Friday 30th April/Thursday 5th May 2022 - Newton St Loe

 

Two short visits to NSL the first on the 30th April when 24 species were seen which included 4 Coot on the top lake and 3 Grey Herons nests in the tall trees on the left of the lake with only 2 nests seemingly occupied with 2 birds at each plus a single Heron at the top end of the lake. Mallards were in short supply with just 8 seen in total on the top and bottom lake although one of the female ducks on the bottom lake had 4 ducklings. 


Female Mallard with 4 ducklings-NSL(Bath Birdwatcher)

Just 3 Moorhens were seen with many I guess concealed in the reeds, the 2 Mute Swans were also present but with no signs of them nesting. 2 Buzzards flew fairly low over the lake heading towards the bottom lake and a single Cormorant was sat in its usual tree. A single Blackcap was seen in Send a Cow woodland with many more heard during the walk but very few Chiffchaff heard but none seen. Back in the village 3 Swallows were on the wires by the Farm Shop but nothing else of any significance was seen except a few Orange Tip Butterflies.

 

Coot-NSL(Bath Birdwatcher)

The second visit was Thursday 5th May but again very poor numbers with only 21 species seen. Again Swallows were on the wires by the farm shop but a surprise was a male Roe Deer in the old car park below send a cow. The bottom lake was pretty much devoid of bird life with just 3 Mallard and 1 Moorhen seen with another between the lakes and a third on the top lake. The 2 Canada Geese I had seen several weeks ago were back but only 2 Coot remained, the 2 Mute Swans were still present with only another 7 Mallard which included one with 3 ducklings. The same 2 Grey Herons nests were still occupied with 2 birds on each and while we watched a 5th bird flew to the top end of the lake. A Stock Dove and a male Blackcap were worth a mention as were 2 Goldcrest in the Yews by the top lake. As for butterflies 4 Brimstone about 10 Orange Tip and a similar amount of Speckled Wood were seen.

Mute Swan-NSL(Bath Birdwatcher)

Canada Goose-NSL(Bath Birdwatcher)


 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sunday 19th January 2025 - Blagdon Lake

Image
  The first, Bath RSPB’s field trip of the year was a visit to Blagdon lake where Nigel Milbourne the site warden led our group of 14 members. When we arrived having seen a Red Kite on the way we were waiting for others to arrive, so I scanned the lake and found Mallard, Coot, Tufted Duck, Moorhen and Black Headed Gull. As others arrived we all got together, and David introduced us all to Nigel and we set off to walk the length of the dam looking for an overwintering Common Sandpiper but unfortunately it didn’t show but we did find Mute Swan, Cormorant, Common Gull, Great Black Back Gull, Pied Wagtail and Herring Gull. Walking back to the cars we added flyover Carrion Crow, Woodpigeon and Starling plus our 1 st Great Crested Grebe of the day. We then drove inside the confines of the lake where we parked and from here our 1 st new bird of the day was a calling Chaffinch and on the lake in front of us were Teal, Pochard and Gadwall. We also looked at a strange duck which had caused...
Read more

Tuesday 7th January 2025 - Newton St Loe.

Image
  It was a return to Newton St Loe alone as Bryan is still recovering from his operation and David was under the weather. The day started very cold, and it took a long time too unfreeze the car and then I made a mistake by taking the main road to NSL as I thought it was the safest with the conditions as they were. BIG mistake 3way traffic lights at Windsor Bridge with the traffic queueing back to Brougham Hayes. Well, I did eventually arrive and park by the church, nothing in the churchyard but in the field beyond a small flock of Woodpigeons feeding in the grass and many Jackdaws flying over. On the bottom road Blue Tits were in the hedgerow and Lesser Black Back Gull and Magpie flew by, 2 Dunnocks were feeding by the side of the road with Great Tit and Robin visiting the feeders, and Carrion Crows in the top of the tallest trees. Nothing more until Butterfly Alley where a Grey Heron was by the side of the stream. The bottom lake was quiet with just a single Mallard 2 Black Headed...
Read more

Tuesday 2nd September 2025 - Chew Valley Lalke

Image
  Our birding trip this week was another visit to Chew Valley Lake but just Bryan and Tony as David is on holiday. Chew was chosen because 2 waders scare at this location had been seen and it would be silly not to take advantage and see if we could find them. As usual we started the day at Herriotts noting Magpie, Collared Dove and Woodpigeon as we drove through Bishops Sutton. On arrival at Herriotts it was noticeable the amount of hirundines flying over the pool with Swallow and both House and Sand Martins in quite large numbers, while looking at these 2 Common Sandpipers flew over the water landing out of sight on the wall. The water level had risen a little since last week but the now overgrown mud was still above water with double figure count of Lapwings seen along with lots of Black Headed Gulls also seen were Mallard, Teal, Gadwall and Mute Swan. On the far side of the pool were at least 2 Garganey and close by a Grey Heron. A Green Sandpiper and a single Snipe were also fo...
Read more