Revelling in my newfound freedom post essay deadlines I decided on a trip to Abberton Reservoir, my favourite reserve in Essex, in the hope of seeing Smew and some of the other goodies that had been spotted by the throng of twitchers many of whom - after seeing the Waterthrush - descended on Abberton Reservoir. This had resulted in the large expanse of the reservoir being well-covered over the past couple of weeks. I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon and give it a go myself.
I arrived casually in the late morning and decided to have a look around the reserve before heading to the various causeways or viewpoints. Before I'd even walked into the visitor centre, I noticed a large number of winter thrushes congregating by the car park, a look in the scope revealed that these were in fact Fieldfare - a lovely start to the day's proceedings.
This was to be the theme throughout the day as the reserve itself revealed a gluttony of winter thrushes. Posing by the bushes on the way to Gwen's Hide amongst the Fieldfare, was a scattering of Redwing, much less in number but equal in beauty. The hides themselves were pretty quiet. Gwen's hide revealed the a pair of Egyptian Geese which were a nice addition to the day's list, whilst a few pairs of Goldeneye were also present - providing an Abberton winter speciality. The walk towards Island hide revealed even more Fieldfare with the odd Redwing mixed in for good measure. But the hide itself was disappointing, the best being a lone male Goosander to add to the day's list in addition to a decent number of Goldeneye. Onto the hide bay hide which revealed much of the same. However, I did get talking to a lovely couple of lads who had travelled all the way from Denmark to see the Northern Waterthrush and were at Abberton in the hopes of seeing the Canvasback!
The walk back to the visitor centre featured yet more Fieldfare, before I entered the warmth for a sandwich and a snack. Feeling revitalised from this, I decided to give the church viewpoint a go as this was where the majority of notable sightings seemed to be coming from. With a stop at the smaller church revealing very little, in addition to a large diversion because of a road closure, I headed on to the viewpoint in question.
On arrival it was evident that my shoes were going to take a beating from the mud! Anyway, I walked down to the viewpoint where I was greeted by a decent quantity of birds. Within a minute or so I was directed onto the long staying pair of Velvet Scoter which were actually showing reasonably well! It's a treat seeing this species on a calm body of water in one's own county rather that in deepest, darkest Norfolk fighting the crests of waves!
After soaking in these good views, I decided to turn my attention to some of the other birds in sight. Quickly I managed to pick out a Greater Scaup from amongst its Tufted Duck cousins. The smoothly curved head and the large amount of white at the base of the bill clinching the identification.
A distant Great White Egret was also added to the day and the year list; just close enough to make out the speck of orange on its bill from my scope. Clearly things had picked up, but the best was yet to come. As I was scanning the reservoir with my binoculars, a golden form flew through my line of sight - there was no mistaking its identity! I quickly exclaimed 'Short-eared Owl' and was just able to get another observer onto it before it flew out of view. But with some patience, the Owl reappeared, even mobbing one of the reservoir's local gulls before settling out of view. Although I had originally planned to leave to go and see the Colchester Waxwings before the light ran out, I instead decided to check the other side of the viewpoint as I couldn't resist it!
After squelching through the mud, I arrived to see two other photographers who were enjoying point blank views of the bird as it sat on a post. This bird was soon joined by another Short-eared Owl. We watched the pair of birds hunting for close to an hour - one of them was even successful in catching a rodent at one point! I even managed to phonescope some decent shots (if I do say so myself!).
What a great day of winter birding at Essex's premier reserve!
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