Bath Birdwatcher

  I had a couple of hours spare this morning so I decided to pop to Newton St Loe, during the night I had a strange dream that at NSL I found a new bird but in my dream I knew it was a bird, a bird I had never seen before but my dream never allowed me to see it, so I wondered if this was a sign that something special would turn up today, so read on to find out. I had nobody with me so everything I was to find today would be all my own work. I parked in the usual place by the church and walked through the church yard. The field beyond was covered with Rooks well in excess of 100 plus a few Jackdaws and Woodpigeon. In the field behind the cottages where there were a few sheep a Blackbird was in the grass and on the right in one of the small trees were 3 Carrion Crows. Walking towards the cottages by Send a Cow 2 Dunnocks were playing chase in the hedges and 5 House Sparrows flew into the same hedge. A single Starling flew into the top of one of the tall trees by send a cow and a Robi...

  NSL Church - (Bath Birdwatcher) I like to try and visit Newton St Loe at least twice a month and today marks my 24 th visit this year but as I have mentioned on the last few visits bird numbers and species have been disappointing. Walking through the Church Yard and into the field beyond and here we found the 3 most common corvids Carrion Crow, Rook and Jackdaw. Continuing through the field a Great Spotted Woodpecker called from one of the large trees on the left and I located it right in the highest point of one of the trees before it flew across the field in front of us. Nothing else until we reached the footpath through the woods here, we added Robin, Long Tailed and Blue Tit. A Grey Heron was sat by the stream looking from butterfly alley with 2 more sat in the field on the far side of the bottom lake and a Woodpigeon that flew over. Grey Heron-NSL(Bath Birdwatcher)   Nothing more until we reached the bottom lake but did look at the waterfall which was gushing. Waterfal...

  Went for a walk today from Monkton Combe to the Anglefish at the Somerset Coal Canal basin in Limpley Stoke where these pictures were taken. The Mute Swans were possibly a pair that nested locally, and it seems just one cygnet has survived. The Heron was sat on the top of a tree trunk that had been cut off some 12 feet from ground level and had a good lookout spot from there, as can be seen from thr picture below. The next picture is of the Aqueduct were the  Kennet and Avon Canal runs over the river Avon and the railway line from Bath to Westbury. The final picture is of the Royal Crescent in Bath taken a week ago but thought I would include it for those of you who have never visited Bath.

  Went to Newton St Loe this morning and met one of Mary’s friends . Because of all the rain we have had recently we decided to walk up the Drive to the University to miss the bottom lake which we thought would be muddy after all the recent rain. In the first field to the left as we entered the drive, it was full of cows with their calves and where they had turned the edge of the field to mud were at least 20 Pied Wagtails with a similar quantity of Meadow Pipits although these were harder to count as they flew away as we moved towards them, also with them were a few Goldfinch .  We continued up the drive and approaching the first set of cattle grids a flock of about 30 Starlings flew from the field and headed for the village. In the field were a large corvid flock mainly Rooks but also a scattering of Jackdaws and the odd Carrion Crow, also with them was a fair count of Woodpigeons. A large flock of gulls were circling over the field mainly Black Headed but also ...

  For the 3 rd consecutive week, the 3 Amigos were down to 2 as David was unable to join us. Because the weather was looking a bit inclement, we decided that Chew was the place to visit as the hides provided a dry place to bird spot from. Heading off for our first stopping place at Herriotts we encountered Magpie, Jackdaw and Woodpigeon on the journey. At Herriot's the first thing we noticed was how much water was in the pool so much that it was overspilling all around the outlet so no chance of any waders where they had been seen for most of the summer. Some Ducks and Gulls were present including Mallard, Tufted Duck, Shoveler, Herring and Black Headed Gulls. Also seen were Mute Swan, Grey Wagtail and Teal. The main lake is still so low I cannot remember seeing it as low in over 40 years of visiting. In the channel were several Moorhens then Bryan spotted a fishing Kingfisher using a tree close to the road as its lookout point before diving to grab a prize. Out on the lake wer...