The grey had not lifted as we drove towards Greylake after
breakfast and visibility was somewhat poor as we booted up for the walk down to
the hides.
The Bishop's Palace Moat and Wells Cathedral on the walk to the van
Ravens kronked in the mist
and Cetti’s Warblers and Reed Buntings were singing in the reeds as we walked
down. Clearly the waters had only very
recently dropped and there was duckweed well up the Phragmites and over the top
of the new Hemlock Water Dropwort shoots.
Hemlock Water Dropwort
As usual I found several Cigar Galls of the fly Lipara
lucens and opened up a Greater Reedmace head to show them the caterpillar of
the moth Limnaecia phragmitella living within and causing the seeds heads to
explode in such a distinctive way.
Lipara lucens gall
Puffing seed caused by Limnaecia phragmitella
Sallow
Water Rails were all around us with at least 13 heard
calling and many of those at the same time and in very close proximity to us
and each other but despite their constipated grumbling and squeals we did not
even get a glimpse of one!
Water Rail, Cetti's Warbler and Teal
The dabbling duck were close out front and looking splendid
despite the poor conditions and amongst them there were many probing Snipe who
blended in perfectly with the Typha dredgings.
Shoveler - females always look particularly smug
Teal
Shoveler
Shoveler
Teal
Teal
A stately Greylag
Greylag, Wigeon, Teal
Teal
The odd Marsh Harrier spooked duck further back but we had
no hope of finding any Cranes or other raptors as it was just too murky.
I decided to cut our losses and so we sloshed back adding a
couple of Great Egrets and a fly over female Curlew while two more eerily
called in the distance.
White-lipped Hedge Snail
On to the River Parrett and the railway bridge at Oath where
I hope to find Cranes and indeed a pair were quickly located in the pastures
along with several Great Egrets.They
are such stately birds and as you may have gathered, one I thoroughly enjoy
encountering.The river was running
higher than the road surface beyond the banks and had been allowed to flood the
area to the north quite extensively and a few Cattle Egrets were noted.
My daily Essence of Great Egret
From here we retraced our steps to the Avalon Centre to
utilise the facilities, buy coffee and visit the craft centre – and see a Raven
too before looping around the block to Catcott Lows where we sat and watched
the wonderful Wigeon and Teal outside along with Shoveler and at least two
drake Pintail.There was no sign of the
Glossy Ibis at this point so we listened to the whistling drake Wigeon and the
wonderful sound of the females which en masse sounded like a wave lightly
crashing onto a shingle beach.A male
Lapwing with a fine crest was nest scraping on the island out front and the odd
Snipe zipped around.
Wigeon, Shoveler and Teal on high alert
Lapwing and Wigeon
Wigeon - all paired up
Marsh Harriers were keeping the duck on the move and a
female was making a concerted effort to catch a Teal and it was on one of these
circuits that she flushed the closest duck and with them the Ibis which circled
around and then landed right out front and proceeded to give us a fine
display.I think it is a 2cy bird as the
tertials at least looked old, worn and brown while the mantle already had some
fine purple and green glossed feathers showing through.Seeing one so close was a real treat and it
was a new bird for some of the group.
Glossy Ibis
Glossy Ibis
Glossy Ibis
As you would expect there were a couple more Great Egrets
and both Sparrowhawk and Kestrel were seen while a male Tawny Owl was heard
from the distant wood. Our route back
casually took us past three Roe Deer and a flock of 175 or so Cattle Egrets
loafing in a field with some Canada Geese and Mute Swans (thanks Graham
C!).They look so miserable when sitting
around but once active they take on a very different persona.
Cattle Egrets
Cattle Egrets and Canada Geese
Cattle Egrets and Canada Geese
Back round to the Shapwick end of the trails and then out
onto the track to the Decoy Lake.The
Willow and Alder Carr was looking mossily magnificent and we found plenty of
Scarlet Elf Cups on the walk down along with some funky mosses and lichens.
Lords & Ladies and is it Cuckoo Pint as in bottle of milk or Pint as in lint??
Scarlet Elf Cups
Stereum hirsutum - yep it was 'hairy' on top
Fly mine of Chromatomyia aprilina on Honeysuckle
Scarlet Elf Cups
Tamarisk Moss - Thuidium tamariscinum - I think!
Cladonia sp
Bitterns boomed along the whole route and once again were
frustratingly close but still brought smiles and we found an obliging male Bearded Tit alongside the track and watched him while the Butter Bumps
rumbled (I love that old Bittern name) and about 200 Cattle Egrets (assuming they were
the Meare birds) flew over us in a series of large flocks while Great Egrets lumbered out of the reeds and Muntjac barked incessantly.Pure Levels magic.
Cattle Egrets
Cattle Egrets - normal down here!
We all said hello to some mighty English Oaks that had
obviously grown up in the open and without any grazers and investigated the
re-constructed section of the Sweet Trackbefore making our way round to the
hide passing an immature Red Kite and the tell tale water slap and mega ripple and bubbles of a narrowly missed Otter on the way.
Once inside we were greeted by Andy Mears and a drake
Ring-necked Duck he had just found well over the back and displaying to some
Tufted Ducks.Four trips down here on the trot
now.There were quite a few active Great
Egret platforms in the reed beds with displaying birds with effervescing
aigrettes and contorted head and neck posturing.Bitterns still boomed and a Cormorant caught
a medium sized Eel which it had to dive back under with to avoid losing it to
another opportunistic buddy.
Great Egret all fluffed up
It was getting even gloomier as we walked back and this time
we took the Sweet Track path through the woods where Andy had directed us to a
couple of Firecrests, the male of which was energetically singing.There were Fieldfares and Redwings in the
tree tops and the latter created a hubbub as they quietly sub-sang, sounding
almost like distant traffic.A Great
Spotted Woodpecker was tracked down as it slowly tapped and four Lesser
Redpolls were discovered when a rain of Alder seeds started to filter down to
where we had stopped to look at some Moss.
Back to the van and then around to Ham Wall on the off
chance that the resurgent Starling gathering (they are normally well dispersed
by now) would happen.It must have been
out local social media and there were loads of Starling hopefuls heading down
to the main viewpoint.Small groups of birds began to arrive behind us but the main event was happening across the other
side where several hundred thousand birds had already gathered and moved across
the landscape in a rippling line that came in and out of focus depending on how
dense they got.There must have been
some predator action too as occasionally they were tighten in balls and perform
swirly whirly shapes on the horizon.
A closer group of Starlings
Bitterns were booming here again too and a 2cy female
Goshawk powering across the marshes was seen partly because she freaked out a
male Marsh Harrier with her passing.He
did not follow her but my slightly enthusiastic shout certainly allowed my
group and others to get onto her.This
is a rare bird on the levels and I was delighted to find her.Two Sparrowhawks were also seen and the Black-tailed
Godwits and Ruff were still around along with the Sand Martins but as the light
deteriorated it became clear that the Starlings were not going to head our way
to roost and we followed the vast amorphous flock as it wove its way to the
east and out of our view and we suspected that they all went into roost at that
point but it was still an superb experience and a real bonus to have on this
trip.
We walked back happy with the sound of Song Thrushes, Robins
and Blackbirds welcoming the evening and those elusive but very vocal Bitterns
sending us on our way back to The Swan for dinner after very long but rewarding
day.
A pair of Common Toads as I walked back to the hotel who I helped over the wall and into the moat.
The drive cross country in the dark from Great Ryburgh at
5am was all the more entertaining with the A47 being closed again at Wisbech
leaving me with an interesting fenland wiggle on the wibbly wobbly undulating
lanes across from Welney, Chatteris, Ely towards Huntingdon and beyond.It was unfortunately too early for Swans in
the fields but I did see a Barn Owl and Woodcock in the murky gloom.
I picked up Maggie in her little quaint Northants village on
time before the route across country on bigger roads to the M4.Kites and the odd Buzzard were seen but the weather
was grim and just like my North Norfolk day but without the wind but at least
we arrived at Bristol Parkway on time to pick up the rest of the crew to make
it five before continuing south to The Levels.The normally scenic drive in along the A39 was hampered by not being
able to see anything whatsoever so there was some creative ‘Avalon to the left,
Sedgemoor to the right and the splendid Glastonbury Tor straight ahead' dialogue.
Just before reaching Ham Wall we spied five Cattle Egrets
with a small herd of Belted Galloways close to the road which was a fine was
start proceedings.Lunch in the car park
with Redwings going over and a Chiffchaff singing and then off on the singing.
We were told that no Bitterns were booming yet which I thought
a little odd and we heard them everywhere with at least six different bird vocalising
including one that was so close that you could hear the intake of breath as it
puffed up before ummm baaaahhhhh-ing.But did we see one?Of course not.Breeding plumaged Great Egrets lumbered back
and forth and Little Egret and Grey Heron made it all four ‘long legs’.
Great Egret
There were plenty of duck from the first viewpoint with
Wigeon, Teal, Shoveler, Gadwall and Mallard with a scattering of largely roosting
Lapwings and Black-tailed Godwits at the back.Two male Ruff were amongst them with six Redshank and 12 Snipe were
probing on the closer island. Eventually a couple of the Lapwings got up and
half-heartedly displayed but the lack of light prevented them gleaming as they
twisted.
Marahs Harriers and Buzzards patrolled and a female
Sparrowhawk cruised over which spooked the waders briefly while both Great
Crested and Little Grebes could be heard with one pair of the former seen weed
dancing.Kipping and squealing Water
Rails were heard from all around us and rather oddly a Black Swan flew over!
Great Crested Grebe
There was quite a but of small bird action with an obliging Redwing
and Goldcrest, clambering Treecreepers, nest building Long-tailed Tits and
several more singing Chiffchaffs.Cetti’s
Warblers were shouty and one was seen seeing off Blue Tits along the reed base
while up above the fizzy static of nearly 30 Sand Martins brought smiles all
round as even more sign that spring was trying to arrive.
Large Otter tracks
Wild Privet
There was certainly enough food for them with clouds of chironomid
midges dancing and I am sure many of the smaller birds were taking them while it
was only just warm enough for several Buff-tailed Bumblebees to be on the wing.The Sallow catkins, Cherry Plum and first Blackthorn
flowers would have been alive with insects of there had been any sunshine.
Blackthorn
The wildfowl on the first pool all suddenly swam to the
middle and every bird stopped and kept its head up and was looking back at the
reed edge and sure enough, as expected a mammal appeared in the water – not the
hoped for Otter but a much smaller furry black Mink.The ducks followed it at a distance until
they were sure it had moved on.I then showed
the crew Bramble leaf mines and the larva of the moth Endothenia gentianaeana tucked
snuggly within a Teasel before heading across the road to the Shapwick side
passing the first blooms of Primrose and Celandine on the way.
Endothenia gentianaeana - no anal cones... grub had gone back in to the feeding entry hole at the top
Lesser Celandine
Primrose
Bitterns boomed here too and there were even more invisible
Water Rails while a Kingfisher was actively fishing from several spots and we
managed to get it in the scope.Four
Great Egrets were squabbling over a breeding area and sat up on top of the
reeds but were not fussed by the Marsh Harriers. The drizzly stuff had let up
but the light was getting even worse and with a last look at a chocolate headed
female Goldeneye we ambled back to the van and made our way to Wells for our
first night in The Swan.
