Tuesday 5th July 2022 - River Avon from Newbridge

 



Buzzard - Bath Birdwatcher

The 3 Amigos were together for the first time for a while and today were on a half-day walk along the river Avon from Newbridge towards Saltford. We parked in the Newbridge park and ride car park from here we walked to the riverside public footpath. On the way starting our list with Woodpigeon and Blackbird. As we walked over the river we noted Mallard, Mute Swan with 4 cygnets and a Moorhen while in the field were lots of adult and young Rooks with 3 Herring Gulls and just a few Carrion Crows. As we continued I noticed a Jay but it flew into the back of a tree before the others could get on it, but 2 Magpies on the river bank were seen by all 3 of us. Next sighting was a Cormorant flying up river and later another was seen flying in the opposite direction. A Buzzard was seen flying in the 7 Acre Wood direction as were a few Swifts. A small flock of Jackdaw flew over, then David spotted a small brown butterfly which was settled in the grass which I managed to photograph which I Obsidentified and it came back as 100 o/o Essex Skipper our 1st of the year.

Essex Skipper - Bath Birdwatcher

Skylarks were singing over the cereal crop fields and a Song Thrush flew across the river into the trees and disappeared. Next we added Blue Tit and Linnet to our sightings. David has been a star with his sightings this time spotting a fly by Kingfisher followed by a fly over Lesser Black Back Gull. We next found one of our target bird species when we passed a reed bed where I could hear a contact bird call so we waited till Bryan spotted the culprit a Reed Warbler an adult that appeared to feed what we thought must be a juvenile. Next was a Chiffchaff singing from the top of a tree by the cycle track. Our 1st Gatekeeper butterfly of the year was our next sighting but I was only able to get a closed wing photograph.


Gatekeeper - Bath Birdwatcher

Ringlet butterflies were very common all along the riverbank. We walked under the bridge with the cycle path above and stopped for a coffee and a bite to eat. We continued and found a Wren which at this time of the year seems easy to hear by difficult to see. A flock of Goldfinch were in the railway embankment, it was now time to turn back and on the return we added Long Tailed Tit which proved to be the last new bird sighting but Small Tortoiseshell, Painted Lady and Meadow Brown were 3 extra butterflies we also saw a dragonfly called a Scarce Chaser which apparently is not very common in this area.

Scarce Chaser - Bath Birdwatcher

We also found both Banded and Beautiful Demoiselle. A great morning with some very good sightings.

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