Bath Birdwatcher

  This week a Tuesday trip out, had to be put back by 24 hours as it was my birthday and my wife and I celebrated it by going out for coffee and lunch. Wednesday arrived and it was decided that Chew Valley Lake was the best option as with the very low water level and plenty of mud showing it was a haven for waders both in the main lake and Herriotts pool. We both took a packed lunch so we didn’t have to rush to visit all the places where we hoped the majority of birds would be. On the way the day started with Buzzard, Collared Dove, Jackdaw and Woodpigeon all being seen. At Herriotts many different species were on the pool including Mute Swan, Little Egret, Grey Heron, Great White Egret, Shoveler, Gadwall and Teal.  Grey Heron - CVL (Bath Birdwatcher) Great White Egret - CVL (Bath Birdwatcher) When we arrived we commented on how many people were present which was very unusual, and wondered if a rare bird was present, but on chatting to other birders they were watching an Ospre...

  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...

  Westbury White Horse (Bath Birdwatcher) This week David and Tony met Jo at White Ox Mead to do a recce for the upcoming Bath RSPB’s field trip to the same location. An utter disaster happened on the return trip, I lost my notebook so I think I have remembered all the birds we saw but they are not necessarily in the order we saw them ( as Eric Morcambe once said). Jo knows the area very well so she led us and we used mainly by-ways well off the public roads for most of the walk. The walk started in the village where the wires were covered with lots of Swallows except for one wire which contained Goldfinch, Dunnock and a single Greenfinch. As we continued we saw the 1 st of many Woodpigeons a single Blue Tit and another species we were to see all morning, Carrion Crow. We reached a tree lined area that was full of birds mainly Chiffchaffs but also several very yellow juvenile Willow Warblers. As we continued we reached a long open area with bushes on our left and here a large floc...

  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...

  This week another visit to Chew Valley Lake but on this occasion for a specific reason, a White-Tailed Eagle from the Isle of Wight reintroduction has been seen there for the last few days so a chance to see a bird that I have never seen before. Today it was just David and Tony as Bryan was otherwise engaged. On the way driving through Bishop Sutton, we spotted House Martins, Magpie and Jackdaw with several Woodpigeons on top of telegraph poles. As we arrived at Herriotts Mute Swan, Mallard, Coot and Woodpigeon were all close in on the pool. As we got out of the car some fellow birders were on the other side of the road searching the main lake so we joined them to see if they had found anything special, a Peregrine sat on a tree stump was as good as it got, we did also see a Grey Wagtail and a few Pied Wagtails. I then heard the call of a Kingfisher in the overflow channel so went to see if we could find it and luckily another birder was there and pointed it out hanging on to a r...

  Little Grebe - Herons Green (Bath Birdwatcher) This week the 3 Amigos decided on a day’s field trip to Chew Valley Lake as we would be more likely to find more bird species there this time of the year. We started our bird list at Bishops Sutton with House Martins and Collared Doves, next stop Herriotts Bridge where Mute Swan, Mallard, Black Headed Gull, Coot and Canada Goose were all seen as we parked. Looking out over the pool we were amazed by the number of Great White and Little Egrets along with several Grey Herons. On the island were 8 Lapwing , Moorhen, Herring Gull and at least 12 Green Sandpipers with 2 Snipe also seen. Rook, Grey Wagtail and Sand Martins were all seen in the air, and Gadwall were found at the back of the pool. A few other birders we know were looking out over the main lake when they called us over to see a female Peregrine sat on a stump close to the now low waters edge, we were told the level is only 45% of full. Pied Wagtail and Carrion Crow were on th...

  A very low CVL from Herons Green (Bath Birdwatcher) The 3 Amigos were back together for this week’s field trip and it was decided that we would go to Chew Valley Lake as the last visit was wat back on the 10 th of June. On the way we saw Woodpigeons and House Sparrows. Our 1 st stop was Herriotts and the 1 st bird there was a small flock of Canada Geese on the pond along with Mallard, Coot and Mute Swan. The island is now overgrown making it hard to see any birds on or over the far side but we did see Common Sandpiper, Lapwing and 2 Egret species Little and Great White. David spotted Swifts circling overhead accompanied by a few House Martin. A Carrion Crow was on the island and a Moorhen was under the trees and a Grey Heron was in the shallow water and I found a Green Sandpiper. Ravens flew over calling and a Pied Wagtail flew onto the island. As we were looking to see if anything different was about a Cattle Egret flew over. Time to move on and next stop Stratford adding Sw...