"River Walk 2: The Return of the Fozz"

I hadn't anticipated that a second entry to the blog would come so soon after the first, but here we are only a day on with more to report...

I'd spent this morning resting and watching TV but feeling a little restless after lunch I decided I'd go for another walk, but not wanting to go too far it seemed that a reverse of the river walk I'd taken yesterday would be a good idea, especially since the seed for that had already been sown by a member of Birdforum.net who'd asked if I would be repeating that walk again. It turned out to be a very good idea so thanks for that Clive A!

I headed down to the tunnel under the main road that leads to Meadgate Farm on the Baddow Meads flood plain, where a public footpath crosses to the lock at Barnes Mill. The flood meadow was very sodden still after the recent flooding, with lots of black silty water laying in places. I soon found black water squirting up my trouser leg as far as my knee as I put my foot down too heavily... not a pleasant sensation. Proceeding with more caution I reached the river and followed it's bank to the lock past carrion crows feeding amongst the piles of plant material left by the flood water. Crossing the river by a small metal bridge above the lock gates I turned east along the river, two mute swans watching me as I passed, the warm sun over my shoulder very welcome.

Following the towpath I passed moorhens on the far bank and then looking downstream I spotted a small brown bird on the water but as I focused my binoculars it dove under the water. I just had a glimpse that suggested Little Grebe, but it was too fast to be sure - I couldn't think of another bird it could be though. I walked on, scanning the water ahead and behind me but only saw a few Moorhens. I checked the trees at the place of yesterday's Kestrel sighting and found it sitting high up in one of the trees, looking as though it was settled for the afternoon so I didn't linger, soon reaching the bend where the river splits, one course heading on to the old original section of the river and to the left the man-made tributary leading under Bundock's bridge to Sandford Lock. As I approached I checked the river with my binocuars and saw two Little Grebes diving on the old part of the river! I carefully approached, timing my movements with their diving and trying to keep close to the trees and brambles for cover. They seemed much less concerned by my presence than the Little Grebes I'd seen at Ipswich though, taking no notice of me even when two people walking the path stopped to chat and ask what I'd seen. I watched them for quite some time, really great little birds and I love to watch them diving and bobbing back up to the surface.

I crossed the river at Bundock's bridge and followed the road past the Corporation Waterworks, where lots of rabbits cropped the grass behind chainlink fencing. I turned off to the footbridge over the old offshoot of the river Chelmer across the other side of the river I stopped to watch the Goldfinches, Great Tits and Chaffinches in the bushes and trees, taking some photographs of the reedbed and the trees, backlit by the low sun. A couple sporting binoculars approached me, asking if I'd seen the Otter... err, what Otter!? I asked, and they lead me down the path where they said they'd just seen one. We approached carefully and looking down into the ditch where a culvert passes under the road we could see a little dark furry face with a pointy snout and beady eyes. As it disappeared under the culvert and off along the stream I couldn't help but notice it didn't look much like the Otters I'd seen on TV, but not having seen one in person I couldn't be sure. I asked if they were sure it was an Otter since there were American Mink in the area but they were adamant. Looking up Mink and Otter in my reference books and online I'm convinced it was a Mink since, as I suspected, Otters look more doggy and broad faced and have larger snouts and eyes. This Mink had features more like a Stoat or Weasel. Not a good animal to have in the area since they kill Water Voles, but since they're here I'm glad I've seen one.

While looking along the stream for the Mink I saw a small brownish rail, backlit by the sun, that was not the usual Moorhen or Coot, looking more upright and slimmer. I didn't get a good enough view to be sure but looking at photos on Birdforum.net and Flickr I think it may well have been a Water Rail - a first for me!

Thanking the couple for showing me the Mink, I turned off past the cottages along the footpath that leads across the fields of Manor Farm, where I could see the couple searching along the stream for another sighting of the Mink. I passed the small reservoir and followed the farm track across the fields towards the new reservoirs out in the fields, where I'd yesterday seen large numbers of gulls. Looking out to the water today though I could see Mute Swans, Mallards, Coots and at least thirty Tufted Ducks, mostly male with a few females dotted around. I spent some time watching them from the footpath and then walked on, spotting seven more Mute Swans encamped in the middle of a neighbouring field, with two Grey Herons resting nearby. I turned off along the narrow path surrounded by rabbit holes (and a number of rabbits) and emerged at the roundabout at the junction of the A1114 and A414 roads. From there I headed west into Great Baddow and back home, very satisfied with my walk!

A river walk

Today was a good day.

I finished work for the weekend at noon and decided to take advantage of the temporarily warm and sunny weather by walking to the river Chelmer, a mile or so to the north, where I could follow the towpath west into Chelmsford past Chelmer Village. This is one of my favourite local walks, taking in some fairly rural areas in close proximity to the built-up residential sprawl of the town, the river flowing through fields and small patches of woodland on it's route away from the town. Being so close to the residential areas and major roads this is not true wild and unspoilt countryside, but look past that and you find a beautiful river to walk beside.

Heading for Sandon from Great Baddow along The Bringey and then north to Sandford Mill Road I walked past Manor Farm and the large fields sprouting to my right and then down into the hollow where the quaint old cottages lay just before the offshoot of the waterway that was the original course of the River Chelmer. In the 1790s the river was made navigable by barges to allow the passage of trade between Chelmsford and Maldon and the little loop of the river here was bypassed, leaving a quiet place lined with cricket-bat willows and crossed by a footbridge. Sandford Mill and the Corporation Waterworks buildings stand on the north bank, remnants of the past, and around are large trees and dense undergrowth alive with birds, the yaffling of Green Woodpeckers heard off to the north-west, raising a smile.

I took the right-hand road to Sandford Lock, the left also leading to the river but crossing over Bundock's bridge. I paused on the bridge at the lock, taking in the view along the river then walking on past the moored narrowboats, stopping to watch a Wren in the undergrowth beside the towpath. Crossing the road at Bundock's bridge I reached where the offshoot of the river begins. There at the top of the trees a number of Fieldfares were calling, burbling and chattering amongst themselves but taking flight at my approach. Onwards past gathering Magpies and a singing Robin at a small spinney I was then surrounded by calling Great Tits and Long-tailed Tits in the willows around me. Then, past the trees and into open fields, I could look left towards Great Baddow in the distance, the tall WW2 RADAR tower at West Hanningfield Road, the bulk of the flats at the Vineyards, the training tower of the Fire Station and the spire of St Marys Church.

As I walked on, patches of reeds appearing along the banks, the sound of the distant traffic grew and with it came a sound of utmost beauty, a soaring, complex, heart-aching melody that resonated of summer days and the buzz of insects on a warm breeze... Skylark! Almost hard to believe, that the Skylark could still be here after the cold dark winter, the snows and ice so fresh in my memory it seems as though I was dreaming. The warmth and the sun was fading though, and so was the song, but I knew that now the chill was only temporary, that spring was taking hold and that the cold would give way to the sun again soon, that winter was not set to retake the land again, at least not just yet. The song rose and fell as the breeze blew it's notes this way and that, then fell to silence.

And so with a little more spring, quite literally, in my step I forged on along the track, a Wren tick, ticking it's alarm call from the water's edge and a Moorhen calling, unfeasibly loud, from it's hiding place beneath a low tree. Across the fields a flock of birds swirled high in the sky, silhouettes against the sky while far below I espied a Kestrel, hovering in place above a meadow. Down, down it fell until it was out of sight amongst the grasses. A pause and then it rose again, to perch in the branches of a nearby tree. I turned to walk on, past bullrushes and reeds, stalking Moorhens on the far bank of the river, a cloud of gulls in the air far to the south, where the reservoirs lay, a Mute Swan powering eastwards, neck out straight, wings rowing powerfully against the air.

Here I approached Barnes Mill and Lock, horses in the paddocks wearing warm coats against the cold that still might be, while Jackdaws and Woodpigeons passed overhead and Long-tailed Tits called from the bushes. I leant on the railings of the footbridge, looking along the river towards town and then back east for a moment before I took the path away from the river to Chelmer Village and back to the urban reality.

On the River Chelmer