.........and now on to Abberton

11th August 2015

After a great morning at Fingringhoe Wick, time for a couple of hours at Abberton to see what it can offer. There were half a dozen Ruff to the east of Layer Breton causeway although rather more distant than last year when they were feeding at the base of the concrete bank. However, not an opportunity to be missed.

Yellow Wagtails were a bit thin on the ground and to make matters worse all the bright adults were keeping well hidden amongst the vegetation. Eventually a juvenile bird saved the day by posing on a pile of branches.

But the main hope today was to see the Osprey that had been present for the last few days and to try and determine whether it was the same bird that I had seen flying out of the River Colne and last seen heading towards The Strood just a few miles from Abberton. It did eventually put in an appearance and flew around the reservoir to the west of the causeway until it eventually caught a fish and returned to its tree at the western end.

So was it the same bird? Well, if you will recall the Fingringhoe bird, pictured below, had a line of four dots along the intersection of the wing and the body, whereas the Abberton bird pictured above has a clean underside. Therefore they are definitely two different birds.