Great to be Back at Two Tree Island

25th September 2026

I go to Two Tree Island every month from September-March for the high tide roost, so off today for the first visit of the season. I walked along the sea wall to Monty's Look-out and was shocked at what I saw!!! Normally there is a large lagoon full of water with several islands as shown here. But not today!!!

When I peered out of the hide I saw this. The lagoon was nearly dry with just 10% of the lagoon covered in water. So what was going to happen with the high tide roost?

Well the first bit of good news was the brief appearance of a Cetti's Warbler right outside, albeit partially obscured by some twigs. I have heard Cetti's here before but never seen one, and therefore the first one I have photographed here on my numerous visits.

I normally arrive three hours before high tide but even then there are a few birds on the lagoon, perhaps 20 or so each of Redshanks and Avocets. Today there were just three Avocets on the whole lagoon and not a single other wader. They did however provide some shots in the superb light.

A lone Grey Plover flew in with a handful of Redshanks and posed for some shots.

Single Greenshanks were flying in, but instead of going to their favourite place at the far end of the lagoon, were disappearing behind vegetation by the sluice. They were eventually disturbed by an aircraft going over and flew to their usual spot.

Then the birds started to arrive in numbers starting with some Avocets, followed by some Black-tailed Godwits.

Then a wave of Ringed Plovers with the odd Dunlin amongst them.

What was different today though was that although the waders circled round for a few laps they were clearly unsettled, possibly due to the dry lagoon or the absence of birds, and flew off again. This happened several times.

Eventually at the full high tide point some started to land, basically because there was nowhere else to go, starting with some Avocets......................

......................Redshanks....................

...........................Ringed Plovers....................

....................and Black-tailed Godwits.

At one point the godwits sensed a threat overhead.....................

..........................and took off as they are safer in the air than on the ground.

They all eventually landed again. 

So what was going on with the water levels? Well, I was told that the water levels have been low all summer. During a particularly hide tide water would flow in from the broken sluice, which it has done for years now. But I understand the reason the water levels are so low now between high tides is that the water also flows out though the sluice, which it never used to do.

Well, what a fantastic day despite the low water levels, and on the positive side the fact the birds were reluctant to settle meant there were far mor opportunities for some flight shots.

But the star of the show today was this Wall Brown butterfly that settled right in front of the hide. Wall Browns used to be a common butterfly in Hertfordshire but became extinct in the county several years ago. They do, however, seem to be holding their own on the Essex coast.

Now off the Gunners Park to see what that has to offer.

Mid-September at Rye Meads

18th September 2026

I hear the water levels are still quite low so time for a visit to see what was about. As I arrived at the Draper Hide a juvenile Cormorant was doing its best to maintain its balance on a rather thin Kingfisher perch.

The resident Heron was still around.................

..................alongside its diminutive cousin the Little Egret.

While Herons can be a bit gangly in flight, Little Egrets are very elegant.

So now on to the ducks and at this time of year you can't help but notice that nearly all are brown. This is because at this time of year the males moult into what is called an eclipse plumage where they look like females. This is to help them evade predators when they become temporarily flightless during their moult. The exact timing of the eclipse transition varies from one species to another.

Teal are quite late in going into eclipse and therefore none of them are currently showing any signs yet of emerging into their male plumage.

This is a Teal having a bath........................

.....................with the compulsory wing-flap to follow.

Gadwall, on the other hand, enter eclipse early and therefore males have already regained their breeding plumage.

Shovelers are somewhere inbetween and are just starting to moult through the white breast of their breeding plumage.

These two Shovelers were swimming around in circles continuously which is called cooperative feeding. By swimming round in circles they create a vortex or inverted whirlpool which brings food items up from the bottom of the water to the surface. On larger bodies of water I have seen up to 30 Shovelers doing this, all swimming in the same direction of course.

This is one of the Little Grebe chicks, still showing remnants of the stripes on its head....................

......................and here it is begging food from its mum.

And here is a fairly unusual sight when Little Grebes go on land.. They are very ungainly on land as their legs are right at the back of their body like penguins.

Also a few territorial disputes amongst the Lapwings which provided a bit of action.

For some reason the number of Green Sandpipers today had dropped to just one compared to five on my last visit a few weeks ago, but luckily it was quite showy. Also I like the reflections.

Rather surprisingly there was still a single Common Tern left which I thought was a bit late when I was here last, and had expected it to have left the site on its long journey south. On the positive side it did give a lot of opportunites for some action shots and, as I have always said, trying to photograph Common Terns in flight is more exciting than fishing.

And yes, this is the right way up.

Here it had spotted a fish......................

........................but missed.

And finally on to the favourite stars of the show, the two Kingfishers that have taken up residence in front of the Draper Hide now the breeding season is over. Let's talk a bit about ageing and sexing Kingfishers.

The first seven photos are of an adult bird as it has orange feet, whereas juveniles have brown feet. So once established it is an adult, it is also possible to sex it. Males have all-black bills whereas females have orange on the lower mandible generally referred to as lipstick. So this bird is an adult male.

The next four photos are of a juvenile bird with brown feet. So ageing is straight forward, but sexing is more complicated and must be treated with caution. This is because when juvenile Kingfishers leave the nest they ALL have all-black bills, and it will be some time before Xmas that the females get their orange lower mandible.

Therefore a juvenile with an all-black bill could be a male, or a female that hasn't got its lipsatick yet. The exact timing of when the females get their lipstick varies depending on which month they left the nest and could typically range from September- November, so you can't reliably sex juvenile males until December.

I saw this Kingfisher dive and catch this "fish" and triumphantly take it back to its perch.

It was only when I looked at my photos more closely I could see that it had actually caught a twig with a leaf attached. I wondered at the time why it had dropped it!!!

Well, what a great way to spend an afternoon.

And also good to meet Kelly and Lorna and hope you enjoyed your birding at Rye Meads.