Ham Wall RSPB - Thu 20 Mar

It was a lovely afternoon and I had time off work so I decided to head up to the Somerset Levels and enjoyed a couple of hours at Ham Wall RSPB reserve. On arrival I made straight for the first viewing platform where there were three target species I was after. Unfortunately, despite my best efforts I could only find one of these, a very smart Spotted Redshank, that showed pretty well...not that you can tell from this photo.

There were also a couple of Redshank and a few Black-tailed Godwits present, along with the usual species of duck.

I then walked on down to the second viewing platform, with Bitterns booming, Marsh Harriers quartering and Grey White Egrets gathering nesting material it was a delightful walk, and I also had a Red Kite fly over.

As I returned to the car park, I stopped off at the first viewing platform again where this time I did manage to see the drake Garganey.

I pointed the Garganey out to a couple of other birders who were present, who went on to tell me the two Glossy Ibises had just flown in and were somewhere out of site, so I stood up on one of the benches and straightaway managed to see both birds.

All in all a very enjoyable afternoon out and I connected with all three target species, that does not happen that often!

Sutton Bingham - Tue 18 Mar

I got a message from one of the Rangers this morning, but I was at work so couldn't get to the reservoir until lunchtime and despite missing the birds he'd seen earlier in the day, I did get lucky and found a Greylag Goose. As you can see form the high quality images below, it was rather distant!

March is probably the best time of year to see Greylag Goose at Sutton Bingham, but it's by no means annual.

Sutton Bingham year list for 2025 now at 75 species.

Sutton Bingham - Sun 16 Mar

I managed about an hour on patch this afternoon, my first prolonged visit to the reservoir in some time, as it was the date of the monthly WeBS count. I didn't see an awful lot in the way of wildfowl or waders, though there were still forty Wigeon present and I saw a lone Snipe.

However, there was a little bit of interest as a Linnet was in full song near the entrance to the Fishing Lodge and I also had a surprise find when a Kestrel flew in, landed on a telegraph cable and was subsequently flushed by a passing farm vehicle and was lost to sight. Kestrel is a scare bird at Sutton Bingham, so it's always a good species to record.

At the southern end I spent some time scanning for raptors and was finally rewarded with a Red Kite flying over. So three year ticks for the patch today, not bad for a cold day in mid-March.

Sutton Bingham year list for 2025 now at 74 species.

Sutton Bingham - Fri 14 Mar

A quick lunchtime visit today paid off with a Coot on West Pool.

A Chiffchaff was also in full song along he railway embankment, but failed to show itself. At the southern end there were still twenty or so Wigeon, but very little else to mention today.

Sutton Bingham year list for 2025 now at 71 species.

Milborne Port - Tue 4 Mar

Having failed at the weekend, I popped along to Milborne Port again today during my lunch break and this time got lucky with some lovely views of a single Hawfinch in the churchyard. Always rather elusive in the top of a tall yew tree, I did manage to watch it for a few minutes and it moved around feeding. Always a great bird to see and it made up for missing out on Sunday.

Somerset - Sun 3 Mar

A mini-tour of Somerset today between family commitments and it started off with a good look around the churchyard at Milborne Port where I failed to find any Hawfinches, despite them being reported earlier in the day. I gave it a fair amount of time but didn't want to waste time so headed off to Wet Moor.

When I arrived I could see a distant herd of swans, but couldn't locate the ones I was looking for, this is when I started hoping it wasn't going to be one of those days! Plenty of wildfowl about and the now expected Great White Egrets and Cattle Egrets. Then I had some success, on the fourth or fifth scan of the distant swans I picked out one of the adult Bewick's Swans, at last!

Leaving Wet Moor I then drove to Monkton Heathfield to look for a Rosy Starling that had been found a few days earlier. I had to wait for a little while, but eventually I got some really good views of the bird, and even managed a record shot (taken directly with my phone rather than a digi-scoped effort).

After sorting out some family stuff, I then headed back to the Somerset Levels and made for Ham Wall where I parked up and walked out to Noah's Hide on the Shapwick side. After a bit of searching I got my third species of swan for the day, with three Whooper Swans eventually showing themselves. Amongst teh gathered ducks I also picked out a female Goldeneye.

I then walked back to Ham Wall and had a good look from the first viewpoint where two Glossy Ibis had been present earlier in the day, but I drew a blank with them. There were a couple of Bitterns "booming", but they failed to show themselves, and a couple of Marsh Harriers were patrolling the area. As I left there were good numbers of Starlings arriving to roost, but I didn't hang around for the murmuration.

Chard Reservoir - Thu 27 Feb

A stop at Sutton Bingham this afternoon was totally unproductive, so as I needed to pop to Taunton I took a diversion via Chard Reservoir where I soon connected with the Little Gull that had been hanging around for a couple of days. Quite a cool bird and always a joy to see one and this was a particularly active one as it constantly flew around the reservoir dip-feeding off the surface. Well worth going slightly out of my way.