Bath Birdwatcher

  Lots of water flowing off the lakes (Bath Birdwatcher) Bird spotting this week was a half day visit to Newton St Loe, a favourite place of mine but one we have not visited since July. It was just the two brothers as David had other things to do. We parked outside the farm shop and set off walking towards the church and soon spotted Wood Pigeon, Magpie, Blue Tit, Collared Dove and Jackdaw. As we turned into the road leading to the church I spotted a Mistle Thrush in the tall trees covered with mistletoe, it was the 1 st of many we saw during the walk also in the same trees were at least 2 Blackbirds. Nothing mote until we entered the field beyond the church here were several Carrion Crows and a Great Spotted Woodpecker flew over. Walking down towards the main road a Goldcrest and Robin were in a fir tree and at the main road some House Sparrows were by the roadside. In the field to the side of the footpath were lots of corvids in the distance but too far away for them to be ident...

  Chew Valley Lake from West Harptree Wood (Bath Birdwatcher) For this months Bath RSPB field trip, a new site was chosen with a half day at West Harptree Woods followed by an afternoon at Chew Valley Lake. This is my account of the day and birds I saw although many did see the same   but some saw less and others saw some birds I missed. The day started by picking up one of our members in Saltford before setting off, the traffic was quite light for a Saturday morning so we were well ahead of schedule meaning we were able to made a short stop at Herriotts, here we noted Mallard, Black Headed Gull, Coot, Moorhen, Shelduck, Great White Egret, Canada Goose and Mute Swan. Moving on to the woods we spotted Magpie, Jackdaw and Collared Dove. On arrival at our destination Tom was already there and while waiting for others to arrive we added Robin and Chaffinch to the days list. Once all 16 of us arrived we set off but at first it was very quiet with not a bird call heard. Soon we were...

  Mallard & Teal - CVL (Bath Birdwatcher) Tuesday was a very wet day but as I was unable to do any other day we did do a trip, but it had to be Chew as there we were able to shelter in the hides which proved a necessity as the rain was incessant coupled with high winds. Driving to Chew I spotted a Pheasant in a field and Jackdaws on rooftops in Bishops Sutton. 1 st stop Herriotts where it was raining so we had to spot from the car, Mallard, Coot, Black Headed Gull, Tufted Duck and Mute Swan were easily seen on the pond and a Cormorant was in the channel. It’s been 2 weeks since we last visited and it’s unbelievable how much water has flowed into the lake, it must be well over half full up from about 30%. Next stop Stratford where the amount of rain was really noticeable with the bottom of Stratford Lane flooded but passable with care, a large portion of the carpark was also flooded as was part of the footpath to the hide. Once safely parked we spotted a Little Egret in the fi...

  For this week’s bird spotting day out, we decided to pay a visit to WWT Slimbridge where we are all members. Our last visit was back on the 15 th of July so we were overdue a visit. The drive was very fraught as the road through Dursley was closed and the detour was badly signed so Bryan used directions on his phone to guide us in. We arrived some 20 minutes later than usual but once in the car park spotting could commence here we saw Woodpigeon, Jackdaw and Cormorant all fly overs Rooks huddled together in the top of a tree, and a Blue Tit in bushes by the entrance. Once inside we headed for Peng Observatory finding Moorhen, Collared Dove and Shelduck on the way. Once inside there were 100’s of birds to work through with Mute and Bewick’s Swans standing out from the rest.  Bewick's Swan - Slimbridge (Bath Birdwatcher) There were also many Tufted Ducks, Pochard plus a few beautiful Pintail. There must have been 100+ Lapwing that were everywhere you looked with smaller numbe...