29th December 2021 - Chew Valley Lake.

 

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 spotted in the top of a tree and a Robin was also noted. Once in the hide we scanned the large raft of birds and here we added Great Crested Grebe and Goldeneye two of them being cracking males. A Great White Egret was on the far side of the lake and Bryan found Wigeon in among the large flock. A female Marsh Harrier was our next new sighting flying low over the lake. As we sat looking we heard the call of Long Tailed Tits outside the door which we spotted along with Goldcrest. Back in the hide a Shoveler must have flown in while we were outside and David spotted a flyby Kingfisher, then 2 Ravens flew by. By this time 2 other people had come into the hide and they pointed out 2 Snipe hidden behind some dead plants. But no sign of the Jack Snipe so after over an hour of searching in the reed stems in front of the hide so we decided to move on to Moreton, as we looked out a flock of Lapwing flew in joining birds already there, we counted 59 birds quite a large flock for Chew. 


Lapwing-Stratford (Bath Birdwatcher)

Out on the lake we found Pochard in the flock of birds next a Peregrine flew past, by its size I guess it was a female followed by a Buzzard higher in the sky. As we scanned around David spotted another Marsh Harrier this time a male which flew in and landed next to the reeds. 



Marsh Harrier-Stratford (Bath Birdwatcher)

Nothing else of note was seen so we moved heading for the Orchard by the entrance to The Lodge but while driving out we added Pheasant, Wren and Fieldfare to our lists. Nothing was seen at the orchard, so it was Herons Green for lunch here the 1st new bird seen for the day was an adult Yellow Legged Gull and a Little Grebe was diving close to a reed bed. I spotted a Lesser Black Back Gull as we sat in the car eating lunch and several Gadwall were spotted, a duck which is usually plentiful, but these were the only ones we saw all day. After a short discussion we decided to go back to Stratford for another search for the Jack Snipe, on the way Rook, Redwing, Magpie, Blackbird and Dunnock were day ticks. Back in the hide we met 2 guys from Kent who were on a 2-day trip around the west country birding. They were using a thermal imaging scope to locate heat sources in the reeds and had located 4 Jack Snipe and 12 Common Snipe and were able to put us on 2 Jack Snipe that were visible with binoculars. 

Jack Snipe hiding in the reeds-Stratford(Bath Birdwatcher)

The scope was a great piece of kit, and I was given the chance to look through it, I was amazed to see the white heat sources in what looked like an empty reed bed. While there a Grey Wagtail flew past, and I was lucky to be looking in the right place at the right time when a Water Rail flew from one set of reeds to another. The guys in the hide told us that Siskins had been seen earlier in the Alders behind the hide so as we returned to the car, we found 2 feeding high up in one of the trees a year tick for me, also seen was a small flock of Goldfinch. Driving back home a Collared Dove brought our day total to a splendid 60 species with 2 year ticks. A great total on a day where conditions when we set off were less then inviting.

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