I Wonder How The Spoonbills Are Getting On?

13th July 2022

On my last visit to Abberton on the 8th June the female Spoonbill was sitting on eggs and the male was bringing in food and more twigs for the nest. Now they have two young which are hunkered down in the nest so difficult to assess how old they are, but more of the later.

There were quite a few terns around but not many fishing close to the shore so flight shots were difficult to come by.

On the Layer de la Haye causeway I was scanning the multitude of brown Tufties and Pochatds and came across one of the over-summering female Goldeneyes. They seem to get tamer every time I come.

Up to now I hadn't seen a single wader but then came across the pair of Little Ringed Plovers at the southern end of the causeway. On my last visit I photographed the adults and saw the nest, and now was able to photograph the young. I could see both adults and just one young, but there could have been more hiding away. Just how cute are they?

And now on to the large water birds, the herons, egrets and Spoonbills. There was plenty of heron activity around the heronry including quite a few young in the nests.

This adult had caught quite a large fish, which judging by the red fins was either a Roach or Rudd.

Little Egrets have also been breeding in the heronry for a few years now and account for several of the nests.

This young bird seemed to prefer kneeling rather than standing. There were also four Great White Egrets present on site but I am not sure of their breeding status, Certainly nothing obvious around the heronry.

And finally the Spoonbills. It is was just about possible to see the two chicks, especially on the second photo, and as can be seen the male's flying abilities were not particularly well controlled when returning to the nest.

However, in straight and level flight they are most elegant.

Here the male dropped out of the nest and started flying straight towards me. 

It got closer and closer and when it eventually landed just 10 yards away I could only get the head and shoulders in until I switched to full frame in the second shot.!!!

For the next series of shots which produced the following shortlist, all that I can say is that I was glad I wasn't using film!!

What a fabulous day at one of my favourite birding places and great to see that the Spoonbills seem to be doing well.