SBBOT trip to Minsmere

A 06:30 start from Sandwich Bay with visits to Abberton Reservoir Nature Reserve and then on to Fingringhoe Wick on Sunday, both in Essex, before the whole of Monday at Minsmere on the 20th. I was looking forward to seeing, and hopefully photographing some new species - especially some waders, maybe Little ringed plover, Greenshank, Common or Wood sandpiper, so expectations were high.

The first thing everyone noticed at Abberton were the huge swarms of flies, I think they were a species of Robber fly, but there were quite literally millions of them. As you walked through a swarm you could hear the high pitched whine of them flying, I was surprised they weren't being hoovered up by hirundines, perhaps they were unpalatable? They were completely harmless but you had to be careful not to swallow any or get them in your eyes.

Skylark at Abberton

I'm sure there are lots of interesting birds at the reserve but few were near enough to photograph. When you first arrive at a new reserve it is difficult to decide how best to go about it - especially as a photographer. The first hide, overlooking the reservoir, had nothing other than Mallard or Coot within 200m and nothing on the shore line. If time were unlimited it might be worthwhile sitting there for 4 hours in the hope something would turn up - but you could be missing something stunning elsewhere. My ploy was to visit each hide and area to see if anything was about and then choose where to spend most of my time. A Reed bunting was calling close to the path near the visitor centre which I took a few shots of on my way out and it was here I stopped for the last few minutes for better shots.

Reed bunting.

It took quite a while for the bird to climb high enough for a decent shot but it was always partially obscured by twigs and stems.

I didn't get any worthwhile shots from the hides but I spotted a pair of Yellow wagtail in the long grass - also near the first hide. They never really came out into the open (apart from a time I was photographing the Reed bunting and, unknown to me, the Yellow wag had landed on a plastic tree protector behind me, someone else on the trip got that photo). 

There was an extension to the main reservoir a couple of kilometers away from the visitor centre so my wife and I walked out to that. It was marginally more rewarding with Nightingales singing near the exit and another 2 pairs of Yellow wagtail en-route.

The extension to the reservoir was view-able from a road causeway called Layer Breton Hill, there were Common tern, Great crested Grebe, some hybrid ducks and geese and on the far side a heronry where several Little egret and Grey heron nests could be seen - at some distance.

Heron with 3 young.

Also visible from the causeway were two Cormorant colonies with nests in the trees - I'd always assumed they nested on cliff faces until I saw tree nesting bird in the Cotswold Water Park.

From here we were taken to Fingringhoe Wick, a lovely reserve on the banks of the River Colne (which empties into the North Sea near Brightlingsea). Scrub and woodland covered a lot of the reserve and it was criss-crossed with paths. A couple of hides overlooked the river and others a scrape and saltmarsh. But, like the morning, everything was quite a long way away. People reported some Black-tailed godwit in summer plumage but these were only picked up by scope on the far side of the river. It is a great place to see Nightingales, there were 26 territories reported, but I only saw one for a fraction of a second as it flew across the path. Blackcaps and Chiffchaff were quite common but apart from the Chiff below I didn't get any photos. It was unusual to see one on the ground.

We did just catch a glimpse of a Marsh harrier displaying, it folded its wings and dived, pulling out of the dive as it approached the ground, by the time we'd got to an area with full visibility it had stopped displaying and was flying away. It did eventually come back our way and was joined by another but they were a long way away, we saw a second pair even further away.

That was about it for the day and we were driven to our hotel ready for an early start in the morning.

20th April, Minsmere.

I'd been to Minsmere a few times before but many years ago, my memories of it were very good and parts of it seemed familiar. There was a Sand martin colony near the visitor centre and I did manage a few shots of one by a nest hole, a new photo tick for me.

A circuit of the West Scrape, visiting the 5 hides revealed very little in range, my memories of Avocet with chicks a few metres away were not replicated, everything seemed a long way off. I saw a Greenshank, reasonable numbers of Avocet, and Black-tailed godwit and a few Ringed plover but none really close enough.

Black-tailed godwit - heavily cropped!

A pair of Greylag geese with about 12 young were on one of the pools and for a change, they were close.

The only other really close encounter was a Sedge warbler which was singing away just the other side of a ditch, I was able to use a bush on my side to partially hide behind.

From the Bittern Hide there were some great views of Marsh harriers, the hide is on stilts and quite high giving the chance to view the birds at almost eye level. I had my best opportunity for some great shots but disappointingly they were poor (very poor!) Mostly out of focus and silhouetted, but apart from that...

We passed a cordoned off patch labelled 'Adder viewing area' but having read the information board about the most likely time to see them, we weren't hopefully. Having spent a few minutes peering into the long grass under bushes as advised and literally seconds after my wife said "I don't think we'll see any" she spotted a couple performing their mating courtship, necks extended intertwining with each other, I missed that - they were only visible for a few seconds, but then one moved off through the grass and I managed to get a snap.

With time running out I was keen to try to see a Dartford warbler, these were most likely to be found on Dunwich Heath just to the north of the actual reserve. It was going to be a ~3 mile round trip from where we were so we had to keep an eye on the time. Having never seen a Dartford warbler before I wasn't sure where to look  and despite scrutinising every bird and scanning the low gorse and heather bushes I didn't see any. I met a couple of people who had binoculars, so I assumed they were birders, and asked if they had seen any, they had seen 3 during their walk across the heath. As the woman told me this, she said "There's one now" and sure enough, although difficult to see against the still brown heathers, was my first Dartford warbler. I did take a few shots but they are not much more than a few pixels of warbler - ID-able from the photo but not worth showing here.

We made it back to the coach with a little time to spare and right next to the visitor centre I got my next photo tick, a Marsh tit, a frustrating little bird to photograph, there were a pair but neither stayed in the same place for much more than a second, every time I'd found it in my viewfinder, pressed the shutter to focus, they were somewhere else. I did get a couple of shots but definitely one to improve on.