This morning I had a visit to EWT Two Tree Island, a site that I can easily reach from home by public transport.
EWT Two Tree Island is situated adjacent to the internationally protected Thames Estuary and it is a winter refuge for a huge diversity and abundance of winter wildfowl (most notably Dark-bellied Brent Geese) and waders plus a wide range of breeding and migrant birds during the rest of the year.
EWT Two Tree Island was reclaimed from the sea in the 18th century when a seawall was built around the saltmarsh and it was originally used for farming. It is now managed as a nature reserve.
Approximately 4 miles of trails, which are a mixture of gravel and grass paths, provide access through the grasslands and scrub areas. At the end of the western section of the reserve is a bird hide which overlooks a lagoon which provides a valuable habitat for roosting and breeding water birds. The eastern section is part of Leigh National Nature Reserve where the saltmarsh is one of the best surviving in the Thames Estuary.
I arrived at EWT Two Tree Island at 10:30 a.m. after walking down to the bridge over Leigh Creek from Leigh-on-Sea railway station.
I initially walked down to the slipway overlooking the marshes and Hadleigh Ray before then walking along the seawall to the westernmost point of the island and "Monty's Lookout", the hide overlooking the lagoon.
I timed my visit so that I was in the hide for more than an hour before high tide at 12:30 p.m. when the lagoon normally becomes packed with roosting waders.
As I arrived at "Monty's Lookout", there were already large numbers of birds on the lagoon with even more arriving all the time. It eventually calmed down with birds either roosting or feeding but around midday the huge flock of Knot erupted into flight and eventually disappeared over the seawall to relocate elsewhere. However, large numbers of other wader species and ducks remained. There was no sign of any predatory raptor and no other apparent reason for the Knot taking flight from their high tide roost.
It proved to be a very productive 3 hour visit to EWT Two Tree Island with 10 species of waders recorded, most notably the huge flock of Knot but surprisingly no Avocets.
Apart from the large flocks of waders and ducks, my return walk to the reserve exit produced a very confiding female Kestrel which I was able to photograph plus exceptional views of a Barn Owl hunting over the scrub adjacent to the road near Leigh-on-Sea railway station. Unfortunately, I had already packed my binoculars, telescope and camera away in readiness to get a train back to Basildon so the Barn Owl was just a straightforward, albeit amazing, observation.
The highlights from my visit, including the walk from Leigh-on-Sea railway station to the entrance to EWT Two Tree Island were as follows: Knot (at least 1000), Common Redshank (at least 200), Dunlin (at least 100), Black-tailed Godwit (c.50), Lapwing (c.50), Oystercatcher (c.20), Curlew (c.10), Grey Plover (c.10), Common Snipe (4), Turnstone (1), Teal (at least 200), Wigeon (at least 200), Shelduck (c.30), Mallard (4), Brent Goose (at least 100), Little Grebe (2), Moorhen (3), Coot (2), Cormorant (3), Little Egret (2), Common Gull (c.20), Barn Owl (1), Kestrel (1), Skylark (1), Meadow Pipit (4)
Here are some photos from my visit ....
Photo: Knot
Photo: Knot
Photo: Knot
Photo: Knot
Photo: Curlew
Photo: Curlew
Photo: Grey Plover
Photo: Common Snipe
Photo: male Teal
Photo: male and female Teal
Photo: female Kestrel
Love nature .... act now
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