Bath Birdwatcher

  Sister-in-law (Yvonne) suggested that 4 of us could have a day out together (that’s Bryan, Mary and Tony plus Yvonne) she suggested Chew Valley Lake where we could have fish and chips for lunch and afternoon tea at Woodford Lodge, and Thursday turned out to be the best day as it suited everyone. We took coffee with us to have during the morning. We decided to start the day at Herons Green as its very picturesque and a good place for coffee and a biscuit. Obviously Bryan and I took our binoculars to do a bit of bird spotting and from the car we spotted Mute Swan, Mallard, Coot and Canada Goose. Coffee drunk we crossed the road to look over the pond where another birder was stood at the right beyond the pond so we wandered up and had a chat and he had found a Sedge Warbler that was sat on a patch of brambles and he let us view it through his telescope (a year tick for us both). While standing their Reed Warblers were singing some flying from cover to another spot. Several Sand M...

  Great Crested Grebe - Moreton (Bath Birdwatcher) Bryan had a spare few hours on Saturday afternoon so he asked me if I would like to go to Chew Valley Lake with him well I jumped at the opportunity. On the way we started our day list with House Martin, Collared Dove, Blackbird and Woodpigeon. Coot, and Mallard were soon spotted along with several gull species including Lesser Black Back, Black Headed, Herring and a single Common. Many Swifts were flying overhead, and an Egyptian Goose was also seen, and a small party of Canada Geese flew in. A Grey Heron was in the far corner and a Great White Egret was wading in the shallow water. On the main lake we spotted Great Crested Grebe and Cormorant. Back on the pool I was scanning with the telescope and found a pair of Garganey, and a Carrion Crow was on the exposed mud. We were about to move on when another birder arrived, and we pointed out the Garganey and mentioned that Little Ringed Plover had been seen but we had failed to spot o...

  Mute Swan - CVL (Bath Birdwatcher) Bryan is slowly recovering from his operation but is still unable to do a lot of walking at the moment, so on most occasions bird watching is out but on Thursday his wife Yvonne drove him to Chew Valley Lake, Mary and Tony were asked if they would like to go as well. We took coffee and were going to have fish and chips for lunch at Salt and Malt in the picnic area. Driving to Herriotts we spotted Woodpigeon, Jackdaw, Kestrel and Rook. On the pond at Herriotts were Mute Swans, Mallard, Gadwall, Teal, Shelduck with a Carrion Crow on the exposed mud, but no waders !! A few species of gull were present Herring, Black Headed, Greater and Lesser Black Back, also seen was a single Moorhen. We walked over the road to view the main lake and a fly past Grey Heron was our 1 st sighting with Cormorants in trees around the lake. We were alerted to a Hobby flying along the reed bed on the far side of the lake and while looking a second was seen. We could hea...

Today Bryan and Tony visited Caen Hill locks nr Devizes as we were told last Saturday that Sedge Warblers had been seen there and it would be a year tick for both of us if we could find them. On arrival in the car park we immediately spotted four or five Black Headed Gulls sat by the water with others flying around and also several Mallards now in eclipse plumage on one of the many ponds, we found 50+ during our visit. As we drank our coffee Woodpigeon, Lesser Black Back Gull and  Goldfinch   flew past with the LBBG harrying a Red Kite. As we walked towards the 1st pond a Wren flew along the bankside and a Magpie was on the grass in the distance. I then heard a part call that I knew was Sedge Warbler and when we got to a good vantage point we found three of four birds at least one was a juvenile as it was being fed, our hoped for species seen within 30 minutes of arriving. To early to leave so we walked on where a flyover Buzzard led us on to a few Swifts flying close by. A Gr...

  Another week and no 3 Amigos but this week Bryan and Tony plus our wives Yvonne and Mary had an awayday to Seaton and Beer. The day was a mixture of birding and a coastal visit. Setting off at 8.45 our first stop was Cartgate picnic area where we had a coffee break, and after it was off to Seaton while driving obviously we were spotting and the following were seen, Starling, Swift, Woodpigeon, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, Magpie, Great White Egret, (unusual to see this species from a moving car) Blackbird, Swallow, Buzzard, Rook, Kestrel and Goldfinch. Seaton Wetlands was our next stop and here we started the visit with Blackcap and Great Tit and also a lovely singing Whitethroat.   From the viewing platform which had a Robin on the ground, we overlooked an open body of water where we noted Shelduck, Great Black Back Gull, and Herring Gull. Walking towards the visitors center a Dunnock was on the footpath and a Moorhen was on another small pond. We then stopped for coffee and wer...

  This week was the last time for a few weeks that the 3 Amigos will be able to get out as a threesome so we chose to visit the Somerset Levels and what a great choice it was, as we had some of the best bird watching that we have had in years, in fact the best in decades. Our first stopping point was going to be Westhay and to get there we drive over what is no more than a single track road and it was here we started our days list with Stock Dove, Blackbird and Pheasant seen. As we approached a field with one of the small drainage channels running down it we noticed a flock of about 20 Egrets and on closer examination they were all Cattle Egrets (year tick no1). Great Crested Grebe, Greylag and Canada Geese as well as Mute Swans were all logged before we reached the Westhay car park. As we set off on our walk up Dagg’s Lane Drove Great Tits were in the trees to our left and a single Coot was in the water at the end of the car park, a Blue Tit and a Buzzard was our next 2 sightings ...

  Another trip to Chew Valley Lake in the hope of dodging the weather plus as the water level is still low there is plenty of exposed mud and therefore lots of wading birds.  The 3Amigos were all together today and on the way to Chew we logged Rook, Carrion Crow, Magpie, House Martin, Swallow, Woodpigeon, Starling, Jackdaw, and Collard Dove. At Chew 1 st stop was Herriott's , the first thing we noticed was the water in the pond was much higher than the previous week and subsequently fewer birds, but we did see Black Headed Gull, Moorhen, and Mallard, and wader wise Lapwing, Green Sandpiper and Common Sandpiper. A Great White Egret was sat on a branch and a Snipe was on a pile of sticks with more in the shallower water. Snipe-CVL(Bath Birdwatcher)  A few extra ducks were also seen Shoveler, Teal and Gadwall. On the main lake were more waders Black Tailed Godwit, Spotted Redshank, Dunlin, Ringed Plover, Ruff and new for the year a Little Stint. A Great Black Back Gull was...

  Again this week the 3 Amigos were down to two as Bryan is on holiday in Devon. Chew Valley Lake and Blagdon was the choice of venue. We decided to start the day at picnic area no2 as it would be quieter therefore we hoped more birds would be seen. Setting off via The Globe Rooks were in the rookery then as we drove through Corston we spotted 3 Skylarks. Our next sightings were Collared Dove and Woodpigeon, A Buzzard drifted across the road and a single Swallow was sat on the wires we spotted 2 more during the day both sat on wires. A Great Tit was the last bird we saw on the journey. Parking in the picnic area a Dunnock was in the reeds in front of us and a Great Black Back Gull flew over. As I have mentioned before Cetti’s Warbler seen to fly after they sing and this again proved true as we could hear one singing and while looking in the direction of the song it broke from cover and flew away to our right,   but a few paces further on another was seen singing from an expose...