Category: Blog

It was a disappointing start to our trip to Slimbridge as, although a bright day was forecast, the skies were very grey and the light was very poor for photography. I was hoping to see a wood sandpiper but I only saw a green sandpiper.

From the Holden hide we could see a peregrine on the edge of the estuary but it was too distant for a photo.

Just as we had given up and were heading off for some lunch we made one last stop and were treated to a wonderful display by a male kingfisher. Lunch was most enjoyable after that.

Click below for gallery of photos from today:

Locally we have had poor weather for the last week but on Sunday we enjoyed a very pleasant walk on the Cleveland Lakes circuit of the Cotswold Water Park.

There was not much bird life but their food store was building up nicely in the countryside with an abundance of berries.

The most interesting of the birds were great crested grebe with juveniles, a jay and red-crested pochard.

We spotted 7 species of butterly (Large White, Small White, Brimstone, Holly Blue, Peacock, Red Admiral, and Speckled Wood) and lots of dragonfly and damselfly but most escaped my camera.

Click below for gallery of my photos of the day

My birdwatching activities have been restricted recently but I have had a few quick trips out in the last week but there is not an awful lot of bird activity at present.

Saturday 5th August at Chew Valley Lake:

Barnacle goose

Great crested grebe

Grey heron

Lesser black-backed gull

Wednesday 9th August 2017 at Chew Valley Lake

Egyptian Goose

Brent goose

Little grebe

Thursday 10th August at RSPB Ham Wall

Little Grebe

Marsh harrier

Great crested grebe

Friday 11th August at Chew Valley Lake

Great white egret

Black tailed godwit

Very dull and drizzly day – not really a birding session to Chew Valley Lake, as little ones in tow, but just happened to have a camera with me so couldn’t resist.

Lesser black-backed gulls, house martins, swallows and swifts. Pied wagtail and a yellow-legged gull (2nd summer juvenile according to Ian Stapp who I was pleased to meet for the first time) and a common sandpiper. Flyover Canada geese, little egret and grey heron. Pleased that the older of the little ones could recognise most of these – younger of the little ones did well on recognition too.

Yellow-legged Gull

     Lesser black-backed Gull and Common Sandpiper

Swift

Pied Wagtail

 LBB Gull, Grey Heron, and Little Egret

LBB Gull

Not quite like East Anglia but very enjoyable all the same

At the end of another beautiful day we enjoyed a very brief visit early evening to Duchess Park, Stoke Park; we saw the resident grey heron, a few coot chicks, several broods of ducklings, a brood of 7 Canada geese and 2 swallows.

Our first ever visit to Newton St Loe: such a pretty village and a beautiful walk around Bath Spa University and its lakes.

We saw a swan and its cygnets, three grey herons and a little egret on the lake and a deer and a hare on the edges. As we walked close to the university there were loads of jackdaws and crows and a flock of a dozen long-tailed tits. On the way back we enjoyed watching the swallows and house martins collecting flies over the fields.

A spot of nature watching is always uplifting even on a gloomy day and the Somerset Levels (as always) didn’t disappoint.

Great white egrets, little egrets, a bittern in flight and a glossy ibis were the stars, but marsh harriers, great crested grebes, lapwings and a variety of butterflies and bugs presented a challenge to photograph and were well worth seeing.

Click below for a gallery of photos from today

A Dartford warbler within a minute of starting our walk on Dunwich Heath, and so close, but a slow photographer only managed to capture the get away. But at moments like that you have to take in the beautiful surroundings.

At Minsmere the highlights were an adder in a wren’s nest (the chicks, we are told, escaped) and swallows at the sluice.

Black-tailed godwits take time out from feeding

Disputes on the scrape

Pied wagtail

Swallow deciding which way to go

“Bombing magpies is very tiring”

“We are quite happy here, thank you”

Med gulls making the most of their holidays in the UK 

A common tern measures up the situation

The symbol of the RSPB – an avocet

Barnacle Geese and goslings

A gadwall cooling down

“Not me guv!”

Click below for gallery of photos from today.

Another truly amazing day @RSPB Minsmere.

So many failed photos but enough successes to keep me happy. Some of the best were bearded tits, ringed plovers, redshanks, avocets, mediterranean gulls, black-headed gulls, black-tailed godwits, oystercatchers, lapwings, common terns, gadwall, marsh harriers, bitterns, cormorants, reed buntings.

We enjoyed the company of Steve and  Helen from Bristol too. Seven hours birding and still in the pub for a lunch time drink.

Click  below for gallery of photos from today

Having a day off from bird watching today as we were visiting Southwold and then going to the Aldeburgh festival this evening, but couldn’t resist popping in to the Hen Reedbeds on the way to Southwold for a bout of raptor watching.

The marsh harrier didn’t disappoint although it was a bit bothered by a lapwing.

We meant to pop in to Hen Reedbeds Wildlife Reserve just north of Walberswick which is where we are staying in Suffolk, for a quick visit but ended up spending most of the day there. Hen Reedbeds, a fairly new wildlife reserve, is a mix of wetland habitats, including reedbeds, fens, dykes and pools (see Wikipedia article) in the Blyth Valley.

As soon as we arrived we spotted a marsh harrier across the reed beds, then the first lapwing of our visit. Although the weather at the beginning of the day was most promising, by the time of our visit it was very grey and not ideal for photography. However, it was a pleasant walk (although quite chilly) and lots of wildlife to see as we made our way around various well-maintained and well-appointed viewing platforms and hides.

The highlights were gadwall, especially a female with its chicks, oystercatchers, shelduck,  a grey heron and several little egrets, a hobby, a buzzard, several marsh harriers, a lapwing, lots of small birds (reed warblers, sedge warblers and reed buntings) and even more bees and butterflies.

With the varied wild flowers, insects and birds the Hen Reedbeds offered the best of Britain’s countryside.

There were even some flyover aircraft for entertainment.

Click on the photos below for a gallery of photographs from today

Another amazing day at RSPB Minsmere. A slow start, but boy did it soon get exciting.

On the scrape there was a festival of gulls with great black-backed, lesser black-backed, herring, black-headed, Mediterranean, Caspian, yellow-legged and kittiwakes (thanks are due to local RSPB volunteer for help with ID and this article from Bird Guides.) We also saw black-tailed godwits, redshank, Canada geese, oystercatchers, avocets,  shelduck, common terns as well as ringed plovers on the beach.

Before reaching the Bittern hide we also saw grey heron, greylag geese, great crested grebe, mute swans, little egret, coots, moorhens, sand martins, swallows, a reed bunting and great spotted woodpecker with young.

However, the main spectacle of the day was a display of marsh harriers and hobbies right in front of us at the Bittern hide.

Before the day was over we even saw Cetti’s warblers (but I was not quick enough to grab a photo).

Click below for a gallery of a selection of my photos from today.