Category: Blog

Having recovered from COVID it’s been good to get out and about these last few days. My Achilles’ tendon injury still limits how far I can walk but I’ve taken the opportunity to see bird activity around Chew Valley and Blagdon lakes without venturing too far from my car.

The most attractive birds have been the great crested grebes which are in breeding plumage; however, I have been disappointed not see their courting displays.

There are always plenty of mute swans which still amaze me in flight.

When you’ve been confined to a surgical boot with a torn Achilles’ tendon for 3 months and then you get COVID you have to be thankful that the weather brightens up and that you have a garden to enjoy some of the joys of spring. But then again you have to be thankful it’s a tiny garden.

Slideshow of some of the birds and bees in my garden in the last few days:

It is well known that time spent in nature is connected to cognitive and mental health benefits, as well as improvements in mood and emotional well-being. Well how I needed a day like today, bird watching in the Chew Valley just south of Bristol!

To some extent the frustration at not being able to get out and about because of my Achilles’ tendon rupture has got to me; but more than anything seeing the atrocities in Ukraine, and the suffering of the poor people there who have done nothing to have such horror inflicted upon them, has affected me considerably.

I wasn’t able to completely forget their plight but I did have a pleasant day without any news broadcasts and without even looking at my phone.

I spent most of the day on my own but I did spend a little while talking to Keith Vinicombe, the author of a local natural history book of this area which I bought before Christmas and which I have thoroughly enjoyed. Keith was in the company of John Rosetti (who compiled and edited the book) and I was very pleased to meet them and congratulate them on their splendid work. I particularly enjoyed the book because I was brought up in this area and, as well as a fantastic reference of the birds of Chew Valley, it relates the history of the lake which was constructed when I was a boy growing up here.

As for the birds I didn’t see as many as I have in recent visits but for much of the day there was good light and I enjoyed my time taking photographs.

Slideshow of my photos from today:

Another very mild day for February. We spent the morning at Chew Valley Lake where, as well as a good cup of coffee at Woodford Lodge, we were able to see birds on the lake from the road and from a hide (Stratford) to which I could drive.

The sun shone briefly to give us some nice views of the lake. Most of the wildfowl were in the middle of the lake but we could make out large flocks of tufted ducks, pochard and lapwings.

There was also one small group of tufted ducks which were combined with goldeneye.

Slideshow of this morning’s photos:

I have to concede that the injury to my Achilles’ tendon (which is now booted 24/7) is causing me great frustration, especially as I have been unable to get out and savour the joys of nature on which I have become more and more reliant.

In January and the beginning of February, in this part of the country, we have had a number of sunny and relatively mild days . Thankfully, yesterday I managed to enjoy one of them at one of the UK’s finest wetland centres, WWT Slimbridge. I only managed to get to the first two hides but I saw enough there to alleviate my frustrations.

This week it was World Wetlands Day, “which is celebrated annually on 2 February and aims to raise global awareness about the vital role of wetlands for people and planet. A call to take action for wetlands is the focus of this years’ campaign. It’s an appeal to invest financial, human and political capital to save the world’s wetlands from disappearing and to restore those we have degraded. 2 February 2022 is the first year that World Wetlands Day will be observed as a United Nations international day” – (extract from the linked website which is well worth having a look at.)

The first bird we saw on the Rushy lake was an avocet, the iconic emblem of the RSPB. In fact this was the only one we saw on our visit.

From this first hide you get really good close-ups of the birds and is generally a good place to get photos of birds in flight or on the water.

From the next hide you have good views over the wetlands which are pretty spectacular when all the birds are feeding but amazing when something spooks them and the large flocks take to the air.

The first signs of spring were most evident too.

Sitting in a damp, cold hide in the middle of January is not quite my idea of heaven but it was certainly better than sitting on the sofa at home. “Nature is good for your mental health” I have read so often of late and I would certainly concur from my experience today.

It was not a day for great photos but the snipe in front of the Stratford hide at Chew Valley lake were more obliging than usual; and the sight of a flock of teal being spooked by a peregrine at close quarters and a marsh harrier overhead were a blessing for me (but maybe not for the teal). Golden eyes are very cute too.

A pheasant at Blagdon Lake (which was teaming with ducks) on the way back was the most colourful of the day and a kestrel near Banwell was a bonus.

I had read that the best way to see hawfinches in the Forest of Dean was to stay in your car and, as that is the sort of birding I am restricted to at the moment, I saw an opportunity. In fact, I did have to get out of the car at Parkend but did manage to see three hawfinches. However, they were very high up and almost impossible to photograph.

At Cannop Ponds we stopped near a feeder and the best I managed to photo was a marsh tit, a nut hatch and a little grebe on the pond.

A planned visit to the Llanelli Wetlands Centre proved not to be feasible due to my Achilles injury but it’s amazing what can be achieved by not venturing too far from a car (and the help of a long lens). Our accommodation on Llanelli beach (with its amazing sunsets) and a trip to Llanrhidian Marsh and Weobly Castle on The Gower proved a more than adequate late substitution.

After a drab morning at Chew Valley Lake where the best I saw was a great crested grebe, several snipe, a jack snipe and a pair of distant marsh harriers I moved on to the nature reserve on the disused airfield at Weston-super-Mare.

I was hoping to see the penduline tits which I have never seen and which had been reported here recently. There was a fresh breeze and it was very cold but I was encouraged by the excellent light. However, for the first hour I only saw reed buntings and stonechats. My patience was well rewarded , however, when two penduline tits appeared and stayed around feeding on the bull rushes until I felt I could take no more photos.

I was quite excited by this addition to my life list but my exaltation was rather tempered by the fact that I tore my achilles tendon (which had been sore for some time) slopping around on the muddy path and limped back to my car in some pain.

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I ended last year with a trip to Slimbridge and started this one to the same venue as, with a short break in the gloomy weather, I knew we would be bound to see a wealth of birds.

I saw a group of birders looking at something near Slimbridge but only realised when I returned home that they were looking at a glossy ibis. A chance missed. Nonetheless, there was plenty to keep me happy before the rain came back. We loved seeing the big flocks of godwits, wigeon, pintails, lapwings, curlews and golden plovers but the focus of my camera was on the ruff, which I don’t see often, and some white fronted geese.