Ham Wall RSPB - Tue 12 Jul

Well I finally succumbed to a trip up to Ham Wall to see Somerset's first Collared Pratincole! An early dinner and a drive up to the Somerset Levels and after a fair walk out to the second viewing platform at the RSPB's Ham Wall reserve I got lucky as a fellow birder had the bird in his scope, allowing me to see it on the deck as soon as I arrived...job done!
Now although the bird had been present since Sunday night I had not rushed up to see it as I had already seen a Collared Pratincole in the UK, but the fact it was local and the Norfolk bird I saw was back in 2005 ended up being too much of a temptation. After a minute or two the bird took to the air and I spent ten minutes or so watching it hawk insects before I headed off to try and get a bonus tick!
Another hundred yards or so down the track I came across a few more birders staking out the reedbed favoured by one of this years Little Bitterns. Within a few minutes I could hear it barking away and thought I'd give in while to see if it appeared...and it did! It popped up in the reeds right in front of us and showed really well in the evening sunlight for a few minutes before taking flight, an absolute stunner and yes, I did get a photo!

 

 

 

So with Little Bittern ticked off as well I returned to the car, pausing at the second viewpoint again to watch the Collared Pratincole hawking insects for a few minutes.
As well as the two target birds there was a supporting cast of three Great White Egrets, a Hobby, and a male and female Marsh Harrier. Not bad for an evening out and a change from Sutton Bingham.