Fingringhoe
Wick Coach Trip
Sunday 20 June 2004
On Sunday 20
June 2004, RSPB Members from Bexley and Bromley Local Groups visited
Fingringhoe Wick, an Essex Wildlife Trust reserve five miles south
east of Colchester featuring lakes and water filled pits left by
gravel extraction which ceased in 1959. It lies on the banks of
the River Colne and also includes such habitat as mature secondary
woodland, conifers, scrub, reeds and heathland plus a scrape. There
are eight hides.
After three
laps of the Colchester ring road and a hair-raising reverse to about
turn by a driver who obviously never heard of maps we began to think
we would never find Fingringhoe Wick.
Eventually,
though, Tony Banks came to the rescue and after several excursions
onto pavement and roundabouts the driver charged down a narrow country
lane to deposit us outside the Wick visitor centre around 10.30am,
approximately half an hour later than expected.
The centre
itself is an impressive building with easy chairs offering views
through a giant window across garden, fields and woods to the estuary.
It incorporates a coffee/tea machine, a well stocked shop with a
fine selection of wildlife books and excellent toilets.
The reserve
itself is fairly small, offering varied habitats within short walking
distance and plenty of hides for a token payment of £1 to
the EWT.
At the estuary
I saw black and bar tailed godwits, avocet, oystercatcher, redshank,
sand martin and two marsh harriers. Many whitethroats flitted around
in the bushes, chiffchaffs were almost everywhere, a cuckoo called,
common and little terns plunge-dived for food.
This is a prime
spot for nightingale, the ultimate little brown job which announces
its presence with a deafening burst of staccato song but is seldom
seen. Fortunately no one had told the Fingringhoe nightingales it
was too late to be singing and from several abbreviated bursts many
group members managed to track them down and obtain good views.
Other personal
highlights included my first turtle dove of the year and a reed
warbler singing and showing well in front of one of the scrape hides.
My list reached
58 species and I know I missed a few common birds like skylark.
An enjoyable
day could not even be marred by a heavy shower, easily avoidable
by darting into one of the hides which are small but numerous enough
to cope with a coach party.
A visit here
could be even more rewarding in May when nightingales and other
breeding birds are in full song or in the winter when red breasted
merganser, goosander, goldeneye, long tailed duck and up to 2,000
dark bellied Brent geese can be seen on the estuary.
The Bexley Group
had 35 members on the bus while Bromley had 16 in what was scheduled
to be the final combined trip. |
