Tuesday 9th December 2025 - Chew Valley Lake.

 

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. 1st 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 field behind the car park, and walking to the hide a Chaffinch, Blue Tit at least 2 Chiffchaffs and a flock of Long Tailed Tits were seen. Hurrying into the hide with the rain now heavy our first sighting was a male Teal in a large wet area just in front of the hide. Even through, as I have previously said, the water level is much higher, but this area is the 1st to loose its water and obviously last to return to its normal level so most of the birds are quite a long way away so the telescopes come in very handy, here we found Shoveler, Great Crested Grebe, Wigeon, Great Black Back Gull and Great White Egret. 

Great White Egret - CVL (Bath Birdwatcher)

Due to the strength wind the lake was quite rough and most of the birds out on the lake disappeared in a trough before they could be identified but we did find male and female Goldeneye, 2 Whooper Swans and some Pochard. A Pied Wagtail flew along the shoreline with a Starling for company. On the cut reed stems to the left of the hide were 2 Carrion Crows and a Marsh Harrier flew over putting up 100’s of Teal. A bird then flew into the reed stems in front of the hide but disappeared and another birder in the hide managed to find it and tried to point out where it was but only Bryan found it a Snipe, we had good views through his telescope. Walking back to the car or should I say wading we added Woodpigeon and Blackbird. Next stop Moreton here we added Grey Heron a single Lapwing (found by Bryan) plus Meadow Pipit and Linnet finally a Moorhen. Next we stopped at Herons Green for lunch also finding Lesser Black Back Gull and Little Grebe. After lunch we moved on to the Lodge for a walk on the path towards the dam and here some Redwing were eating berries and Common Gulls flew over the lake, then it started raining again so we headed back to the car finding 2 Great Tits as we walked. Final stop was Picnic area 1 a Magpie and our 1st Goosander of the winter were our last sightings of the day.

Cormorant - CVL (Bath Birdwatcher)


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