Yesterday was meant to go like this... drive to Colchester to get the car MOT and service done, visit Thomas Cook in town, collect car and go birding.
However, it did not quite go to plan. After negotiating the
Colchester rush hour and dropping the car off I ambled into town for a coffee
and to locate the TC shop so that I could finalise my Lesvos trip details.
Alas, where my Google map told me the store should be was a To Let sign and
from talking to other people it had not been there for several years. Nevermin,
I thought but with time to kill I spent about an hour pottering up and down the
maze of little street with their secret, hideaway churches and tiny
cemeteries. Goldcrests called from the
ancient Yew trees and the odd Blackbird flicked leaves under gravestones while
Pied and Grey Wagtails scuttled and bobbed up the streets. Jackdaws chatted on
the church spires and already territorial Herring Gulls patrolled the skies.
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| Pied Wagtail |
Suddenly I realised that I was actually doing some proper
Urban Birding. There are always birds wherever you are and on getting back to
the garage and finding that my car needed some ‘extra work’ I decided to
explore further and see just how much I could see in a couple of hours
wandering from the centre of Britain’s oldest city out to the eastern edges
where the River Colne cuts through the slowly regenerating industrial (and now
residential) area around the Hythe and out towards the University and Wivenhoe.
Early on it became very obvious that although the front
gardens were small, they had not been paved or gravelled and nearly everyone
had a Pyracantha or Privet hedge and as hoped there were House Sparrows merrily
chirping away from the security of cover or proudly giving it large from a
chimney pot! Blackbirds were everywhere and by the time I got down to the River
they were to be found in small parties wherever I looked. Rosehips seemed to be
the preferred choice but a huge Cotoneaster was also very popular and also held
Greenfinches, Song Thrushes and a couple of Redwings.
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| Small garden - useful bush! |
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| House Saprrow on look out duty... |
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| A smart male Blackbird - there were five in this bush! |
The first part of the visible Colne was right in the middle
of some new flats and the low tide mud was being squibbled with abandon by many
smart Teal while Moorhens fed closer to the vegetated edge and both Common and
Black-headed Gulls loafed about.
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| Male Teal |
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| And I do like a nice Common Gull |
Very soon I was picking up Redshanks working their way
amongst the ice strewn saltmarsh where they poked around in carrier bags and
under the odd frozen Monster Munch packet! The first of several Little Grebes
was seen keeping very close to the red Lightship and at times only had its head
above water.
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| Looking east from the road bridge |
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| This monster sits right in amongst the new flats! |
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| Frozen intertidal zone |
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| And similarly frozen looking Redshank |
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| Panicking Little Grebe |
The sewage outfall also held Dabchicks as well as a couple
of Cormorants but there was no sign of the dog Otter that had been seen here of
late. I believe he likes the rising tide and this one was still falling. Several Pied Wagtails hovered over the surface
to glean who knows what from the scummy foam that was issuing forth.
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| Lurking Little Grebes |
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| One of four Cormorants fishing under my nose |
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| While this one had obviously been completing his morning ablutions! |
A little further on I heard a Chiffchaff call from a yard on
the opposite bank and four Goldfinch fed in some ornamental Alders but there
were none of the hoped for Siskins. Grey
Plovers and Black-tailed Godwits started to appear and seemed completely
unphased by my presence or the banging and crashing coming from the riverside
works. The Greys were especially nice to
see. They have such big expressive eyes and mournful calls that fitted in well
with the calm and slightly murky light.
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| Redshank |
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| Grey Plover |
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| Black-tailed Godwit |
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| Black-tailed Godwit |
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| Black-tailed Godwit |
A party of six Rock Pipits appeared from the field behind me
and all sat on the overhead railway cables before coming back down to the
river. They were behaving more like Meadow Pipits by perching up like this and
as two of the latter were also present perhaps they were copying their longer
clawed cousins.
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| Rock Pipit |
Little Egrets waded up
river in the shallows making frequent darts for tiddlers, using those wiggling yellow
feet as lures
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| LIttle Egret |
I was starting to enter into true countryside with the Hythe
Lagoons hidden on the south side and fields and woods to the north so after a
check of a wondrous grassy field full of enormous Yellow Meadow Ant hills and
happy Curlews and Starlings I decided to turn around and head back into the
urban realm I had come from. I added
Mallard, Wigeon, Canada Goose, some more photogenic Teal and two weed eating Mute Swans on the way back as
well as a raucous Jay, two Reed Buntings and a pair of very vocal Bullfinches.
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| The Wivenhoe Trail |
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| Bath time... |
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| Post bath... |
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| Squibbling... |
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| Post Squibbling... mucky sod - should have worn an bib... |
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| Another mucky eater! |
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| Looking back the way I had come |
I trudged back through the streets up to the city centre and
my now serviced car, still checking those berry covered bushes for a
dark-bibbed Black-throated Thrush.
And so my Unintentional Urban Adventure had actually proved most
rewarding with 55 species seen and a pleasant walk to boot!
Little Grebe
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Rock Pipit
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Cormorant
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Pied Wagtail
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Little Egret
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Grey Wagtail
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Grey Heron
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Wren
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Mute Swan
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Dunnock
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Canada Goose
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Robin
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Shelduck
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Blackbird
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Wigeon
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Fieldfare
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Teal
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Song Thrush
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Mallard
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Redwing
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Pheasant
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Common Chiffchaff
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Moorhen
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Goldcrest
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Grey Plover
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Long-Tailed Tit
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Lapwing
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Blue Tit
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Common Snipe
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Great Tit
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Black-Tailed Godwit
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Jay
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Curlew
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Magpie
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Redshank
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Jackdaw
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Black-Headed Gull
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Rook
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Common Gull
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Carrion Crow
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Lesser
Black-Backed Gull
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Starling
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Herring Gull
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House Sparrow
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Rock Dove
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Chaffinch
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Stock Dove
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Greenfinch
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Wood Pigeon
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Goldfinch
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Collared Dove
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Bullfinch
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Skylark
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Reed Bunting
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Meadow Pipit
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55 species
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So, with my car now done and my wallet now lighter I headed
south out of town toward Abberton Reservoir which was almost completely frozen
between the causeways. The gap in the ice was jammed with diving duck; mostly Pochard
but with a few Tufted Ducks and Goldeneyes.
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| Frozen |
The main body of the reservoir was ice free but
unfortunately there were only two Goosanders and they were choosing not come to
the outflow channel to feed and avoided my camera. The Slavonian Grebe was still present and at
least the water was flat calm and the birds were easy to see.
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| Goosander & Pochard |
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| Slavonian Grebe |
With not much else to see and the cold biting, I moved on
again and a brief stop at Little Wigborough Church gave breathtaking views of a
Barn Owl gliding around me with a vole in talons on silent angel wings. It may have been silent but the local Kestrel
had seen it and gave it a good thump to try and get it to drop its dinner but
thankfully the owl hung onto its prize.
The general murk was actually lifting so I stuck with my
original plan and made for Heybridge Basin for a walk around the pit with waders,
geese and hopefully, the elusive Great Grey Shrike in mind. The tide was right
out and the light was superb and lit up the countless waders feeding on the
Blackwater. Both Godwits, four Plovers,
Dunlins, 300 Avocet, Oystercatchers, Turnstones and both Red and Greenshanks
probed, skimmed, sieved and investigated the mud, shingly patches and weedy
clumps for an invertebrate or mollusc meal.
A flock of about 700 Dark-bellied Brent Geese moved on mass from the
Maldon Dump area to Northey Island opposite and some came in to bathe and preen
in the main river channel with much grunting and cackling. I searched through them
for anything different but to no avail.
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| Some Avocets... |
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| Greenshank - Simon Wood |
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| Incoming Brent |
I got to a point where I could scan the bushes in the
reedbeds at the far end and much to my delight I soon picked up the Great Grey
Shrike as it surveyed its current winter territory from a bare tree. This is the first one I have seen in a while
so I was very pleased to catch up with this mobile bird.
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| Great Grey Shrike - Johnny J Love |
It would have been nice to go closer but time
was pressing on so I started to amble back picking up the Water Pipit on the
lower path before it flew onto the saltmarsh and hearing a Cetti’s Warbler
belting out from the reeds. The light on
the waders was even better going back and I stopped for a while and closed my
eyes to drink in the sounds of an Essex estuary in full feeding frenzy. There
was not a breath of wind but cloud was moving in and it was time to go.
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| Goldies, Brents and a couple of Blackwits |
My journey back to my parents in Ilford went very well and
as I was coming past Rainham at just before 1630, I realised that it was going
to be a cracking sunset so I zoomed down to the little car park at the end of
the river wall and captured the last few minutes as Sol dipped below the
skyline and the river turned pink and to cap of my unexpectedly good day one of
our Short-eared Owls was watching me from a post in the rapidly failing
light...
