12th March:
I was a cruel leader today and we had breakfast at 7am in The Swan and were walking around the van in Silver Street by just after 8am
passing a Wren singing from the top of the Palace walls and a pair of Grey
Wagtails on the way. It was a short
drive to Greylake where the usual assortment of Wigeon, Teal, Shoveler and
Mallard were on display just outside creating a patchwork of largely cryptic
patterns on the bund they were sleeping on.
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| Teal |
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| Wigeon |
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| Wigeon |
The only Snipe was put up from the track as we walked down
and a handful of Lapwings were the only other waders we saw. Great Egrets in various stages of breeding
plumage dotted the vista but there were no Cranes to be heard or seen and juts
the odd Marsh Harrier and Buzzard about so we walked back past many calling
Water Rails and Cetti’s Warblers – our two daily invisible species.
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| Great Egret |
I took us south to Oath where we got lucky with a pair of
roadside Cranes as they fed along the banks of a ditch and with our target in
hand we looped back round and back over the A39 to Shapwick and the flatlands
around Westhay Moor beyond.
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| Crane |
Cattle Egrets were the quarry and we found them in four
spots totalling about 250 or so birds strutting around the dark peaty fields
like plump white chickens. Some were
with livestock but most were just out foraging and seem to operate like
Starlings do with an albeit much looser rolling wave with back birds flying to
the front as they push across a field.
It was fascinating to watch. Some
had a hint of buff on the mantle and crown and a few even had paler looking
legs. I still find the explosion of this
species in the UK and delight much as I did with the start of the Little Egret
colonisation back in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
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| Cattle Egrets |
We looped around and back to the Avalon Centre for lunch
where I was delighted to bump into another ex RSPB employee, Graham White, who
was a key influence on the habitat management of Rainham Marshes back in its exciting
formative. He was in fine form and it
was good to have a catch up. He is down
in the Avalon to help with Bittern monitoring.
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| Billy Bloodworm and the Blue Eyed Birder |
The rest of a chilly afternoon was spent back at Ham Wall on
the same walk to the Avalon Hide as yesterday.
It began well with Trish finding a Kingfisher from the road bridge that
actually perched up and allowed itself to be scoped. Smiles all round.
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| Kingfisher |
In the meantime I was scanning the other side and found the
male Ring-necked Duck although it was in and out of the reeds and it was
difficult to get everyone onto this dapper Atlantic waif. I think I have seen one on almost every one
of my visits down here over the years.
Goldcrests, Chiffchaffs and Long-tailed Tits were again
noted and I was fortunate enough to see an Otter cross one of the major cuts
but it did not come back out. Down at the viewpoint the two Glossy Ibis were in
close and gleaming in the temporary sunshine and there seemed to be a few more
duck too. The Robins and Great Tits were
mumping.
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| Glossy Ibis |
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| Robin |
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| Stigmella aurella |
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| Sallow |
Bitterns boomed all around in roughly the same spots as yesterday
but despite our best efforts we still never saw one (or the pair of Cranes out
from the hide that were lurking on the obscured back pool. However, the Marsh Harriers put on a great
display and two Sparrowhawks dashed through while Great Egrets moved between
nesting areas in exaggerated display manoeuvres.
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| Marsh Harrier |
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| Great Egret |
A flock of 65 Cattle Egrets had already gone north over us
and we picked up a large roving flock in fields on the other side and I counted
135 as they moved between fields. These
are no where near the Westhay birds – simply crazy.
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| Cattle Egrets |
Water Rails were noisy and a Cetti’s Warbler even popped up
on some brash and flipped us the tail before dropping back out of view
again. It was still cold and inside the
hide it was even colder and so we abandoned once again and walked back. I was at the back and so missed the group’s
interaction with two American Mink on the path in front but a little further on
one of them was in the main channel and it swam for several hundred metres
before clambering out and bounding over the path.
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| Eristalis pertinax - the only Hoverfly seen on the whole trip! |
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| Mink watchers |
We had another short session at the viewpoint where a male Marsh
Harrier put on a show before a successful final ten minutes getting everyone to
see the now vaguely visible Ring-necked Duck!
Energy levels were waning so we called it a day and headed back to
Wells.
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| Marsh Harrier |
I dropped them off and then the van round in Silver Street
once again and with sudden late evening sunshine I walked through to the Cathedral
to marvel at its grand facade before remembering to go and take a picture of
the newsagent on the high street that Pegg & Frost buy their Cornettos from
in Hot Fuzz. I did not go in and ask for
one…
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| City News - don't go in and ask for Cornettos... |
13th March:A final walk to pick up the van after breakfast gave me a
chance to have my usual look at the wall with its funky mosses, Ivy-leaved
Toadflax and Maidenhair Spleenwort. I
was chuffed to find four Rusty-backed Ferns too having first found one on a
roof from room in the Swan three Marches ago! I also saw Kingfisher, the pair of Grey Wagtails and chuckling Redwings on the way.
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| Maidenhair Spleenwort |
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| Ivy-leaved Toadflax |
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| Rusty-backed Fern |
It was a bit of a wiggle to get through to Catcott Lows but
I did manage to find the stunning Giraffe mural by John Minshull in Meare on
the way. The Acacia is the drainpipe and
it even has shadows!
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| Giraffe mural by John Minshull |
It felt quite bright as we drove along but once out of the
car it was once again bitterly cold and the inside of the hide was even more of
a cool box. The Wigeon were just outside
and making wonderful noises with the females making that weird little growling
whoosh to accompany the whistling drakes.
There were the usual other dabblers along with four pristine Pintail. A
single Snipe was preening amongst the sedges and Lapwings were gleaming in the
pretend sunshine and a couple where even tumbling.
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| Common Snipe |
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| Lapwing |
Four Great Egrets were dotted around and a buck Roe Deer
with his antlers in velvet grazed below the only visible flowering Sallow along
the Alder belt.
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| Roe Deer |
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| Great Egret |
We walked down the lane, regretting extra layers and were accompanied
by singing Chiffchaffs, Robins and Wrens the whole way. The track into the carr was muddy and you
could see Roe Deer tracks and what I think are the hind feet of an Otter. The peaty path took us past the fenced deep peat
cuts which rippled and quaked at our passing but it was far too cold for any
Great Crested Newts this time although there was a large heap of Frog spawn.
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| Hemlock Water Dropwort |
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| Otter tracks? |
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| Frogs Spawn |
There were more Chiffchaffs and singing Treecreeper and
Goldcrest while a drumming Great Spotted Woodpecker started up once the sun
briefly reappeared. We clambered up to
the tower hide where I was some tiny hope that we might see Bearded Tits and
amazingly two pair appeared just outside on the Phragmites where they softly
called before being chased off to the next patch by a Cetti’s Warbler. Everyone was very happy and Trish did a happy
dance of delight!
Ravens played chase and popped and rolled with the larger
male trying to get his prospective partner to pay him attention while a male
Marsh Harrier cruised back and forth. Although warmed by the Beardies we were
all frozen and decided to walk back before anything else dropped off. We bid our farewells after a challenging but
ultimately enjoyable and successful venture and went our separate ways. I dropped Alison and Gloria back off at
Bristol Parkway before wending my way back across country to Norfolk seeing
just a few Kites and Buzzards and late afternoon glowing Brown Hares on the
way.
