Tuesday 8th October 2024 - Chew Valley Lake

 

Another Tuesday and yet another wet day so no choice but to visit Chew Valley Lake as there we can use the hides to keep dry. This is the last time for a few weeks that the 3 Amigos will be getting together as David is off to foreign soils playing bowls. We arrived at Herriotts in the dry and spotted Mute Swan, Mallard, Lesser Black Back Gull, Black Headed Gull and Grey Wagtail. A Grey Wagtail flew past, with the telescope I was able to find Shoveler, Grey Heron, Great White Egret, Pintail, Canada Goose and Teal. Obviously, the larger birds were visible with binoculars, but I had forgotten mine, so it was telescope or naked eye for me. The rain started again so we headed for Stratford where in the lane a Blackbird flew in front of us. Once in the hide we found a line of Cormorants with one bird drying its wings. 

Cormorant - Stratford (Bath Birdwatcher)

Here we also saw two species of wading bird, Snipe and Lapwing along with Tufted Duck, Great Crested Grebe, Coot and our first 3 Goldeneye of the autumn. A Little Egret was seen towards Herriotts, and a Gadwall was in front of the hide in amongst all the teal. One of the guys in the hide spotted a Garganey in amongst the Teal. 

Garganey - Stratford (Bath Birdwatcher)

Most of the time we were in the hide it had been pouring with rain but had decided to temporarily stop so we decided to move on to Herons Green but while driving up Stratford Lane we added Long Tailed Tit, Blue Tit, Great Tit and Jackdaw to the mornings list. At Herons Green the first bird we encountered was a Black Swan of unknown origin but certainly not a native bird. 

Black Swan - Herons Green (Bath Birdwatcher)

A Little Grebe, Magpie and Woodpigeon were also ticked. David then spotted 2 raptors firstly a Marsh Harrier and while watching it a Hobby flew past. Chaffinch and Pied Wagtail were also seen. On to the last stop of the morning Moreton and driving to the parking place a Robin flew into a bush and while walking to the hide 2 Egyptian Geese were in the field. From the hide we added a Jay and a single Great Black Back Gull and walking back to the car a small flock of Swallows flew over.

Black Headed Gull - Herons Green (Bath Birdwatcher)


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