Saturday 14th May 2022 - Quantocks

 

Today was the local RSPB’s field trip to the Quantocks following the recee the 3 Amigos plus one did last Monday. Bryan was not able to come but Kirsty a fairly new and young member came with us. Its so good to find someone of her age so  enthusiastic about birds and was a pleasure to help with identification. We set off at 7.55 and even before we met Kirsty a Jay was spotted and as we had to pass Chew Valley Lake we intended to stop at Herriotts for a quick look, whilst in transit we added Buzzard, Starling, House Martin, Goldfinch and Collared Dove. At Chew we ticked Mute Swan, Canada Goose, Mallard, Coot, Shelduck, Gadwall, Tufted Duck, Pochard, Herring Gull, Common Sandpiper, Lesser Black Back Gull, and Swifts, All to soon we had to move on adding Moorhen, Swallow and Pied Wagtail to the days list before we arrived at Bowling Green car park in Holford where we met up with 5 other members, not a big turnout but with a small group most would be able to see any sightings. Woodpigeon and Blackbird were spotted as we left the car park, and on the small stream we were to follow Grey Wagtails were seen. A lot of the walk was through woodland and many woodland species were seen starting with Goldcrest and Blue Tit. In the same field as Monday was a Pheasant. We continued but it was very quiet with hardly and birdsong we did hear very distant call of a Cuckoo but never close enough to get a sighting but we did hear the first of the hoped for sightings a trilling Wood Warbler which showed well enabling everyone to get a good look at it as it was a life tick for several members. A Speckled Wood butterfly was our next sighting quickly followed by a Brimstone, a Robin flew onto the path and another butterfly a Green Veined White stopped on a flower enabling us to confirm its identification. Wrens had been singing since we left the car park but this was our first sighting. As we emerged from the trees into a more shrub lined area we saw our first of many pairs of Stonechat and a little further up the path a singing Willow Warbler was observed then a Great Spotted Woodpecker was seen flying onto the base of one of the few trees and a male Chaffinch was in another of the trees. We stopped for lunch at the same place as we stopped on Monday where we added Linnet, Meadow Pipit, Skylark and Carrion Crow to the growing day list. We had finished lunch and were about to set off back when I spotted a bird on top of the gorse a few 100m away but in the heat haze I could not be sure what it was but I suspected it was a Dartford Warbler but it disappeared before I could get Tom on it so we needed to go and see if it would show again unfortunately it was in the opposite direction we were going. We has wandered a few 100m when a dark bird flew onto the top of a gorse but not the Dartford just a very dark plumaged Stonechat. We were just about to give up when David spotted the bird in the gorse but it flew before we could all see it but luckily after a short wait it reappeared on the top of a gorse bush and sat there nicely so we all could get a good view. This was the highlight of the day and another 1st for some of the group.


Dartford Warbler-Quantocks(Bath Birdwatcher)

As we watched the Dartford a Kestrel flew by. We now set off back down the path we had come up and soon David found a butterfly that we had not seen for a number of years a beautiful Green Hairstreak. Nothing new on the bird front just plenty that we had already encountered, a Comma butterfly was new for the day and a Green Woodpecker was glimpsed flying through the trees. Long Tailed Tit, Great Tit and Blackcap were listed but at last we heard one of the target birds calling up a track we had not walked and followed the call till we found the bird a Redstart another species that was new for some of the group. Time to go so we set off back towards the car park but as we walked we noticed a bird that appeared to fly out of one of the nest boxes so we stood and waited and within a few minutes a female Pied Flycatcher was seen flying between trees the last of our hoped for sightings and again a new species for a lot of the group. We all said our goodbyes and set of towards Bath with another quick stop at Chew where we added Great Crested Grebe, Reed Warbler and Jackdaw  and on the final straight Rook, House Sparrow and Magpie were our last sightings of the day.

Willow Warbler-Quantocks(Bath Birdwatcher)



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