Bath Birdwatcher

  My 2024 birding year continues in April and on the 3 rd we visited Barrow Tanks in the hope that the Long-Tailed Duck would still be present, but it must have moved on as it was not there, but we did see our 1 st Swallow of the year. We then moved on to Chew Valley Lake where another 1 st for the year was seen Cattle Egret, we also spotted Great White Egret and we had already seen a Little Egret at Barrow Tanks, so all 3 Egrets in a morning. Sunday the 6 th was our local RSPB Branch field trip to Salisbury plain and Langford Lakes. Our meeting point was in the village of Enford where Land Rovers had been arranged for the drive to see Great Bustards lots were seen but at such a distance a photo was impossible, these birds were expected but a female Hen Harrier was not and was the day’s highlight, nothing special was seen at Langford. The 11 th was our next trip this time to Westhay and Ham Wall driving to Westhay car park we spotted 11 Cattle Egrets in a field. The best bird ...

  On Saturday 12 Bath RSPB members went on a trip to Salisbury Plain nr Enford for a guided trip to see Great Bustards. The trip was restricted too 12 as we were taken by 2 Land Rover's (6 in each) it was a 2 hour trip so later in the day we went on to Langford Lakes for the afternoon. On the way to our meeting point at Enford Village Hall our day started the 1 st of many Red Kites we were to see in both locations also Red Legged Partridge that we saw in transit and also at Langford. We also logged Rook, Jackdaw and Carrion Crow, along with Woodpigeon. Setting off onto the plain towards where the Bustards had been seen we added Corn Bunting and Stock Dove to our totals. When we arrived where the Bustards were, out in the middle of this huge field were the Great Bustards I knew they were large birds but wow much bigger than I expected so I have looked out some sizes for you all. An adult male is between 90 – 105cm tall, 115cm long with a wingspan of 2.1 – 2.7m and weigh up to a h...