The first part of my long planned birding week in East Anglia comprised a day’s visit to Abberton reservoir followed by a days visit to Minsmere and what days they were! Abberton is as the guide’s state, a bit forbidding at first due to its shear size and the sterile concrete surround. This however, does not seem to put the birds off! The visitor centre is friendly and the people helpful, the paths to the hides dry and easy to negotiate but offer no views over the water, this adds to the effect when entering the first hide – the sheer numbers of water birds was mind boggling! Gadwall, Mallard, Teal, Widgeon, Shoveller, Tufted Duck, Goldeneye, Pintail (a few) and approx ten zillion coots. And that’s just for starters. Every now and then a vast eruption of wildfowl from the water indicated the approach of a Peregrin Falcon. On small areas of exposed mud way out in the water various waders probed the mud, including (allegedly) a Pectoral Sandpiper, blowed if I could see it though, nevertheless there were many Lapwing and small Dunlin type waders. Even at 60x I couldn’t make ‘em out but some of the more experienced birders in the hide seemed very confident in their calls. ( No, I’m not even hinting at anything!).
There are two roads that run across the reservoir and the most easterly offered fantastic views of yet more birds; Redshanks, Cormorants, Ruddy Duck, Pied and Grey Wags, Linnet, Goldfinch and Willow Warbler, I was assured that an Osprey would appear at any moment but it never showed in the two hours I was there. Bursts of song from Cettis Warblers were easily heard at the northern end of this causeway but try as I might I was unable to see one.
A solitary Egyptian Goose provided extra interest – feral? I ticked it anyway……
The road from Abberton to Mersea Island where I was staying is a causeway that is covered at high tide and crosses some impressive salt marsh/flats. Here were truly vast flocks of Redshank, literally hundred along with Curlew, Turnstone, Dunlin and Knot.
Next morning I set off early for Minsmere and having read so much about it was in a state of some excitement as I drove into the car park at 9.00 am precisely. The visitor centre was once again massively friendly and helpful (the staff that is) and I was given a map and a sheet with an up to date list of birds.
My first stop was a hide on the beach looking inland across the scrape. On the walk down from the visitor centre Water Rails and Cettis Warblers called loudly from the reeds – thrilling! At the hide I was presented with my first ever Avocets and I would say they were worth waiting for – utterly fantastic.
This hide was however, full of a large party of very talkative people who obviously knew each other and Minsmere very well indeed and seemed to be constantly trying to out-do each other with their IDing skills. I was once again struck by the ability of people to look at something which appears as a wavery dot at 60x and make a confident ID ( I’m saying nowt – I’m sure they were very experienced). This was an impenetrable clique as my cheery ‘good Morning!’ was met with silent stares. Having said that everybody else I met during the course of the day was friendly and helpful.
I quickly moved on to the public hide, which was blissfully empty and here I stayed for some time getting more great views of Avocets, a Black tailed Godwit and best of all, absolutely tons of Bearded Tits. It became apparent that there are very many of them here, flitting about in little flocks uttering their very distinctive high pitched ‘tew tew tew’ calls. Ringed plovers, Snipe, Redshank, Dunlin etc Completed the picture. I wandered along the beach to the sluice constantly seeing parties of ‘Beardies’ – They’re buggers to see when they’ve dived into the reeds though! Reed Buntings and Stonechats also sat around in the morning sun and Cettis continued to sing, sometimes only feet from the path.
After lunch I made my way to the Bittern hide. I had been told that I may wait three minutes or three days if I wanted to be sure of seeing on of these elusive and charismatic birds, three minutes was close as after a very short time a magnificent specimen flew past the hide no more than twenty meters away giving everybody fantastic views. In the next hour I saw two more. On arrival in the hide I quickly found two Marsh Harriers, a female on a post and a beautifully marked male in some bushes. Two more appeared flying across the reed beds but perhaps best of all a hobby (my first) flew in front of the hide twice both times catching and eating a dragonfly on the wing as if demonstrating the technique to the assembled watchers. From the ‘wows’ and ‘coos’ around me I could tell that I was not the only one gobsmaked by this spectacle. It looked to me like a miniature radio controlled jet fighter with the talons as undercarriage and fast too….
Down at Island Mere hide, the usual crop of water fowl had a Barnacle Goose in it’s midst, again I was not sure whether this was a bona fide tick but what the hell…..
My final destination was the North hide which whilst not producing much on the scrape (‘not much’ comprising Avocets and Snipe!) looking back into the trees and bushes produced Willow Warbler, Whitethroat and then…. A flock of Siskins that flew down from a sallow to strip seeds from the willow herb – again, something I have long wanted to see!
So, at the end of my first two days in East Anglia I had seen:
Great Crested Grebe
Great Cormorant
Bittern
Grey Heron
Mute Swan
Greylag Goose
Canada Goose
Barnacle Goose
Egyptian Goose
Common Shelduck
Eurasian Wigeon
Northern Pintail
Common Teal
Gadwall
Mallard
Northern Shoveller
Common Pochard
Goldeneye
Tufted Duck
Ruddy Duck
Marsh Harrier
European Sparrowhawk
Common Kestrel
Hobby
Peregrin Falcon
Red Legged Partridge
Common Pheasant
Water Rail (heard only)
Moorhen
Common Coot
Oystercatcher
Avocet
Ringed Plovet
Lapwing
Knot
Sanderling
Dunlin
Ruff
Common Snipe
Black Tailed Godwit
Eurasian Curlew
Common Redshank
Turnstone
Common Gull
B H Gull
Herring Gull
Great Black Backed Gull
Common Tern (not my ID)
Wood Pigeon
Collared Dove
Common Kingfisher
Green Woodpecker
GS Woodpecker
House Martin
Rock Pipit
Grey Wagtail
Pied Wagtail
Wren
Dunnock
Robin
Stonechat
Blackbird
Cettis Warbler (heard only)
Lesser Whitethroat
Whitethroat
Willow warbler
Goldcrest
Bearded Tit
Long Tailed Tit
Blue Tit
Great Tit
Magpie
Jackdaw
Rook
Carrion Crow
Eurasian Jay
Common Starling
House Sparrow
Chaffinch
Greenfinch
Goldfinch
Siskin
Linnet
Reed Bunting
84 Species! Which equates to over half of the total number of species I have seen in the UK! Yes folks my UK list has finally crept over 150!
Tomorrow I’m off the Titchwell, Cley and Blakeney……………
very nice report, looking forward to titchwell,cley as i am sure will be even more productive for you,they are my favourites
Glad you had a couple of great days. I manage a youth hostel and live only 11 miles from Minsmere so it's easy to git a bit blase at seeing avocet, beardies, bittern and marsh harrier. I sometimes have to pinch myself to realise how lucky I am to have a job in such a great place, it makes cleaning and cooking for all those guests worthwhile.
Taking our guests out during the summer to see nightjar is an extra bonus that still gives me a great thrill
Steve