An Hour at Abberton Reservoir

25th November 2025

After a most successful morning at Holland Haven time to try and get to Abberton before the low winter sun casts long shadows over the eastern side of the Layer de la Haye causeway. There was quite a significant increase in the wildfowl since my last visit with hundreds upon hundreds of Tufted Ducks with a sprinkling of Pochard and Great Crested Grebes. But the most pleasing of all were the 30+ Goosanders present, a sure sign that winter is on its way.

Mostly keeping their distance and not coming into the sluice to feed on the large shoal of small Perch that live in there, but one or two did come close enough for some shots. 

Here is a male................

.........................and a female.

Further out on the reservoir there was a lot of commotion...............

.......................which eventually turned into aggression........................

.................and appeared to be males fighting for females for next years breeding season.

I then spotted a particular brown duck far out amongst the tufties. Luckily it started swimming towards the bank and after about five minutes had come close enough for some photos, a female Scaup. There had been five during the week, but no sign of the others.

And a couple of shots showing the comparison with a male tufty. Notice the difference in head profile.

There had also been a Slavonian Grebe in the morning, but it had swum out with the main flock and did not return with them, so that will have to wait for another day.