We started on Ham Wall RSPB reserve with the last of the showers
passing overhead.
Before we had even left the car park we were listening to, blue
tit, chiffchaff,
robin
and blackcap.
As we started down the track, we were finding new species and
soon added willow
warbler and Cetti’s
warbler .
A quick look at the first reed bed gave us our first view of great
white egret this chap was stood behind some mute
swan and looked every bit as big.
We reached our first cover and were soon seeing a nice selection
of waterfowl, including great
crested grebe, as well as lesser
black-backed gull, coot,
cormorant,
shoveler,
moorhen,
mallard,
tufted
duck, gadwall,
teal,
grey
heron and little
grebe.
Great Crested Grebe |
A kingfisher
was nice enough to pitch on the reeds opposite us so we could get a reasonable
look at it. Perhaps my favourite bird of the day was the long-tailed tit who
was a metre or so from us and completely oblivious to us watching – brilliant!
As we worked our way along the footpath, we continued to
pick up new species including great
tit, blackbird,
wren,
dunnock,
reed
warbler, song
thrush, chaffinch,
goldfinch,
lesser
redpoll and brambling.
Male teal |
At the second viewing point we had great views of a male marsh
harrier and a pair of bittern
flying around and around like a couple of WW1 fighters in a dogfight!
On our way back to the car park we heard a distant tawny
owl hooting and picked up great
spotted woodpecker for our every growing list. We were also able to compare
the great white egret to the much smaller little
egret.
After lunch we worked our way around Shapwick Heath where we
saw a few extra birds from Noah’s Hide such as wigeon
as well as snipe,
herring
gull, Canada
Goose, greylag
goose and black-headed
gull.
At the last little hide we had fantastic views of another
male marsh harrier, as well as one of his females and a male reed
bunting singing from a willow.
The last bird of the day was an elusive Treecreeper
in the wet woodland.
All-in-all a great day! (NA)
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