Bath Birdwatcher

  It was a return to Newton St Loe alone as Bryan is still recovering from his operation and David was under the weather. The day started very cold, and it took a long time too unfreeze the car and then I made a mistake by taking the main road to NSL as I thought it was the safest with the conditions as they were. BIG mistake 3way traffic lights at Windsor Bridge with the traffic queueing back to Brougham Hayes. Well, I did eventually arrive and park by the church, nothing in the churchyard but in the field beyond a small flock of Woodpigeons feeding in the grass and many Jackdaws flying over. On the bottom road Blue Tits were in the hedgerow and Lesser Black Back Gull and Magpie flew by, 2 Dunnocks were feeding by the side of the road with Great Tit and Robin visiting the feeders, and Carrion Crows in the top of the tallest trees. Nothing more until Butterfly Alley where a Grey Heron was by the side of the stream. The bottom lake was quiet with just a single Mallard 2 Black Headed...

After getting over my illness it was back too Tuesday birding and this week it was a morning at NSL. After picking up Bryan and David  the 3 Amigos drove to the village finding a soaring Buzzard as we drove in. Parking by the farm shop Swallows were on the wires with young being fed by their parents and lots of Jackdaws around. Greenfinch could be heard calling, and 2 flew over along with House Martins. We started our walk in the lanes where a Lesser Black Back Gull was flying in the distance and several Woodpigeons were flying around and we must have disturbed a Green Woodpecker as it flew away low over the fields, also as we walked up the lane a small bird flew away in front of us and landed a few yards away where we were able to get a good view of it, a Whitethroat. Our first butterfly of the day a Gatekeeper was on a leaf with it's wings fully open. Bryan then spotted a distant Herring Gull followed by our 1st Large White butterfly. At 7 Acre Wood we were hoping for more butter...

  Marsh Harrier - Greylake (Bath Birdwatcher) On Saturday Bath RSPB ran a trip to West Sedgemoor which was led by David, assisted by the remaining 2 Amigos Bryan and Tony. West Sedgemoor is an RSPB reserve on the Somerset Levels and you can only visit if you have arranged it with the RSPB prior to your visit. On the way to the rendezvous we spotted Kestrel, Red Kite and Song Thrush. On arrival 2 volunteers were there to meet us and guide us for the morning. Just a short walk from the meeting point we were shown 2 Cranes in the distance, we were to see another 7 during the morning. Back at the meeting point waiting for more people to arrive we ticked Robin, Wren and flyover Starlings. Before we set off the volunteer gave a short talk explaining that the RSPB owned 18,000 acres of land BUT due to the freezing cold weather none of the 45,000 species of wildfowl were on site as they had moved away to open water where they could feed. However the walk went ahead and we were led up a hil...

  From Thursday 16 th until Wednesday 22 nd June my wife and I are spending a few days in Devon staying with Mary’s sister in her lodge nr Paignton. We are staying at a site called Waterside Park so close to the sea you feel you can almost touch it. From the start Herring Gulls were everywhere and a local Buzzard could be seen regularly. Goldfinch twittered constantly. Brother in law took me to a viewing point that overlooked 2 local coves and on the way we heard a calling Greenfinch and over the next few days proved to be quite common, a Robin was also seen. From the viewing point a Shag was sitting on a rock and a Grey Heron was exploring the rock pools. Back where we were staying we sat on the decking and noted 2 fly by Mallard and our attention was drawn to a few Swift and a Magpie. The following day Mary and I revisited where I had been the previous day. Carrion Crow and Jackdaw were soon seen quickly followed by a fly-past Pied Wagtail, Chaffinch and Great Tits were in the ...

  My wife and myself decided that the weather was suitable for us to get out for a walk and some fresh air after being more or less housebound due to the weather, it’s been very wet and windy recently and when not it’s been cold, and I hate being cold. Also, the water authority has been working in our road replacing all the stopcocks and the mains pipe to our house making parking impossible, so I have not moved the car for over 2 weeks.   Now the work has been completed we have been able to drive and park up for a country walk Newton St Loe being a favorite place. On arrival we had to park by the church, I walked through the churchyard while Mary walked on the road, I managed to spot Rook and Carrion Crow flying over the fields and a Robin singing from a bush, as we reached Send a Cow a Blackbird flew from the field and a Nuthatch was in one of the tall trees and a House Sparrow was on the wires. Nothing was seen in the woodland, so it was on to Butterfly Alley where 6 Grey He...