Saturday 26th January - Essex adventure

I hadn't met up with Gary for a long while and we were quite determined to meet up for a day so with the weather looking poor and not much in the way of birdnews we headed out, although initially indecisive as to where we should go we reached the M25 junction before concluding that avoiding the M20 in Kent which had been closed,  we should make a trip to Abberton Reservoir in Essex as the destination at least for the morning.

It had been a long while since I had visited the reservoir and our first stop at the far western end I had not been to before. We parked at a small churchyard and a short walk to a lookout. It was great to find a small flock of buntings and Fieldfare . Up to 30 Corn Bunting were seen , with a few unexpectedly singing, along with 5 Yellowhammer and a small flock of Fieledfare. The reservoir held good numbers of Teal, Wigeon and smaller numbers of Pintail. At least 30 Goosander were seen with a single Red-breasted Merganser . Over 50 GreatCrested Grebe and a few Goldeneye were scattered on the water, and bit further away on the margins were 3 Great Egrets plus a distant Barn Owl and 2 Marsh Harriers. We thought the only waders were some mobile Lapwing until a Ruff flew along the shore. So despite the grey overcast skies and a biting wind it was a great list to start with.

We headed to the more familiar Eastern end on the Layer Bretton Causeway. Many of the duck were sheltering in the trees, but we managed to find a very smart male Smew and 3 Redhead Smew, with closer views of Great Egret, several more  Goosander and plenty of other diving duck, Pochard, Tufted Duck and Goldeneye. A small flock of Golden Plover flew over and we moved to the large Layer de la Haye causeway. There had been a report of a Green-winged Teal sighted. There was a large flock of Teal and Wigeon around the shoreline which intermittently took flight and then returned to their positions but a lengthy scan in blustery conditions didn't reveal the American version of the Teal, we did add Black-necked Grebe , Redshank and Black-tailed Godwit and eventually found 5 Scaup. We were really pleased with the wildfowl list we had amassed and decided to end the day at Wallasea Island, which is on the estuary of the River Crouch.

Wallasea Island is a recent RSPB project whwre they have utilised the spoil extracted from the HS2 / Crossrail projects which were moved by barge down the Thames to form various mounds and pools. A fairly huge area that in time looks like it will become popular, although it is slightly out of the way for access. The wind was now particularly strong and rain was threatening, but we did see 2 Ringtail Hen Harriers, several Marsh Harriers, a large flock of approximately 2,000 Golden Plover, Avocets were on the rising tide and a Green Sandpiper flew over calling, 2 Stonechats were briefly seen but  no hoped for Short-eared Owls probably due to the strengthening wind. We left at dusk very satisfied with our day out.

Great Egret

Drake Smew

Smew taking flight

Drake Goosander

female Goosander

Sunday 20th January - Coastal breezes

I hadn't been to the coast for a long while. Looking back, my last visit to the Selsey peninsula was last Summer. A strong southerly wind was predicted, which had the advantage of any seabirds being close to the shore but the direction meant that wet optics and watery eyes might be the obstacle.

It turned into a fairly decent seawatch with numbers of Gannets, Kittiwakes and Razorbills being higher than I've seen for a long time In Sussex and the southerly wind kept them closer to shore . The Razorbills in particular were heading past in Groups of 20 or 30 and numbered over 2,000 birds. The mobile feeding flock of Gannets was around 300. Smaller numbers of Guillemot and Red-breasted Merganser, 2 Fulmar were seen along with around 30 Red-throated Diver and 2 Great Northern Divers.

I moved to Church Norton where a few of the common waders were in the harbour (Grey Plover, Dunlin, Oystercatcher  Bar-tailed Godwit, Ringed Plover and Turnstone) and the wintering Whimbrel was still in its favoured location on the edge of the harbour. A walk to the end of the spit was cold in the biting wind, a few Skylark alighted, and a female Goosander , a Red-breasted Merganser and a few Goldeneye were in the harbour mouth and many of the Brent Geese flock near the North Wall were just visible.

A final stop at Siddlesham where a small Lapwing Flock were in the ferry field with 4 Snipe. The Ferry channel held some Black-tailed Godwit and a Kingfisher flew past.

Little Egret

Whimbrel at Church Norton