Last Visit of the Year to Abberton Reservoir

29th December 2023

Time for a long overdue visit to our favourite Abberton Reservoir and as is customary breakfast by the weir on the Layer Breton causeway. The large flock of Athya ducks were on the right side of the causeway for the light but were sheltering from the wind on the soutthern edge of the reservoir therefore no hope of finding the Canvasback, so had to make do with the usual suspects.

The numbers of Goldeneye on site were gradually increasing and a smart female was feeding quite close in at the northern end of the causeway.

She was then joined by a beautiful male..................

...................which duly obliged with a wing-flap.

Now on to the Layer de la Haye causeway where wildfowl were rather thin on the ground. One of the most numerous birds was the Great Crested Grebe and one particular individual was posing quite close to the sluice.

The two resident Redshanks were still feeding along the banks of the causeway and now getting quite tame.

And at last some Goosanders. These used to be common winter visitors with numbers in the 50+ bracket, but this year have been slow to arrive with just a few individuals. Today in front of the sluice there were three rather smart males, although I understand there were more in Wigborough Bay.

They were coming in close to the sluice to feed but, unlike previous years, were not entering the sluice where there is a large shoal of Perch.

But the stars of the show today were the two Redhead Smew to the east of the causeway. Unfortunately they were not favouring shallow water and therefore kept their distance but good to see nevertheless.