Bath Birdwatcher

  The 3 Amigos today traveled back to Chew to try and find the Jack Snipe that we failed to find on our last visit and would be a year tick if we could find one.   Starting as usual at Herriotts where on the pond were Mallard, Shelduck, and Canada Geese plus a Muscovy Duck of unknown origin. Also seen were Black Headed Gulls, Common Gulls an Egyptian Goose, Pintail, Tufted Duck, Coot, Teal, Moorhen, Great Black Back Gull a couple of fly over Carrion Crows, Herring Gull, Grey Heron, Mute Swan and Jackdaws. At this point we decided to move to Stratford as it was so windy, and it would be more sheltered there. As we walked from the car park a Wood Pigeon flew over the field and a male Great Spotted Woodpecker was on the thinnest of branches on the top of a tree. At the feeders were Blue, Coal and Great Tits, A Jay flew through the trees and a Nuthatch flew onto one of the feeders before flying back to land on a tree. It flew in and out on several occasions. A male Chaffinch was s...

  A return visit to Newton St Loe and most likely our last visit of the year. Parking by the farm shop we noted Jackdaw, Carrion Crow and Rook while we were changing footwear. Walking towards the church we spotted House Sparrow, Blue Tit and Goldfinch in the garden with the feeders and as we walked on a Magpie and Lesser Black Back Gull was seen. As we approached the left turn to the church a flock of small birds was seen flying back and forwards across the road the flock contained Coal Tit, Blue Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Nuthatch, Great Tit and Goldcrest. In the tallest tree sat a Mistle Thrush and a Blackbird flew by. Continuing on a Greenfinch was singing from a smaller tree. On through the churchyard and field down to the road with nothing to add. A Robin was our next sighting, and a Grey Heron was on the edge of the field next to Send a Cow, the 1 st time I have seen one here, also in the field were several Common Gull I guess we saw some 50+ in the fields. In the hedgerow were 4...

  This week we had two choices of where to go spotting as we wanted to try and increase our year lists, so Somerset Levels or Slimbridge were the options and in the end, we chose to go to Slimbridge. We set off and, on our journey, we saw Rook, Woodpigeon, Common Gull, Magpie, Jackdaw, Pheasant, House Sparrow and Black Headed Gull. In Slimbridge car park the first birds we saw was a flock of Curlew flying out of the reserve presumable to feed in the local fields, also overhead were Starlings, Redwings Mute Swan and Tufted Ducks. Walking to the entrance Moorhens were in or by the ponds and a Dunnock was in the undergrowth. Once inside we met 4 members of our local Bath RSPB group and while chatting Greylag Geese were flying around and Mallards were in some of the pens. We all decided to head for Zeiss hide as a Bittern had been showing well. On the way we added Blackbird and Robin. In the hide overlooking the reed beds and scrape we could see many hundreds of different birds with ...

  My wife and myself decided that the weather was suitable for us to get out for a walk and some fresh air after being more or less housebound due to the weather, it’s been very wet and windy recently and when not it’s been cold, and I hate being cold. Also, the water authority has been working in our road replacing all the stopcocks and the mains pipe to our house making parking impossible, so I have not moved the car for over 2 weeks.   Now the work has been completed we have been able to drive and park up for a country walk Newton St Loe being a favorite place. On arrival we had to park by the church, I walked through the churchyard while Mary walked on the road, I managed to spot Rook and Carrion Crow flying over the fields and a Robin singing from a bush, as we reached Send a Cow a Blackbird flew from the field and a Nuthatch was in one of the tall trees and a House Sparrow was on the wires. Nothing was seen in the woodland, so it was on to Butterfly Alley where 6 Grey He...

  A day later than normal this week and with more time to spare we packed a lunch and set off for a day at Chew Valley Lake. The first birds of the day were Jackdaws with many sat on rooftops, chimneys, or aerials, at Chew on Herriotts pond we spotted Mallard, Coot, Black Headed Gull, Mute Swan, Great White Egret, Pintail, and Shoveler. David caught a Kingfisher flying over the pond and flew under the road via the overflow bridge. Moorhen, Shelduck and Herring Gull were soon seen. 63 Lapwing and 25 Black Tailed Godwits were with the mixed gull flock which included Common and Lesser Black Back     Gulls. The final 2 birds seen on this side of the road were Carrion Crow and Cormorant. On the main lake a Great Black Back Gull and Grey Heron were both ticked as were a few flyover Starlings. Very few birds could be seen on the lake mainly due to the strong wind, so we decided to head for Stratford Hide here we expected it to be less windy. Driving down the lane a Blackbird...

  This report is not the usual day or half day birding trip but a whole week in Anglesey but as it was with my brother and our wives bird spotting was not the main reason for the visit, but we did see 56 species during the week. We stayed in a small town called Benllec on the northeast coast where we had a distant view of the sea. When we arrived the first thing, we noticed was we had House Martins nesting under the eaves and Collared Doves were on the wires these two were ever-present. House Sparrow, Starling and Swallow were also seen as we surveyed our surroundings. The following day we stayed fairly local and visited some of the local villages including Moelfre which houses a lifeboat station and as we traveled, sometimes on foot or by car the species numbers began to build up Black Headed Gull, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Fulmar, Grey Wagtail, Herring Gull, Gannet, Robin, Oystercatcher, Peregrine, Great Black Back Gull, Raven, Wood Pigeon, Magpie and Dunnock were all seen. After lu...

  Moth trapping this year has been very poor with the cold wet and windy weather making it impossible to put the trap out, it’s been so windy on occasions that the trap could have been blown away. The first time I was able to successfully trap was the 22 nd of February when I caught an Early Grey and a Hebrew Character which was a new sighting for me. The next successful trap was the 4 th of March with another Hebrew Character. The 16 th of March was slightly better again with 4 moths, Hebrew Character, Common Plume, Clouded Drab and Oak Beauty. The last 2 also new captures. The 18 th of March just 2 moths an Oak Beauty and a Hebrew Character. Things started to look up during the warmer spell of weather towards the end of March with 11 moths of 4 species caught new for the year a Common Plume and a Beautiful Plume being a new capture. On the 24 th 4 moths including a March moth being another new species. The 29 th of March brought another 4 moths with a Silver Y being a yea...