Jenny James, the Publicity Officer for the group wrote to me about the group's marvelous Havergate Island experience. She says
"In August this year the RSPB Woodbridge Local Group claimed a remarkable achievement. The group has made profits totalling £50,000 from organising the Havergate Adventure every August for the last 25 years. During this time, nearly 10,000 visitors have been taken by boat from Orford Quay to Havergate Island, enjoyed a bird-watching walk with a guide from the group and finished up with home-made cakes and sandwiches.
This four-day event started in 1989 as a way of raising money for the restoration of Havergate Island after the Great Storm of 1987 and has since become an annual fixture. We have looked after local people, families and summer visitors; some of them experienced bird watchers and others looking closely at birds for the first time. Many are curious to see the hidden lagoons and to experience the sight and sound of the flocks of gulls and waders which rest and feed there. All of them appreciate this quiet and secluded place, tucked into the Ore and Alde estuary at its junction with Butley Creek.
Havergate Island has evolved from the time when it was the haunt of smugglers and when the early river walls protected pastures used for summer grazing. Since 1948 the RSPB have created a haven for wildlife by making a series of salt-water lagoons concealed behind the strengthened river walls. These are overlooked by a series of hides and connected by board walks and bridges.
Each year of the 25 years has been different, both for the weather and for the birds. The unreliable August weather has mostly been very kind to us. We have sometimes basked in blue skies and light winds, with resident and migrant waders, gulls and terns feeding peacefully in the lagoons until a passing marsh harrier or sparrow hawk sends them up in swirling clouds before they settle again. However there have been times when high tides, strong winds or heavy rain have forced a retreat from the island to ensure the safety of our visitors.
Perhaps surprisingly, August is a good month to visit Havergate Island. On many reserves it can be a quiet period, between the breeding season and the autumn passage migrants. Here, one of the attractions for our visitors has been the spoonbills, each year they arrive from early summer onward, from the near continent. Alongside them there are increasing numbers of avocets, arriving from other UK breeding sites and from Holland and Germany. These lovely birds can be seen in flight as a swirling flock of black and white before they descend to feed in the lagoons.
In most years we have had a wealth of passage migrants arriving as they complete their breeding further north. Dunlins, little stints, turnstones, greenshanks, spotted redshanks, ringed plovers, ruffs and many others have been seen in August on the lagoons as they call in to feed and rest on their way south. Many of the birds still show remnants of their breeding plumage and in some years we have seen chestnut coloured black tailed and bar tailed godwits or dunlins, grey plovers and golden plovers with their striking black markings.
As we look back on our 25 years of The Havergate Adventure, we feel happy that we have given a great many people and families a good day out introducing some new people, particularly youngsters, to the delights of bird watching."
The Havergate Adventure takes place over the 3rd weekend of August.
In 2014 it will be August 19-22. Booking starts on August 4.
For all details of the RSPB Woodbridge Group’s activities please see the website www.rspb.org.uk/groups/woodbridge.
No matter what you think you are, you are always and in all ways so much more!