Category: Blog

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

We dodged the April showers (the French call them “les giboulées de mars” – they must happen earlier in France) on our morning walk around our local park.

From April showers to spring sunshine

The birdsong was magnificent but, although we spent quite some time trying to spot the originators of these beautiful sounds, we spotted only a few birds. The noisiest of them all seems to be the blackcap and we saw both a male and a female. We are getting better at identifying birds by their songs and calls and we can certainly now recognise the noisy and gregarious long-tailed tits as they dart about in their small excitable flocks. There were very few ducks on the lake (clearly, like us,  sheltering from the rain). What is strange is that we haven’t seen any ducklings here this year whereas just across the road at Duchess Pond in Stoke Park there have been many.

Male blackcap

Female blackcap

Long-tailed tit

Despite the rain the park was looking very pretty as the ramsons (wild garlic – allium ursinum) have joined the bluebells and there was even some very attractive greater stitchwort (Stellaria holostea).

Ramsons

Greater stitchwort

Bluebells (proper jobs – not the Spanish invaders!)

Grey wagtail on the weir

Woodpigeon looking very much at home in the greenery of the park

The swans seem to have displaced the grey heron from its perch by the lily ponds

 

 

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

After a wonderful spell of sunny, warm weather it was normal service resumed with plenty of rain and a steep drop in temperature; however, late in the day I did manage a walk over to Stoke Park.

The light was not good but I got some fairly decent photos of a chiffchaff and some ducklings and then experimented taking close-ups of flora and fauna with not much success; but never mind hey.

One of several buzzards, often being mobbed by crows

There were at least a dozen ducklings on Duchess Pond.

 

 

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

As the Bank Holiday weekend doesn’t start until tomorrow we thought it would be okay to take the motorway south to Somerset but we got caught in a traffic jam just south of Bristol (due to an accident involving at least one caravan) but fortunately the delay was not too long.

On the Somerset levels at RSPB Ham Wall it was warm and misty (yes, more excuses for poor photos). but we had a lovely day, saw plenty of birds and had a picnic.

Great crested grebess

Song thrush

Great white egret

Peacock butterfly

Treecreeper

Marsh harrier

Great white egret

Marsh harrier

Marsh harrier

Marsh harrier

Common pochard

Immature female common pochard

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

On the way home we stopped off at Chew Valley lake briefly; large white birds (mute swans and great white egrets) were the stars again.

Great white egret

Mute swans

Gadwall

Shoveler

Common pochard

Scary great white egret

… and some small birds too

Not sure about this one. I have since been informed it is a white-cheeked pintail, an escapee from somewhere as they don’t live round here – more likely to be found in the Galapagos

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

I had an hour to kill before going to the dentist and went to The Downs to see if I could see a peregrine; well you don’t want to sit around thinking about the dentist, do you?

The weather took an upward turn today and its starting to get warmer. Unfortunately that meant there was a haze and, although I did see a peregrine, it wasn’t the best of light for photos. (Always excuses, I hear you saying). I need to come back for another go.

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

It was very windy and quite chilly in Stoke Park this morning and not a lot to see. There were five surviving ducklings on Duchess Pond and I did get a few shots of a grey heron and I did take a photo of a coot (only because I could see its eye clearly).

There were also invaders – Spanish bluebells.

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

I have very mixed feelings about zoos and safari parks but I must admit that I really enjoyed visiting Longleat Safari Park (only just over an hour from home) where the welfare of all the animals seemed at the heart of the enterprise. All the visitors seemed to enjoy the experience and were wowed by the animals. An awareness and interest in animals must be a good thing.

A few of my favourites:

 

 

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

As I drove home from golf this morning, having played a round in misty murky weather, I listened to the weather forecast and heard that the rest of the country was bathed in sunshine. Ergh!

I wasn’t going to give in and still had a walk around our local park because, even though there wasn’t much hope of decent photos, I was still encouraged by all the bird song I had heard on the golf course earlier.

And there was lots of bird activity in the park. In Fishponds Brook we had good views of a treecreeper bathing among the rocks. There was then a pair of grey wagtails which came closer.

I see no trees – treecreeper among the rocks in Fishponds Brook

… before flying off.

Grey wagtail

Robin

Robins were singing everywhere. As soon as we arrived at the lake we caught sight of a kingfisher but it didn’t stay for long. There was another pair of grey wagtails too.

Kingfisher

Grey wagtail posing on the lake

A wren out-sang the robins. Over the lake a male sparrowhawk worked its way up in the sky on a thermal (or was that just wishful thinking).

Wren

Sparrowhawk

On the way home there was a small flock of long-tailed tits and more robins, blue tits and great tits.

Long-tailed tit

There were more bluebells out than our last visit and the blossom and the leaves on the trees were bursting out. All it now needed was a bit of sunshine.

 

 

 

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

It was a foul afternoon (but not particularly a fowl afternoon) at Northwick Warth on the Severn Estuary; there was a little sunshine but mainly cold winds, rain and hail.

My perseverance was rewarded with a close-up view of a black-tailed godwit, 12 little ringed plovers, a small flock of pied wagtails and three redshank on the shore line. On the Pilning Wetlands there were surprisingly few birds. For me the best was a not too distant teal and a very distant little grebe.

Black-tailed godwit

Black-tailed godwit

Black-tailed godwit

Little grebe

Pied wagtails

Pied wagtails

Teal

Little ringed plovers

Little ringed plover

Redshank

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

When we set off this morning it was very foggy but by the time I dropped Wendy off for a Textile Art Workshop at Midsomer Quilters in the Mendip Hills it was very sunny. However, to my disappointment as I dropped back down on to the Somerset Levels the fog returned and stayed with me until midday when, fortunately, the sun burnt through the mist.

I was lucky to get a photo of this dunnock as it was really misty – the magic of editing.

RSPB Ham Wall and Shapwick Heath National Nature Reserve (which are adjacent to each other but run by different bodies) are usually abundant with birds and are my favourite local birding areas;  but it was much quieter today. Surprisingly there weren’t many people around either.

Great crested grebe

Great crested grebe

Shoveler

Shovelers

Pochard

However, I did manage to see a blackcap, which the Nature Notes in today’s Times newspaper described as “the king of the warblers” and which are coming back in to the country in their hundreds of thousands: the article stated that there are over a million nesting pairs in Britain. This one certainly lived up to its reputation with a very cheerful and loud song.

A very melodious blackcap

I was so dazzled by the pinkness of this bird’s breast that I couldn’t work out if it was a bullfinch or a chaffinch but sure it’s a chaffinch

I was surprised how much pink there was in this wood pigeon too

I saw several butterflies but only managed a photo of this one – a Green-Veined White

The other highlight of the day was seeing great crested grebes courting, although I didn’t manage to see them dancing!

These two great crested grebes started the courting in the open and then coyly disappeared behind the reeds

Another joy was hearing bitterns booming across the reserves; they didn’t show their faces though.

There were plenty of sightings of great white egrets but I only saw one little egret.

Great white egret at RSPB Ham Wall

Great white egret and little egret at RSPB Ham Wall

This great white egret flew overhead at Shapwick Heath as I walked back to the car

From Noah’s Hide at Shapwick Heath I could just make out in the distance my first swallows of the year; but I didn’t manage to see the glossy ibis that had been reported.

 

 

 

 

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The English language is full of weather lore and the  proverb that says that “March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb” has certainly been true this year: today was another superb day with wall to wall sunshine and plenty of warmth in the sun.

The adders in The Forest of Dean (where I went with a birding friend) made the most of it and came out to bask in the sun. We also saw a slow worm and a common lizard but not too many birds (except for a distant goshawk).

Adder

Adder

2 Adders

2 Adders

Slow worms

Common Lizard

Common Lizard

Common Lizard

Common Lizard

My friend, who has a good knowledge of the area, showed me all the different birding spots but I think I had a jinx on him and I returned home with not too much editing to do. Nonetheless, we had some good walks through the beautiful forest and I came home richer for the experience.

Song thrush

Song thrush

Wren

Nuthatch

Coal tit

Chaffinch

Chaffinch

Nuthatch

Blue tit

Robin

Great tit

Not quite The New Forest

 

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

We had an early (early for us anyway) morning walk in the park in beautiful sunshine. There was very little until we reached the lake and then a pair of grey wagtails, a kingfisher and a cormorant made our day even better. We were home by 10 and then got ready and went out to Clevedon as tourists!

Clevedon Pier was opened in 1869 to receive paddle steamer passengers from Devon and Wales. It is the only Grade 1 listed pier you can visit in England.

We enjoyed watching the kingfisher fishing and then I took this poor (out-of-focus) shot …

Grey wagtail on the lake

Grey wagtail strutting his stuff on the weir.

Were these two the same grey wagtails we had seen on the lake, this time on the weir?

Head for heights?

The robins are heard and seen everywhere

 

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

On a most fantastic spring day we had a wonderful trip to the Red Kite Centre at Gigrin Farm which is located in beautiful countryside, in the heart of Mid Wales, overlooking both the Wye and Elan Valleys,  just half a mile from the market town of Rhayader.

The view from Gigrin Farm

The 2 hour drive  was a sheer delight through this beautiful part of Wales. We arrived in good time for the kite feeding which takes place at 2 pm (or 3 pm in summer as the Red Kites don’t understand about the clocks going forward).

I anticipated that it would be very easy to take photos of the birds and was quite surprised how difficult it was to focus on the swooping kites and how exhausting the whole exercise was. Nonetheless, I was very pleased with the results.

The drive back was just as interesting although we failed to find a café open on a Sunday afternoon to break our journey.

There were rather a lot of photos to edit but these are some of my favourites: