A Trip to Abberton Reservoir and Copt Hall

28th May 2018

Time for a Summer visit to Abberton and also a recce of a new area, Copt Hall, but first off breakfast at the Layer Breton causeway. The reservoir was eerily quiet with all the waterfowl long gone back to their breeding grounds with just a couple of pairs of Great Crested Grebes and a handfiul of Mute Swans left.

The Egyptian and Greylag Geese are also resident, but the appearance of a rather smart Barnacle Goose was a pleasant surprise, presumably a stray from one of the local feral flocks.

At the south end of the causeway by the weir a Grey Heron had found a useful overhanging branch it could use as a vantage point out over the water. At one point it lunged into the water so hard it ended hanging upside down, still hanging on the the branch.

An unexpected bonus today was a pair of Stock Doves that were feeding quite happily on the banks of the causeway. Always in my opinion a totally under-rated bird with its subtle pastel colours.

At the Layer de La Haye causeway one of the nesting Cormorants flew over and a Pied Wagtail posed on the wall, but most attention was focussed on the Little Ringed Plovers which had congregated around the southen end of the main reservoir.

On the reserve there were really good numbers of butterflies with Common Blues nectaring on the White Clover and Holly Blues on the shrubs. It was also good to see so many Small Heaths.

The only birds of note from the Hide Bay Hide were Common Terns on fishing trips from the neaby tern rafts.

Now on to Copt Hall for a recce in preparation for the winter months. I have been as far as the car park before and it was encouraging to see that my favourite sign was still on display. Why not just tell the walkers to get a move on!!!

Not surprisingly the salt-marsh was very quiet at this time of the year so most of the activity was on the land side of the sea wall. A rather smart Reed Bunting had a mouthful of insects for its young, but the star of the show today was this cracking male Yellowhammer. Yellowhammers can be fairly difficult to get close to but this particular individual was most obliging, so why can't they all be like that?

So the salt-marsh was fairly quiet today as expected, but it will be interesting to see what it is like during the winter months.