Shapwick Heath
Ham Wall RSPB - with Glastonbury Tor in the backgroundxxxxx
Monday morning and a quick visit to HGF. Nothing much new except for a new and distinctively marked Black-necked Grebe to join the resident bird. By my reckoning this makes at least 9 birds through this Spring.
Xxxx
Working in Somerset on Tuesday and I managed to get down on Monday early enough for an evening walk around Shapwick Heath. I parked up as usual at Ashcott Corner and walked down to Noah’s Hide and then across the drainage ditch to Meare Heath Hide. I then wandered back to the car park and over to the identical reserve next door – Ham Wall RSPB.
Xxxx
There was lots of noise on the way to the hides – mainly from warblers. In all I counted the following (all singing males):
Xxxx
9 Cetti’s Warblers
7 Willow Warblers
6 Chiffchaffs
3 Blackcaps
2 Reed Warblers
1 Garden Warbler
Xxxx
It was a superb, sunny and warm evening and just walking along by the drainage ditch with reedbeds and pools on either side was uplifting. On the wader scrape on the opposite pools (Meare Heath) were 19 Black-tailed Godwits, frantically feeding. There were lots of the usual wildfowl with Wigeon, Pochard, Teal, Tufted Duck, Shoveler and Gadwall everywhere.
Xxxx
In Noah’s Hide, unfortunately, I was joined by two women who were there to see the Otters. They made so much noise it was unbelievable and then left in disappointment that the Otters had not shown! It was interesting to see the Long-tailed Duck which had wintered there was still present. A couple of Little Egrets flew over and all the Cormorants were nesting. Interestingly there were no hirundines around – I saw 1 Swallow all evening.
Xxxx
When I left Noah’s Hide I got my best ever views of a Cettis Warbler when a male landed in the top of some brambles approx 20 feet away, completely out in the open, and burst into song. I knew I wouldn’t get a chance to digiscope it so I simply watched through the bins. I was struck by how smart these birds are in the open with the contrasting rusty red/brown and grey plumage and also how large they are. It makes you wonder how they manage to skulk so effectively. I got about 10 seconds worth of Cetti’s before it vanished.
Xxxx
On the path to Meare Heath hide I spotted a Nuthatch quickly followed by a female Great Spotted Woodpecker. The pool in front of the hide was relatively quiet – the only interest was a male Marsh Harrier which I watched quartering the reed bed for around 10 minutes. On the way back to the car park I heard 2 booming Bitterns, one from the reed bed nr Noah’s Hide and another from Meare Heath reed bed and also a Tawny Owl calling. 2 Buzzards were also seen.
Xxxxx
Ham Wall is very similar to Shapwick/Meare Heath though it is not as large. I walked down to a viewing platform and remained there for a while and didn’t explore the far end of the reserve. Along the way I detected 2 Chiffchaffs, 3 Blackcaps, a Willow Warbler and a further five Cetti’s Warblers – again all singing birds. There were fewer birds on the pools here, however there were at least five booming Bitterns in the various reed beds. I had a natter with a local birder and then called it quits and headed off to my digs for the evening.
Xxxxx
Tuesday evening I drove up to Droitwich were I was working the following day. Unfortunately an overturned caravan on the M5 resulted in me sitting on the motorway for nearly 2 hours and killed any hopes of an evening birding session at Upton Warren near where I was staying. I did give it ten minutes before dusk, however it was cold, grey, wet and windy and no decent birds were around. A few Snipe, Curlews, Avocets and Redshanks were all that was present. Hopefully the Hoopoe which spent the day a few miles down the road will linger until after work tomorrow……
Xxxx
The Hoopoe didn’t stay and I didn’t have a chance to see it anyway. Thursday birding started with my usual morning trip to HGF. It was dead – 3 Coots, 7 Tufties, 5 Wigeon and a few grebes including 2 BNG’s. Hardly any hirundines either though an evening visit produced a few Sand Martins, a Wheatear nr Midhops and a small flock of Linnets. In the garden today were 10+ Tree Sparrows and a Reed Bunting while a rare walk along Waterworks Lane this evening produced 5 Yellowhammers, a Sparrowhawk, a small flock of unidentified brown jobs (probably Linnets) and a couple of Grey Partridges.
Xxxx
The two best best birds today were a Cuckoo and a Yellow Wagtail. The former was observed on some telegraph lines over a field while I was stuck behind a HGV on a minor road somewhere near Stoke. The latter flew past my car while parked on Hollybush Lane in Rixton early evening – not much else around though.
Xxxx
Working in Somerset on Tuesday and I managed to get down on Monday early enough for an evening walk around Shapwick Heath. I parked up as usual at Ashcott Corner and walked down to Noah’s Hide and then across the drainage ditch to Meare Heath Hide. I then wandered back to the car park and over to the identical reserve next door – Ham Wall RSPB.
Xxxx
There was lots of noise on the way to the hides – mainly from warblers. In all I counted the following (all singing males):
Xxxx
9 Cetti’s Warblers
7 Willow Warblers
6 Chiffchaffs
3 Blackcaps
2 Reed Warblers
1 Garden Warbler
Xxxx
It was a superb, sunny and warm evening and just walking along by the drainage ditch with reedbeds and pools on either side was uplifting. On the wader scrape on the opposite pools (Meare Heath) were 19 Black-tailed Godwits, frantically feeding. There were lots of the usual wildfowl with Wigeon, Pochard, Teal, Tufted Duck, Shoveler and Gadwall everywhere.
Xxxx
In Noah’s Hide, unfortunately, I was joined by two women who were there to see the Otters. They made so much noise it was unbelievable and then left in disappointment that the Otters had not shown! It was interesting to see the Long-tailed Duck which had wintered there was still present. A couple of Little Egrets flew over and all the Cormorants were nesting. Interestingly there were no hirundines around – I saw 1 Swallow all evening.
Xxxx
When I left Noah’s Hide I got my best ever views of a Cettis Warbler when a male landed in the top of some brambles approx 20 feet away, completely out in the open, and burst into song. I knew I wouldn’t get a chance to digiscope it so I simply watched through the bins. I was struck by how smart these birds are in the open with the contrasting rusty red/brown and grey plumage and also how large they are. It makes you wonder how they manage to skulk so effectively. I got about 10 seconds worth of Cetti’s before it vanished.
Xxxx
On the path to Meare Heath hide I spotted a Nuthatch quickly followed by a female Great Spotted Woodpecker. The pool in front of the hide was relatively quiet – the only interest was a male Marsh Harrier which I watched quartering the reed bed for around 10 minutes. On the way back to the car park I heard 2 booming Bitterns, one from the reed bed nr Noah’s Hide and another from Meare Heath reed bed and also a Tawny Owl calling. 2 Buzzards were also seen.
Xxxxx
Ham Wall is very similar to Shapwick/Meare Heath though it is not as large. I walked down to a viewing platform and remained there for a while and didn’t explore the far end of the reserve. Along the way I detected 2 Chiffchaffs, 3 Blackcaps, a Willow Warbler and a further five Cetti’s Warblers – again all singing birds. There were fewer birds on the pools here, however there were at least five booming Bitterns in the various reed beds. I had a natter with a local birder and then called it quits and headed off to my digs for the evening.
Xxxxx
Tuesday evening I drove up to Droitwich were I was working the following day. Unfortunately an overturned caravan on the M5 resulted in me sitting on the motorway for nearly 2 hours and killed any hopes of an evening birding session at Upton Warren near where I was staying. I did give it ten minutes before dusk, however it was cold, grey, wet and windy and no decent birds were around. A few Snipe, Curlews, Avocets and Redshanks were all that was present. Hopefully the Hoopoe which spent the day a few miles down the road will linger until after work tomorrow……
Xxxx
The Hoopoe didn’t stay and I didn’t have a chance to see it anyway. Thursday birding started with my usual morning trip to HGF. It was dead – 3 Coots, 7 Tufties, 5 Wigeon and a few grebes including 2 BNG’s. Hardly any hirundines either though an evening visit produced a few Sand Martins, a Wheatear nr Midhops and a small flock of Linnets. In the garden today were 10+ Tree Sparrows and a Reed Bunting while a rare walk along Waterworks Lane this evening produced 5 Yellowhammers, a Sparrowhawk, a small flock of unidentified brown jobs (probably Linnets) and a couple of Grey Partridges.
Xxxx
The two best best birds today were a Cuckoo and a Yellow Wagtail. The former was observed on some telegraph lines over a field while I was stuck behind a HGV on a minor road somewhere near Stoke. The latter flew past my car while parked on Hollybush Lane in Rixton early evening – not much else around though.
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