Saturday 21st March 2026 - Newton St Loe.

 

Top Lake - Newton St Loe (Bath Birdwatcher)

The 1st of August 2026 was the last time Mary and I went for a walk at Newton St Loe together so today we packed up 2 coffees with a bun to eat and set off we parked by the church and made our way through the churchyard into the field beyond and here I saw my 1st birds of the day Woodpigeon and Carrion Crow in the grass with Rook and Jackdaw in the field by Send a Cow. Walking down the footpath through the wooded area 2 Blue Tits were  in a sapling and I could hear the call of a Greenfinch which I found in the top of a tree. Mary spotted a Robin singing in a bush and while looking a Wren flew away from us. In butterfly alley most of the footpath has been covered with chippings, much better than it was previously, and in the field to the left was a male Pheasant. On the bottom lake were 6 Mallard and 2 Moorhens. 

Moorhen - NSL (Bath Birdwatcher)

In the wooded area between the lakes were 2 Long Tailed Tits. On the top lake the 3 resident Mute Swans were feeding at the dam end.  

Mute Swan Family - NSL (Bath Birdwatcher)

While walking to the far bench a Grey Wagtail flew past and up the lake. While sitting and drinking coffee we watched the Little Grebes as they dived looking for food only to come up a long way away from where they dived we counted a minimum of 6 birds, Coots were also spotted but just 4 of these were found but a pair of Tufted Ducks were feeding at the bottom of the lake close to the Swan family.

Male Tufted Duck NSL (Bath Birdwatcher)

 Grey Herons are nesting in the trees on the left-hand side of the lake where I could see 3 nests of which I know 2 are occupied but the top nest is so high I could not tell if it was occupied. A Goldcrest showed well in the yew trees and as we about to make our way back to the car a Green Woodpecker flew up the lake and walking by the bottom lake a Buzzard soared overhead and a Song Thrush was singing from a tree but until it flew I was unable to locate it. In Butterfly Alley 2 Magpies were in the field there the Pheasant was earlier. Walking back up the footpath a Chiffchaff sang overhead and a male Blackbird flew over the path. Last birds of the day were Lesser Black Back Gulls flying over the church.

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tuesday 8th April 2025 - Chew Valley Lake and Blagdon.

Image
  Primroses at Blagdon - (Bath Birdwatcher) For our Tuesday birding trip out this week, we decided that a visit to Chew Valley Lake and Blagdon would be the best bet as many summer visitors are on the move and with luck we could possibly find a few year ticks. This visit we thought as it was school holidays we would start at the picnic area 2 and walk the Bittern Trail before any people arrived. On the way we spotted Magpie, Rook, Woodpigeon, Jackdaw, Buzzard and House Sparrow. Once at the picnic area we started our walk a Blackbird being our 1 st sighting also 2 Dunnocks playing chase, we also could hear the call of Reed Warblers, but we failed to see one, and because we only count birds we see, we dipped on them. A Long-Tailed Tit and a flyby Grey Heron were our next new sightings for the day. Blackcaps were calling everywhere and for a change they seemed easy to find as was a calling Treecreeper. As we continued I could hear a Goldcrest that David found in the top of a fir tree...
Read more

Tuesday 2nd September 2025 - Chew Valley Lalke

Image
  Our birding trip this week was another visit to Chew Valley Lake but just Bryan and Tony as David is on holiday. Chew was chosen because 2 waders scare at this location had been seen and it would be silly not to take advantage and see if we could find them. As usual we started the day at Herriotts noting Magpie, Collared Dove and Woodpigeon as we drove through Bishops Sutton. On arrival at Herriotts it was noticeable the amount of hirundines flying over the pool with Swallow and both House and Sand Martins in quite large numbers, while looking at these 2 Common Sandpipers flew over the water landing out of sight on the wall. The water level had risen a little since last week but the now overgrown mud was still above water with double figure count of Lapwings seen along with lots of Black Headed Gulls also seen were Mallard, Teal, Gadwall and Mute Swan. On the far side of the pool were at least 2 Garganey and close by a Grey Heron. A Green Sandpiper and a single Snipe were also fo...
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