Bath Birdwatcher

  On Thursday I had a couple of hours spare after dropping Mary off at the garden center where she was meeting a friend so I went to Newton St Loe for a walk and bird spot. In the field beyond the church lots of Rooks were flying over with a few Carrion Crows mixed in a Magpie flew over the trees to my right and a Mistle Thrush   was calling in the top of a tree to my left also a Jay called from the trees on my right but did not show. Walking down to Ripple Effect a Woodpigeon exploded from one of the cottage gardens making me jump!! Also a Wren was in the hedgerow on the other side of the ride, nothing else was seen until butterfly alley and from there looking down the stream into the trees above you could see 4 Grey Herons. Next the bottom lake but just one of each of Mallard, Moorhen and Black Headed Gull were found. The top lake was slightly better here were 3 Coot another 10 Mallard numbers of these two species were well down than on previous visits. There were also 5 Bla...

  The weather for Tuesday didn’t look very good so the three of us decided that Chew was the best bet as firstly the weather didn’t look very good and secondly nothing exciting had been found by Wayne or Robert locally. On the morning there was a late change of plan as the local weather was much better than expected and a Squacco Heron had been found near Ham Wall on the Somerset Levels so we decided that we would see if we could find it. It had been seen from Sharpham Drove so we checked Google Maps so we knew where we had   to go so we set off heading for Meare and I decided not to spot in transit and wait till we reached the levels but a Red Kite seen in transit had to be logged as the chance of seeing another was very remote. When we arrived at Sharpham Drove we were unsure of where the Heron had been seen so we decided to look around finding a 2 Reed Buntings clinging to the top of a reed stem, a Buzzard was seen sat in a bush and a Robin flew into another bush. We could...

  As previously mentioned today was part of replacement field trips as the Ogmore trip had to be cancelled due to lack of numbers. Tom picked me up and we were the 1 st to arrive, and while waiting for the others to arrive Goldfinch, Woodpigeon and Blue Tit were seen. 16 members turned up and our first stop was in the very large garden of one of the Marshfield residents who asked if we would make a list of the birds seen in his garden unfortunately today was not the best of days to visit as we only saw fly over Rook and Jackdaw. A large part of the garden has been planted with trees and here we saw Robin, Chiffchaff ( I missed this one as I was looking at fungi at the time).  Hebeloma Mesophaeum top and bottom - Bath Birdwatcher Collared Do ve, Pied Wagtail and Magpie were also noted. Carrion Crow was another flyby and a Pheasant was in a field outside the property. Having finished in the garden we set off to Rushmead Lane. During the morning we spotted many Skylarks some hi...

  This month’s Bath RSPB field trip was due to be a coach trip on Saturday 14 th to Ogmore by sea, but unfortunately due to lack of numbers it had to be cancelled but Lucy stepped in and organized a trip to Slimbridge. Also Tom arranged for a visit to Marshfield on Saturday, more about that trip in another blog. Today it was just Bryan and myself as David is away. Back to the Slimbridge trip we were due to meet in the car park but we experienced a frustrating drive where every traffic light was against us so much so that we arrived late and the group had already moved on. As we had no idea where they were starting we made our way to the Rushy Pen, no group here, but we did see Mallard, Mute Swan, Coot, Black Tailed Godwit, Grey Heron, Great Black Back Gull, Greylag and Canada Goose, Black Headed Gull, Teal, Lapwing, Moorhen. Shoveler and Snipe.  Snipe - Slimbridge unusual to get pictures of these birds in the open (Bath Birdwatcher) A Barred Warbler had been on site for a f...

  Yesterday Mary and I met one of her friends Sue, a fellow birder at Newton St Loe for a few hours bird spotting. We met at the Church where there was a lot of bird activity starting with flyover Rooks, The trees by the gate were alive with birds Blue Tit, Goldfinch, Blackbird, Long Tailed Tit, Great Tit and Goldcrest the latter a bird Sue was hoping to see but with this one high in a tree Sue was unable to find it. While she was searching 2 Starlings flew over. Through the churchyard and into the field beyond a Lesser Black Back Gull was sat on the chimney of the cottage at the bottom of the field Jackdaws and Carrion Crows were constantly flying over and when we reached the bottom of the field a flock of about 6 Mistle Thrushes flew by, a Magpie was in the gardens and Goldfinches were on the wires. Woodpigeons were seen on and off all morning and a few House Sparrows were in the hedges. Walking down the footpath I could hear Goldcrests calling and eventually found one but again ...

  My wife had a big birthday this year and as a present my brother Bryan and wife Yvonne gave her a weeks holiday in Looe, Cornwall where they joined us for the week, it was from Friday the 22 nd of September to the 29 th . We set off heading for a coffee stop at Cartgate Picnic Area and while driving I realised I had left my binoculars behind DAM DAM DAM or words like that !!! Well after Cartgate we planned to stop at Topsham for lunch and so doing had to pass Darts Farm and here is an RSPB shop so we stopped where I purchased a cheep pair of Binoculars as a birthday present for me, as my birthday was on the 23 rd . The weather was awful so after lunch we drove straight to our accommodation. Brewers Cottage - Bath Birdwatcher Saturday morning from the window I spotted a female Blackcap the only one of the week plus Magpie, Blackbird, Collared Dove, House Sparrow, Blue Tit, Woodpigeon, Chaffinch, Wren, Robin and Dunnock. We then drove to Talland Bay adding Rook, Great Tit, Jackd...

  I have just returned from a week in Cornwall (More about that in another blog) but while away we read of a Grey Phalarope that turned up at Chew for Bryan and myself quite a rare bird I can only remember seeing one twice before, the last time was in 2018 at Keyhaven. Well that was a chance not to be missed so we decided to take our wives with us pop to Chew to see if we could find the Phalarope before visiting a local farm shop for tea and cake. Before leaving we checked that the bird had been seen the previous day and as all previous sightings had been at the dam, that was to be our starting point. On the way we saw Magpie, Kestrel, Woodpigeon, Rook and Carrion Crow plus a small flock of Starlings. The Dam car park was very busy, a good sign that the Phalarope was about but when we got to the dam there was not a single birder so our hopes sank, we got out of the car and started scanning the lake, Mallard, Great Crested Grebe, Black Headed Gull and Pied Wagtail were all seen but ...