Friday 24th November 2023 - Newton St Loe

 

Today Bryan and Tony were joined by our wives for a coffee and a walk at Newton St Loe. After coffee in the farm shop we walked via the drive towards the university and immediately noted 3 covid species Carrion Crow, Jackdaw and Rook the last outnumbering the other 2 by at least 20 to 1. 

Rook - NSL (Bath Birdwatcher)

We then noticed a few gulls circling above and we were able to identify Common and Black Headed, It was a bit chilly and breezy so for that reason not many small birds were seen. At the top lake 39 Mallards were counted plus 6 Moorhens and 6 Coots. 2 Cormorants were sat in their usual tree along with a single Wood Pigeon. A Great Spotted Woodpecker flew into a tree by the Temple and a Raven flew from a tree in the same place and while watching the woodpecker we noticed several Coal Tits working their way through the trees. On the lake the single Mute Swan was under the trees on the far bank along with 4 Teal. Next were Blue and Long Tailed Tits in the trees above us along with a Goldcrest hovering while searching under the few leaves left on the trees for hiding insects. The female Tufted Duck was at the top end of the lake and where the stream enters the lake a Grey Wagtail was feeding. 

Grey Wagtail - NSL (Bath Birdwatcher )

Here we saw more Goldcrests and also added Great Tit to our lists. Walking towards the Keep we noticed a bird in the top of a tree and through the binoculars we could see it was a Greenfinch which was joined by a second, a Buzzard was over the lake and 2 Pied Wagtails flew onto the University buildings. Walking through the trees above the lake I found a Treecreeper while looking at a few Tit species. 26 Bird species in all not that bad for an hour and a half stroll.

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Saturday 11th November 2023 - Newton St Loe.

Image
  NSL Boathouse with the lonely Mute Swan - Bath Birdwatcher When we woke up on Saturday it was such a beautiful day we decided to go for a walk at Newton St Loe as we have not visited since the 26 th of October and we were interested not only in the bird life but the autumn colour’s of the trees. We arrived parking as usual by the church where in the field beyond the church we found our first sightings Magpie, Jackdaw and Rooks all flyover. In the hedgerow opposite the cottages were Blue Tits and Woodpigeons and Long Tailed Tits were in the trees by Ripple Effect. On the footpath were Blackbird and Robin and on reaching Butterfly Alley a Grey Heron was in the trees above the stream, and a Wren flew into the hedge to our right. The lake outlet was a real torrent over the waterfall which was expected due to the amount of rain we have had recently. Waterfall NSL (Bath Birdwatcher)  Up to the bottom lake where 2 Kingfishers were playing chase and I thought I heard a possible 3...
Read more

Sunday 19th January 2025 - Blagdon Lake

Image
  The first, Bath RSPB’s field trip of the year was a visit to Blagdon lake where Nigel Milbourne the site warden led our group of 14 members. When we arrived having seen a Red Kite on the way we were waiting for others to arrive, so I scanned the lake and found Mallard, Coot, Tufted Duck, Moorhen and Black Headed Gull. As others arrived we all got together, and David introduced us all to Nigel and we set off to walk the length of the dam looking for an overwintering Common Sandpiper but unfortunately it didn’t show but we did find Mute Swan, Cormorant, Common Gull, Great Black Back Gull, Pied Wagtail and Herring Gull. Walking back to the cars we added flyover Carrion Crow, Woodpigeon and Starling plus our 1 st Great Crested Grebe of the day. We then drove inside the confines of the lake where we parked and from here our 1 st new bird of the day was a calling Chaffinch and on the lake in front of us were Teal, Pochard and Gadwall. We also looked at a strange duck which had caused...
Read more

Tuesday 4th March 2025 - Marshfield

Image
  A bit f a last-minute decision was to go to Marshfield for this week’s birding trip mainly as we could only spare a half day. Parking at the Bath end of Marshfield we set off towards Bond’s Lane spotting Robin, House Sparrow and Goldfinch. Crossing the A420 we set off down the lane where Jackdaw and Woodpigeon flew past and in a field to our left were 2 Ravens feeding on something unknown in the grass, they flew away and a Carrion Crow flew in taking their place. As we continued David spotted movement in a hedge to our right but looking into the sun made it difficult to identify the birds but one flew up into a bush to our right enabling up to identify it as a lovely male Yellowhammer, a year tick.  Yellowhammer - Marshfield (Bath Birdwatcher) A Dunnock flew down onto the side of the road and a flock of Rooks flew past. A Skylark was singing in the sky above us but hard to find against the blue sky but with binoculars I did find it year tick no2. A Blue Tit and a few Linnets...
Read more