Blog by Annette, North Warren Warden
It’s turning out to be a good autumn for birds on the reserve. The rowan trees at Aldringham Walks are weighed down with red berries which have proved to be a real attraction for various thrush species. At least seven ring ouzels were seen one morning feeding on the berries. A few days later a flock of between 200-300 fieldfares were flitting between the rowans and the Scots pine trees. It was an impressive sight to watch as clouds of birds erupt from the tree tops as you pass by.
The white-fronted geese arrived early this year, eleven birds put in an appearance on the grazing marsh in mid September and stayed around for a few weeks; they haven’t been seen much this month though.
September was also a good month for willow emerald damselflies. It is the first year they have been seen at North Warren, however, there were good numbers of them along the old railway line and along the banks of the river hundred.
Routine ditching works have been completed on the grazing marsh, this involved slubbing out the ditches to remove the silt that builds up at the bottom and scraping away the vegetation from other ditches. Now this work has finished the water levels will be brought up to winter flooding levels which in turn should attract the over-wintering ducks and geese.
Other, slightly rarer, birds that have put in an appearance on the reserve this autumn are the lesser grey shrike that was at Aldringham Walks for a couple of weeks, a rough legged buzzard that was seen flying over North Warren, and there were also reports of three yellow-browed warblers and a red-backed shrike just north of Thorpeness.
Rowan berries by Andy Hay (rspb-images.com)