Bath Birdwatcher

  With just a spare morning the 2 Amigos stayed fairly local with a short drive to Stanton Prior for a walk around the village and farm looking for farmland birds, following this a move to Burnett looking for similar species. Parking by the farm lots of Chaffinch were visible along with many Collared Doves, also seen were Blackbird, Dunnock, House Sparrow and Carrion Crow. Walking along a lane a large flock of over 150 Starling were spotted in a tree before they flew into a field that already held many Chaffinch and many more were in the farmyard I would estimate well over 100 birds were seen. Chaffinch - Stanton Prior (Bath Birdwatcher)  We turned round to do a circular tour of the village and soon saw some Stock Doves flying over. Looking through gaps in the hedgerow Pied Wagtails were in the field beyond, a Robin was singing from the top of the hedge and a Buzzard was found sitting in a tree with a Pheasant close by. Blue Tit, Skylark and Jackdaw were ticked. I then heard t...

    Saturday was this month’s Bath RSPB field trip and this time it was to Blashford NNR nr Ringwood. 17 members met at the reserve including a few new members on their 1 st field trip. David was our leader with Bryan and myself, Tony, lending a hand where and whenever it was needed, mainly helping the less knowledgeable with bird identification and as you will note later some less than common species were encountered so lots of assistance was handed out. We did identify some species as we traveled to Blashford so Collared Dove, Pheasant, Rook and Kestrel were counted. As we drove through Stapleford just outside Salisbury 4 Red Kites were seen in flight. And from Salisbury to Blashford Grey Heron and Little Egret were seen. At Blashford   as we waited for the other member to arrive we noted Chaffinch, Blue Tit, Jackdaw Woodpigeon  and Blackbird, and as we set off Nuthatch and Great Tit were seen. Our first stop was the woodland hide and as we approached it th...

  This week’s birding trip was to Snuff Mills and Eastville park in Bristol, the 1 st time we have visited here since 2020. We parked in the car park at Snuff Mills and decided to start the day with a short walk up the river Frome to the weir. We were soon spotting Blue and Long Tailed Tits, lots of flyover Jackdaws a few Carrion Crows in the trees plus an odd Woodpigeon. On the river was a pair of Mallard and 2 Moorhens.   But the strangest sighting was 12 Magpies sat in the top of a tree and as we looked more kept flying in to the same tree and in the end we counted 23. A Robin was our final sighting here as we walked towards Eastville Park. Our first sighting here was 3 Blackbirds chasing each other through the trees over the river, a Wren was seen working its way through the undergrowth when we spotted 3 Great Spotted Woodpeckers flying line astern across our path and into a tree, the strange thing about it was about an hour later as we were leaving the park they were sti...

  Saturday is usually a stay at home day but this week Mary and myself needed some fresh air and a walk, so chose NSL. We parked by the church and set of via the road as we were unsure how muddy it would be through the field. As we started a Blackbird flew past and on reaching the road to Send a Cow Jackdaws were making a lot of noise in the treetops, a Robin was singing from a shrub and a Herring Gull flew over. A Woodpigeon flew as we approached the cottages where a Collared Dove was on the top of a pole and Goldfinches were on the wires. A Dunnock sang from the top of a bush and Blue and Great Tits were on the feeders. Dunnock - NSL (Bath Birdwatcher)  Walking  on towards the footpath Magpie and Rooks were spotted. Nothing new for the day was seen until we reached the bottom lake here, even though there were lots of anglers at least 7 Mallard and 2  Moorhens were counted. On the top lake were just 7 more Mallard a very low count for here, but a least another 6...

  For this week’s walk we were joined by Roger who as children was our neighbor when we lived on Combe Down, and have only recently got back in touch with each other. Today’s walk took us from Monkton Combe to Midford through fields and back to Tucking Mill via a woodland footpath and then a road back to the starting point. We parked in a pull in at the bottom of Summer Lane just outside of Monkton Combe here we found Blackbird, Dunnock, Carron Crow and Magpie. From here we walked into the village to the Wheelwrights Arms where we turned into Mill Lane, here 2 Lesser Black Back Gulls were on a roof and a Robin was singing from a roadside bush. Jackdaws were flying over and in another garden were many House Sparrows along with Great and Blue Tits. At the bottom of the lane is a private drive with a wide lawn to the left and here I spotted a Green Woodpecker on the frost covered grass it must have been my day for spotting them as later in the morning approaching Tucking Mill I found ...

  Snowdrops - NSL (Bath Birdwatcher) T oday David and Tony visited Newton St Loe a day later than usual as on Monday my wife had a cataract operation and it was only right that I looked after her yesterday. We parked by the farm shop and walking towards the church a Lesser Black Back Gull flew over and Jackdaws were in one of the tall trees. A Long Tailed Tit and Blue Tit   were in a bush and a Blackbird flew through a garden. On the road leading to the church is a line of tall trees some covered with mistletoe here a Mistle Thrush and Redwing were seen, next a Goldfinch flew over and in the field beyond the church was a Magpie and 2 Carrion Crows. Walking to the bottom road a Black Headed Gull flew over and later 4 more were in the Cormorant tree on the top lake. In the hedgerow were House Sparrows and as we approached what was Send a Cow a Stock Dove flew over the 1 st of 3 we saw the other 2 overflew the top lake. Wood Pigeon were seen regularly and a Robin was singing at ...