREBES were present on Long Reach, with an older fledged bird on the Slough.

COOT feeding young on the Slough

The various rafts around the lakes, I think put out for nesting terns, were of course taken over by BLACK HEADED GULLS, with various oldish chicks begging their parents for food. A pair of COMMON TERNS did manage to find room to raise two nearly fledged young on a raft on Hawker Pool.

Nesting GULLS on Long Reach lake

Being high summer the smaller birds were a lot less noticeable today, as they were busy raising families, the parents had no time to stop for me, coming to and fro from deep cover in some hard to find nest. A KINGFISHER was briefly on Wilson's Flood which flew across the lake before perching distantly at the very back on a tree. Plenty of REED WARBLERS were present around the lake fringes often coming and going from the nests, providing snatches of views before disappearing again.

Friendly ROBIN having a dust bath

So a not a particularly great day for  birds but that's not the point really. It has been a month or so since I've done any serious birding, and it was just so good to get out into such a peaceful, tranquil place. The face of birdwatching is always about that pursuit of the rare bird, the twitcher, but sometimes its just good to go out to bird for birding's sake. Anyway I should have some more free time soon and should be able to get out more, and of course I shall write about them on this blog.

Spring on the Local Patch - 2022

The countryside can look so beautiful at this time of year

Its been a fairly underwhelming Spring with nothing remarkable noticed on the area of farmland I call the Local Patch. Just wondering round the arable fields, patting the occasional horse on the head, I notice how little wildlife there is in the general countryside. Even in the relatively short time I've been visiting the Patch, birds have been declining. This Spring was marked by the complete disappearance of SWALLOWS, when there should have been small flocks quartering the Suffolk Punch Field and the Reservoir. Time will tell if its just a blip or whether our wildlife is really disappearing at a massive and shocking rate.

As with everyone, leading a busy life I wasn't able to visit the Patch as much as I wanted coming and going every couple of weeks, so this isn't as comprehensive a report as I wanted.

The road leading from Rise Hall

Weather

Spring, like last year, was dry, following on from the driest Winter on record. The Pond had dried up and the Stream was running at late Summer levels, barely a trickle at times. But unlike last Spring it was hot, with some really scorching days. There would be the occasional rain, heavy downpours for a random day or so, but would have little effect, barely wetting the hard ground. 

The Reservoir

Despite having had none all winter, on 31/3 we had a light snow storm, as well as heavy hail. Nothing hinted that this would happen, nor would we have known as we had hot weather before and after. Is this climate change, who knows, but this combination of hot weather followed by cold followed by hot has deadly effects in Spring. Newly emerged insects may die off affecting bird populations, birds busy starting to nest may be caught out and stop. As always if our wildlife was at normal levels they would recover, but with our countryside so depleted of wildlife, it seems to be another nail in the coffin.

The Stream, a ditch really. Water levels have been low this Spring with the dry weather, usually the slabs are well covered by water

Unusual Sightings

Although it was a quiet Spring there were several unusual sightings. I had one first for the Patch in a nice male REED BUNTING by the Reservoir. Its an unusual sighting here given the fact there are no marshes on the Patch, let alone any reeds to attract this species. I only ever get a couple of new Patch ticks a year, so this record was something to be savoured. A RED KITE flew over my garden on several dates, which I'm guessing is the same bird, a great bird, that has made a massive comeback in this country due to reintroductions, and if one has made into suburban Ipswich, then they truly have cornered everywhere. Perhaps the strangest sighting this Spring, was on 17/3. While waiting for a bus on Shakespeare Road, a WOODCOCK flew over me heading east just over the houses. Seeing the bird, in a built up area, miles from the nearest wood it would call home, was just so amazing and just confirms why even for a man who has birded all his life, there are always surprises. The local bird recorder told me there are only single sightings of this bird in Ipswich at this time of year, which made the sighting so much better.

DANDELION grow in profusion in the set aside of First Field

Rede Wood

On the very, very outer limits, lies the only true area of woodland on the Patch, Rede Wood. This is an ancient wood, a land that has been covered this way for at least five hundred years. Ancient woodlands are like the cathedrals of our wild countryside, awe inspiring, and just so precious, something that has survived against all the odds. Visiting this wood makes it just so great to get away from it all, to dose myself in bird song and breathe in the clean oxygen replenished air. It is an area of coppice, with the trees cut back to a stump every few years, creating a scrubby effect, with a few standard trees left to grow tall.

Coppice stools at Rede Wood, with the green DOG'S MERCURY growing underneath

Having a nice scrubby, brambly, ground layer woodland plants weren't growing in profusion, growing in the scattered open spaces. When I visited on 26/3 several flowers were starting to appear, woodland flowers grow earlier than grassland ones, because they have to time it right when there are no leaves on the trees, to maximise the sunlight they receive. WOOD ANEMONES, PRIMROSES and DOG'S VIOLETS were all out in bloom. Although not the most flamboyant of flowers, DOG'S MERCURY was out in profusion colouring the ground beneath the coppice stools a bright green.

PRIMROSE

WOOD ANEMONE

Being a fairly small wood Rede Wood doesn't harbour any of the real woodland specialist birds. Common birds of trees and bushes were plentiful, with a GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER drumming and a TREECREEPER seen. A pair of BUZZARDS nest in the woods, a second pair of the Patch, aside from the Suffolk Punch Field birds, which shows just how successful these birds can be if not hunted to extinction as they were in Suffolk. Its amazing to think that at the dawn of the millennium there were no breeding buzzards in Suffolk at all.

The trees of Rede Wood tower over the bramble strewn floor

Firsts for the year.

One of the thrills of Spring is finding the first of the year, the earliest date that a bird has returned to the Patch from their wintering grounds. There is usually a small trickle to begin with in March before April opens the floodgates and migration is in fall swing, before things start to calm down as you get into May.

Hawthorn flowers

The first migrant back is the CHIFFCHAFF, who returned to the Patch on the 14/3, and it wasn't long before their 'chiffchaff' song could be heard from every area of tree cover. BLACKCAPS are always usually the second back, with one on 7/4, around the usual time, and although not as common as chiffchaffs, there were soon plenty of birds singing their scratchy song from the tall, scrubby areas.

 

WREN like to nest in thick areas of cover, like patches of ivy

WHITETHROATS were pleasantly early this year, the earliest I've ever seen on the Patch. A bird was singing from a hedge on First Field, a place where ever since I started birding here nearly ten years ago, a bird has been on territory every year. Of course its not been the same bird, they don't live that long, but maybe birds that have been reared here have returned to breed in the place they were born. Its amazing how such small things can have so complex understanding within them. The bird I first recorded on 14/4 was only a day later than the first record of the year for Suffolk, so if I had turned up a couple of days earlier, I might have had the first record for the county. On a different note my first LESSER WHITETHROAT didn't show until 24/5, a very late date, although I hadn't been looking in the place it was singing from for a while.

The Prairie Field had been planted with rape this Spring

As I have previously stated SWALLOWS never turned up, but the first SWIFTS were a bit late on 10/5, with only small numbers hawking for insects over the fields. Its a bird that is sadly slowly disappearing over the skies of Ipswich, which is a shame because I love just looking up from my garden to see them dashing around the skies high overhead.

Other Birds

There was the usual cast of birds, old familiars who kept me company on my rambles around this area of countryside. The pair of BUZZARDS that nest in the woodland of Suffolk Punch Field, the many SKYLARKS rising over the arable fields in song, the flocks of LINNETS and GOLDFINCHES chirruping by in flight. YELLOWHAMMERS now seem set for extinction on the Patch, with few birds returning to nest this year. It wasn't too long ago when there were flocks of fifty birds wintering in the area, why they have crashed so quickly, is a mystery to me.

For the first time in years MALLARDS have nested on the Reservoir

For the first time in years MALLARDS have nested on the RESERVOIR, with a nice brood of little ducklings swimming around with their mother. For a long time there was a resident flock of eight GREYLAGS, who set up home next to the Pond, but for some reason vanished at one point. A sighting of four birds had me in hope they would return, but they didn't stay long, and had disappeared by the time I came back.

Someone had left behind their wooly hat

Every birder has their local patch, that crap piece of land that for some reason they are loyal to, a place where they see bugger all but still return to day after day for more. As you can see my patch is pretty rubbish for birds, yet I come back, god knows why. Yet I know this area like the back of my hand, I know all the changes of the seasons, I know when birds come and go, wax and wane, and I lament the ones we lose. And its only from people like me on patches like this that we really know the shocking loss of wildlife we are witnessing in the countryside on our watch.

Snettisham - 17/5/2022

Pair of OYSTERCATCHERS

One of the greatest wildlife spectacles of this country we inhabit is the wader roost at Snettisham on the Wash. On a very high tide in October you can witness maybe a hundred thousand birds swirling in murmarations, as they fly over your head as the incoming tide covers the last of the mudflats. As there is no room on the estuary as the tide rise, they all fly over to land on the gravel pits next to the estuary, where thousands of birds pack into a tight place jostling for position. However in mid May, when most of the birds have gone to the far north of our world to nest there were only a few thousand birds present today, creating nothing much of a spectacle.

BLACK HEADED GULLS nest anywhere they can

The wader spectacle was late in the day allowing me the day to spend at Pensthorpe (see previous blog). As is usual for a wader spectacular, there were plenty of people present, making an occasion of it. What was unusual for a spectacular, was that the weather was nice and warm, instead of the freezing cold you would get in October. 

The flocks of waders were in their thousands, not their hundred of thousands

Its a long walk from the car park to the reserve proper, walking past fishing pits and then the first of the gravel pits and shore bungalows. Its only when you get to the final gravel pit that things become interesting. There, thousands of BALCK HEADED GULLS, MED GULLS, COMMON TERNS and AVOCETS cram into the islands on the pit, a great noisy mass of white. Then all of a sudden pandemonium would erupt as a GREATER BALCK BACKED GULL would swoop in and steal an egg. Its by this pit where you witness the spectacular.

There were a few wader murmarations

An offshoot of the season producing fewer birds, is that the birds present are nattily attired. In the brief days of summer the WADERS all put on some stunning plumage. In the ascendency were GREY PLOVERS, with  their black belly and silver back; brick red KNOTS; further brick red BARWITS; DUNLINS with their little black bellies; SANDERLING in their dirty purple, all gorgeously coloured. Also about was a SPOONBILL sieving its bill along one of the estuary creaks, an iconic bird of the Norfolk Coast.

The tide would come in and cover all the mud forcing the birds into ever tighter corners

The tide comes in quickly and before you notice it its caught up with you. Despite the season there were still plenty of birds about on the mud and the tide line. The birds gradually moved in with the tide, and by the time the water had fully come in there were a couple of murmarations, knots of birds swirling in the air in unison, but the numbers were low. The birds hearts were not really into it as they dream of departing for northern climes.

Rather than use the gravel pits the birds tended to fly somewhere else.

So a bit of a disappointment in that the spectacular was fairly small. It must have been a drag for those non birders who turned up to see it, expecting to witness something grand. However I have never been to Snettisham in a warm month, so it was interesting to experience the place when I don't have to cover up in layers and shiver my nuts off. But the year still carries on and it wont be long before we hit the colder months and the waders start to arrive en mass for their winter and we can once again witness this spectacle at its most spectacular.

Pensthorpe - 17/5/2022

A bolshie GREYLAG

Its a strange thing in the world of bird watching that often the best places for bird photography aren't necessarily the best for seeing birds. Ok this may sound strange but stay with me as I try to explain what this means. Like Lackford Lakes and Sculthorpe Moor, Pensthorpe fits into this category. Whenever I visit I always come away with a lot of photos, some of them good, but I wont have seen anything unusual birdwise, just the ones you'd expect. But that's not doing Pensthorpe a disservice, its a great place to visit, good for everyone really, not so much a reserve as a destination.

RUFFS are so gorgeous, no two male looks the same

It also helps that Pensthorpe has a collection of captive birds, ones to get close up to and photograph in good conditions. The main focus of Pensthorpe is the Wader Aviary. Here, there are captive birds that have no fear of humans, ones you could reach out and touch if you felt like doing so. My favourite are the RUFFS, the males of which look amazing in their puffed up plumage of many colours, no two birds looking the same. AVOCETS, GODWITS, STILTS, GARGANEYS all reside here, with TURTLE DOVES and BEARDED TITS flying about, rare British birds that are difficult to find in the wild. As well as the visual delights, the Aviary rocked to the sound of the CORNCRAKE, crex crexing, and TURTLE DOVES purring, two evocative sounds now largely gone from our countryside.

Portraits of the AVOCETS in the Wader Aviary. They were plentiful on the Norfolk Coast, common in any reserve that had scrapes, but I could never get this close to them

Venturing out into the reserve, the first lakes also feature captive birds, with a collection of waterfowl, those native to Europe at least. The captive RED BREASTED GEESE rubbed shoulders with feral BARNACLE GEESE, the latter's grey goslings begging for food along with CANADA, GREYLAG and EGYPTIAN GEESE, all descended from captive birds, turned wild and now returned to captivity. 

Captive RED BREASTED GOOSE

The focus of the reserve are the many lakes, former gravel pits, now overgrown with vegetation, so that they now look natural. The usual sort of waterfowl resided on this sort of habitat, the denizens of this water boom. COOT families were a feature here, with around fifteen pairs hanging around with their ugly red headed young; there were three pairs of GREAT CRESTED GREBE and one SWAN pair. A few GADWALL were about, but there were loads of TUFTED DUCK, with as many as twenty pairs on the various waters. Three pairs off COMMON TERN were about nesting on artificial rafts, as well as plenty of BALCK HEADED GULL fitting into any place that could take their nest, trees, islands, rafts, they're not fussy.

COOTS are so ugly when they're chicks, its strange to think they'll turn into such smart birds when they grow up

The two focal points of the reserve are the Wader Scrape and the Wensum Wetland two areas of wetland on opposite sides of the reserve. The Wader Scrape was your typical scrape, as I've been describing on every recent Norfolk post, shallow water with islands, a boon for birds. At Pensthorpe the scrape had been completely taken over by BLACK HEADED GULLS with hundreds of them packed onto  the islands, their stick nests all crowded in with each other, all squabbling away. Four AVOCET pairs were present, with some sitting, while a pair of LAPWING resided, although I didn't see any young; a pair of OYSTERCATCHER was also about. There were two pairs of SHOVELLER on the water, a female TEAL and a brood of six lovely, stripy SHELDUCK ducklings which swam closely to their parents.

As BLACK HEADED GULLS do, they had completely taken over the Scrape, hundreds of birds crammed into the available nesting places

The Wensum Wetland was similar, but with deeper water, islands as well, but was more luxuriant, but being new had areas of open mud. A nice LAPWING chick was seen feeding inbetween the clumps of sedge and the many goslings. Also about were two pairs of SHOVELLER on the water, as well as the usual suspects.

The noble TUFTED DUCK resided on the many lakes at Pensthorpe

Aside from the lakes the reserve is a very lovely mixture of wildflower meadows, riverside grazing, woodland and formal gardens. On the edges of the reserve, its very quiet, with few people about and it can be quite idyllic just wondering a landscape which would have been common in any river valley up and down the country half a century ago. Over this bucolic landscape a CUCKOO was calling, a bird that has been a real feature of my visit to North Norfolk.

There were gangs of BARNACLE GEESE around the reserve, on the lookout for some food to scrounge

Aside from the reserve there were further captive birds and formal gardens, where most of the humans hung out. A sign told me that GREATER FLAMINGOES were present in a pond, although for some reason they decided to hide away out of my view. Three species of CRANE were present, observable from a hide, with each different opening looking at a different species. EURAISIAN CRANE, CROWNED CRANE and RED CROWNED CRANE, were all there, beautiful, graceful birds up there as the true aristocracy of birds.

The CROWNED CRANE has the best haircut of the birding world

Pensthorpe is such a nice place to visit, if only every so often. Its kind of handy being close to the North Norfolk Coast that you can include it in a stay up there. As you can see I returned with a great bounty of photographs. Now you can see the task I had in looking through maybe a thousand photos to just pick out these few for this blog. As it is in photography for every hundred photos you took, maybe one or two are usuable, and the ratio is even greater for good photos. But that is all the fun of birdwatching, how bloody annoying and difficult it can be, but how rewarding it is in the end.

Cley Marshes - 16/5/2022

The mighty AVOCET resides at Cley Marshes

Cley Marshes, the flagship reserve of the Norfolk WIldife Trust, is my most favourite reserve on the North Norfolk Coast. A mixture of scrapes, grazing marsh and reeds all facing into the sea, the reserve is famous for the range of birds it attracts, especially rare waders. Today, however, summer was in full swing, with spring migration all but petering out, but there were still a few surprises hanging around.

Pat's Pool, one of the scrapes of Cley

The centrepiece of the reserve are the freshwater scrapes, three large pools overlooked by hides. Like all scrapes they are shallow bodies of water, with islands and areas of mud that are attractive to many birds. At this time of year they were very quiet, lots of AVOCET, GODWITS and a few DUCKS and lots of SHELDUCK. A SPOONBILL was about, maybe the iconic bird of the North Norfolk Coast, stretching its wings out at times, sometimes sifting through the water with that amazing beak. A COMMON SANDPIPER was about, a last vestige of spring migration, there were several around the areas of water on the reserve. A nice feature of summer on the scrapes were four LAPWING chicks out on the mud of Simmond's Scrape, little grey bundles of fluff, that would run back into the thick sedge whenever danger threatened. As usual their parents were close by, to see off a passing Marsh Harrier that flew too closely. In one of the hides a pair of SWALLOWS were nesting, flying in and out of the open slats, with the birdwatchers giving them some space.

SEDGE WARBLERS are very noisy occupants of the reedbeds

A large chunk of the marshes is given over to a reedbed, the newly cut areas a verdant green among the older browns. Aside from the reeds and the scrapes, most of the reserve is given over to grazing marsh, with areas of pools. This is the haunt of the REDSHANK, a common bird here, with their titular red legs and haunting call, you can often see them in display flight over the marshes at this time of year.

My first TEMMINCK'S STINT, not a sexy bird, a birder's bird, had to use a bit of digital zoom to expand its tiny image

One winding stretch of water is called the Serpentine, and it was on here that I saw the bird of the day. Having been alerted in the visitors centre that a TEMMINCK'S STINT had been reported but not verified from here, I was on high alert, and lo and behold what should I find? Now most seasoned birdwatchers know that things like this seldom happen in our hobby, especially not for a lifer to show up so easily. And what's more it was very close, which is good for such a small bird, which after all the stint is. Now I can't really big up the bird, it is very much a little brown bird, an unremarkable wader. I waited for two other birdwatchers to turn up to show them, and it also proved to be a lifer for them, and they repaid me with 'can I buy you a beer'. Also about was a LITTLE RINGED PLOVER another wader passing through, although this bird breeds in this country, usually around gravel pits, so is not quite as exotic.

A SPOONBILL, an iconic bird of the North Norfolk Coast

Just beyond the Serpentine, is Arnold's Marsh, a flat, low lying brakish area of water, that's often good for ESTUARINE WADERS. Today seven GREY PLOVER were about, looking very natty in summer plumage, they have black chests and a silver back at this time of year. Also about were a CURLEW and several DUNLIN also looking fine with their black bellies. 

A pair of SWALLOWS were nesting in one of the hides

On the coast, the reserve turns to shingle bank, for some reason there aren't any sandy beaches in this area of the coast. OYSTERCATCHERS and RINGED PLOVERS nest here, birds that have suffered from beach disturbance. A colony of BLACK HEADED GULLS were nesting on a pool just behind the shingle ridge, for some reason they dislike the scrapes. Three WHEATEARS were found among the shingle, among the singing SKYLARKS and MEADOW PIPITS. This is a bird I'm having trouble seeing in Suffolk, at this time of the year the birds are of the Greenland race, slightly bulkier and a bit more colourful than our own, as always told by their distinctive white rump seen in flight.

A SWAN having a nice bath

I have rarely been to Cley in the period of Summer, having exclusively turned up in the two migration times, both Spring and Autumn. So it was interesting to see what the reserve would show up. It was quiet, as you would expect, away from the sea cliffs most places are at this time of year. But with a reserve of the quality of Cley, there is always something good to see. So if you're in this area of the woods, I recommend a visit, if only to eat the scones in the café.