As I mentioned last week, this week I was all alone
with the other Amigos on holiday so I decided to spend a morning at Newton St
Loe. Being just me I was able to get away a little earlier than normal, not
that it made any difference to what I saw. On the way I did see a few species, Herring Gull, Jackdaw, Magpie, Wood Pigeon and Carrion Crow. I parked by the church and set off
through the church yard and the field beyond, Nothing in the field as there was
4 lots of dog walkers. On the road to Ripple Effect a Blackbird
was in the road and a couple of Rooks flew
over, in the hedgerow was 2 Blue Tits, Dunnock and
a small flock of House Sparrows. Goldfinches were
in and out of the feeders and a swallow was quartering the fields in front of Ripple
Effect and 2 male Mallards were in the field. A Robin was in a bush by the footpath and towards the
bottom of the path I spotted a Treecreeper scampering
up a tree before flying to the next. A Stock Dove flew
into the top of one of the tall trees then a Chiffchaff
flew into a tree above my head and started to sing chiff chaff, chiff
chaff. Walking down Butterfly Alley Blue and Great Tits were in the hedges and on reaching the lake
outfall a Cranefly flew in front of me and landed on a leaf it was a Four Spotted Cranefly (Nephrotoma Quadrifaria) one
I don’t remember seeing before.
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| Four Spotted Cranefly - Bath Birdwatcher) |
On the bottom lake a Grey
Heron was on the far bank with a Lesser Black
Back Gull in the middle, a Pied Wagtail flew
past and a Moorhen was on the bank in front of
me. In the top corner of the lake birds were calling mostly tits but also a Blackcap, I didn’t spot the calling male but did find
a female, also 2 Long Tailed Tits were in the
trees. On the top lake were at least 5 Coots but
I suspect more were in the reeds, I did count 9 chicks broods of 2,2 and 5. 2 Little Grebes were also seen plus a female Mallard with 5 ducklings one of which was a different colour from the rest.
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| Ducklings - NSL (Bath Birdwatcher) |
Lots of activity around
the Grey Herons nests with 2 birds sitting and 3
more in the trees.
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| Nesting Grey Heron - NSL (Bath Birdwatcher) |
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| Grey Heron - NSL (Bath Birdwatcher) |
A Nuthatch was in the tree at
the top corner of the lake but nothing else new was seen by the time I reached
the stream that feeds the lakes so I decided it was time to make my way back to
the car. I had heard Ravens calling but no sign
but as I reached the dam 2 birds flew over. Walking back along the bottom lake
a Goldcrest sang from a tree above me and the
last sighting of the morning was a Wren close to
Ripple Effect.
One maddening thing today was dog owners who blatantly
ignore signs asking them when in the University grounds to keep dogs on leads, I saw 3 dog walkers in the University grounds and only 1 dog out of
4 was on a lead, one dog was running amok on the bank below the Temple with the
owner nowhere to be seen but did eventually put in an appearance on the phone
with no control over the animal.
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| Grey Heron - NSL (Bath Birdwatcher) |
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| very dirty Sheep - NSL (Bath Birdwatcher) |
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| Mallard with a nice head reflection (Bath Birdwatcher) |
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