Bath Birdwatcher

  The time passes so quickly these days and seems unbelievable that a week has passed since my last birding outing. This week the choice was Chew or Slimbridge as the weather didn’t look that good, in the end David and Tony chose Slimbridge as the Bluethroat has still been seen there and on my 2 previous visits it has failed to show so 3 rd time lucky !! I decided not to start my day list until we arrived at Slimbridge, so my 1 st sighting was a Red Kite that flew across the approach road just after the bridge. On arrival the rain had started so waterproofs were the order of the day and while putting them on 2 Collared Doves flew past and a Woodpigeon was sat in a tree close to the reception. Once in the   reception we were forced to shelter as it was raining hard, but it soon passed, making our way to the Decoy Hide we added Greylag Geese and Moorhen, from the hide we saw Mute Swan, Coot, Mallard and Cormorant, we had hoped for Kingfisher as they had been seen there regula...

  Yesterday the 3 Amigos paid another visit to Chew as the weather was not good (raining when we set off). We had intended to go to Pilning Wetlands but as there in no shelter that idea was shelved and Chew was chosen. Driving to Chew a Red Kite was our 1 st sighting of the day followed by House Martin, Woodpigeon and Jackdaw all before we arrived at Herriotts. On arrival 2 Egyptian Geese with 3 goslings were in the outflow with some Canada Geese close by. Lots of Mute Swans were on the far side of the pond and Gadwall were spread all over the pond.  Gadwall - CVL (Bath Birdwatcher) A male Garganey was wading through the mud and a pair of Mallard were upending. Swifts and House Martins were circling overhead, Moorhen, Coot and Tufted Duck were also seen. Black Headed, Lesser Black Back and Herring were the only species of gull seen.  Lesser Black Back Gull - CVL (Bath Birdwatcher) A Marsh Harrier was over the main lake and Cormorants were flying about. Back on the pond B...

  The 3 Amigos this week were doing a recce as later this month David is leading an RSPB field trip to the Severn Estuary around Pilning Wetlands. As we set off it was raining although the forecast had promised a mainly dry day, but as we headed along the M4 we ran out of the rain and apart from a little drizzle it remained dry all day. When we arrived, we drove along Passage Road and noticed that it was high tide so decided to start the day at Pilning. Parking at the end of New Passage Road we walked to where the Chestile Pill runs into the Severn and here the tide was dropping leaving a muddy shoreline where many waders were feeding including Redshank, Dunlin. Black Tailed Godwit and Knot, also seen were Teal, Wigeon, Mute Swan and Black Headed Gull.   A Starling was on a TV ariel and on the land were Greylag and Canada Geese. Scoping upriver we spotted Curlew, Oystercatcher and Shelduck. Walking to the wetlands we added Jackdaw and Rook and in the Pill was a Little Egret, W...

  This Tuesday we paid our 1 st visit of the year to Slimbridge but only myself and David as Bryan was otherwise engaged, and what a day, we had 60+ sightings with 12 year ticks. On the drive to Slimbridge we saw 2 flocks of Golden Plover totaling in excess of 250 birds quite a total for this time of the year as they had all disappeared from Slimbridge a week or more ago. We also found Pheasant and Rook but as it turned out we also saw them at Slimbridge. Starling was the only other sighting that we didn’t see later in the day. One in the grounds at Slimbridge Moorhen, Mallard and Greylag Goose were soon seen. 1 st stop was Peng and here Shelduck, Mute Swan and Tufted Duck were soon logged as was out 1 st year tick Whooper Swan 2 have been here for several months. Whooper Swan - Slimbridge (Bath Birdwatcher)  We also found Pochard and Teal. Next was 3 more year ticks Avocet, Black Tailed Godwit and Oystercatcher, also seen were Pintail before we moved to overlook the bottom...

  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 (...

  Bewick's Swan Slimbridge (Bath Birdwatcher) The weather again dictated bird spotting this week, Tuesday being a wet day we moved our day out to Wednesday and as this would probably be the last time this year the 3 Amigos will be out and about Slimbridge was chosen for our last hoorah. On the journey to Slimbridge we spotted 2 Red Kites many Pheasants a flock of Fieldfares and 2 Buzzards sat in the same field. In the car park at Slimbridge we were welcomed with a huge flock of waders that had probably been put up by a bird of prey the flock consisted of many hundreds of Golden Plover and Lapwings along with a few Curlews and a small flock of Starlings. On the way into the center a Collared Dove was in a tree. Inside in the grounds we made for South Hide as high tide was just after lunch so we though that Tower Hide would be better then. On the way to the hide we ticked Rook, Moorhen, Woodpigeon, Coot, Mute Swan, Greylag and Canada Geese, Mallard and Jackdaw.  Greylag Goose Sl...

  Greylag Geese - Slimbridge (Bath Birdwatcher) We discussed this weekend where to go on Tuesday and decided somewhere along the Severn Estuary would be the best bet and after looking at Monday’s sightings Slimbridge was decided upon as a White Rumped Sandpiper had been seen which would be a lifer for all three of us and also Little Stints and a Garganey were also present, WELL after looking for about 5 hours and asking many people none of the birds could be found but that didn’t stop us having a good day and were rewarded with 54 species. We didn’t start counting sightings until we reached Slimbridge and while standing in the car park a huge flock of waders flew over, many 100’s of Golden Plover probably close to 1000 also flying were 100+ Lapwing and about a dozen Black Tailed Godwits. As we readied ourselves Jackdaw and Rook were also seen. Walked to the entrance Pied Wagtail, House Sparrow, Blue Tit, Moorhen and Mute Swan were all seen. Once in the grounds we headed for the Pen...

  This month’s Bath RSPB field trip was due to be a coach trip on Saturday 14 th to Ogmore by sea, but unfortunately due to lack of numbers it had to be cancelled but Lucy stepped in and organized a trip to Slimbridge. Also Tom arranged for a visit to Marshfield on Saturday, more about that trip in another blog. Today it was just Bryan and myself as David is away. Back to the Slimbridge trip we were due to meet in the car park but we experienced a frustrating drive where every traffic light was against us so much so that we arrived late and the group had already moved on. As we had no idea where they were starting we made our way to the Rushy Pen, no group here, but we did see Mallard, Mute Swan, Coot, Black Tailed Godwit, Grey Heron, Great Black Back Gull, Greylag and Canada Goose, Black Headed Gull, Teal, Lapwing, Moorhen. Shoveler and Snipe.  Snipe - Slimbridge unusual to get pictures of these birds in the open (Bath Birdwatcher) A Barred Warbler had been on site for a f...