Last week was unseasonably warm and sunny for April so on Friday lunchtime I took a roundabout walk into Chelmsford via my usual Manor Farm route, thinking that if my bad ankle (still a little weak after a recent sprain) held up I might venture out to Little Baddow instead of the town. I decided not to push it and took the shorter walk but that was a good decision, both from a wildlife perspective and also because I'd forgotten my hat and the sunburn I picked up would have been rather worse had I lengthened the walk!
It was very quiet as I walked the track around Manor Farm, very few Swans out on the west field and only one or two brief snatches of Skylark song heard, but the Great Crested Grebe was looking particularly fine and eight Greylag Geese had joined the small number of Tufted Ducks on the water. The wind was blustery and the sky rather cloudy as I walked towards the smaller reservoir but I could see a Whitethroat up on the wires ahead and took a few photographs as it sung there, before dropping into the cover of the reeds in the nearby ditch. As I approached I could hear it singing still and seaching with my binoculars I could see it moving around in the undergrowth, moving off to the north along the ditch. As I followed it the bird flew off to a bush further along, then off into the cover of the crops in the next field. I could see a male Reed Bunting perched in the bush so I slowly approached, moving carefully to try to avoid spooking him, pausing to take a few shots as I got nearer. Then the bunting flew off into the stems in the bordering field, so I retraced my steps and walked on.
The usual Chiffchaffs, Wrens, Great Tits, Blue Tits and Chaffinches were to be seen and heard around the smaller reservoir, Orange Tip butterflies fluttering around. At the path to the river I watched a pair of Robins, one resting on a post with a caterpillar in it's beak before flitting away into the willows. On the north side of the river I followed a rough beaten track through the nettles and discovered a World War 2 pillbox I'd not known was here, one of many such fortifications in the area but now seemingly a place frequented by the local youngsters. I picked my way back to the main path and then up to Sandford lock, sitting here for a minute in the sunshine then walking west along the river.
Whitethroats were singing from the trees and bushes as I ambled along the towpath and I heard one calling, a very strange sound that I didn't recognise and spent some time trying to spot the bird hidden in some dense vegetation, but fortunately it put me out of my misery by flying up to a clear perch. One Whitethroat singing from a bush flew up into a willow as I passed, hopping around and singing in the branches. I took some distant and rather obscured photographs before it flew off into some low brambles, leaving me resigned to those being the best shots I'd get... but then it flew into another willow and posed boldly on a hanging branch not ten metres from where I stood, so I quickly fired off a number of shots, some of which (though the bird was small in the frame with my 300mm lens) came out rather well - hurrah!
I stopped by the horse paddocks at Barnes Mill to watch the horses grazing there and then walked on past the mill and over the inlet channel to the Baddow Meads, a large floodplain used for grazing. A large herd of horses had been turned out onto the Meads and were charging about, rushing towards me as I left the style behind - which alarmed me somewhat! They had a foal amongst them so I was concerned they may be rather protective and see me as a threat, and indeed the large males did stand between me and the others so I backed off towards the style again and they drifted off towards the edge of the meadow and began to feed. I waited a moment and as they seemed to have lost interest in me I walked on across the Meads, casting a glance back every now and then. I'm sure I was fine with them, I just get a little nervous around large animals in situations like that. It was worth pressing on though as when I neared the river I saw a Common Tern flying along above the river, every so often banking over hard and diving into the river with a loud 'plop!' before climbing back up to continue on it's way downstream. I've seen these birds a number of times on the river in town and at Central Park but not for a while, so was really very pleased to see this one.
That was the last of the entertainment for the walk, I crossed under the road bridge that leads from the Army and Navy roundabout to Chelmer Village and on into town for some shopping and a bus ride home.
A posing Whitethroat
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