Friday 25th November 2022 - Newton St Loe

 

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 Robin was sat on the top of a gate. As I reached Butterfly alley the pathway had a barbed wire across the entrance so I guessed it was closed and turned up towards the University to make my way to the top lake and here a Mistle Thrush flew over. Approaching the path to the top lake a Cormorant was sat in one of the dead trees by the bottom lake with another in its usual tree by the top lake. Mallards were the next sightings with 35 on the top lake and later another 20 on the bottom lake. 2 Coot, 8 Moorhen,

Moorhen - NSL (Bath Birdwatcher)

20 Black Headed Gulls, and 5 Common Gulls were quickly ticked off. While having a coffee I found the female Tufted Duck that had been present for a long time, and also the resident pair of Mute Swans, also seen were 2 Little Grebe and the male Teal that had been present for a month. I talked earlier about a dream I had of finding something new, WELL on the top bank was a male Wigeon, you may say it’s a common duck but not here, it’s a patch tick for me, so as per the dream something new.

 

Wigeon - NSL (Bath Birdwatcher)

Walking back to the car I decided to try to return via the lower lake hoping the barbed wire had been removed from the path. While walking by the bottom lake a Red Kite flew over towards the top lake and a Magpie also flew over then a Wren flew across the lake. A Great Tit was by Send a Cow and a Goldfinch flew over by the Church. 26 species were seen but I also heard 8 other species that I could not fine mostly as where I heard them the sun was behind making it impossible to see anything.




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