My recent run of dipping birds continued this afternoon with a visit to Greylake RSPB to try and pick up Wood Sandpiper for my UK year list. I spent about forty minutes in the hide trying to find the target bird, but in strong winds there was no sign of it.In fact, other than a Little Grebe feeding a chick and a couple of Lesser Black-backed Gulls there was nothing to see, and my route back to the car resulted in a diversion as an overly protective Mute Swan stood by the boardwalk denying access to all as it's six cygnets rested alongside the path!
An early start as I headed down to the coast for a planned sea watch. I arrived just after 8.00am and was disappointed to learn that the wind was not doing quite what I hoped it would be, meaning I was not going to get much action.I spent about ninety minutes staring out to sea, with very little reward. A single Manx Shearwater was by far the pick of a pour crop, and another shearwater passed by at such a distance I could not identify it. Several Gannets were passing through and a single Fulmar was seen. Four Common Terns also flew past, whilst on the rocks a couple of Turnstones were present and at least five Oystercatchers were about.On the ground there was little happening apart from some good numbers of Wheatears, with at least twelve being seen.With so few birds around, and with the weather closing in, I gave up for the morning and headed back home for an early lunch.
Dodging the showers again, we popped out after lunch for a walk around Westhay in the hope of seeing a bit of wildlife as well as getting a decent walk. Well, we certainly got the latter if not the former!On the bird front we did come across a flock of about twenty Lapwings in one of the fields, unfortunately there was nothing exciting in with the flock. A female Red-crested Pochard which had been seen the day before was nowhere to be seen. A couple of Spotted Flycatchers were seen feeding.We saw a few butterflies too, a single Gatekeeper being the pick.
An hour long visit in the morning produced three Common Sandpipers and a single Green Sandpiper on West Pool. Feeding in the bushes on the water's edge were a family of Common Whitethroats.From the hide a further Common Sandpiper was seen and a Kingfisher was present. A pair of Ravens were perched on a pylon opposite the hide and a Peregrine flew over. A large number of Swallows were feeding over the reservoir with a couple of Sand Martins.
We were not expecting much today as the weather forecast was heavy rain all day, so when we woke up to a cloudy but dry sky we decided to get out and about before lunch and make the most of a period of dry weather.Ellie and I drove up to the Somerset Levels and parked at the Ashcott Corner car park and walked out to Meare Heath. We stopped at the drained lagoon to scan the birds present and saw a few things of interest, most notably a colour-ringed Great White Egret. We also saw a Ruff and Green Sandpiper, two Garganey and a couple of Greenshanks, and over two hundred Black-tailed Godwits. A Marsh Harrier was hunting over the reed beds in the background.We then walked on to the hide at Noah's Lake but there was nothing out of the ordinary present apart from a late Swift and another Marsh Harrier, so we walked back to the car park and on across the road and out on to Ham Wall RSPB. As we walked along we did not see much in the way of birds other than a fly-over Hobby.During the course of our morning out we were surprised to see more than a few butterflies on the wing as it was really that sunny. We saw loads of Small Tortoiseshells and Red Admirals, and several Large Whites and Small Whites. A couple of Speckled Woods were seen as were one or two Meadow Browns and Common Blues.
A brief late afternoon visit in miserable conditions produced single Common and Green Sandpipers on West Pool and nothing else of note.
A Green Sandpiper was again present on West Pool with a second at the south end. There were also single Common Sandpipers at the southern end of the reservoir and on West Pool.On the main reservoir a flock of some one hundred Canada Geese had appeared as if from nowhere.
