A lifetime of Islands: Island 130

Wednesday, 10 August 2011

Island 130 - Havergate, Suffolk

Havergate Island was bought by the RSPB in 1948 after avocets bred on the island for the first time in Britain in 100 years. It is located towards the mouth of the River Ore on the western side of the Orford Ness spit.

Boat trips are organised periodically by the RSPB and the dates are advertised on their website. I booked several months in advance and the cost was £15. The boat only takes about 15 passengers. The boat departs from the end of the short quay close to where the National Trust ferry to Orford next departs from. However I wasn't sure where the boat went from and there was no notice about it anywhere, so I asked in the National Trust Office at the quay and a less than welcoming lady staffing it said it was nothing to do with the National Trust, which I knew already! Although the island is in a tidal zone, you are unlikely to get seasick on the 15 minute journey, as it is sheltered by Orford Ness on its southeast side and the mainland on the north west. It is separated from Orford Ness by the Narrows and from the mainland by a channel called the Gull. There were lots of small sailing boats sailing round the island on the day I visited in August 2011.

The island is very flat and was previously farmed. The first sea walls around the island were built about 500 years ago to prevent flooding and allow the island to be farmed. The soil is rich and silty. Crops were grown and when the soil become poorer the island was used for grazing livestock. In the early 20th century it was owned by Mr Fisk and farmed by the Brinkley Family. In the 1923 gravel was extracted but by the end of the 1920s the island had been abandoned. It isn't the world's most exciting island unless you are interested in bird watching.

I visited in August 2011 and the wildlife highlight at that time of year is the spoonbills. They don't currently breed on the island but visit in July/August for a few weeks on their way from the Netherlands to fatten up on shrimps in preparation for their long journey to Senegal where they overwinter. I'm not a great birdwatcher but the spoonbills were interesting and there were plenty of avocets, curlews, godwits and other wading birds to see.

There is also a population of brown hares on the island and because they have no natural predators on the island, it is possible to get quite close to them. They are mainly to be found towards the south of the island by the wardens' huts.