The reserve includes mudflats, open water, sea wall, saltmarsh and reedbeds and has three hides.
The reserve can get very busy if there are some good birds about, and the road to it almost impassable if there is something mega, so I was relieved to see there were a few spaces left in the smallish car park. After parking, I took a route west along the sea wall, passing the saltmarsh. In this area I found various duck species; teal, shovelers, shelduck together with redshanks, grey heron and coot as well as linnets, meadow pipits and mute swans.
Then I followed the path east past the mudflats, mostly covered with water as the tide was in, but still attracting some redshank. On the opposite side were the reed beds, where I could see good numbers of reed buntings, including some singing males. Also sedge warblers could be heard quite loudly but disappointingly, they were well hidden. Further on I stopped as I could hear some 'pinging' of bearded tits, and after waiting a while could see one or two rising from the reedbeds and then sinking back down again. (My first the of the year.) Linnets and goldfinches also perched for a minute or two on some of the bushes bordering the reed beds.
As I continued on the path back to to the road and on to the car I could see on the floods there were blackheaded gulls, gadwall, mallard and tufted ducks, two little egrets, and oyster catchers and a couple of avocets on one of the islands,
reed beds where the bearded tits were.
sleeping avocets.
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