Tuesday 26th July 2022 - Somerset Levels, Westhay/Ham Wall.

 

For this week’s birding trip the 3 Amigos were asked to lead a Bath Nats field trip to the Somerset Levels. I was slightly apprehensive as the Nath are interested in more than birds and butterflies, subjects like insects especially dragonflies something we have always looked at but as for the names well that eludes all 3 of us. However all was well and the day went very well and we as leaders learned a lot.

We all met at Westhay where we were to spend a couple of hours, on arrival it was rather overcast and thought that insects would be hard to find and so it proved for the first hour but birds kept us going with House Sparrow, Blackbird and Magpie seen before we arrived and Swallow, Black Headed Gull, Moorhen, Mallard Mute Swan, Coot, Blue Tit, Great Crested Grebe and Lesser Black Back Gull all noted.

young Great Crested Grebe(Bath Birdwatcher)

 It was now starting to brighten up and our first 2 butterflies of the day were seen, Small Tortoiseshell and Red Admiral. David spotted a Buzzard soaring in the distance. After about an hour we reached an area of open water with the trunks and branches of old trees poking out of the water on the tops of a few were several Cormorants and on the lower branches Little Egrets and while Bryan was looking through them all he found a Cattle Egret. Butterflies were now showing well and Peacock, Speckled Wood and Gatekeepers were added to our list of butterflies.

Gatekeeper (Bath Birdwatcher)

 On our way back to the car we diverted to an area known as the mire and on the way a Roesel’s Bush Cricket was found 1 of 2 that were spotted during the morning. A fly called a Tapered Drone Fly was also seen.

Tapered Drone-Fly(Bath Birdwatcher)

 While in the Mire many different species of grasshopper were seen, I was blissfully unaware there are so many different species Short Horned Grasshopper was one of the species seen.

Short-Horned Grasshopper(Bath Birdwatcher)

 As we were making our way out of the Mire a Great Spotted Woodpecker flew over. Glen spotted a moth on a nettle leaf a Beautiful China Mark. Our next sighting was a Chiffchaff in with a mixed tit flock and a Hobby was seen high in the sky. Back at the car park a Great White Egret flew over.

Our next stop was Ham Wall where we stopped for lunch and while eating 4 Hobby’s flew past, Chaffinch, Goldfinch and Robin were all seen. After lunch we set off towards the 1st viewing platform and as we crossed the bridge over the drain we spotted a Marsh Harrier, and while there a Brimstone Butterfly was seen and Glen commented that this is the only British Butterfly that is possible to be seen all year round. We reached the viewing point but due to reed growth little could be seen so we moved on towards the Avalon hide,

On the way we came across a plant called Hemp Agrimony it was in two patches either side of the footpath and was covered with butterflies and there must have been a minimum of 50 Small Tortoiseshell with a few each of Red Admiral and Peacock. I have never seen so many butterflies in one place a sight to remember. Dragonflies were now putting on a show with Brown and Southern Hawker in abundance. Damsel flies were also about in their 100’s with Common Blue Tail being the most abundant and Small Red-Eyed Damselfly fairly common along the drains.

Common Blue-Tail (Bath Birdwatcher)


 A single Black Tailed Skimmer was also seen. In the hide we looked out on lots of Gadwall and in amongst them was 3 Little Grebe a Shoveler and a Pochard.

Gadwall (Bath Birdwatcher)


A Grey Heron appeared from nowhere and a Carrion Crow flew past. Time to go and on our way back to the cars Green-Veined White, Comma and Large White were seen. Everyone agreed it had been a great day with a diverse range of species encountered.

On the way back to Bath a Jackdaw was our last new species of the day.


Noon Fly (Bath Birdwatcher)


 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Saturday 11th November 2023 - Newton St Loe.

Image
  NSL Boathouse with the lonely Mute Swan - Bath Birdwatcher When we woke up on Saturday it was such a beautiful day we decided to go for a walk at Newton St Loe as we have not visited since the 26 th of October and we were interested not only in the bird life but the autumn colour’s of the trees. We arrived parking as usual by the church where in the field beyond the church we found our first sightings Magpie, Jackdaw and Rooks all flyover. In the hedgerow opposite the cottages were Blue Tits and Woodpigeons and Long Tailed Tits were in the trees by Ripple Effect. On the footpath were Blackbird and Robin and on reaching Butterfly Alley a Grey Heron was in the trees above the stream, and a Wren flew into the hedge to our right. The lake outlet was a real torrent over the waterfall which was expected due to the amount of rain we have had recently. Waterfall NSL (Bath Birdwatcher)  Up to the bottom lake where 2 Kingfishers were playing chase and I thought I heard a possible 3...
Read more

Tuesday 4th March 2025 - Marshfield

Image
  A bit f a last-minute decision was to go to Marshfield for this week’s birding trip mainly as we could only spare a half day. Parking at the Bath end of Marshfield we set off towards Bond’s Lane spotting Robin, House Sparrow and Goldfinch. Crossing the A420 we set off down the lane where Jackdaw and Woodpigeon flew past and in a field to our left were 2 Ravens feeding on something unknown in the grass, they flew away and a Carrion Crow flew in taking their place. As we continued David spotted movement in a hedge to our right but looking into the sun made it difficult to identify the birds but one flew up into a bush to our right enabling up to identify it as a lovely male Yellowhammer, a year tick.  Yellowhammer - Marshfield (Bath Birdwatcher) A Dunnock flew down onto the side of the road and a flock of Rooks flew past. A Skylark was singing in the sky above us but hard to find against the blue sky but with binoculars I did find it year tick no2. A Blue Tit and a few Linnets...
Read more

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