If you have been to Boyton Marshes lately you will have noticed that the scrape is looking like new. We had a digger spend a couple of days turning the islands over and scraping around the edges to clear away the juncus. We have let the water level rise as high as we can get it to suppress the vegetation growing; we will keep this high until the end of the month and then let it drop.
Top counts at Boyton this month are mute swan 75, one whooper swan can often be found amongst these, wigeon 398, teal 163, avocet 11, lapwing 37, dunlin 83, black tailed godwit 37, Curlew 183, redshank 208. Our volunteer Reg is often lucky enough to see otters, I know he got some good photos last week which I will try to post soon.
Picture - Boyton Flash
Hollesley Marshes has been getting a few more visits over the past couple of weeks thanks to the Glossy Ibis that has been wandering around mainly spending its time with a couple little egrets.
Again, like Boyton we have let the water level rise on the scrape to submerge the island and help to suppress the vegetation from growing. Breeding birds that use the scrape will not nest if the islands are full of vegetation. They like a clear view to see any predators coming when they are nesting, once the chicks hatch they can move and find vegetation to take cover and hide.
Top counts at Hollesley this past month
Cormorants 440 ( tip of Orford Ness), Barnical Geese 17, Canada geese 100, Brent goose 40, Graylag goose 380, Pintail 26, Gadwall 64, Little grebe 2, Wigeon 1400, Shoveler 95, Teal 700, Shellduck 83, Lapwing 600, Dunlin 35, Black tailed godwit 60, Curlew 115, Redshank 40 and of course the Glossy Ibis which has been showing well these past few days in the flooded field running alongside the sea wall down towards shingle street.