Waders at Fingringhoe Wick......and an Unexpected Guest!!

27th October 2017

Winter approaches so time for a visit to Fingringhoe Wick for waders on an incoming tide. First stop as usual was Abberton and a fleeting glimpse of the causeways and the reserve trail revealed nothing apart from a flock of Long-tailed Tits feeding in the Hawthorns in the sun.

At Fingringhoe a quick visit to Robbie's Hide revealed lots of mud due to the the currently low tide but little in terms of waders in front of the hide, but a lone female Stonechat kept us entertained. Where would us photographers be without hawthorn berries?

On the trail to The Retreat a small party of Lesser Redpolls were feeding high in a Silver Birch, the first sign of Winter approaching.

By the time we arrived at Margaret's Hide there was still three hours to high tide. Today was going to be a new experience for me as the high tide was only 4.1 metres compared to a maximum of 5.6 metres and therefore the water would flow in a lot more slowly and to a significantly reduced depth, so how the waders would react was an unknown.

Black-tailed Godwits were already much in evidence and much closer than normal, feeding on the pool to the north of the hide. Curlews were also reasonably close allowing some shots in the low afternoon sun.

The numbers of Golden Plover continued to build up and large flocks of Dunlin were starting to fly in from the river as the sea water breached the bund and flowed into the lagoon.

Redshank and Ringed Plover were getting pushed closer to the hide as the water gradually covered the mud and were joined by a couple of Greenshank that up until now had spent most of their time feeding and calling on the far side.

But the star of the show today was the juvenile male Kingfisher which was fishing along the ditch to the north of the hide.  Its favourite fishing perch is on the dead tree that overhangs the ditch, but today it was also sitting on the side of the bank of one of the larger islands.

But then the unexpected happened. It suddenly flew out in front of the hide and started to hover above the incoming water allowing several seconds of flight shots to be taken. How good is that?

Well, once again Fingringhoe Wick has turned up trumps. Always a great site to visit whether it be for waders, Adders, Turtle Doves or Nightingales, and for photography usually something to keep you busy.