Tuesday 25th February 2025 - Chew Valley Lake.

 

(Bath Birdwatcher)
It’s the time of the year when we need to purchase new bird watching permits for Chew Valley Lake these allow us to visit the bird hides and also free parking in all the Bristol Water car parks at Chew, Blagdon and Barrow Tanks so today its where we went.

On the way we spotted Carrion Crow, Jackdaw and Woodpigeon, at Chew we started the day at Herriotts and here on the pool were Canada Goose, Mute Swan, Mallard, Shoveler, Teal, Pintail, Cormorant and Tufted Duck. A Pied Wagtail flew onto the wall and several Common Gulls were in amongst the Black Headed Gull flock. On the main lake we found Great Crested Grebe and Pochard with a flypast Great White Egret and out over the reeds a Marsh Harrier drifted past. As we continued looking we added Coot, Moorhen and a Grey Heron flew over. In a small tree were 3 Great White Egrets and as we were watching them several more flew past and landed in the reeds where we counted about 10 altogether.

Great White Egret - Herriotts (Bath Birdwatcher)
Nothing more here so we moved on to Stratford on the way adding Rook and Magpie. Walking to the hide I heard a Goldcrest and found it in an ivy-covered tree, seed had been spread on a pile of sleepers where  we watched Great, Blue and Coal Tits plus Chaffinch, Wren and Dunnock. From the hide there was very little that we hadn’t already seen from Herriotts, but we did see a female Goldeneye. Walking back to the car we added Great Spotted Woodpecker and Long Tailed Tit and at the car a Grey Wagtail Flew over. Next stop Moreton adding a Buzzard on the way and driving to the parking spot at Moreton Jay, Raven and Stock Dove were spotted. When we reached the hide we had it to ourselves and as we looked out I spotted this Grebe one of the rarer species that had been reported over the last month or so, but we had never found them on previous visits but today there one was, we checked all its features and realised we were watching a Slavonian Grebe the 1st I have seen since 2018. At this point we were joined by another birder who we pointed out the grebe to, I then continued searching and I then found the other rare grebe species in fact 2 Black Necked Grebe this species I last saw in 2022 at Blagdon. In the end we had a hide full of birders all enjoying these 3 Grebes.

Slavonian Grebe - Moreton (Bath Birdwatcher)

 
Black Necked Grebe - Moreton (Bath Birdwatcher)

Also here was a female Scaup. Next stop Herons Green and here we stopped for lunch, after we added Great Black Back Gull on the main lake and over the road on the pond we added Gadwall and Little Grebe. Next it was off to the Lodge and here we purchased our permits before doing the walk to the Dam and back adding Mistle Thrush and a single Goosander to our daily list. Nothing more here but on the drive back to Bath Lesser Black Back Gull, Kestrel, Red Kite and Herring Gull were all noted.

Cormorant - Stratford (Bath Birdwatcher)


 

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