Bath Birdwatcher

  October The 1 st birding trip of the month was a morning at Newton St Loe on the 9 th   on my own as Mary was meeting friends. With a reasonable count of 32 species, 6 Mistle Thrushes was a good find as was a single Treecreeper and Kingfisher, the female Tufted Duck was still on the top lake with 5 Little Grebe. Two days later on the 10 th the 3 Amigos visited Slimbridge   where we had a great day with lots of species seen but not a single year tick, a Spotted Redshank was a nice find as were 5 Ruff some still with partial summer plumage.  Snipe - Slimbridge (Bath Birdwatcher) The following Saturday was Bath RSPB’s monthly field trip and this one was to Marshfield but birds were few and far between but a flock of Yellowhammers including some beautiful males as yellow as butter. In a matter of what seemed like a few minutes 4 raptors were found, Buzzard, Sparrowhawk, Red Kite and Kestrel. A Stonechat was the only other bird of note.  Noon Fly - Marshfield (...

  Another dilemma for the 3 Amigos due to the constant rain we seen to get most weeks, we had about 67mm of rain on Monday, we were unsure of where to go one thought had been Oldbury Power Station but there, is a lot of walking on grass so possibly very muddy and Portbury Wharf but the same would apply there so it had to be the old favorite Chew Valley Lake at least here most walking is on made up footpaths. While driving to Chew I happened to mention that a Great Northern Diver was at Barrow Tanks the previous day, and those of you who follow these blogs will have read that we visited the tanks a few weeks ago for the diver that was there then, and a Long Tailed Duck but the duck was seen well but not the diver. So at that moment Bryan who was driving suggested we should try again for the diver as it would be a year tick for him and me, David had seen one at Ferrybridge. We arrived at the car park by Tank 3 and as we drove in a Magpie was seen. Walking towards the tank David spott...

  A day later than normal this week and with more time to spare we packed a lunch and set off for a day at Chew Valley Lake. The first birds of the day were Jackdaws with many sat on rooftops, chimneys, or aerials, at Chew on Herriotts pond we spotted Mallard, Coot, Black Headed Gull, Mute Swan, Great White Egret, Pintail, and Shoveler. David caught a Kingfisher flying over the pond and flew under the road via the overflow bridge. Moorhen, Shelduck and Herring Gull were soon seen. 63 Lapwing and 25 Black Tailed Godwits were with the mixed gull flock which included Common and Lesser Black Back     Gulls. The final 2 birds seen on this side of the road were Carrion Crow and Cormorant. On the main lake a Great Black Back Gull and Grey Heron were both ticked as were a few flyover Starlings. Very few birds could be seen on the lake mainly due to the strong wind, so we decided to head for Stratford Hide here we expected it to be less windy. Driving down the lane a Blackbird...