With another 'chilled' weekend in Essex in order post uni deadlines, news of a Spotted Sandpiper at Hanningfield Reservoir (situated a mere 20 minutes from home) wet my appetite. Reservoir birding at this time of year tends to yield the goods, and with my year list crying out for some winter ducks, I thought it would be rude not to pop into Abberton Reservoir after the attempted twitch.
We arrived at Hanningfield at around half 10 to be told that there were 'a couple hundred people' in the Lyster hide - from which the bird had been showing the day prior. I had anticipated a decent sized twitch considering this was the first opportunity for most people to go and see the bird. However, the hide was surprisingly civil upon arrival - with there being adequate space in order to view the bird. Gladly, it was extremely straightforward with the Spotted Sandpiper showing well on the water's edge right in front of the hide. I watched as the bird actively fed, bobbing in typical Sandpiper fashion. I must admit that my ability to separate juvenile Spotted Sand from Green Sandpiper is somewhat poor, however you could certainly see the short tail projection of the bird. The grateful twitchers watched the bird gladly for a while with it even sitting up and posing on a raised bit of mud. Exceptional views of an American 'shorebird' that landed on close to my doorstep!
To top off the magical views I had of this lifer, a Grey Wagtail also appeared and attempted to steal the limelight - adding a flash of yellow to the morning's proceedings. Meanwhile 3 male Goosander patrolled the reservoir distantly which provided another tasty year tick to add to the day's proceedings. Being aware that the precious daylight we had is finite at this time of year, we decided to leave Hanningfield having been satisfied with great views of the rarity. All smiles in the car, we then headed on towards my favourite reserve in Essex - Abberton Reservoir.
Abberton had certainly been turning some good birds up in recent weeks - the nearer we get to winter the better the reservoir gets for turning up inland seabirds. Despite it being still November, this was certainly the case - with a Slavonian grebe, Long-tailed Duck and Great Northern Diver having all been reported on BirdGuides over the last few days. Indeed, these birds were the main target for my visit in addition to a few Bewick's Swans that had been frequenting the reservoir. All of the above would be both year ticks and Essex ticks!
However, the priority was securing a cheese and ham toasty from the centre to fuel the trip. After me and my parents filled our bellies, we headed out to the layer-de-la-haye causeway to have a scan through the ducks. I must admit that there were not as many Tufted Ducks as I would usually expect - but there was certainly quality over quantity. A female Goldeneye patrolled just a matter of metres away from the causeway offering the best views I've ever had of this species. In addition, there were Goosanders in plentiful numbers with some showing much better than the Hanningfield birds.
As lovely as it was to see these species, they were not our target birds so we pressed on in the search for one of the inland seabirds. It took a decent amount of searching but finally I stumbled across the Slavonian Grebe, showing at a medium distance in my scope. Naturally I was delighted to pick the bird out and enjoyed watching it on a still body of water - rather than it dipping in and out of the crests of waves on a windy beach.
Soon after, I managed to pick up the Long-tailed Duck which was at a greater distance and somewhat harder to photograph. The bird proved to be fairly elusive during the trip as it kept diving and coming up in a completely different place on the reservoir. Nevertheless I was buzzing to connect with yet another quality Essex and year tick; these were the first Long-tailed Duck and Slavonian Grebe that I have seen inland too.
Things really began to reveal themselves when two 'Tufted Ducks' which were sleeping showed grey on the back and white at the base of the bill - the jizz of both birds looked all wrong. I was fairly confident that they were a pair of Greater Scaup, and this instinct was confirmed when the male awoke and displayed a large, perfectly round head with a subtle green tinge. Yet another year tick and I was delighted that I'd managed to pick the pair out by myself as they can be tricky birds to identify at the best of times!
I stood admiring all 3 species for a long while - these are birds that I don't see very often and to see them all at the same time on an inland body of water in my home county was quite remarkable. Eventually, I decided to move on aware that the light was slowly starting to die. However I managed some decent photos of Goosander on my way back - a Great White Egret was also added to the day's tally.
With a report of Bewick's Swans, the next port of call was to be the Abberton Church viewpoint which I had never visited before. However, when we got there we were simply greeted with masses of Wigeon and the odd distant Swan which got my hopes up - but they turned out to simply be Mute Swans; never mind!
I was still in great spirits when we left the viewpoint as I'd already had an outstanding day of birding. However, we were not quite done just yet. Having been tipped off about a resident Kingfisher that had been frequenting the Layer Breton causeway and being told it was "almost guarenteed" we were extremely hopeful. The light was seriously starting to die now so we had to be fairly swift - this was helped when, on arrival, a couple of birders were on the Kingfisher. It was extremely obscured and you could just about make out the electric blue of its back. Eventually it flew out of sight and then the race was on to remind it and get a half decent view. The odd once or twice I picked up the bird in my binoculars and then failed to get it into the scope. However, I eventually managed to get the bird in the scope and got my Mum onto it - this was her first ever Kingfisher. Although it was starting to get dark by now, the bird showed really nicely - allowing me to get some photos of a species which has eluded me on many occasions. It's always a great day when you see a Kingfisher!
With the light dying and the Kingfisher flying off, we decided to call it a day. This has to be up there as one of my greatest birding outings within my home county - I amassed a total of 1 lifer and 4 year ticks and all within less than an hour's drive from my house. That's a pretty tidy day's worth of birding if you ask me!
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