Friday 15th November 2024 - Berry Head / Clennon Valley

 

On Friday all 4 of us visited Berry Head for me it was a chance to spend 90 minutes bird spotting while the others visited the café for coffee. While getting a parking ticket a Robin was running under cars while a Carrion Crow was shouting its call from a large lump of rock. Leaving the others I walked towards the warden’s cottage and looking along the footpath opposite I noticed a Dunnock and Chaffinch in amongst my prize find 6 Cirl Buntings I knew there was a good chance they would be there as seed is put out for them and I have seen them many times in the past but even so they are always good to see as they are not seen where we live. 


Cirl Bunting - Berry Head (Bath Birdwatcher)

Walking on I met another birder and while chatting saw a Blackbird eating berries and a flock of Long Tailed Tits that flew through with a single Goldcrest. Time to get to the café and meet up with the other 3 but as I arrived, they were still chatting, so I walked to look at the cliffs and here were c100 Guillemots and in the bushes below were 2 Stonechats. Mary came out with a takeaway coffee and while drinking it a Peregrine flew past and stooped over the cliffs out of sight. Walking back to the car a flock of Jackdaws flew over. Back at the lodge a Pied Wagtail was on the roof.

After lunch I decided to walk to Clennon Valley where there is a series of small lakes all surrounded by trees as I approached the 1st lake a could see Coot and Mallard. I also spotted Tufted Duck, Herring Gull, Mute Swan and Moorhen a Little Grebe was diving close to the reeds. Walking along the side of the lake a few Wigeon were under the trees and a Grey Heron was wading between islands. Above the island were more ducks including just 1 Shoveler and a few Gadwall. 


Gadwall and Mallard-Clennon Valley(bath Birdwatcher)

On a footpath between the 1st and second lakes were 3 Chiffchaffs in a mixed flock that contained Blue, Great and Long Tailed Tits as well as a Robin. On to the 3rd  lake where a Grey Wagtail flew away when I approached, and a Black Headed Gull flew over. In the bottom corner of the lake were 4 Teal with a Great Tit and Wren in the undergrowth. As I walked back along the lake a noticed movement under a tree, a Water Rail scuttled away so I stood quietly and as I did it came back but spotted me again and ran off before I could get a picture. This proved to be the last new sighting of the day and the week as it was back home the next day. This was another place where Yellow Browed Warblers turn up but again no luck on this species so will have to try again some other time.

 

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