Author: martintayler

No birds, just nature.

Slideshow of photos of our visit to The National Arboretum at Westonbirt in Gloucestershire:

A pleasant enough day birding in the Chew Valley but I didn’t have much in the way of photographs at the end of the day as the water levels are still very low and all the waterbirds are quite a way out and the light was not great.

Our trip for a stroll along the coast of the Severn Estuary, near the two Severn Bridges, started well with a view of a merlin and a sparrow hawk perched on the same dead tree on Northwick Warth.

As well as big flocks of linnets and starlings there were lots of waders, mainly godwits and redshank, but really too far out to get decent photos. However, we could also make out oystercatchers, curlews, grey herons and a little egret.

Slideshow of this morning’s photos:

I spent a very pleasant day birdwatching at Chew Valley lake. The water is very low (as in most parts of the country) and so most of the birds of interest were at quite some distance. Fortunately, I had my telescope with me and particularly enjoyed watching an osprey and a pectoral sandpiper.

I gather the marsh harrier I saw, with a tag VJ, is a Norfolk bird.

At the end of the day I managed to photograph two different water rails (generally very secretive birds).

Slideshow of today’s photos:

Just one bird (a nuthatch) at the end of our walk around the National Trust property of Tyntesfield in North Somerset has prompted me to write a blog. We always see robins here (and often buzzards) but the nuthatch was a first for me here. I have taken the liberty of adding (as a slideshow) a few of my non-nature photos too to be able to show what a fabulous place this is.

Slideshow of visit to Tyntesfield:

A walk in the rain this afternoon to Duchess Pond in Stoke Park Estate to try and hear a Cetti’s warbler which had been reported earlier was rewarded with a decent view of a spotted flycatcher.

There were nice views too of a grey heron which was flying around the pond.

The beginning of our walk from New Passage to Severn Beach reminded me of childhood visits to this area when the sun never seemed to shine and there was endless mud. We could see lots of curlews and oystercatchers on the warth and godwits on the waterline but everything was too distant for decent photographs other than a gull capturing, and eventually swallowing, an eel. However, as we reached Severn Beach the sun came out briefly and we had decent views of common ringed plovers and dunlin.

With an early visit to the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust’s reserve at Slimbridge we missed the Bank Holiday crowds and traffic. With the extended period of dry weather much of the wetlands were very dry but there was plenty enough to keep us occupied throughout the morning.

The highlights were ruff, greenshank, common and spotted redshank, avocet, lapwings and black-tailed godwits. We were so surprised by the dry conditions towards the estuary that we completely missed the common cranes which everyone else managed to see!

Slideshow of this morning’s photos

We made an early visit to see some very rare (for this country) European bee eaters at Trimingham, near Cromer in Norfolk. The forecast was good but it was very dismal when we arrived at 7:30 a.m.

I managed to get some shots in poor light and had to make do with that because by 9:00 a.m rain set in. So much for modern weather forecasting!

You can read all about these bee eaters on the RSPB web page and even see some decent photos of them.

Slideshow of this morning’s photos:

A little of the beauty of North Norfolk at Cley and Salthouse Marshes.

Y

… and so much more.

More amazing birds again today in Norfolk, this time at Cley Marshes.

The rarest, and a first for me, was a spotted crake. The most spectacular were the spoonbills but I loved seeing all the different waders.

Slideshow only today as I clearly need to do some more work on my ID of a few of these.

Lovely to be back in Norfolk (and seeing some birds again!).

A few photos from RSPB Titchwell Marsh where we stopped near the end of our long hot journey from Bristol.

Slideshow of my photos from this afternoon: