I've left it a little long to write this post so some details are perhaps a little hazy but hopefully I'll have remembered the important parts of the day.
After talking about the wildlife I'd been seeing with some of the people on Flickr, where I post photographs and talk to other local people I'd arranged to meet up on Sunday the 19th with a couple of others and to take them on a wildlife walk up to Manor Farm and Sandford mill. We met at the Vineyards around 8.30am, a rather unpromising grey and blustery morning but headed off towards Maldon Road and the start of the footpath at the roundabout of Baddow Hall Avenue.
As we followed the footpath beside the sliproad of the A1114 the morning traffic drowned out much of the natural sounds but we did find a Dunnock in a hawthorn here, singing bravely over the roar of the cars. Ahead where the path veered right a white flash as a rabbit ran for the safety of it's warren, another motionless beneath a bush, watching with wrinkled nose. We slowly trod the track beside the pines, looking out for signs of life. A lone Robin could be heard in the depths of the spinney but little else bar the flies moved. At a junction of tracks we looked out into the left field, a place where I'd seen Grey Partridges before, but found just a few Mute Swans sitting far out in the distance. We climbed the earth bank surrounding an old reservoir, dried out but a patch of reeds at the far end suggested a little water remains - possibly a spot worth watching.
Taking the track eastwards we could see Skylarks in the air and a few Swallows high up, plus some Tufted Ducks, Coots and Great Crested Grebes on the fishing reservoir to the left. On up the track and turning off down beside the reservoir we could hear Great Tits and Chiffchaffs calling, while a Robin and a Willow Warbler sang from the Alders. A pair of Wrens sang in the thicket and a speckled wood butterfly fluttered in the nettles.
Passing behind the cottages we saw a wren in a bordering tree holding it's left leg up, possibly having injured it the poor bird could not put weight onto the limb. I know though that many birds with similar injuries manage to carry on well, not quite as bad as might be thought at first sight. More butterflies here, Peacocks and Orange Tips, and a male Chaffinch high in the wires. We came out onto Sandford Mill Road and turned north to the river crossing, Bev seeing what may have been Little Grebes down on the river and Chris watching a Goldcrest up ahead. Another Chiffchaff in the trees here and at the small clearing to the right we startled a rabbit and a Sparrowhawk - I'd only just said to Bev and Chris that rabbits and a Sparrowhawk were sometimes here so I was pretty pleased!
More Chaffinches on the wires (perhaps they should be called Wirefinches) as we turned left at the fork and crossed over Bundock's Bridge, then right along the towpath towards Sandford Lock, spotting a Mistle Thrush in the field to the left. At the lock we turned south along the road back to the river crossing, retracing our steps through Manor Farm to the reservoir where we chatted to a man walking his dog. We mentioned our (well, my!) reluctance to go to the larger reservoir due to the no tresspassing signs, but he said that was intended towards fishermen, not walkers and that it was fine to go to the water's edge. We hastened along the farm track to the crossways and turned right along the track to where it came closest to the reservoir, where no ploughing was done or crops planted. There we found an excavated hollow lined with wood chippings, a little fishing spot, that was unoccupied so we went down to look closer at the birds. A single Great Crested Grebe was out fishing on the water and a number of Tufted Ducks and some Mallards were on the bank just opposite where we stood. As we looked out a bird flashed across in front of us and I tried to track it with my binoculars. Against the sun it was hard to see but the shape and flight was unmistakeable - a Kingfisher!
We walked back along the track towards the crossroad but paused when we spotted some Peacock butterflies in a ditch, then realising the field in front of us was full of Skylarks. The sound of song carried across to us and a number could be seen hovering in the field, scuffling in the air as they drifted too close to each other's territories. We spent quite some time watching them and trying to photograph them (rather difficult at such a distance!) before walking on, finding it very difficult to drag ourselves away! At the crossroads Chris stopped and scanned the horizon, then pointed at a bramble on top of the earth bank. There a Whitethroat was singing, a song I'd also heard but not heard, ignored as I thought of Skylarks. It was a way off but wonderful to see, the first I'd seen in Essex! With that we strode on back to Great Baddow and the end of the walk, a very pleasant morning indeed.
Skylarks fighting over territory
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