Author: martintayler

Well the weather really has changed. As we drove to see some friends at Avening in the Cotswolds it began to snow. It didn’t come to anything but it was enough to make us realise the seasons are moving on.  We had a pleasant little walk from Avening through the hamlet of Nag’s Head towards Cherington. As we passed Cherington Lake in the woods we saw a couple of little grebe which prompted me to write this blog. The light was very poor but we could certainly make out the little grebes, one with a fish almost as large as the one I had for my lunch at the excellent Ragged Cot on our way to Minchinhampton  Common.

The first winter look

Holes for the bees in this house in Nag’s Head

Cherington Lake – 2 mute swans and a few mallards in the distance (honest)

2 little grebe take centre stage from the mallards

Little grebe with fish

We needed to find a pub where these would be put to good use on a roaring fire

Click below for gallery of photos from this morning (in very dull light which demonstrated how lucky I have been with the light recently).

It was much colder this morning as I walked around our local park. I was soon cheered as the first bird I saw was a dipper (which I hadn’t seen for a while) on the River Frome. It was joined by a grey wagtail which was well camouflaged amongst the leaves on the river.

A little further along the river there was a grey heron and then another on the lake.

Grey heron on the river

Grey heron on the river

Grey heron on the lake

Grey heron on the lake

I was lucky again to catch sight of a kingfisher, although this morning I only managed to see it on the one occasion.

The tawny owl was not in its box but as Andrew (from the Frome Fairies) was clearing the detritus of fishing paraphernalia from on and around the island it wasn’t surprising. I was pleased to spend some time chatting with him when he paddled (very skilfully) across the lake to see me. I also enjoyed spending some time chatting with Nigel and his little dog, both of whom I hadn’t seen for a while. He told me of all his recent sightings of otters and showed me the spot where he had seen them. Luckily the sun came out when I was at the lake and, as well as chatting a lot, I took a few shots of the lake which is still surprisingly colourful.

Click below for a gallery of my photos from this morning:

The weather was lovely when we arrived in Stoke Park and a stonechat appeared straightaway.

There wasn’t much else until we got to Eastville Park where we saw the tawny owl, a cormorant and a kingfisher but the weather was very gloomy by this time. We have no reason to complain.

I had so little success looking for birds in Stoke Park that I turned my attention to taking landscape shots and I continued in that vain when I moved on to Eastville Park. And then 3 kingfishers came out to play … and I got over excited and took too many photos.

In Stoke Park I did get a very poor photo of a reed bunting, a cormorant and a moorhen. In Eastville Park I was lucky with a grey wagtail, a tawny owl, a cormorant and a grey heron too.

Reed bunting in Stoke Park

Cormorant in Stoke Park

Moorhen in Stoke Park

All the birds below were in Eastville Park:

My favourite landscapes of Stoke Park were:

… and my favourite landscapes of Eastville Park:

Click below for a gallery of my photos from today:

Having played golf this morning and not wanting to pick up leaves in the garden this afternoon a late walk in Eastville Park seemed the best option.

It was a lovely bright morning for golf but it was surprising that, on such a beautiful wooded course, I saw very few birds and certainly didn’t get a sniff of a birdie.

We were well rewarded  because, as well as seeing our two old friends the kingfisher and the grey heron, we caught a glimpse of one of the the tawny owls we had heard reports of.

The first bird to greet us in the park was a grey heron

The lake is still very colourful

The tawny owl was just visible now that the leaves have fallen

The lake also looks remarkably colourful in my photos for this time of the year and for that time of the day but I don’t remember it looking that bright on our walk (oh the joys of Japanese technology and American software). However, with the treat of a tawny owl our smiles were certainly very bright.

Click below for gallery of all my photos from this afternoon:

On our way to WWT Slimbridge we had the privilege to share an act of remembrance with the local community of Slimbridge on the centenary of the Armistice at their local parish church where there was an incredible installation “Wire Soldiers” by the local artist Jackie Lantelli. The wire soldiers stand at the foot of each grave where a soldier, sailor or airman of either WWI or WWII is either buried or commemorated. See my photo album – https://www.facebook.com/media/set/…

At WWT Slimbridge we didn’t linger long but had plenty of opportunity to see at close quarters pintail, wigeon, teal, tufted duck, shoveler, lapwing, Brent, Canada and greylag geese, Bewick swans and a little further away cranes, mute swans and large flocks of golden plover.

Click below for gallery of photos from WWT Slimbridge:

Greenbank Cemetery in Bristol, close to where we live, is a wonderful place to view wildlife and nature. We thought, as we approach the centenary of the Armistice. it would be a good place to visit today in the rain. Although the trees were magnificent and,  in spite of the fact that there were many birds to observe, our thoughts (and my camera) were drawn to the large number of war graves that there are in this cemetery. There are 339 graves of men and women of many nationalities who were casualties of the First and second World War. Details of these men and women can be viewed on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s website

Click below for a gallery of my photos from this morning:

As we didn’t get out at all the day before, due to the wet weather, we decided to have a trip down to Somerset. It was a murky start to the day but quite mild for November.

We started at WWT Steart Marshes and went in search of spoonbills which had been reported. The tide on the River Parrett was very low which didn’t push lots of interesting waders up on to the marshes but we were able to walk along the banks of the river and saw plenty of grey herons, little egrets, gulls and a few redshank. It was very grey but quite atmospheric.

The River Parrett looking towards the sea.

The River Parrett looking towards Bridgwater.

From along this path we could see the pool behind the Quantock Hide. There were three spoonbills but they were not being very cooperative and were hiding their spoon bills.

Spoonbills

Throughout the reserve their were large flocks of birds such as wood pigeon, linnets, goldfinch, starling, and lapwings but with the poor light they were not easy to photograph.

However, every now and again it was a little brighter and I did manage some shots of individual birds (and other animals).

Pied wagtail
 Linnets

Chaffinch

Reed bunting

Goldfinch

Goldfinch

Pied wagtail

Pintail

Grey heron with shipwreck

Lapwing on the River Parrett

On the way home we called in at Westhay Moor Nature Reserve in the hope of seeing bearded tit but we had no luck and the best we saw was a great white egret and great-crested grebe.

Gadwall

From the hides we did get lovely views of the Somerset Levels/

In the fields all around we saw lots of little egret, grey heron, buzzards and masses of starlings.

Little egret

Grey heron

Grey heron

Buzzard

Buzzard

And starlings everywhere

It probably would have been a great evening to see murmurations of starlings but by this time we had had enough and were glad to make our way home.

Click below for gallery of today’s photos:

I was so encouraged by my kingfisher photos from two days before (taken with a bridge camera) that I decided to return with more serious equipment, lugging a tripod too. The kingfisher was very compliant and presented itself in lots of different poses in the best possible light. I was very excited with the results and showed lots of passers-by in the park. However, when I got home disaster struck as the memory card became corrupt as I tried downloading the photos to my computer. I tried all sorts of ruses to convince my computer to recognise the card but not even the camera would recognise it; I had no option but to re-format the card.

I even tried returning to the park to take fresh photos but I never saw the kingfisher again. I had to content myself with taking photos of cormorants, a grey heron and a swan in odd light.

Cormorants

Grey. heron

The resident mute swan

Initially I was devastated but I am old and wise enough to realise that much worse things happen in life; and even if I had got the “perfect”shot I would be back again to try and take more kingfisher photos. I imagine it’s a bit like fishing really.

I had a few jobs to do this morning and nearly didn’t go for a walk but, as it was such a beautiful autumn morning, I decided to do a quick lap of Eastville Park.  I was so glad I did as I had magnificent views of a male kingfisher throughout the park. The trees also looked wonderful and so I took far too many photos and unfortunately not all the jobs got done.

My walk:

Oh yes I nearly forgot – the kingfisher.

This is what most of us generally see of the kingfisher

Click below for a gallery of some of the photos I took this morning:

It was a bitterly cold morning at New Passage on the Severn Estuary and even though the sun broke through it remained cold. However, testing my constitution and my stoicism I spent a happy morning watching the waders on Northwick Warth. I did walk along to see what was on the Pilning Wetlands but I was looking in to the light (the sun hadn’t really broken through by then) and didn’t see much.

Regular birders spotting from New Passage probably didn’t even feel the cold

This Brent goose caused most excitement amongst the savants

There were huge flocks of wigeon and sizeable numbers of curlew, oystercatchers, dunlin, redshank and Canada geese. The regular birders were very excited by a Brent Goose (the first there this year) and some Whooper Swans which flew over.

Large numbers of curlew and oystercatchers

Redshank

I was pleased to get some close ups of wigeon in flight which I doubt would have impressed the local birders.

Plenty of Canada geese 

Wigeon (whistling) everywhere

Oystercatchers

Dunlin

Wigeon in flight

And if everything seems rather far away there are always house sparrows to photograph.

Click below for gallery of photos from this morning:

The day before the clocks go back and its gone bitterly cold to remind us that winter is just round the corner. We were well rewarded in our walk around Eastville Park by the sight of 2 grey herons, 2 kingfishers and a grey wagtail – oh and a cup of coffee and a bacon butty in Park One Café on the way home.

Click below for gallery of photos from this morning: