31st March 2024 – Aust Warth, Severn Estuary, Gloucestershire

It’s been so wet underfoot that birdwatching has not been my preferred pastime in the last few weeks.

I’ve even been tempted to start a blog of other activities and had a go at a visit to a local church (see St Mary’s Berkeley, further up the Severn Estuary).

However, I am probably on dodgy ground here as I know so little about ecclesiastical architecture and just as little about history.

We hit on a walk along the new flood defences along the Severn Estuary near Aust. We were hoping that the new path would not be too muddy, as turned out to be the case. The tide was very high and so there were no waders around but we did have distant views of lots of shelduck and a few Canada geese.

However, we were rewarded in the early part of our walk with a a fairly close-up view of a northern wheatear and a stonechat; skylarks were with us all along the walk and certainly lifted our spirits.