Bath Birdwatcher

  Great White Egret - CVL (Bath Birdwatcher) Again, this week it was just Bryan and Tony, David is away and as we did last week we decided that another visit to Chew Valley Lake was the order of the day as again a couple of new wader species had been reported. On the way we reached the Globe where there was a notice that the road at Marksbury was closed so we had to make a detour to get around the closure. Collared Dove and Jackdaw were seen on the way. At Herriotts our first sightings were Mute Swan, Lapwing, Carrion Crow and Mallard seen as we climbed out of the car. Pied Wagtails were calling and 2 landed on the wall in front of us and a Shoveler was feeding on the pond.  Shoveler - CVL (Bath Birdwatcher) Telescopes set up we scanned the pond finding 3 species of gull Black Headed, Herring and Lesser Black Back. A single Greenshank was asleep and a Snipe and Moorhen were also found. Lots of Teal were all over the right end of the pond with a Green Sandpiper amongst them. A...

  Corfe Castle (Bath Birdwatcher) Friday 12 th to Friday 19 th of September Bryan, Yvonne, Mary and Tony spent a week in Corfe, staying in sight of the famous Castle. On arrival we found out that Swanage Steam railway was holding its annual autumn gala over the weekend, something to visit while we were there. We set off stopping at Blandford for a comfort break and coffee where we spotted a Little Egret on the river Stour and 2 or 3 Red Kites on the journey. Our next stop was Wareham where we had lunch and a walk to stretch our legs and here by the river Frome were 2 Mute Swans with 3 full grown cygnets many Mallards and a Moorhen. Saturday started wet and windy with the promise that it would improve as the day went on, and so it proved so we explored Corfe and had coffee in the National Trust Café. We had an early lunch and caught the bus into Swanage to visit the Steam Gala with 6 locos in steam including Southern Region U class 31806.  Class U - Swanage Steam Railway (B...

  Our birding trip this week was another visit to Chew Valley Lake but just Bryan and Tony as David is on holiday. Chew was chosen because 2 waders scare at this location had been seen and it would be silly not to take advantage and see if we could find them. As usual we started the day at Herriotts noting Magpie, Collared Dove and Woodpigeon as we drove through Bishops Sutton. On arrival at Herriotts it was noticeable the amount of hirundines flying over the pool with Swallow and both House and Sand Martins in quite large numbers, while looking at these 2 Common Sandpipers flew over the water landing out of sight on the wall. The water level had risen a little since last week but the now overgrown mud was still above water with double figure count of Lapwings seen along with lots of Black Headed Gulls also seen were Mallard, Teal, Gadwall and Mute Swan. On the far side of the pool were at least 2 Garganey and close by a Grey Heron. A Green Sandpiper and a single Snipe were also fo...

  Our 1 st trip in July was a walk along the river Avon from Newbridge towards Saltford most of the birds seen were expected although a singing Reed Warbler was I nice find as was a Kingfisher, An Essex Skipper butterfly was unexpected as was a Scarce Chaser Dragonfly. On the 9 th of July was the Bath RSPB monthly field trip to Wentwood/Newport Wetlands, a Spotted Flycatcher at Wentwood was our only year tick at Wentwood and nothing new seen at Newport Wetlands but when we moved to Goldcliffe Green Sandpiper, Ringed and Little Ringed Plover were all new year sightings. At Newport Wetlands we were entertained by a Bittern which flew from one reedbed over open water to disappear in another. On Monday 11 th July Mary and I joined David and his wife Hazel for a few days in their caravan at Weymouth we had a fabulous few days , with brilliant weather and 4-year ticks, Common and Little Tern at Ferrybridge plus Guillemot and Kittiwake at Portland. In the Portland quarries we found 9 ...

  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...

  Our Tuesday birding trip today took us to Slimbridge a WWT reserve on the Severn Estuary. The 3 Amigos were joined by our wives not for the birds but a good chinwag. At Slimbridge the first stop was The Peng Observatory here were Collared Dove, Tufted Duck, Jackdaw, Coot, Moorhen and Cormorant. Over the far side of the water was an area of wild flowers and in amongst it you would occasionally see the   heads of 2 adult Crane’s I knew from reports I had read that they had a well grown chick which appeared from the undergrowth out into the open. In front of us was another bank of wild flowers and contained 100+ Goldfinch. A few Black Headed Gulls were seen plus a single Herring Gull. Mallard, Gadwall and Canada Geese were also seen. On the bottom pond were about 20 Black Tailed Godwits, Teal, Lapwing a Buzzard flew over and Mute Swan cygnets appeared as if from nowhere. Another flyover was a Carrion Crow then a Pied Wagtail was seen on one of the islands and a Greylag Go...