A Couple of Hours in the Draper Hide

1st August 2026

Another visit to Rye Meads today and I chose to spend the next couple of hours in The Draper Hide as it was a bit warm to walk round to the Kingfisher Hide, it was likely to be busy, and at the time the female was still on eggs so unlikely to be much acion. What a good decision that turned out to be!!

Unusually a Cormorant was posing right in front of the hide which got me off to a good start.

The other usual suspects were a Little Egret and a Little Grebe.

Green Sandpipers were well represented with six birds present.................

.....................and here are four in one shot with one hiding in the vegetation.

And when you have an itch there is only one thing for it.

The only other waders were a few distant Lapwing and two Snipe which had already arrived for the winter.

Only one Common Tern today which is presumably a result of all the tern rafts being commandeered by the army of Black-headed Gulls. However, it was fairly active allowing a number of shots to be taken.

But now for the real reason it was a good decision to stay in the Draper Hide. When the female is on eggs at the Kingfisher Hide, the male brings her a fish now and again but rarely fishes there. And luckily today he decided to do his fishing in front of the Draper Hide.

Here is a sequence of one of his successful fishing expeditions just below the perch.

And once back on your perch you subdue the fish by smashing it on the perch.......................

...................and then fly back to the nest to offer it to the female and perhaps have a change-over.

Well an action-packed couple of hours in the Draper Hide and nice to have a chat with Jason.

Common Terns at Abberton Reservoir

30th July 2026

After a most successful morning on the beach at Walton-on-the-Naze, time to call in to Abberton Reservoir to try and connect with the Osprey. No luck there so I settled for an hour on Layer Breton causeway. I was immediately greeted by a heron that flew past close to the bank watched by two of this year's young.

On the other side of the causeway an adult Great Crested Grebe was keeping a watchful eye on a now fully grown humbug which was now fishing for its own food.

The cormorantry had now been abandoned and all the adults and young had commandeered a fallen dead tree for their roost.

Out on the islands just three Spoonbills were left from the 14 that had been seen the day before.

And at Abberton a couple of Lapwings are never far away.

Still early in the year and the only sign of Autumn migration was this solitary Common Sandpiper which was luckily quite confiding.

But then a bit of a surprise. Over the years the heronry has expanded from just being the nesting home of Herons but now also Little Egrets, Cattle Egrets and Spoonbils, but up to now no Great White Egrets. So today was the first time ever that I have a Great White perched up high in the heronry.

And then below in the shallows another bird was picking up a stick and offering it to his mate!!!!

Sadly a bit late for this year, but fingers crossed for next year.

But the stars of the show today were the Common Terns of which just three or four were present. Between fishing sorties they would take a break and loaf around on the bank and then take to the air for a magnificent display of graceful flight, and then twisting and turning when a fish was spotted. Enjoy!!!!!