Thursday 4th January 2024: Essex Birding

 We met up with John and Andy hoping to get a good few birds under our belts for the year list. After what feels like weeks of endless rain, it was great to have a dry day and we convened at mum’s house around 8am, to head for Abberton Reservoir. This is always a good venue for a decent haul of species, with a number of viewing points and a nice variety of habitat features around the expanse of water.

However, we began with a short but worthwhile detour to an industrial estate in Colchester, where we had a fabulous encounter with a tinkling of Waxwings, foraging on red berries above our heads, whilst constantly calling softly, a sound like distant jingling sleigh bells. 

Waxwings

The light was glorious with blue skies and bright sunshine enhancing the rufous buff colouration, bold yellow tail band and black bib and eye mask. The red and yellow ‘wax marks’ that give the bird its name stood out clearly and the cluster perched overhead were a magnificent sight. In the midst of an irruption year, we savoured the views, a ‘lifer’ for John and our first sighting since 2020.

Buoyed by this superb experience, we continued on to Abberton, starting by the church in search of Velvet Scoters. Unfortunately they were not in view; we had just missed them, with another birder reporting them heading away to the middle of the reservoir as we arrived at the car park. There were several flotillas of ducks out there, predominantly Wigeon, and a few Tufties and pairs of Goldeneye, but nothing more noteworthy, so we continued on to Layer de La Haye causeway. A flock of Pochard were floating close to the road, with heads tucked rather unhelpfully under their wings, but we couldn’t see anything suggesting a Canvasback, reported to be hanging about with the Pochard. Gadwall and Shoveler were skirting the fringes of the waters here, and a few isolated Herons perched motionless on distant overhanging branches. Several of the common geese species were present in good numbers and we noted an increase in Egyptian goose numbers from previous visits - a single bird sat on vegetation on a branch where the egrets nest was an ominous sign! A Shelduck and Common Gull were also noted and a Kestrel hovered above the trees in distinctive style.

Our next stop was the main reserve, where we made use of the toilet and catering facilities whilst notching up a few everyday ticks of tits and finches on the feeders, with a Dunnock and Wren nearby. Tim scoped a Stonechat and distant Goosander too. At Gwen’s hide we had excellent views of Goldeneye at close range and a redhead Smew also showing very well in the scope. A vast gathering of Coot bobbed in the distance and several Great Crested Grebe were randomly scattered across the waters. John spotted a lovely male Marsh Harrier swooping low over the bushes and reeds at the margins and amongst roosting gulls a couple of Great Black-backed Gulls stood out.

Coot

Continuing round the reserve Andy spotted some Rooks through the hedgerow feeding in the field, and a little further along the path a few Redwings perched on top of the scrub, giving an occasional ‘tseep’ as they departed. From the last hide we encountered small groups of Teal, and a creamy headed Marsh Harrier skirted the reed tops before landing in a tree and scrutinising the lake. Several Stock Dove flew over and a Little Grebe was another new addition to our tally.

From here we headed back to the main causeway, but this was disappointingly bereft of birds, with just a male Goosander and Redshank of any note. Our last stop at the reservoir was a viewpoint we have not visited before at Lodge Lane. A very muddy walk to view a distant flock of ducks where the Canvasback may have been a few minutes earlier was a fruitless waste of time.

The light was noticeably beginning to drop now, with these short January days, so instead of heading for our old favourite of Fingringhoe Wick, we drove a short distance and parked up by the road at Mersey. What a great spot this turned out to be; within the space of a few minutes we had an impressive tally of waders - Dunlin aplenty, Curlew, Turnstone, Ringed Plover, Grey Plover, and a lovely mixed group of Lapwing and Golden Plover hunkered at rest on the mudbank. The tide was rising and gradually pushing the birds closer. Tim scanned with his scope and picked out an impressive flock of Avocets just beyond binocular range and finally around four or five Brent Geese flew in and landed on the mud. A wonderful finale to a brilliant day out in excellent company.