My brother’s 50th birthday bash drew us down to
Somerset and the journey down across the Midlands produced little bar the expected
Red Kites and Buzzards and we broke the journey down for some lunch at Ham Wall.
My short walk down to the viewing platform was very productive with plenty of
Egret action, booming Bitterns and the two Glossy Ibis once again.
Great Egret and Shoveler
Glossy Ibis
Glossy Ibis
Glossy Ibis
A drake Garganey was actively feeding in the middle of the
lagoon with a pair of Pintail, Teal,Shoveler and Gadwall and 120 dapper
Black-tailed Godwits snoozed on the main island with many decked out in their
summer garb.The Spotted Redshank that
we missed earlier in the month was seen in the company of a Common cousin and a
few Snipe were around the margins.
Garganey
Marsh Harriers quartered and six adult Med Gulls drifted
over calling which were apparently a good record for the reserve and as usual I
was attracted by their calls.There were
Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps singing and an early Willow Warbler was warming up
despite the chill in the air.There is
always something special about hearing that mellifluous cascade for the first
time each year.
There were no butterflies at all but I counted 12 slightly
sluggish Eristalis pertinax on the Sallow flowers.
Blackcap
Eristalis pertinax
Gymnocheta viridis
The ‘house’ at Hog Bottom (west of Wellington) was set in
lovely grounds with an automated mower that we called Bob who spent every
minute of every day slowly trundling around keeping the lawns looking neat and
tidy and I was pleased to discover that Bob had opted for a high cut that left
the Daisies intact!It was slightly
disturbing to see his small headlights creeping around the garden after dark
and no matter what window you looked out of he always seemed to be just in
front.Just every so slightly creepy…
26th March
A lazy day with a poodle out to Seaton.A pleasant stroll around the wetland reserve
in the almost warmish sunshine produced 12 Blackwits, two Dunlin, Redshank,
Oystercatchers and Curlew on the scrape with grumbling Shelduck and a couple of
Teal. A Sand Martin was flying around wondering where its buddies were and
Chiffchaffs were all around. A pair of Sparrowhawks displayed overhead and
attracted the Herring Gulls while the flowering Blackthorn and Celandines
produced 15 Eristalis pertinax, five Bombus terrestris, three each of Small
Tortoiseshell and Peacock.It even
stayed sunny enough for lunch on the sea front!
Black-tailed Godwit
Black-tailed Godwit
Black-tailed Godwit
Sparrowhawk
Mute Swan
Curlews
Bombus terrestris on Red-dead Nettle
Eristalis pertinax on Sloe
Pondskaters
Cowslip
Eristalis pertinax
Meliscaeva auricollis on Lesser Celandine
Redshank and Dunlin
Dunnock
27th March
A day out south of Exeter with a customary visit to Trago in Newton Abbot before getting a plant fix at the Orchid nursery nearby where a pair of
Yellowhammers popped up on the fence as I drove in.The wiggle to the coast allowed the Bunting Garden
Centres Double with a singing Cirl singing merrily at Plant World.
On to Labrador Bay where a the Cirl Buntings obliged.It was cool but there were up and singing and
one male dropped into the Blackthorn just in front of me and happily sat their
singing for ten minutes.Certainly the
closest encounter I have had in the UK.
Cirl Bunting
Green Woodpeckers yaffled way down the fields towards the
cliff edge and I have still never ever ventured down from the top path! The sea
held nothing bar a few circling Gannets.The route back up to Hog Bottom took in The Old Well, another garden centre
where the little bit of warmth had brought out a few Bumblebees and two male
and a female Anthophoraplumipes to feed on the Pulmonaria while Nuthatches
sung from the wood behind.I can always
find some wildlife anywhere I look.
Ground Ivy
Back at the house I walked down to the River Tone that snakily
wended its way through the pastureland as it had felt a bit Dippery on our
several crossings and sure enough I found a pair collecting nest material from
under the river bank.
Dipper
Dipper
My brother and Ruth doing that 'running' thing...
28th March
Time to move on down to Cornwall where a few days had been
booked at Kenegie Hall in Gulval on the outskirts of Penzance (not nearly as
grand as Hog Bottom).It was a good run
down and the cut through from the A30 to Trago #2 took us down the infant River
Fowey where hedges were still being flailed to death despite it being nearly
April.A slow drive by to look for more
Dippers was successful once again.
Sweet Violet
My regular post shopping up the more mature Fowey at Trago
gave me a pair of delightful Grey Wagtails and Marsh Tit and a male Goshawk
cruised over the valley where HerringGulls and Buzzards circled.Brown Trout hung in the clear waters and the
only insects were a single Comma and a few Meliscaeva auricollis on the
Celandines.
Down at The Hayle I had a very pleasing hour as the tide
raced in with two immature Spoonbills and several Little Egrets chasing fry in
the shallows and reliving seeing some of my very first Little Egrets here way
back in August 1989 at the very start of their colonisation.Thirty Redshank and six Greenshank came in
with the tide too and I found a few Curlew, six Black-tailed Godwit and under
my nose a rotund Ringed Plover.
Spoonbill on the right and sneaky Ring-billed Gull on the left
Spoonbills
Redshanks
Redshanks
Ringed Plover
I checked through the gulls and was delighted to find a full
summer adult Ring-billed Gull.It was
never quite close enough to get any shots but it was great in the scope with
bright bill and legs and gleaming pale eyes.I am not quite sure when I last saw one in the UK and the days of
regular wintering birds – even in the south-east and East Anglia as well as
semi resident Hayle birds are long gone.
With some time before check in I cut across to Marazion for
the outside chance of an elusive Hoopoe but between icy showers I managed to
find it probing in amongst the Daisies in a very narrow field of view between
the legs of horses and a myriad of fence posts!As seems the norm now there was not a single pair of bins amongst the
others present and most had trouble finding it in their viewfinders and anyway
it was ‘too far away, too messy, too many posts, too hazy’.It’s a bloody Hoopoe!Just enjoy watching it – please!
There was a melee of 20 House Martin, ten Swallows and a
Sand Martin over Long Rock pool but with more rain coming it I called it a day.
Hoopoe
Hoopoe
29th March
It dawned quite bright and calm and so the Sancreed Booted Eagle beckoned and a few short miles of lane wending from Kenegie saw my
walking up onto the Beacon in anticipation of a good encounter. It took just
two minutes for me to find it being harassed by three Buzzards over a farmland
ridge some way off but ten minutes later it reappeared and drifted into its
favourite rookery filled valley below me where it was on view almost continually
for the next half an hour giving exceptional encounters both above and below
me.
Booted Eagle
Booted Eagle
I had not really thought about the Drift Booted Eagle in a
while but it is amazing to think that we made that twitch was back in November
1999 and watched it just a mile away from where this one was currently gliding effortlessly.
Where does the time go? I pointed it out to some school kids doing their DofE and
them and their teachers seemed very impressed to see their local celebrity Eagle.
Down to the coast where some distant Choughs tumbled at Cape
Cornwall and Guillemots were massing on the offshore on theBrisons.I remember when I first started coming down
here that we were told to look out for a vagrant Steller’s Sealion that was
occasionally seen hauled up on them but we never did.
Cape Cornwall
TheBrisons
Choughs!
The weather was closing in again and more Choughs were seen
in the rain at Pendeen along with cruising Fulmars and Ravens and a walk around
the Levant Tin Mine gave me a good close view of a pair and a couple of Rock
Pipits.I only saw Gannets and Shags bovver
the sea and not one Manx Shearwater although apparently 1000’s had been seen
going by!
Chough
Chough
Stonechat
30th March
The day began back down at Marazion where the Hoopoe was
once again in the little paddock along with a glowing Green Woodpecker and some
Jackdaws.The pools held a few Teal amongst
the Canada Geese and Little Egrets once again prompted memories from 1989.
Wren
Hoopoe - same views of a great bird!
A circuit followed beginning up at Truro before dropping
down to Trago #3 in Falmouth and then on down to The Lizard where it was
glorious but with a still sharp wind. At least 30 Chough were feeding across
the area with the Jackdaws and Ravens took food toward a nest beyond Kynance
where I got close to a female Black Redstart, Stonechats and Rock Pipits and collected a few pieces of green
and red Serpentinite.I would have loved
some of the huge, worked blocks for the garden which looked like an aerial
photograph of the Amazon with trees, rivers and lagoons.
Time to head for home.It is so much farther to get back to Lowestoft than Strood but it had
been good to reacquaint myself with the rocky and rugged south-west.A quick look at The Hayle did not produce any
more rare gulls bar an adult Caspian and the waders had been joined by 29
Bar-tailed Godwits.The two Spoonbills
were on Ryan’s Pool and did not raise their heads to see me off.
Spoonbills
Little Egret
Ham Wall was once again a suitable stop to break the journey
and have a final pasty lunch and it was good to bump into Nick Bruce-White once
again but now in his new roll as CEO of the Devon Wildlife Trust. It is amazing
how our paths have randomly crossed three times now while down in the south
west in recent years.It seems amazing
that so many years have passed since the grand opening of the visitors centre
at Rainham Marshes. https://community.rspb.org.uk/placestovisit/rainhammarshes/b/rainhammarshes-blog/posts/ten-years-youngand I just found this from the ten year anniversary
way back in 2016.
Anyway I left Nick and his management team to their day out
and walked down to the viewpoint once again.There were many Brimstones this time and several additional Willow
Warblers too.One of the Ibis was
showing well until it flew too close and under the near bank while a Bittern at
long last decided to fly across the pool spooking the beautiful Black-tailed Godwits
in the process.
Glossy Ibis
Black-tailed Godwits
Black-tailed Godwits
Great Egret
Great Egret
A single Swallow swooped back and forth and a couple of male
Cetti’s Warblers gave outrageous views within touching distance. No bins
required.I ambled back in the sunshine
with the best part of six hours still to drive and a single Redwing calling
from the Willows reminded me that spring had not quite yet taken full control.
No comments:
Post a Comment