Tuesday 19th May 2026 - Monkton Combe to Tucking Mill.

 

Midford Castle - (Bath Birdwatcher)

Bird spotting is a strange pastime not strange peculiar, but strange in a way that some days you hear and see all the species that call or sing but not today. It was just Bryan and Tony and we went to Monkton Combe to walk to Tucking Mill and back. We parked at the bottom of Combe Hay Lane and here the day started with Magpies in the fields and Jackdaws flying around, as we started the walk a Lesser Black Back Gull flew high over and a Green Woodpecker called in the distance with another calling later in the walk but neither showed. Plenty of Pheasants were in the fields with some only showing their heads in the long grass, As we walked along the lane towards Tucking Mill Woodpigeons flew out from the hedgerow in front of us, a singing Robin was our next find and Carrion Crows in a field of cows soon followed. At Tucking Mill a Nuthatch visited the feeders and walking up to the Pond an Orange Tip butterfly flew past. Nothing was found on the pond so we walked up the 90 steps to the cycle path where we found a bench and sat and had our hot drink. While we sat there 2 Buzzards circled over the hills and a female Blackcap flew into the bush in front of us. We then walked to the centre of the viaduct for a panoramic view of the pond where Bryan spotted a Little Grebe. We walked along the cycle path toward Midford where we found a Chiffchaff, we had heard many singing earlier but deep in cover remaining unseen. As we were about to leave the cycle path I could hear a Goldcrest and after some searching it did show. Next we followed a woodland footpath and at certain points it overlooks Midford Brook where we found the best bird of the day a female Mandarin with 7 ducklings very cute. Time to start walking back to the car and on the way we stopped again at Tucking Mill and here we added another 5 bird species, Coal, Blue, Great and Long Tailed Tits plus a Great Spotted Woodpecker that we had heard earlier. Surprisingly during the morning, we did not see any hirundines and 2 species of finches were heard but not found, so all in all a pretty disappointing morning but the rain did stay away and it’s always nice to get out in the fresh air even if the birds were rather hard to find.

Midford Castle - (Bath Birdwatcher)

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