It’s that place again! We only had time for a local walk and made the most of the morning sunshine by having a walk around the park and up into the woods and along to Purdown with its comms tower.
Author: martintayler
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19th October 2020 – Stoke Park Estate, Bristol
We didn’t see any birds in the swampy area near to Duchess Pond – it’s usually been a good place for stonechats, whinchats, reed bunting, meadow pipits and even a kestrel. As we climbed up past the “castle” (Dower House) we saw 4 buzzards overhead but only one came close to photograph Very hazy and atmospheric looking back to the parish church in Stapleton The sun shining through the trees made this part of our walk in the woods particularly attractive We were drawn by the chatttering of a small flock of starlings in a tree The sharp cheeping sound of goldfinches was also easy to pick out The slope looks almost flat – the camera deceives The motorway is hardly noticeable to the eye, unfortunately not to the ear Duchess Pond at the bottom of the hill and the Dower House at the top The obelisk above Duchess Pond 11 chicks now down to three The cormorant was having a rest from diving and then drying itself The graffiti beneath the motorway brings home the fact that the park is right on the edge of the urban sprawl -
18th October 2020 – South Gloucestershire and Wiltshire
The sun didn’t appear at all today. It’s a shame it’s so dull at the moment as we are not seeing the autumn colours at their best. We spent the morning and early afternoon in the countryside around Tormarton, Marshfield and Castle Combe (there would have been a few chocolate box photos of this pretty village but we couldn’t find anywhere to park) but we did have a walk through the woods.
We saw large flocks of starling but no fieldfare or redwings which we had hoped to see. There were a couple of raptors (a kestrel and a buzzard) and meadow pipits and a grey wagtail on the wire.
We have seen lots of fields in recent days where the farmers have left the stubble – very good for the birds 
The trees would look so much better with a few rays of sunshine 
Grey wagtail 
Meadow pipits on the wire 
Blue tit 
A distant kestrel The kestrel and this buzzard we saw really close up but I took a while to get a photo We are not far from Badminton here and we saw plenty of horses on the lanes and in the fields – such beautiful animals.
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17th October 2020 – Severn Estuary
It was a dull day, but not too cold, for our walk along the Severn Estuary near Arlingham.
All it needed was a few rays of sunshine to brighten up these autumn colours around this house in Newnham 
Lots of interesting things to see along the banks of the River Severn As well as lots of gulls on the estuary we came across a male and female stonechat. The female was then replaced by a meadow pipit who continued to “chat” up the male stonechat.
Male stonechat 
Male and female stonechat Female stonechat 
Meadow pipit 
Meadow pipit drawing the attention of the male stonechat We came home via Gloucester and had a look at the river from the other bank at Newnham.
A silhouette of a grey heron 
The light was fading fast when we arrived at Newnham -
14th October 2020 – Severn Estuary
We had a pleasant walk from New Passage to Severn Beach (or more to the point to Shirley’s café where there is a nice garden to have a coffee) and back even though there was a sharp north easterly wind. We saw a variety of birds on the estuary along the way but were a bit late in the day to see the vis mig (visible migration) of redwings, mistle thrushes and siskins which were reported earlier.
The Prince of Wales bridge 
Curlew Ruddy turnstones 
Grey heron 
Little egret 
Robin 
Wigeon 
Redshank 
The two Severn Crossings in a different light -
13th October 2020 – Stoke Park Estate, Bristol
We only had an hour to get out for a stroll but we needed to “breathe” to get over a disappointment of a cancelled holiday in Norfolk next week as a consequence of Covid-19. I’m sure we would have been seeing many more birds in Norfolk than we did in Stoke Park but the few we did see were still a joy and lifted our morale.
Stoke Park does look lovely but you have to remember the motorway was thundering behind us. 
Little – distant wren 
Large – distant buzzard 
Cormorant conducting a chorus of a charm of gold finches in nearby bushes 
Moorhen 
A very confused blackberry -
11th October 2020 – WWT Slimbridge
As the British Trust for Ornithology says: “Migration is not so obvious in autumn as it is in in spring with summer visitors ‘disappearing’ gradually. Winter visitors tend to arrive over a longer time period and are not in such a rush as spring migrants; the urgency of the breeding season is not there.”
It certainly felt that way at Slimbridge today where there were not so many birds to see, especially as we only walked out to the Severn Estuary and back on our brief visit.
Lovely views of the estuary 
Little egret 
Distant views of common cranes 
Lots of shelduck on the estuary 
Shelduck close up 
Lapwings 
Teal 
Greylag goose -
9th October 2020 – Somerset Levels
We had hoped to see bearded tits at Westhay Moor as I have seen lots of recent reports (and photos) of them here but we were unlucky (in fact very unlucky as we got caught in a shower too). We abandoned our bird watching and went for lunch at the Sheppey Inn. After lunch we had a walk through RSPB Ham Wall but didn’t see much there either. Never mind, we enjoyed our day out.
RSPB Ham Wall 
Flooding on the Somerset Levels 
Glastonbury Tor across flooded fields -
8th October 2020 – Stoke Park Estate, Bristol
I read that the world this year has experienced its hottest September on record. The eleven recently born ducklings I saw on Duchess Pond this afternoon are probably another sign of global warning. It was 15 degrees Celsius and they all seemed very happy and so were we.
Predators rather than the weather are probably their biggest worry. The pair of kestrels we saw in the park didn’t seem very interested though. Perhaps they don’t like water.
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1st October 2020 – Severn Estuary
With rain forecast for the next few days at least it was wonderful to take advantage of a sunny calm day along the Severn Estuary.
There are lots of speckled wood butterflies around at the moment We started at New Passage and immediately saw a couple of little egrets flanked by dunlin fly out into the estuary.
Little egret flanked by dunlin 
The wigeon were easy to pick out by their call One egret continued its flight across the estuary whilst the other returned to “our” side. The dunlin settled further up the estuary. We then walked to Severn Beach where we saw 8 ringed plover and had a cup of coffee.
Ringed plover A beautiful starling in the sun at Severn Beach 
House sparrows in all the bushes around here 
The Prince of Wales Bridge from Severn Beach 
The Prince of Wales bridge from New Passage When we returned to New Passage the tide had fallen a little too much but we could see a large number of waders on the shore line and enjoyed the beautiful views of the estuary.
Waders on the shore line with the first Severn Crossing in the background 
Mixed group of waders 
Mixed group of waders 
Shelduck (mainly) 
Northwick Warth and Aust Warth 
Redshank chased by dunlin I think that will be our last chance for a while.
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27th September 2020 – Chew Valley lake, Somerset
It was a gloriously sunny morning but very fresh in the breeze; we thought it might be too cold to see bird migration at the seaside and headed south of Bristol to the Chew Valley and did some bird watching around the lake.
I have never seen so many egrets in one place 
The lake was teeming with birds 
The lake looked beautiful although, without being able to visit the hides, the access points are often busy and noisy with cars and motorbikes flashing past It was pretty cold there too but we enjoyed a festival of large birds with lots of great white egrets, little egrets, grey herons and cormorants. I was too lazy to go for a walk (in fact I don’t like leaving my camera/lenses in the car and I didn’t fancy carting them around with me) and so we headed home and enjoyed the sunshine in the shelter of our garden. As we had visited Somerset we had a glass of cider – although that excuse could be used for many parts of the country.
Great white egrets often seem like prehistoric birds 
Cormorant 
Swan and cygnets 
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26th September 2020 – Stoke Park Estate, Bristol
A very brief visit to the park this morning and a very brief view of a kestrel.
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23rd September 2020 – Stoke Park Estate, Bristol
I had seen reports of stonechats in the park and so wandered over this afternoon. I had a good look in all the usual spots with no success but I did manage to see one near Duchess Pond. It was only there for a few seconds and I never saw it again.
I came across another green woodpecker. Yesterday’s was up above the woods but this one was by the pond too.
Martin's Bird Blog & Nature Photos 