Martin's Bird Blog & Nature Photos

Category: Blog

  • 19th September 2025 – WWT Slimbridge, Gloucestershire

    19th September 2025 – WWT Slimbridge, Gloucestershire

    What a surprise! Just as we seemed to be moving into autumn we get a late summer’s day. The French call it l’ėtė de la St Martin and we call it an Indian summer, but I’m probably getting carried away as St Martin’s Day isn’t until the 11th November. Anyway it reached 22 degrees in sunny Gloucestershire and, although I was wearing a T-shirt, I wished I was in shorts.

    Slimbridge seemed to be moving on. There were flocks of greylag geese and quite a number of Canada geese too. From our favourite hide there were loads of bar-tailed godwits which were nice to see but difficult to photograph as there didn’t seem to be a focal point. A redshank amidst the group helped a little and then when they scattered from the threat of a peregrine it was easier to pick a focal point. There were some ruff too but very far off. Common snipe are some of our favourite birds but they were quite coy too.

    The highlight of the day was a male grey phalarope (not as attractive as the female) but miles away so don’t hold your breath for any great images.

    A brimstone greeted us on arrival

    There were several big groups of black-tailed godwits like this

    What a beauty – a black swan, certainly no ugly duckling

    Sloes from a blackthorn – think lots of gin!

    Common snipe being very coy

    Black-tailed godwit

    Ruff at the back of the pool

    Lapwings are always present here

    Redshank amongst the godwits

    Redshank jumping for joy

    Godwits take to the air

    Can you spot the grey phalarope? Bang in the middle of my photo with a 400 mm lens and heavily cropped. It looked just as tiny with a x60 telescope. Oh the joys of birding!

    We loved the textiles exhibition too:

  • 8th September 2025 – Stoke Park Estate, Bristol

    8th September 2025 – Stoke Park Estate, Bristol

    Just time this morning for a stroll over to one of our local parks before the rain came.

    Duchess Pond in Stoke Park Estate

    There are still plenty of dragonflies around but I didn’t see much in the way of bird life except for a grey heron (and coots and moorhens) although redstarts have been reported recently.

    Common darter

    Migrant hawker

    Grey heron

    Grey heron

    Grey heron

    It’s a lovely spot but not as wonderful as it looks because it’s next to the motorway and very noisy.

    The grey heron didn’t seem to be affected by the noise

    Common darters

    The lily pads look wonderful at the moment

    The Dower House (now apartments) on the edge of the park

  • 29th August 2025 – Chew Valley Lake, Somerset

    29th August 2025 – Chew Valley Lake, Somerset

    A very popular bird watching area local to us is Chew Valley Lake, just a few miles to the south of Bristol. The lake was created in the early 1950s (officially opened in 1956) to provide water for the city of Bristol. I remember at that time standing in the street waving my Union Flag. I hasten to add that this was in no way a demonstration of political affiliation the likes of which we are currently seeing a lot, I was simply lining the street with my Junior School to see Queen Elizabeth II as she made her way to open the lake. That’s what you did for entertainment in those days.

    We last visited Chew Valley on May 16th when, even after a dry start to the summer, the lake was surprisingly full to the brim. We were quite surprised today to see how low the water had dropped over the summer in the very dry spell we have had. Today we had a few showers but I don’t think it would have made much a difference to the water levels.

    A distant view of Chew Valley lake (from Herriot’s Bridge) with a chance of rain

    Our main reason for visiting, in fact, is that a white-tailed eagle has been at the lake for the last few days. We had no luck on that score and, as a consequence of the low water levels, we didn’t see that many birds up close.

    Nonetheless, we really enjoyed the scenery and enjoyed another day birding.

    The view from Stratford hide with a peregrine at 2 o’clock (in front of the reeds) and another at 8 o’clock (next to the tree stump)

    A sparrowhawk flying over Herriot’s Bridge.

    A hobby from Herriot’s Bridge

    The view from Herons’ Green – this was totally covered in water in May

    A glossy ibis from Herons’ Green and a greenshank to the left

    Little egrets at Herons’ Green Bay
    You can see how dry it is beneath the black-headed gull in flight

    A small copper butterfly and a painted lady butterfly at Herriot’s Bridge

    We were told the white-tailed eagle was on the island at the back of my photo – I know they are big as we have seen them in Scotland but I don’t think even a very good telescope would have helped

    At least we got to see some birds up close – here a cormorant at Herriot’s Bridge

    … and here an African Grey Parrot whose owner brings it here regularly to take the air – this is England after all!

  • 27th August 2025 – Severn Estuary

    27th August 2025 – Severn Estuary

    Today we had a walk along the Severn Estuary further south than WWT Slimbridge, which we have visited a lot recently, and closer to home. There is a section of the south west footpath between the two Severn Bridge crossings close to where the old Severn ferry used to operate at Aust and which is often a good place to view birds.

    The weather is beginning to break and we managed to do this walk between showers and were very lucky not to get wet. We had views of a variety of birds but most at some distance.

    The view across Aust Warth towards the first Severn Bridge.

    The view back across Aust Warth towards the second Severn Bridge (now known as the Prince of Wales Bridge)

    Good numbers of black headed gulls, oyster catchers, Canada geese and a few curlews on the warth (the low lying area next to the sea)

    A better view of the oyster catchers

    There were still a few swallows around

    Swallow up close

    The village of Aust in the distance – it was from here that the ferry operated to take vehicles and passengers to Wales before the Severn bridges were built

    Gadwall on the pools (most of which are dried up at the moment) on the other side of the warth.

    A distant curlew in flight

    We caught up with the curlew at the end of our walk at New Passage

    Curlew

    Common redshank at New Passage

    Common redshank amongst the black headed gulls

    Shelduck on the mud flats

  • 25th August 2025 – Forest of Dean

    25th August 2025 – Forest of Dean

    We were looking for somewhere to go to avoid the crowds of Bank holiday Monday and hit on the Forest of Dean. It was certainly very peaceful and a great place to be on another very hot day.

    I thought we might do well with dragonflies but the pool near the car park at RSPB Nagshead was completely dried up.

    We didn’t have a lot of luck with birds either except at the Campbell hide, which had a muddy patch in front of it, we did see a few coal tits and 2 hawfinch. I have only seen hawfinch on a couple of occasions and it was a first for my wife. Good choice then.

    Forest of Dean – a good place to keep cool.

    Hawfinch

    Hawfinch hiding in the leaves

    Coal tit

  • 22nd August 2025 – WWT Slimbridge, Gloucestershire

    22nd August 2025 – WWT Slimbridge, Gloucestershire

    In praise of WWT Slimbridge

    When I was young my mum and dad, bless them, took me to Slimbridge a couple of times: I can’t say I was very impressed; I was more into team games and I would rather get muddy by diving around on the sports field than sloshing about in wellies. My parents obviously thought it a worthy thing to do but clearly I don’t think it was really in their DNA either and so, as it was fairly expensive, we didn’t go too often.

    I can’t believe how much we love going there now. I know we dodge the hordes of children (and their parents/grandparents) by heading for the hides (rather than the pens with lots of exotic birds) but I do recognise that Slimbridge is a fabulous place and does amazing work to get youngsters interested in wildlife.

    Sadly we see lots of bad parenting there but today we met a young boy (and his dad) as we were heading out to the Severn Estuary who stopped us and told us that if we continued on this pathway we could follow a walkway which took us down to the estuary where we might see, if we looked carefully, curlew and ringed plovers. We were both impressed that his dad didn’t interrupt him but allowed him to be our advisor. This young boy was thoroughly enjoying his day and clearly his dad had encouraged him enough to reach this point. It was a very refreshing encounter.

    Down on the estuary we clearly didn’t look carefully enough as we only heard a curlew and the ringed plovers were too far away for our “old” eyes.

    On the estuary we saw lots of egrets and grey herons.

    However, we did see loads whilst we were at Slimbridge. I hope you enjoy some of my photos from today.

    Probably my photo of the day, a Cetti’s warbler, if I am correct

    Reed warbler

    Reed warbler

    Sand Martin chasing fly (top right)

    Sand Martin about to gorge its prey

    Swallow

    Swallow

    Grey heron

    Honey bee

    Wasp

    Migrant hawker

    Common snipe

    Rock doves

    Common snipe

    Tufted duckling practising its diving

    The beauty of the Severn Estuary

  • 19th August 2025 – WWT Slimbridge, Gloucestershire

    19th August 2025 – WWT Slimbridge, Gloucestershire

    A variety of waders at Slimbridge today.

    It was pleasantly warm but fairly dull for our morning visit. I have nothing to complain about though compared with the poor farmers who must be really struggling with this exceptionally dry spell in this part of the world. They have definitely something to complain about this year!

    Northern lapwing

    When you are struggling for light a goldfinch is a saviour

    Redshank and ruff unperturbed by a noisy coot

    Common redshank and ruff (right)

    Green sandpiper and a common snipe trying to blend in with the foliage

    Black-tailed godwit centre stage

    A skein of greylag geese overhead

    … and on the ground

    The green sandpiper breaks cover first

    Followed by the common snipe

    Black-tailed godwit in the centre with a ruff behind

    Definitely one of my favourite birds – the common snipe

  • 14th August 2025 – RHS Garden Rosemoor, Torrington, Devon

    14th August 2025 – RHS Garden Rosemoor, Torrington, Devon

    We managed to get to visit the RHS Garden Rosemoor near Great Torrington today.

    They were busy getting ready for their annual flower show which starts tomorrow. That and the dull weather meant that there were not too many people around, although more than my photos suggest – hoorah!

    Hope you enjoy the photos as much as we enjoyed the garden (in spite of a short rain shower).

  • 13th August 2025 – Stafford Barton Estate, Devon

    13th August 2025 – Stafford Barton Estate, Devon

    An evening stroll around the estate.

    We saw and heard a fair number of birds (common buzzard, carrion crow, goldfinches, gold crest, blue tit, chaffinch, stock dove, wood pigeon, great spotted woodpecker, house martins and swallows) but especially enjoyed the trees and shrubs.

    Goldfinches

    Swallow

    House Martin

    Swallow

    Meadow sweet

    There’s an insect in there among the grasses

    Great spotted woodpecker

  • 12th August 2025 – Stafford Barton Estate, Dolton, Devon

    12th August 2025 – Stafford Barton Estate, Dolton, Devon

    There’s another world out there!

    Photos from a slightly different morning walk on the Stafford Barton Estate in Devon before it got too hot for us with temperatures reaching 30C in the afternoon.

    The peacock joined us for our breakfast coffee

    Goldfinches waiting for their opportunity

    Speckled wood butterfly in the woods

    Scandinavian style log cabin under construction on the estate with its lovely sedum roof

    Emperor dragonfly

    Mid-air collision averted just in time

    Emperor dragonfly heading straight for me
    Must be great seeing the seasons change here

    Emperor dragonfly

    Don’t know much about these – water boatmen I presume

    Damselflies

    Fortunately plenty of shade on the way home

    Common buzzard showing us the way

  • 11th August 2025 – Dolton, Devon

    11th August 2025 – Dolton, Devon

    For 47 years of my working life as a teacher I had to take my holidays with the majority of the population in July and August. So now, in my retirement, we rarely go away at this time of the year. However, it’s such an exceptionally wonderful summer that we could’t resist another trip when we saw a cottage advertised on a private estate in north Devon. It’s a beautiful part of the country and only just over a 100 miles from home. The fact that there is a major RHS garden just down the road was an added attraction. So far we haven’t visited RHS Garden Rosemoor as we are so enjoying the peace and quiet of the gardens, the heaths and the woodland of the estate and visiting a couple of local nature reserves. 

    Stafford Barton in north Devon

    Stafford Barton’s peacock

    Our accommodation – the Old Stables

    A very warm Devon welcome with cream sponge and a selection of local ciders

    Very comfortable and cosy inside

    The estate took on a different tone on our second full day here when the owners opened the gardens to the local villages and we were treated to live music, local ales and ciders and cream teas on the lawns. What is there not to like about all this?

    Getting ready for the garden party

    The gardens were looking spectacular for the garden party
    The mad hatter’s tea party before the garden party started

    English country life at its very best

    This is such a special place that I wanted to keep a memory of the estate and so have prepared a separate page which you can share by following this link to Stafford Barton Estate August 2025

    Stafford Barton between Dolton and Iddesleigh (where we had lunch in the Duke of York pub on our first day and where I last stayed 55 years ago- now immortalised in Michael Morpurgo’s “War Horse”)

    As for the nature opportunities: so far I have been able to practice my camera skills on the house martins and swallows but have had some difficulty capturing the large flocks (a charm indeed!) of goldfinches which swoop down to gorge on the seed heads in the lovely meadows which are left for the wildlife. There has been plenty of wildlife to photograph and keep me busy on our walks too.

    House martin

    House martin

    Swallow

    Swallow

    House martin

    House martin

    Swallow

    Goldfinch gorging on seed heads

    Goldfinch beating a hasty retreat

    A very small section of a charm of goldfinches

    Buzzard on our walk through the estate

    Buzzard calling loudly

    Holly blue butterfly on our visit to Halsdon Nature Reserve

    Painted lady butterfly at Stafford Barton

    Common darter dragonfly at Stafford Barton

    Speckled wood butterfly at Stafford Barton

    Gate keeper butterfly at Stafford Barton

    No deer to be seen yet but plenty of signs of wildlife on our walk at Stafford Barton

    A bucolic scene at Stafford Barton

    Clear paths through the woodlands

    … and across the heath

    Underwing of painted lady butterfly at Stafford Barton

    Scarlet pimpernel at Stafford Barton

    So many insects attracted by the wild flowers on the Stafford Barton estate

    The view from our porch

    Our walk on the third day

    A section of the quarry at Meeth Quarry nature reserve

    Small white Butterly at Meeth Quarry nature reserve

    Common blue damselfly at Meeth Quarry nature reserve

    Speckled wood butterfly at Meeth Quarry nature reserve

    Beautiful heather in full colour everywhere at Meeth Quarry nature reserve

    Little grebe at Meeth Quarry nature reserve

    Great crested grebe with chicks on its back at Meeth Quarry nature reserve

    Time for a swim

    Canada geese at Meeth Quarry nature reserve

    Cormorants at Meeth Quarry nature reserve

    Centaury at Meeth Quarry nature reserve

    Devil’s bit scabious at Meeth Quarry nature reserve

    Beautiful demoiselle at Meeth Quarry nature reserve

    That’s three day’s done with three more to go. I thought I wouldn’t get a chance to do a blog during the holiday as the only fault I could find with our accommodation was that the broad band was slow and yet three days in and the owner has got BT Open Reach to upgrade it! What service!

    More photos of Stafford Barton Estate

  • 30th July 2025 – St George Park, Bristol

    30th July 2025 – St George Park, Bristol

    Local parks are a great place to see wildlife up close.

    On a visit to a suburban park a little outside my local area I was very encouraged to see how much local volunteers were doing to provide information about the wildlife in the park and just as pleased to see that the information boards were being respected and not covered in graffiti.

    It was also very encouraging to see how many people were showing a genuine interested in the birds.

    Lesser black-backed gull

    Mallards at this time of the year are quite dull but their plumage is still very attractive

    Hands on with feeding the pigeons

    Cormorant drying its wings after a fishing trip

    Nothing like a good flap

    A big surge to get out of the water

    More colour than you think

    A good place to have a scratch

    Demonstration od agility and balance

    Plenty of swans and cygnets in the park

    Black-headed gull

    Pigeons doing a circuit of the lake to find a new source of people feeding them seeds – there were plenty of options. Everyone now seems to know not to feed them bread.