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Abberton Reservoir - Essex
View of the Abberton Reservoir from
the Roy King Hide
For some months now I have been
liaising with Jo Calvert, Senior Warden at the
Essex Wildlife Trust’s reserve at Abberton
Reservoir, Essex to improve access to the Roy King
Hide. The recent modifications to this hide now
ensure wheelchair access to three hides – which
includes Wainwright and Tony Soper hides. These
are all linked by a boardwalk.
This report will detail the
standard of access achieved so that potential
visitors will have a fair impression of what to
expect. The Abberton Reserve is excellent for
access. The reserve centre building is fully
accessible and the disabled toilet is of a high
standard. Within the Reserve Centre area there are
three “disabled” parking places and in the main
car park there is an easy paved pathway to the
boardwalk from the gravel parking spaces.
The Wainwright and Tony Soper hides
have been in-situ for sometime and access along
the boardwalk is easy and very good in birding
terms. The Wainwright
hide is the better of the two hides in that knee
space is allowed for, whilst the Tony
Soper hide could be improved in
this respect as well as improvements to the
viewing slots. Nevertheless they are both adequate
for wheelchair watching and for ambulant disabled
i.e there is only a short walk to these hides. The
modifications to the Roy King hide were funded by
the Disabled Birders Association (DBA)-(registered
charity no: 1091755) which was especially pleasing
for me as a member of both the EWT and the DBA.
The DBA was registered in 2000 and from a tiny
beginning we are now in a position to improve
access by funding small-scale projects.
I am grateful to Jo Calvert and
other staff members of the EWT for both permitting
the adaptations and to their volunteers in
carrying out the manual tasks needed.
The Roy King hide differs from the
other two hides in that there is some 500 yards to
walk along a mainly “grass on gravel” path to get
to it after walking some of the way on the
boardwalk. The first problem was that there was a
short, sharp slope to negotiate to get on to the
boardwalk. This problem no longer exists as the
photograph depicts:
Once leaving the boardwalk the main
footpath begins with some difficult areas of large
stones, but thankfully they are short stretches
and I was able to push myself over them. Over time
these areas will improve with walkers going over
the stones and with the grass eventually covering
them. Gradually the path improves and overall I
was happy with the conditions because it was a
firm path and in keeping with the surroundings.
With the gravel base the path should not become
too muddy in the winter I think, but I won’t know
this until I try again in the winter months.
About halfway along the path there
is “Connie’s” seat to provide walkers with a rest.
The Roy King hide’s main adaptation
is the wooden slope constructed to gain entry and
I was able to wheel up this easily unaided. The
viewing slot adapted for wheelchair viewing was
well sited and a good view of a large part of the
reservoir was possible. Although I was able to
bird watch well from my position it was slightly
restrictive and uncomfortable viewing because some
knee space is required. I will be in touch with
EWT to seek improvements in this aspect.
To summarise the Roy King hide improvements
greatly enhance the bird watching for disabled.
The path to the hide I would describe as a not
unreasonable push for the wheelchair user with
strong arms and hands but I found that a steady
push was called for to appreciate the surroundings
and the bird watching available.
With the help of Essex Wildlife Trust I hope to
continuously seek improvements and other reserves
in the future.
Good Birding
Brian Anderson -
Treasurer |
