The Mickle Mere: Malcolm Wright

Malcolm Wright

the Mickle Mere is a wetland reserve on the eastern edge of Pakenham parish in West Suffolk. it is owned by the Suffolk Wildlife trust, which bought the site and established the reserve in 2002. the reserve was extended in 2007, when the meadow to the south of the Mere was purchased. up to 2002 the site was owned by a local farmer, who grazed cattle on the grassland areas when they were sufficiently dry. the purchase of the reserve was aided by a legacy gift from William Payn, who was editor of the 1961 to 1977 Suffolk Bird Reports and wrote The Birds of Suffolk, published in 1962 (with a second edition in 1978). Bill Payn lived in ixworth, only a few hundred metres from the Mickle Mere and knew the site well.

Although small at just 17ha (42 acres) the Mere is an important reserve for many wetland species. Lying on the edge of Breckland and in one of the driest parts of the country, where water is a scarce commodity, the reserve is an oasis and attracts many birds overflying the area. Wetland sites are scarce throughout west Suffolk and south-west Norfolk and all of the principal sites which have water, such as Livermere Lake, Lackford Lakes SWt and Lakenheath fen RSPB, have important bird populations. the Mere is situated on the wetter, western part of the reserve and to the south are water meadows, which can become completely flooded when the water levels are very high in winter and occasionally even in summer after heavy rains. Many people seem to believe that the site has only flooded since 1987, when the ixworth by-pass, which incorporated a new bridge, was built on the A143, but this is definitely not the case. in the 1990s i spoke to an elderly lady who knew the area well and she told me that the biggest flood of the Mere she had seen was back in the 1960s and other local people have confirmed this. in addition, there are a number of old records in the cambridge Bird club Reports in the early/mid-1960s of birds such as Bewick’s Swan, Goldeneye, Goosander, Smew and Bittern which indicate that the site was certainly a wetland at that time. Members of the cambridge Bird club visited the Mickle Mere and many other sites around Breckland in the 1960s and published records in their own journal. the reserve is bounded on the north side by the A143 and to the north-east by the A1088. An unmade track known as Bailey Pool Lane lies along the eastern side; the Pakenham Stream forms the southern boundary and Mill Lane completes the boundary on the western side. A key component of the site is the Black Bourn river, which winds across the water meadows. thankfully it has never been straightened or canalized. the river supplies the water to the site whenever it rises sufficiently to overflow its banks and flow out onto the floodplain. the SWt built a hide on the west side shortly after the reserve was established and this is the main observation point for visitors, but the Mere can also be overlooked from a number of vantage points along the roads and tracks around the edge. Birders visiting the reserve should park off-road on the open area at the front of the Watermill and it is just a 100m walk to the hide.

We have lived just a few hundred metres from the Mickle Mere since 1985, when we moved down from caerlaverock in Dumfries, as i transferred to be reserve manager of the Breckland NNRs. the Mere is my local patch and i can walk there in ten minutes. i compiled a database of records for the reserve in 2014 and have up-dated this annually. the database was compiled from my own records, those of other local birders and a search of the systematic lists in the Suffolk Bird Report. the Bto also supplied a file of records from Birdtrack. the list currently contains records of 170 species plus a further 14 of birds considered to be escapees or feral.

As to be expected from such a site, the list is strong on wildfowl, waders and gulls. to date, 27 species of wildfowl have been recorded. A pair of Mute Swans often nest on the Mere or close by and occasionally small parties of both Whooper and Bewick’s Swans have been noted. in the 1980s canada Geese were the most numerous of the goose species (e.g., c.400 in January 1990) but Greylag Geese have become much more numerous since then and as the Greylags

have increased the numbers so the canadas have declined, with 120 being the most noted in recent years. up to 1000 Greylags have been recorded in the past decade. Small parties of Whitefronted Geese and Pink-footed Geese have been attracted in to join the other geese on a few occasions and there are even records of two tundra Bean Geese in 2008 and a Dark-bellied Brent Goose in 2018.

Wigeon and teal are common visitors from September through until April, with a maximum count of 276 for the former and a peak count of c.700 teal. this latter count was made during very cold conditions in January 2019 when the Mere was 70% iced over and the birds were packed into the remaining open water. teal have nested, as a female was seen with seven wellgrown young in July 2004. Gadwall nest annually if water levels are sufficient, with a maximum total of seven broods and 48 young counted in June 2014. Shoveler also nest in some years, with seven young fledged in 2004 and two broods seen in both 2006 and 2007. there are a number of records of Garganey, mainly of drakes or a pair in spring but in 2004 a juvenile remained until November 19th. conditions are generally more favourable for the dabbling ducks rather than the diving ducks and Pochard are rarely noted but tufted Ducks do breed locally and a brood of 14 was seen in 2001. Goldeneye and Goosander are infrequent and the rarest duck found was a Green-winged teal on March 16th 2009. there is undoubtedly an exchange of birds, mainly wildfowl, between the Mickle Mere and the SWt Black Bourn Valley Reserve, which lies up to three kilometres to the south, at Norton/thurston.

Grey Herons breed locally and visit the reserve daily, as do Little egrets. the latter was first recorded in March 2004 and the maximum count is of 17 on July 21st 2016. Great White egrets have become annual in the past few years and three Spoonbills visited in May 2014. two Glossy ibises were present on May 31st 2016 and spent the next month in the area and a single bird visited for two weeks in spring 2017. Water Rails are regular in winter and may possibly breed, as they have been heard calling in June.

A real highlight was the White-tailed eagle which visited on March 15th 2015. Luckily, a local birder, Paul Haines, lives in a house overlooking the Mere and he saw it arrive and quickly phoned out the news and several birders who live nearby were able to rush down and watch it causing havoc among the wildfowl in the hour it spent there. A further nine species of raptor have been recorded. there are several records of osprey; Marsh Harrier and Peregrine are fairly regular and Red kites have moved into the area in the past two to three years and can now be seen on most visits. Buzzards are also now common locally and are seen frequently. Merlins have been noted twice. the wader list currently stands at 30 species. Lapwing is the most numerous although muchreduced in recent years. in the 1980s and 1990s flocks of up to 2000 or more used to occur on nearby fields and visit the Mere to drink and bathe but nowadays rarely more than 200-300 are seen. Likewise for Golden Plover; c.4000 were noted on an adjacent field on January 17th 2002 but no more than a few hundred have been noted in recent years. A few pairs of Lapwing nest each year but appear to suffer heavy predation and few young are fledged. oystercatchers and Redshanks arrive each spring and a pair (or sometimes two) of each species will stay to nest if water levels are suitable. Little Ringed Plover are also annual arrivals in spring and one or two pairs have bred in some years and fledged young. Avocets have visited in spring since 2004; in 2008 four were present for a week or more and courtship and mating were seen. on May 13th 2015 a pair of Black-winged Stilts spent the day at the Mere – they were seen mating in the evening but had moved on by the next morning.

Green Sandpipers are the most regular passage migrants in both spring and autumn, with a high count of 20 on August 24th 2016. Greenshank and Wood and common Sandpipers are also regular, with early May being the peak time for Wood Sandpipers. Black-tailed Godwits are annual, with a maximum count of 52 on March 31st 2006. there is clearly an overland passage of waders across the area, as every common and scarce wader you might see on the coast has appeared over the past 30 years. the scarcest are knot, with just a single record of one on April

1st 2005, Sanderling with a summer-plumaged bird on May 13th and 14th 2002 and turnstone with records in 2004 (3) and 2021. there are three records of single temminck’s Stints, all in May, in 1999, 2002 and 2010, a Red-necked Phalarope visited for two days in June 2015 and a Pectoral Sandpiper was seen on october 4th 2017.

Snipe are passage migrants, but some also winter. Passage counts include 101 on october 8th 2004 and 106 in March 1994 but the maximum count is of at least 250 present during a bitterly cold spell in early february 2021. there are only two records of Jack Snipe, but this elusive bird is almost certainly under-recorded.

So far 11 species of gull have been added to the list. Black-headed Gulls are very common yearround and at least a few pairs attempt to nest in most years, but often fail as the water levels recede and expose them to predation by foxes or water levels rise due to heavy rains and flood the nests. in 2014, 140 nests were being incubated when very heavy rains in late May produced a flood, destroying almost all of the nests. in some years an excellent late afternoon/early evening roost of gulls has developed when water levels are good, not too low nor too high. this is most often seen between february and April. Viewing conditions at these roosts are excellent as there is a sheltered, comfortable hide with the light behind the observer and the birds are only 100 to 400 metres distant. the maximum count of Lesser Black-Backed Gulls is of c.3000 on february 18th 2019, yellow-legged Gulls are seen quite often and caspian Gulls have been annual since the first on April 2nd 2006, with a maximum of five on May 6th 2014. Mediterranean Gulls have been seen in these roosts and there are three records of iceland Gull and one of Glaucous Gull. April is the month when Little Gulls are most likely to visit, with four on April 22nd 2019 being the best count, while May is the month for Black terns to drop in, with eight in both 1998 and 2000 being the peak counts. Little terns are very infrequent away from the coast, so two which visited for over an hour on May 5th 2016 was notable. Arctic terns have been seen in some springs.

Some birds pay very brief visits to the reserve. i have on a number of occasions seen a bird fly in, land to feed or bathe and then fly off again after perhaps just ten minutes and this applies especially to waders in the spring. on one particular occasion a small party of Black terns arrived one day in May, did several circuits of the Mere and then departed to the east. We shall never know what we miss at a site such as this when it is unmanned, but it is probably considerable! cuckoos are still heard every spring on the nearby Pakenham fen and visit the Mere. i have twice seen young cuckoos in Dunnocks’ nests in nearby gardens in the past 25 years. the whole of the Black Bourn Valley from elmswell up to thetford provides good habitat for Barn owls and a pair often nest in a box on the site provided for them. kingfishers are resident along the Black Bourn river and often seen on the Mere. the Mere is quite well sheltered, with tall trees around much of the edge and this provides good feeding conditions for hirundines and Swifts, especially during inclement weather in April and May. Sadly, the numbers of these birds are much depleted in recent years but 100-200 can still be seen occasionally. About 10-12 pairs of Swifts used to nest in the roofs of local houses but they have been absent over the past five years, while the number of pairs of Swallows nesting in Pakenham village has declined markedly since 1985. i have counted House Martin nests on the nearby Watermill for over 30 years and had recorded a thriving colony of between 20 and 30 active nests every year, with a peak of 32 pairs in 2017, when 22 of the nests were on the rear of the building. However, the spring of 2018, the birds failed to return in their usual numbers – just six pairs nested on the front of the Mill and none on the rear. No more than seven pairs have nested in any year since. What happened to these birds is a mystery – did some disaster befall them during their migrations or in their winter quarters? yellow Wagtails are still regular on the water meadows in small numbers each spring and breed locally in arable fields in some years, while Grey Wagtails are often seen around the mill pool by the Watermill. Passage Wheatears and Whinchats are occasional migrants while Stonechats are wintering birds, with a pair present in each of the past two winters. fieldfares are another wintering species and flocks often feed on the meadows, with a maximum of 180 counted on December 30th 2018.

cetti’s Warblers moved onto the reserve in 2020 and are now almost certainly nesting along the Black Bourn river and Pakenham Stream. Sedge and Reed Warblers have been heard singing in most springs and two or three pairs of Reed Buntings also nest on the reserve. A recent addition to the bird list is the Raven which flew over on october 16th 2019 and records of this species are increasing locally year by year. in some winters Siskins and Redpolls are to be found feeding in Alders Alnus glutinosa and Silver Birch Betula pendula along the Black Bourn river. of the 14 species recorded as escapees or feral birds, 12 are wildfowl such as Ruddy Shelduck and Bahama Pintail. Barnacle Geese are seen quite often, with up to eight noted. in April 2005 a Saker falcon flew across the Mere and perched in a large oak tree and i was amused to see a cockatiel fly over, shrieking, in March 2010. the Mickle Mere is a difficult site to manage effectively as there is not much control over the water levels, which are dependent ultimately on rainfall and the level of the Black Bourn and also the underlying water table levels. Also, the gardens of houses along Mill Road, which are adjacent to the reserve, can flood if water levels are very high, so their inhabitants are not keen on high water levels being maintained. even when well-flooded, the Mere is quite shallow and with high levels of evaporation and transpiration occurring once the warmer weather arrives, the Mere inevitably starts to dry out. this has been exacerbated in recent years by a clear trend towards drier and warmer springs and summers, caused by climate change. So during most recent summers the Mere has been dried out fully by June or July, with no water returning until there is substantial rain in the autumn or even mid-winter. When dried out, the Mere can be a disappointing site to visit, as opposed to a visit when water levels are ideal and it can be teeming with birds.

Another problem is run off into the Black Bourn river from overflows of phosphates from a sewage works near elmswell and nitrogen run-off from farmland to the south. this causes an excessive growth of vegetation around the Mere. other management work needed is control of trees and bushes such as sallows and willows Salix sp., which would take over the reserve if allowed to grow unchecked. Grazing of the water meadows by cattle is still an important management tool. But in spite of the above problems the reserve is a valuable wetland site – do come and pay a visit. My thanks go to the many Suffolk birders who have contributed records for the site over the past two decades, especially Steve Bishop, Joe Myers, John Walshe and David West.