The 'patch list'

Yesterday afternoon I took a walk out to Manor Farm and the fishing lake there, spotting a pair of courting Great Crested Grebes on the lake and a pair of Pochard nearby, a species I'd not seen here before. I thought about this and decided I would start keeping a list of the birds I'd seen in this area, so thought about how to define a 'patch' for the list. Since I regularly walk across the Baddow Meads into Chelmsford town and also over the Baddow Meads and across Manor Farm to Sandford lock it seemed a good idea to include both of those so my local patch follows the river from the town centre (the Meadows shopping centre and High Bridge Road) eastwards to the A12 bypass road bridge and includes the meadows, paddocks and the fields of Manor Farm to the north and south of the river. This gives a reasonable sized area, about two miles long and at the widest about three quarters of a mile across, but still one which is easily covered.

I've been watching wildlife in this area for a couple of years, although some parts I've only started walking in the last few months after some exploration of paths I'd not previously looked at. I intend to add an insect (mostly Dragonflies and Butterflies) list this year too, I watched those a lot last year and it seemed a very good area for both - although further along the river at Little Baddow there are even better pickings with dragonflies like the Scarce Chaser to be seen! In terms of mammals I've not seen that many but they are tricky to see during the day and I have found signs. The ones I know are:

Mink
Rabbit
Grey Squirrel
Bat (low over the river - Daubenton's I think)
Badger (footprints and faeces)
Muntjac (footprints)
Mole (lots of hills!)
Otter (footprints and suspected spraint)
Fox (faeces)

The birds I have seen in this area include:

1. Blue Tit
2. Black-headed Gull
3. Blackbird
4. Blackcap
5. Bullfinch
6. Canada Goose
7. Carrion Crow
8. Chaffinch
9. Chiffchaff
10. Collared Dove
11. Common Gull
12. Common Tern
13. Coot
14. Cormorant
15. Cuckoo
16. Dunnock
17. Feral Pigeon / Rock Dove
18. Fieldfare
19. Gadwall
20. Goldcrest
21. Goldfinch
22. Goosander
23. Great Crested Grebe
24. Great Spotted Woodpecker
25. Great Tit
26. Green Woodpecker
27. Greenfinch
28. Grey Heron
29. Grey Wagtail
30. Herring Gull
31. House Martin
32. House Sparrow
33. Jack Snipe
34. Jackdaw
35. Jay
36. Kestrel
37. Kingfisher
38. Lapwing
39. Lesser Black-backed Gull
40. Lesser Whitethroat
41. Little Egret
42. Little Grebe
43. Long-tailed Tit
44. Magpie
45. Mallard
46. Meadow Pipit
47. Mistle Thrush
48. Moorhen
49. Mute Swan
50. Pheasant
51. Pied Wagtail
52. Pochard
53. Red-crested Pochard
54. Red-legged Partridge
55. Redwing
56. Reed Bunting
57. Reed Warbler
58. Robin
59. Sedge Warbler
60. Skylark
61. Snipe
62. Song Thrush
63. Sparrowhawk
64. Starling
65. Stonechat
66. Swallow
67. Swift
68. Tufted Duck
69. Water Rail
70. Whitethroat
71. Wigeon
72. Willow Warbler
73. Woodpigeon
74. Wren
75. Yellowhammer

The Naze beckons

When I was a kid each summer my parents would take my brother and I to Walton-on-the-Naze on the train for a day trip, unable to afford to travel further afield and my father not one for travelling. It suited us well though and I have very happy memories of those days, playing on the beach, shooting electronic aliens in the arcade on the pier and munching warm doughnuts on the train home. I return occasionally to that seaside town of my youth, although I'd last visited some years ago during a heatwave and although I saw my first ever Oystercatcher at the Naze I returned looking like a lobster!

A fine day was promised for the 28th of February, coinciding with a promising tide. Having read a little about the good birdwatching on offer at the Naze in winter and after seeing a photograph of Snow Buntings on the beach I decided that I should really make a trip while the winter birds were still around. I rose early and walked the two miles into town to catch the 6:39am train, waiting on the platform ith a cup of black coffee from one of those chain coffee shops, trying not to fall asleep on the bench. At Thorpe-le-Soken I waited for the Walton train and spent the time watching Jackdaws flocking, always a great sight and sound to hear. I pulled into Walton just before 8am and headed out to the overlook to get a first view of the sea and the pier, a tradition I keep whenever I visit. I headed down to the promenade and dug out my binoculars to scan the pier and nearby breakwaters. Lots of gulls but also a single Turnstone out on the breakwater, a species I wanted a close view (and maybe photograph) of since I'd missed out on getting good views at Southend in the autumn.

Walking to the end of the pier was not possible as work was being done halfway out so it was closed, pigeons and a Blackbird being all I saw there, but walking north along the promenade I found a group of young Herring Gulls on the seawall with a few Turnstones amongst them and I managed to carefully approach one of the Turnstones, getting a photo from around 10 feet away. Happy that I'd got what I hoped for I walked on past the swampy grass of Bathurst Meadow that was full of Black-headed, Common and Herring Gulls and turned away from the coast along Hall Lane. At the north end I found the entrance to the footpath looping around the Naze, a nose-shaped outcrop surrounded silty channels, saltmarsh and crumbling cliffs. Negotiating the quagmire at the western end and watching tame Blackbirds and Robins (always a delight no matter how much I see them) I came to the earthen sea wall that surrounds the Naze. To the east the channels and muddy islands in the distance were scattered with birds, Shelducks on the near banks, gulls and other indistinct flocks on the islands. I saw a large flock of Avocets wheeling in the sky over one of the far channels and overhead a flock of Golden Plover flew south-west high over the water. Brent Geese and Redshanks bathed in the large puddles gathered in the fields and on the watery ditches I could see lots of Greylag Geese, Teal, Gadwall, Mallard and large numbers of Coots.

As I turned eastwards the saltmarsh spread out from the sea wall. I could see Redshanks dotted here and there, Shelduck flying overhead and landing in the inlets, Grey Plovers sleeping on the edge of the marsh and Curlews crying their mournful calls into the sky. The sky was grey, occasional glimpses of brightness appearing but quite gloomy... not how I'd thought the weather would be. As I reached the eastern edge of the Naze and turned to head back along the clifftop to the Naze Tower I noticed a few birds down on the beach so I walked over and saw a group of Sanderlings, a wading bird I'd not seen before! I followed them as they foraged amongst the surf and spotted a favourite, a Ringed Plover amongst them. When a heavy wave forced them into the air and the flew off to the north I turned around prepared to climb back up to the path but noticed that now the tide was retreating it was exposing enough beach to walk back that way, something I'd actually never done.

I only walked a short way before the skies cleared and in the warm sunshine I found myself amongst a great gathering of Turnstones, Sanderlings and Dunlin, all feeding on the newly exposed foreshore. I'd seen lots of birds gathered like this at Hunstanton but not close up, yet by kneeling down a little way off and letting them come to me as they worked along the beach I got to within 20 or 30 feet of the Sanderlings and the Turnstones were practically feeding at my feet! I snapped away as the birds fed furiously, mindful to keep my distance from the waterline so that they could pass in front of me without distress, and then noticed a new bird - at least three Purple Sandpipers! One approached and wandered about on the clay boulders feeding busily near where I stood, peering into little pools and pecking at morsels. Further on more Ringed Plovers were feeding and a Grey Plover stood grumpily amongst the fast little Sanderlings before flying off northwards. Everywhere I looked gulls were flying overhead, standing on the beach and floating out on the water but I couldn't identify many - gulls are still a bit of a mystery to me.

At the end of the cliffs I passed the fallen wartime pillboxes and climbed the stairs to walk along the concrete wall south back to Walton, stopping to eat my lunch on the beach steps, throwing the odd lump of bread to the gulls on the beach. Back at the pier I paused to look at the new wind turbines being constructed off-shore on the Gunfleet Sands, took a few photos and then turned away from the sea to catch the train back home.

Purple Sandpiper