My Birding Year 2023 part 4 - October to December

 

October

The 1^st birding trip of the month was a morning at Newton St Loe on the 9^th  on my own as Mary was meeting friends. With a reasonable count of 32 species, 6 Mistle Thrushes was a good find as was a single Treecreeper and Kingfisher, the female Tufted Duck was still on the top lake with 5 Little Grebe. Two days later on the 10^th the 3 Amigos visited Slimbridge  where we had a great day with lots of species seen but not a single year tick, a Spotted Redshank was a nice find as were 5 Ruff some still with partial summer plumage. 

Snipe - Slimbridge (Bath Birdwatcher)

The following Saturday was Bath RSPB’s monthly field trip and this one was to Marshfield but birds were few and far between but a flock of Yellowhammers including some beautiful males as yellow as butter. In a matter of what seemed like a few minutes 4 raptors were found, Buzzard, Sparrowhawk, Red Kite and Kestrel. A Stonechat was the only other bird of note. 

Noon Fly - Marshfield (Bath Birdwatcher)

Tuesday 24^th we went to the Somerset Levels as we knew a special bird had been found and when we arrived at the general area the bird in question could not be found so I contacted a few people who had seen the bird and they gave us precise instruction where to find it. While searching we did find Reed Bunting and Stonechat that are always good to see. We had to drive to a parking area and walk to where this bird had been seen and during the short walk a Common Tern flew past, a bird we certainly were not expecting. We arrived at the spot by a land drain where the bird had been seen and a guy was already looking but had not seen the bird that day, but told us where it had been seen previously, that was on the bank of the drain but a fair distance away over a field, so telescopes set up we waited and we were just on the cusp of giving up when I spotted a head looking out over a patch of nettles and there it was a Squacco Heron a UK tick but not a lifer as I had previously seen them in France and a year tick as well. 

Chaffinch - Ham Wall (Bath Birdwatcher)

The 26^th was a walk at Newton St Loe with Mary but all was very quiet with only 22 species seen the highlight was a single female Teal. The final outing of the month was to Brean Down with just David on the 31^st, as Bryan was otherwise engaged. We started with a walk to the river where there were lots of waders but with no telescope no ID was possible but Shelduck were obvious, The weather looked threatening so we decided that walking to the end of Brean Down would be silly and decided to drive to Chew. We did find 55 species during the day but nothing worth a mention.

November

The first trip of the month on the 7^th was a visit to Slimbridge where 54 species were seen. A White Fronted Goose and a Ross’s Goose of unknown origin was nice to see, but not a single Bewick’s Swan. 

Female Pheasant - Slimbridge (Bath Birdwatcher)

Saturday 11^th a walk to Newton St Loe with Mary produced 2 Kingfishers and a good count of 46 Mallard 4 of each of Coot and Little Grebe was down on what I have seen before. 

Autumn at NSL - (Bath Birdwatcher)

The real highlight of the month was a Short Eared Owl at Batheaston a lifer for me, we have tried several times in the past to see one but I have until now dipped, but I thought I was going to be out of luck as I was following a Red Kite when another birder who was looking shouted Owl but by the time I looked it had gone to ground but luckily for me it did fly again a bit later quartering the bottom of the field we were in. 

Short Eared Owl (courtesy of Wayne Tucker) 

The next trip for the 3 of us was on the 14^th with a trip to Aust another spot where Short Eared Owl is fairly regularly seen but not when we visit and today was no exception but our visit was very short as it started pouring with rain when we were away from the car and were very wet by the time we got back but we did find a pair of Stonechats. Being so wet should we head for home but no we decided as we were out lets go to Chew as we could dry off and stay dry in the hides. Stratford hide proved good where 2 Kingfishers and 2 Marsh Harriers m/f were seen otherwise things seen were as expected. The following Tuesday the 21^st it was a drive around Avon starting at Barrow Tanks and here we caught up with the Long Tailed Duck that had returned for another winter and was a year tick. Then off to drive to Chew for the rest of the day and even though we found over 50 species just the one year tick. Friday 28^th another walk to Newton St Loe with Mary  Treecreeper and Greenfinch were nice finds  and 8 species of water bird a good count here as was a Grey Wagtail. I was on my jack jones on the 28^th so it was a morning at Newton St Loe not a year tick in sight but 34 species was more than I expected 8 Little Grebe was a high count as was 9 Moorhen’s  and back at home the 1^st Blackcap of the winter was on the feeders.

Little Grebe - NSL (Bath Birdwatcher)

 December

Tuesday the 5^th we decided to visit Barrow Tanks as what would be a year tick had been reported on tank 2 and as luck would have it we managed to find it a Great Northern Diver, also on the same tank were at least 16 Little Grebe an extraordinary count. The Long Tailed Duck was still here and a Kingfisher flew by and landed on the concrete tank side. 

Long Tailed Duck - Barrow Tanks (Bath Birdwatcher)

Next stop Chew here 2 Marsh Harriers  were seen also 2 flyover flocks of Lapwing 28 in one and 40 in the other. We walked from the Lodge to the dam where the highlight was 2 Marsh Tits these are becoming increasingly difficult to find. 

Goldeneye - Chew (Bath Birdwatcher)

The following week the 12^th David and myself returned to Chew as Waxwing and Firecrest had been reported from the Lodge but after a fruitless search we had to leave them for another day but we did see 50 species including a great male Goldeneye and a flock of about 70 flyover Lapwings.

Great White Egret - Chew (Bath Birdwatcher)

This brought 2023 to an end and I finished on 163 species which for me is about an average total.