Seymour Birdies Diary: A Couple of Hours on the Layer de la Haye Causeway

5th January 2022

My first New Year visit to Abberton with the traditional breakfast stop at the Layer Breton causeway but sadly, and probably the first time in recent memory, this end of the reservoir was totally dead with hardly a bird on the water or the margins, so after a quick cup of tea straight on to Garr House Farm in the hope that the Cattle Egrets were there.

Not only were they there but in the sheep field meaning that the sun was behind me, and luckily the birds were reasonably close.

At the Layer causeway there were quite a few birds on the bank below the visitor center which is quite unusual so I started there. A flock of over 100 Black-tailed Godwits were initially resting in the margins and then feeding on the mossy bank. Never seen this before.

Also enjoying the bank was a Lapwing and a drake Teal, with a Great White Egret fishing in the shallows.

The rest of the action was at the sluice where a Cormorant was drying its wings on the rail. A Common Gull was also flying around and attacking Goosanders as they surfaced to steal their fish and a lone Redshank was feeding along the bank.

Goosanders have now arrived in numbers and like to feed on the large shoal of Perch that lives in the sluice, which is ideal for getting some close-up shots. The males are absolutely immaculate.

The females are much duller but still very photogenic with their subtle pastel shades.

And although not a guaranteed visitor to the concrete bank, but always nice to see a Rock Pipit as opposed to the resident Meadow Pipits.

But the stars of the show today were the eight Scaup. Scaup are often seen here during the winter but generally about 200 yards out and normally asleep. This year, however, they have been coming much closer to the bank, although still spending much of their time asleep. Therefore it is just a matter of waiting until they either wake up or get spooked to grab some shots.