On Friday 30th April I led a guided walk from Manningtree Station to Cattawade Marshes and back. We saw and heard shedloads of migrant and residen birds along the way.
First off, we walked along the public footpath that runs from behind the station, heading west to a railway bridge. Once under the bridge we headed north through the grazing meadows and hedgerows. After a mile or so you come to the tidal river Stour at Cattawade Marshes SSSI, and we then headed back towards Manningtree along the public footpath to the south of the tidal river.
Our first birds were woodpigeons, robins, blue tits and greenfinches. We even saw a blue tit with an extended, curved bill. It was singing and appeared to be holding a territory so it must be doing OK. After that, mistle thrush, shelduck and long tailed tits put in an appearance.
Walking along the hedgerows we were expecting to see and hear lots of migrants, but the cold wind kept most birds quiet for a while. Eventually we came to the really dense stand of scrub just by the river wall, where it joins with the tidal river. This was jam-packed full of birds, including dunnock, bullfinch, whitethroat, sedge warbler, blackcap, blue tit, greenfinch and even a distant greater spotted woodpecker.
A couple of birders amled past, telling us that they'd seen and heard the grasshopper warbler in the reedbed at the western end of the marsh. We hadn't got time to take the hour-long detour required, but I've put a photo in the community pages to make up for missing it!
After that we saw the summer's first common terns flying lazily past, dozens of lapwing and redshank displaying on Cattawade, and 14 or so greenshank in various states of plumage lazing in a pool of water. We also added lesser whitethroat and reed warbler to our list of birds heard.
All in all a great morning out, with a final reminder that summer is not far away - 4 swifts flew over the marsh, and half a dozen housemartins were spotted hawking insects over a shallow pool.