A Day with the Harriers at Wallasea Island

27th October 2024

I had been watching the news from Wallasea Island to see if any Short-eared Owls had arrived yet, but then came reports of two Hen Harriers, a male and a ring-tail so that was good enough for me. I arrived to a beautiful sunny day and a meteorological rarity at Wallasea Island, a flat calm day. This was because we sitting bang in the middle of a high.

There were plenty of passerines around including Stonechats, Corn Buntings and Sky Larks, but these were mostly distant so I concentrated on the job in hand - harriers. There were a couple of Marsh Harriers wafting around, both males, but kept their distance which was not helped by, would you believe in late October, heat haze!!! Anyway grabbed a couple of shots for the record.

The ring-tail Hen Harrier did appear a few times but again very distant, mainly east of the RSPB offices. However, Hen Harriers are more difficult to photograph than Marsh Harriers as they hug the ground when they are hunting and therefore disappear behind the vegetation quite frequntly and also make focussing more difficult. However, several hundred shots later I did manage to get some for the record.

Then when I was by the screen at Grass Farm Lagoon the male Hen Harrier appeared and started to quarter the ground. It is a sub-adult because of the pure white underwing, whereas a 2CY bird would have some brown markings on the underwing. It does, however, have a light brown wash on the upper parts (not visible on these photos) so possibly a 3CY.

Then it spotted something on the ground and went in for the kill, providing a nice dive sequence. Well, got to get lucky some time.

What a fun day and I am sure I will be back for more.

Swan Lake

24th October 2024

I was in the area so thought I would pop in to Lakenheath Fen to see what was around the pond and feeders by the visitor centre. When I was in the car park I was told by another birder that there had been 671 Whooper Swans on The Wash overnight and, although most had now flown out to feed on the surrounding fields, there were still a few left. So after signing in at the visitoe centre I went straight to The Wash.

I walked gingerly up the bank and gently peered over the top and there was.............Swan Lake. The whole lake was white from one end to the other. This photo is just a fraction of the birds present and a quick scan produced an estimate of between 250 and 300 birds. This is probably as many as I have ever seen at a time in front of the Main Hide at Welney.

Also lovely light today which lit up the water and showed off the swans in all their finery.

And of course there are prima donnas in all walks of life and Whooper Swans are no exception, and this individual clearly didn't want to miss out on the photo-shoot.

Well, that was a surprise!!!!

The Bittern and the Truxor

22nd October 2024

I went down to Amwell this morning to see if I could find the Bittern and found out that it was Truxor day, so an opportunity to see both. The Truxor is a very specialised amphibious piece of kit used to cut reeds over land and water. At Amwell it is used each October to cut bays along the reed bed margins to hopefully make Bitterns more visible, but also to cut a long wide ride running between the James and White Hides so that you can see down it from both hides. Cutting the bays is straight forward but getting the ride aligned is the main challenge.

So which of the latest technology do we use for guiding the Truxor - lasers, satnav, drones? No, Sean the Truxor driver positions himself near the White Hide then stands up so we can see him and phones us in the James Hide and says "Am I dead-centre in front of the White Hide?" to which we reply "no, need to go about 15 feet to your right" and after a couple of iterations he was given the go ahead and started driving towards the James Hide, standing up every few yards to see if he was still on course.

The White Hide

At this time we could hear the Truxor moving through the reeds but could not see it, but then after a few minutes the reeds started moving so getting closer. Eventually the reeds parted and we could see Sean's face peering out of the reeds.

Well that's the first cut finished and now he can see where he is going, so just three more cuts to go.

The Truxor is a fantastic piece of kit able to run on water or overland with the proplusion supplied by wide soft tracks/paddles.. On the front is a wide cutter which can be raised or rotated if required, and on the back is a rake for collecting all the debris after the cutting is complete.

And what did the locals think of it? Well the Snipe hiding in the shadows below the hide was wondering what all the commotion was about..................

.....................and the Bittern said "bye" and flew to the Bittern Pool.

A great operation, a great machine and hats off to Sean for a fantastic job.

An Afternoon at Abberton Reservoir

17th October 2024

After a successful morning at Old Hall Marshes, time for a vist to Abberton Reservoir. As we peered over the wall by the Layer de la Haye sluice the first bird to greet us was a rather showy Grey Wagtail. Grey Wagtails can be very flighty, but this one was more intent on feeding on the many flies by the water's edge than worrying about us taking photos.

At that point 5-6 Meadow Pipits flew in and started feeding on the slope. Why can't it always be this well organised?

And then to round things off nicely they were joined by possibly the first Rock Pipit of the winter.

Well that was a good start so now on to the Layer Breton causeway. On the slightly exposed old road a flock of Shoveler and a single Wigeon were having a snooze, with the male Shovelers looking a bit tatty as they come out of eclipse plumage.

The Kingfisher was very active down the north-east end of the causeway but spent most of its time hidden in the bushes, This was a brief appearance in the open.

The appearance of a Great Spotted Woodpecker calling high up in a dead tree was a bit of a surprise as they are not particularly common at Abberton. It sat up there for five minutes surveying the scene.

It is hard to imagine that 10 years ago you would never have referred to a Great White Egret as a "usual suspect", but now they are regulars at Abberton and no longer wary of the public.

Just look at that snake-like neck.

You often see Herons catching 14"long Pike and managing to swallow them, but Great Whites seem a little more refined and tend to concentrate on catching tiddlers!!!

While we were standing there two female Goldeneyes flew in and then swam away just as quickly as they arrived. Obviously the start of the winter build-up.

There were also two female Goosanders, my first of the winter.

What smart birds.

But the stars of the show today was a flock of five Black-tailed Godwits. I have been coming to Abberton for 50 years and I don't recall ever seeing Black-tails on the Layer Breton causeway, only on the mud from the Layer de la Haye causeway.

Black-tailed Godwits often feed in flocks but this is the first time I have seen this behaviour where they are feeding in the same square inch of mud!!!!

And time for a stretch.

Well a great afternoon at Abberton and not long now before the winter build-up and hope it brings some rare grebes. Two Black-necked were present today but miles out.