Bath Birdwatcher

  Mute Swan - NSL (Bath Birdwatcher) I like the reflection on this picture. Today my wife and I paid our 1 st visit of the year to Newton St Loe for a short walk from the church to the top lake and back, the weather conditions for the end of January were very nice with a breeze and lots of winter sunshine. From the field beyond the church our first sighting was a flyover Carrion Crow and in the lane Robin and Blue Tit were in the bushes and a Magpie was on the grass to our right. On the road to Ripple Effect Jackdaw, Redwing and Woodpigeon all flew by and a few House Sparrows were chirping in the hedgerow. A Great Tit was at Ripple Effect and a Grey Wagtail   flew from the stream by the side of the footpath, I don’t remember seeing one here before. At the bottom of the footpath a flock of Long Tailed Tits was in the trees and from Butterfly Alley I could see a Grey Heron in the field. A Wren called from the hedgerow and as I looked it flew further up the hedge. As we walked u...

  Marsh Harrier - Greylake (Bath Birdwatcher) On Saturday Bath RSPB ran a trip to West Sedgemoor which was led by David, assisted by the remaining 2 Amigos Bryan and Tony. West Sedgemoor is an RSPB reserve on the Somerset Levels and you can only visit if you have arranged it with the RSPB prior to your visit. On the way to the rendezvous we spotted Kestrel, Red Kite and Song Thrush. On arrival 2 volunteers were there to meet us and guide us for the morning. Just a short walk from the meeting point we were shown 2 Cranes in the distance, we were to see another 7 during the morning. Back at the meeting point waiting for more people to arrive we ticked Robin, Wren and flyover Starlings. Before we set off the volunteer gave a short talk explaining that the RSPB owned 18,000 acres of land BUT due to the freezing cold weather none of the 45,000 species of wildfowl were on site as they had moved away to open water where they could feed. However the walk went ahead and we were led up a hil...

  Saltford Weir - (Bath Birdwatcher) No 3 Amigos walk so far this week but we are due to visit West Sedgemoor this coming Saturday so more to follow on that trip. Its Bryans birthday today so 4 of us decided to go to Salford for a walk then stop off at The Bird In The Hand for coffee. On the way we pass the Globe and here Rooks were in the rookery arriving at the bottom of Saltford Hill The Shallows were closed so we had to divert via Beech Road to get to Mead Lane where we were going to park going this way we had to pass The Bird in the Hand where we noticed it was closed for refurbishment, so what shall we do, well I knew at the far end of Mead Lane is the Jolly Sailor so we decided to park by the Bird In the Hand and walk along Mead Lane. By this time the weather was beautiful very cold but sunny just perfect for a walk. Where we parked the car we found Blackbird and Robin and as we set off Carrion Crow flew over. In the 1 st field on our left were Jackdaw, Redwing, Song Thrush...

  Portland Obs & Lighthouse (Bath Birdwatcher) At this point last year my total was 136 sightings against 140 this year and was hoping this quarter would bring many more year ticks and with a bit of luck some lifetime ticks or as we call them lifers. July Our 1 st trip of the month was a visit to Chew Valley lake where 49 bird 8 butterfly and 3 moth species were seen the highlights were 2 ticks Spotted Redshank and Kingfisher. Also of note was an Essex Skipper butterfly and a Shaded Broad Bar moth. Next trip was a half day on the 13 th to Newton St Loe taking in the lanes as well as the lakes nothing new was seen but Yellowhammers in the lanes and Little Grebe with chicks was great to see. The highlights of the day was 9 species of butterfly with White Letter Hairstreak a standout and a Scorched Carpet moth a close 2 nd .  Scorched Carpet moth (Bath Birdwatcher) On the 25 th we joined a Bath Nats walk on Lansdown mainly searching for butterflies and 15 species wer...

  Picnic area from the Woodford Lodge to Dam footpath - (Bath Birdwatcher) Today the 3 Amigos only had a few hours to spend birding and as the weather was freezing cold Chew Valley Lake was chosen as the main area can be covered in a morning. Arriving at Herriotts our first stop we immediately saw Mute Swan and Coot even before we got out of the car, when we did we scanned around and found 13 Shelduck which I thought was a large number for here. Also found were Teal, Pochard, Black Headed Gull and Mallard. As we walked along the dam wall a single Lapwing flew up and away, we also logged Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, Canada Goose, Cormorant and Tufted Duck. On the main lake we added Blue Tit, Herring Gull, Great Crested Grebe, Buzzard and Moorhen. Next stop Stratford and from the carpark we spotted a Coal Tit and a few Redwings. Walking along the lane a Dunnock and Robin was on the ground in front of us and a Great Tit flew along the hedgerow. A Grey Heron was creeping through the reedbe...

  David and Tony but no Bryan had   free morning   so Chew Valley lake was chosen mainly as 2 special bird species have been seen over the last few days and also as the weather was again so bad. It’s been nothing but rain rain rain and the amount of water on the roads was amazing, either running down the side of the road or over the road causing flooding in places. We stopped at Herriotts where Mallard, Coot, Mute Swan, Tufted Duck, Cormorant and Teal were all seen in the pool and in a tree on the main lake was a Great White Egret. While looking Black Headed Gull and Carrion Crow flew over. The rain was so bad it was impossible to get out of the car and when we did, when the rain abated it soon started again forcing us back into the car, so we moved on to Herons Green and here still spotting from the car we added Canada Goose, Pochard, Moorhen and Herring Gull. Nothing more was seen from the car so on to the Lodge and here we hoped to see Waxwing that had been seen here f...

  The first 3 months of the year proved to be very similar to 2022 with 105 species seen against 104 in 2022, so the hope was that the following 3 months would continue in the same vein. April. This month started with a visit to Newton St Loe but nothing new for the year was found but a Kingfisher is always a bird that is good to see. Our next birding trip was the monthly RSPB field trip on the 16 th , this month was a visit to Blakehill Farm and Cotswold Water Park. Blakehill is a reserve aimed at farmland birds but on the day (maybe it was a little early in the year) proved to be somewhat underwhelming we did manage Skylark and Meadow Pipit and probably the best sightings were Curlew, and here they are hoping the birds will stay and breed. We also found a singing Willow Warbler, a year tick plus Red Kites. On to the water park where Red Crested Pochard, Reed Bunting and Oystercatcher were all year ticks. The 18 th was the Amigos next trip this time to Chew and Blagdon Lakes ...