Before we had even left the car park at RSPB's Ham Wall we were listening to garden
warbler and blackcap.
Two species we got to know well and could tell the difference between. We also
heard dunnock,
wren,
robin,
chaffinch,
blue
tit, chiffchaff,
song
thrush and great
tit
As we started down the track, we were finding new warbler
species as well as more garden warbler and blackcap. We picked up willow
warbler, cetti’s
warbler and whitethroat
singing in the scrub reed-side habitat.
In the sheltered spots it soon became obvious that
dragonflies and damselflies were on the wing.
hairy-looking hairy dragonfly |
We managed to see hairy dragonfly,
azure
damselfly, common
blue damselfly, variable
damselfly, blue-tailed
damselfly and large
red damselfly. Not bad for a day with sleet showers!
Butterflies were also evident with, green-veined
white, peacock,
red
admiral, speckled
wood, orange tip,
brimstone
and small
tortoiseshell.
On the water we watched a pair of great
crested grebe, as well as pochard, coot,
cormorant,
shoveler,
mallard,
tufted
duck, gadwall,
teal and little grebe.We eventually started picking up the odd marsh
harrier.
There were five species of heron seen during before lunch! Besides
the great
white and little
egret, flying around there were a few booming bittern,
we eventually saw a few flying around. We also saw one of the glossy ibis on the far
side of the pool, not quite as good as last year! It was a struggle to see a grey
heron and we eventually found just the one.
At the final viewing point we hit a purple patch with two hobby
flying around catching insects, two cuckoo
chasing each other and seven whimbrel
sat quietly on an island – brilliant stuff!
As we worked our way back along the screens, we managed to
find a male garganey
who decided to get out of the water just in case we hadn’t seen what a dapper
chap he was.
After lunch we headed out to look around Shapwick Heath.
We were soon picking up more garden warbler in the scrub and
there was a very showy male whitethroat in the car park.
At the first pool we saw a lovely flock of black-tailed
godwit, some of which were in their full summer finery. A cursory glance at a
little egret showed that it was in fact a cattle
egret, that was soon joined by ten of its friends – here’s nine of them and
our sixth species of heron of the day!
nine cattle egret |
We carried on to Noah’s hide where we saw a male wigeon
and a very fast-passing kingfisher.
Next to appear where at least five hobby who put on a great show until the rain
arrived. The stars however where the mute
swans with their wrestling antics and a little egret who had worked out his
own special form of fish-tickling.
Fish-tickling little egret |
Next, we popped to the viewing point behind Noah’s hide and
were treated to the male marsh harrier cruising around and beating up a buzzard
who was deemed to be too close.
After a brief visit to the last hide we headed back to the
car park – another great day! (NA)
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