It was cold on the Avalon Marshes today and the brighter weather that the forecasters predicted never materialised. This is one of my favourite spots for birding but today, even though I saw some interesting birds , I wasn’t enthused by my day out. Never-mind, I know it will be worth coming again.
Slideshow of today’s photos:
Today we saw what I consider to be the holy grail of birds to be seen in this country – waxwings.
It’s only the third time I have tried to “twitch” a bird and, fortunately, today’s trip to Rodborough Common in the Cotwolds was well worth the effort.
Waxwings do not breed in the UK, but are winter visitors. In some years, we see larger numbers of visiting waxwings, called irruptions, when the population in their breeding grounds in Fennoscandia and western Russia gets too big for the food available.
On Rodborough Common there were plenty of their favourite berries, particularly rowan, hawthorn and rose to keep them happy.
The waxwings certainly kept us happy.
Slideshow of photos from this morning:
Slimbridge on ice and in the winter sunshine was a sheer delight this morning.
The Bewick swans looked very much at home. We are so lucky to see these beautiful birds so close to home.
The same could be said of the common cranes – we saw two in flight and at least 9 feeding on the edges of the Severn estuary.
2 water rails close up were also pretty special.
Slideshow of this morning’s photos:
I spent a very pleasant, but very cold, day on the Avalon Marshes in Somerset. It was -2C when I set off and didn’t rise above 4C all day. The highlight of the day was a bittern at Catcott Lows but I also particularly liked seeing lots of fieldfare and redwing.
I managed to see all three egrets that we have in the UK – little, cattle and great white.
Slideshow of today’s photos:
Following a series of storms in recent weeks, many parts of the country are now suffering flooding (in some cases quite severe). We are fortunate not to have been affected by these floods but locally it is very wet and muddy and difficult to get out and about.
However, we had no problems getting to WWT Slimbridge today and enjoyed seeing large flocks of waders taking full advantage of the wetlands.
The light was not always good but we were very thankful to be out enjoying some fresh air and, for a change, there was hardly any wind.
Slideshow of today’s photos:
It was dull at Slimbridge this morning but quite mild. It was definitely a pleasure to be spared the wind and rain which have plagued us for the last few weeks.
At this time of year the highlights are the Bewick swans which migrate here from the arctic tundra of Russia.
This year the Bewicks didn’t arrive at Slimbridge until the 16th November which is the latest they have arrived on site since 1965. Experts are linking their delayed arrival to climate change, combined with a mixture of stormy and mild weather in recent weeks.
There were fair numbers of one of my favourite ducks, the northern pintail.
We also had good views of the generally secretive water rail – with two parading very close up.
The wet fields were teeming with lapwing which every now and again were spooked by a predator and took to the skies. Unfortunately, in the the dull conditions they didn’t make the spectacular show that we often see here. We were disappointed also not to see any golden plover which also generally make a great display.
There is always a chance to see common crane here but today they were all very distant.
Slideshow of photos from this morning::
(Please click on title to see in web page)
We are having a pre-Christmas holiday in the Lake District in Cumbria in the north-west of England. Today we visited the RSPB reserve of Leighton Moss which, although not within the Lake District, is only 30 minutes from where we are staying in Cartmel in the southern part of the Lakes.
The last few days all of our visits have been in the rain.
We knew the weather here could be pretty hostile, especially at this time of the year, but today we were really lucky; although it started dull, it stayed dry and we even had moments of sunshine.
Leighton Moss is home to the largest reed bed in north-west England. This sweeping expanse provides shelter to a spectacular range of wildlife including otters, bearded tits, marsh harriers, egrets and red deer.
Slideshow of photos from our trip to RSPB Leighton Moss:
Well it has stopped raining for a few days and so today I resumed my birdwatching activities back on the Somerset Levels.
Firstly I visited RSPB Ham Wall where marsh harriers, common snipe and stonechats were the star attractions. Then, I moved on to Catcott where the battle between a great white egret and a pike was more spectacular than the multi million dollar scenes in the film “Napoleon” which I had seen the day before. Well almost!
Slideshow of today’s photos:
(Click the title above to view as web page)
We spent the day on the Somerset Levels, a coastal plain and wetland area running south from the Mendip Hills to the Blackdown Hills in the county of Somerset, south of where we live in Bristol.
There are more storms forecast for tomorrow but today it was incredibly still and misty throughout the day (not particularly conducive to bird photography).
The main feature of the day were two large flocks of egrets (with Cattle, Little and Great White Egrets), one on the Long Drove near to Wells and the other next to Westhay National Nature Reserve.
In between we visited a small reserve at RSPB Greylake where a group of photographers showed us their lovely photos of kingfishers and peregrines which we had just missed. However, I was quite happy to get a chance to photograph stonechats.
Slideshow of today’s photos:
(Click on title for webpage)
With the advantage of the clocks going back we were able to make an early start for a Sunday morning walk from New Passage to Severn Beach and back.
The tide was too high to see much on our walk (4 pied wagtails, a few wigeon and some black-headed gulls) but fortunately we had a good coffee stop and by the time we returned to New Passage the tide was in its optimum height for us to see lots of waders and wildfowl feeding on the shore line.
Slideshow of photos from this morning:
We were really surprised how few birds there were on the pools at Slimbridge this morning. There were rangers working on fixing fences nearby which may have disturbed some of them and, with the weather still very mild, others may not yet have arrived.
Some white fronted geese had arrived last week but they were too far away for me to photograph.
Five snipe and three redshank saved the day for me.
Slideshow of photos from this morning:
We are spending this week in Norfolk celebrating a friend’s 70th birthday. As he and his wife fostered our interest in bird watching on a holiday here a decade ago it seems appropriate that we have spent some time this week bird watching.
En route on Saturday we stopped off at RSPB Titchwell Marsh near King’s Lynn. We didn’t have much time to spend here but seeing a few waders, various geese and the big wide skies certainly got us in the mood.
On Sunday we spent the morning at Cley-Next-The-Sea. The first hide was very busy, mainly with birders with big telescopes wanting to get sight of a long-billed dowitcher which has been resident here for a while. It’s not quite my thing trying to get distant shots of rarities and so I was quite happy to get photos of birds a little more accessible to me.
As we were leaving the reserve we had wonderful views of a kestrel.
On Monday morning we had a walk around Blakeney, where we are staying.
I loved seeing the flocks of geese flying over.
The sounds of redshank and curlew flying over the reeds were pretty special too. We also had fleeting glimpses of bearded tit.
Towards the end of our walk we had another close encounter with a kestrel.
On Tuesday we had a walk through the woods and along the beach at Holkham. Little grebes on a pool and red kites overhead were the main attraction.
On Wednesday we had a break from birding and took a steam train from Holt to Sheringham
Martin's Bird Blog & Nature Photos 