Jono Forgham takes his final Nature Notes wander for the Bishop’s Stortford Independent
Nature Notes columnist Jono Forgham goes on his final Indie wander before moving to Norfolk
Over seven years ago, I penned my first Nature Notes piece for the brand new Bishop’s Stortford Independent from Thorley Wash Nature Reserve. Some 200 articles later, and with over 1,000 miles walked, I found myself back in the same habitat, preparing to write my last piece for the paper before a move to Norfolk. Indeed, by the time the issue containing this epistle hits the newsstands, Wendy and I shall both be setting up home in a lovely village near Diss. Exciting times.
I thought that the premier reserve close to the town merited being the last piece. I had a gut feeling that Mother Nature was going to offer a view of something unusual for the site, and so it proved.
I parked near Challenge Gym and picked up the footpath across the scrub field opposite Thorley Wash Grange, not far from the end of St James Way. I had plumped for wellies as I was anticipating muddy conditions, but at 9am the ground was still frozen solid from the previous days’ hard frosts. I should have gone for walking boots.
I crossed the railway track and entered the reserve over a wooden footbridge. I headed straight on, scanning both left and right across open reedbeds and grass meadows. Very little was about. A wren rattled its alarm call and both blue and great tits called from the small copse before the brick footbridge over the Stort Navigation. I checked upstream - just mallards and a moorhen and many more mallards noticed downstream towards Spellbrook Locks.
Once over the bridge, I turned left and picked up the towpath heading towards Pig Lane and Twyford Locks. A great spotted woodpecker called from the poplars on the far bank as several moorhens beat hasty retreats into the bankside vegetation. There appeared to have been a large influx of wood pigeons as a flock of 50-plus rose from a field beyond a hedge.
I turned along the towpath by a large meander and in front of me, upon the water, were four mallards, two moorhens, a pair of little grebes and a solitary cormorant. I tried to blend into the treeline to make myself less visible, but the eagle-eyed grebes dived and re-emerged in the overhanging sedge and underneath a willow tree where they were only vaguely visible. I crouched down to shorten my shadow and waited for them to come out again, which they did after five minutes or so. I fired off a series of shots before they became aware of my presence once again and returned to their hiding spot.
Meanwhile, the cormorant continued to dive for fish, oblivious to my presence until I turned my attention to trying to get some photos of it on the water. The light was excellent and I managed a few shots before he took fright, taxied along the surface for 10-15 yards before gaining height and heading off towards Pig Lane.
I chatted to a couple of anglers who were not having any success so I pressed on. A large flock of birds descended into an alder tree on the other side so I approached carefully. A mixed flock of siskins and goldfinches feeding upon the alder seeds in the cones. I checked these birds as often a few lesser redpoll can also be found mixed in with such a flock, but not this time. Several black-headed gulls and a single herring gull headed south and a common buzzard rose from an oak as yet another 737 broke the peace and quiet.
I wandered as far as Pig Lane and the lock gates. As I approached, a grey wagtail popped up, posed on a single stick for a photo and was gone. The last two times I have reported from here I have heard him calling but not managed a snap.
I turned and retraced my steps back south along the towpath. My intention was to go all the way to Spellbrook Locks and then wander around the perimeter of the reserve, so a fair distance still to be covered.
Back by the poplars, the familiar squawk of a grey heron, followed shortly after by the croaking cronk of a little egret. Both flew on by, the egret lost to sight and the heron, very briefly, roosting in a tree before continuing further south. The egret then flew past and onto the reserve. I made a note of where it landed, hoping to get a better shot than the flyby ones I had just taken.
I passed the brick bridge and scanned the water with my binoculars. About 40 mallards, a white farmyard duck, another pair of little grebes and a duck species that was smaller than the mallards but larger than the grebes. I was fairly sure what it was, but needed to confirm as it would be a most unusual record for this stretch of the Stort.
Once again, I tried to blend in with the treeline along the towpath but none of the wildfowl seemed too perturbed by my presence. I got great views of what was clearly a female tufted duck. As far as I can remember, a first sighting for me on the river in over 40 years of numerous walks along this stretch. Between 2004 and 2006 I carried out a weekly survey of all birds between Pig Lane and Spellbrook Lane East. In total, 104 bird species were recorded. Tufted duck was not on that list. Even though a common bird, always pleasing to find one in a totally new habitat.
I managed numerous shots of this bird that I suspect has been moved off its usual waters due to the cold weather and maybe the lake has iced up. Tufted ducks are divers, searching for pond snails, so when there is ice, they have no choice but to head to flowing water, frequently a river or a larger expanse of water, such as the lagoons at Stansted Airport or Hatfield Forest lake.
Pleased with this discovery, I turned back, crossed at the bridge and followed the path along the western bank. A large owl sculpture here near a veteran oak. In the reserve, a muntjac eyed me suspiciously before carrying on with lunch. A cormorant watched me from the safety of a high branch before I noted the aforementioned little egret, now standing on the towpath from where I had first encountered it.
I continued around the reserve. In thick vegetation on the Stort backwater, a kingfisher called and darted south before I could even focus the camera, always a pleasure to watch.
Soon I was back at the footbridge and level crossing. Back along the path that was now just beginning to thaw and I was pleased I had donned wellies. Back at the car I stood and waited to see if one of the regular stonechats would pop up for a final photo, but it was not to be, so I headed home to go through nearly 300 photos.
I find it hard to believe it was October 2017 when I wrote my first piece and in all that time I have managed to cobble something together every fortnight, when abroad in Sri Lanka or The Gambia and even when in Acton hospital for my surgery six months ago. I look back at my list of birds seen on all my walks. It totals 101 species. Several species, whilst common for the UK, are rarities for East Herts/West Essex. These would include greenshank, redshank, spotted flycatcher and little ringed plover.
Apart from the rarer birds, insects have featured through the warmer months and I was particularly pleased to encounter my first specimen of Albonia geoffrella, a rarer micro moth. Also, the first record for Hatfield Forest of white-legged damselfly and a few more unusual fly species, including both species of the Rhingia hoverfly as well as a rare ichneumon wasp species, Rhyssella approximator, from Sawbridgeworth Marsh which, once confirmed by the Natural History Museum, was only the eighth record for the UK.
However, it is just the pleasure of being out and being involved in nature that is my real passion. A flock of wisping long-tailed tits flitting through frosty trees is a pleasure to behold just as much as a rarity to me. The peregrine falcon on St Michael’s Church tower, a great find and one I still go out of my way to look for.
In the last seven years I have walked every footpath within five miles of the town, reported from strange places such as the disused car park by Charringtons and pieces of scrubby land, South Street where plants grow from broken brickwork. All hold plenty for a 1,400-word piece.
Finally, I would like to thank all those who have been so kind with their words when I have met them, either on a walk or just bumping into them in town or in ‘Spoons. My hat seems to be the giveaway. So many people asked after my health following my op. It has been a real pleasure to be able to write these pieces.
However, this is not the complete end. I still have a few articles to organise over the next few months about certain aspects of natural history pertinent to the town. The first, sometime in the next few months, will document the part Bishop’s Stortford has played in the development of the understanding of moth species. I still have some research to complete, so look out for that one in spring.
May all your nature wanders offer wonderful sightings and keep an eye open for future presentations I shall be offering locally, including one for the Stort Valley RSPB group in July. See you then. Pip pip!