Tuesday 9th September 2025 - Walk from White Ox Mead.

 


Westbury White Horse (Bath Birdwatcher)
This week David and Tony met Jo at White Ox Mead to do a recce for the upcoming Bath RSPB’s field trip to the same location. An utter disaster happened on the return trip, I lost my notebook so I think I have remembered all the birds we saw but they are not necessarily in the order we saw them ( as Eric Morcambe once said). Jo knows the area very well so she led us and we used mainly by-ways well off the public roads for most of the walk. The walk started in the village where the wires were covered with lots of Swallows except for one wire which contained Goldfinch, Dunnock and a single Greenfinch. As we continued we saw the 1st of many Woodpigeons a single Blue Tit and another species we were to see all morning, Carrion Crow. We reached a tree lined area that was full of birds mainly Chiffchaffs but also several very yellow juvenile Willow Warblers. As we continued we reached a long open area with bushes on our left and here a large flock of Linnets flew over and we watched our first Red Kite of the day, at one point in the morning we saw 5 flying together something very unusual for this part of the country, In the sky at the same time were 2 Buzzards. I then spotted 2 Stock Doves in the field to our right and a flock of Starlings flying in the direction of Peasdown. Magpie and Jackdaw were also recorded. Walking through a field on a footpath I spotted a male Kestrel hovering over a field to our left then a male Yellowhammer flew past and landed on a bush in front of us, the only one we were to see. We now reached the west end of Wellow and followed the minor road toward Stony Littleton and on this road we saw our first of many Pheasants, it must have been a day for birds of prey as a Sparrowhawk flew past. We then came across another pocket of birds containing warblers that we had already seen but also a pair of Chaffinch and a single Great Tit. Next we took a footpath by Wellow Brook but the area was so overgrown we were unable to see any water so decided to turn back and continue along the lane but as we approached the lane I think it was Jo spotted 3 Little Egrets in a field just upstream from where we were, just goes to show how much they are spreading.

Little Egret (Bath Birdwatcher)
We stopped for a coffee on a footbridge overlooking the brook and after started to make our way back and on the way added Rook to our bird list and walking back through the fields the sighting of the day a beautiful Clouded Yellow butterfly. Our last sighting was a Silver Y moth.

Silver Y Moth (Bath Birdwatcher)
 A good but tiring morning with a walk of more than 6 miles. Ok so I would do it again…

 

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