A Summer Visit to Abberton Reservoir

28th June 2020

I don't normally regard Abberton as a summer site as the wintering wildfowl have gone and the autumn migrants are yet to arrive. But with most of the reserves still in lock-down and the coast a place to avoid, it seemed quite attractive. Not too surprising that we were greeted by the resident Egyptian Geese, Tufted Duck, Pochard and Mute Swans.

The brown feathers on the flanks of the male Tufties show that they are already getting their eclipse plumage where they will end up looking like the females.

One of the Mute Swans was putting all its efforts into a well deserved bath.

Not many gulls around now apart from the Black-heads that breed on the tern rafts.These were making the most of some bread thrown for them.

Great Crested Grebes are at their stunning best and some have young. This singleton was presumably a non-breeder but did pose for a few shots.

This Grey heron was fishing in the weir pool by Layer Breton Causeway. The depth of water was just right and it appeared totally unconcerned by my presence as I leaned over the wall to photograph it.

The hotspot today was the small area of gravel and mud in the south-east corner of the Layer-de-la-Haye causeway. First up was a lone Sky Lark which was looking for seeds amongst the gravel of the new bank. It was quite settled until flushed by a couple of walkers.

There were also a few Pied Wagtails around looking for flies on the flotsom on the bank and the algae in the shallows.

Then, as I was photographing the wagtails a couple of birds flew in and ran towards me. It was only after I had taken some shots that I realised that they were Little Ringed Plovers. What a perfect end to the day.