Levels-birder

Birds and other wildlife, mostly in Somerset, UK

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January 31st 2009

This morning I photographed this Collard Dove, one of several in our garden. As I watched, it flew down and landed on the edge of a planter suspended below a feeder to catch the overspill. It reached down from the edge to feed, then, obviously finding some difficulty, hopped right down inside, while the planter swung around like some sort of children's fairground ride – quite incredible!

 

 

 

Later, with my back pain easing, I took my wife Kay to see the Great Bustards on Kennard Moor. We were lucky to come across them not too far from the roadside and I was able to get these two photos. They originate from the Salisbury Plain ongoing release scheme, as chicks incubated from eggs collected in southern Russia before being brought to England. The different coloured wing-tags signify their year of release: Orange 15 was released in 2004 and Yellow 22 in 2005. Since being released, some birds have wintered on the Somerset Levels, especially on Kennard Moor, returning to Salisbury Plain in the spring/summer. More information can be found at http://www.greatbustard.com

 

 

 

 

January 28th 2009

Sprained lower-back muscles are preventing me from doing much birding at the moment, and until today I’ve been restricted to mine and my neighbour’s gardens, where this Rook, with a deformed bill was unusual. Its bill is longer than normal and open at the tip even when closed. The other photos are: a male Collard Dove, with throat extended, making ‘cooing’ calls as it courts its partner, and one of the Great Tits that regularly visit our feeders.

 

 

 

 

This afternoon I did manage to get to the first viewing-platform at Ham Wall RSPB, where I had somewhat distant, obscured views of the Great White Egret as it fed along a reedy back-channel (another poor photo of it). And just before dusk, at 16:05, a Bittern was a good sighting (photo taken last June) as it flew low across the open water and nearby reedbed.

 

 

 

January 20th 2009

A couple of hours spent at Shapwick Heath NNR around Noah’s Lake and Decoy Lake turned out well, when I caught up with the Great White Egret that has been around since early December last year. These two extremely distant photos are just about identifiable! My only other birds of note were 8 Common Goldeneye, including 2 smart looking drakes in their black-and-white livery.

 

January 19th 2009

 

 

Yesterday morning, Kay and I spent a productive hour in the hide at Greylake RSPB, seeing two immature or female Merlins, one of which put the other of its long-time perch, and also an adult female Hen Harrier that hunted back-and-forth over the reserve.

 

This morning I was on North Moor, a few miles west of Burrowbridge, where the 6 Bewick’s Swans that were found yesterday gave me good views and these photos.

 

 

 

 

In the early afternoon, on my way to do my monthly wetland bird survey, I called in at Sharpham and found 23 Little Egrets and my first Cattle Egret of the year, hurrah! The egrets had been around until the ground froze just after Xmas; now, with a thaw well under way, they have started to return and feed around the small herd of Old English Longhorns.

 

January 17th 2009

After overnight wind and rain this morning was still and bright, just right for the Somerset Ornithological Society’s walk around Cheddar Reservoir. The highlights were this Black-necked Grebe, present now for sometime, and this Grey Phalarope, found by SOS member James Packer (thanks James!). What a great little bird, but it didn’t stay around too long, after giving us some great close views it then flew off westwards and disappeared, perhaps back to the sea it had been blown inland from?

 

 

 

 

 

 

A surfeit of phalarope photos, I know.

But how unusual is this last one, showing as it does a three-billed reflection!

 

Apart from the more usual ducks, other birds of some note were: 2 Ruddy Ducks – a separate drake and a female/juvenile, 3 Goldeneye – including a smart black and white drake; also a Bullfinch, and a distant adult Peregrine perched on a pylon on the Mendip escarpment.

 

January 16th 2009

Because my cold worsened to a chest infection, today was my first birding since my last diary entry. Together with fellow birder Ash Warne, I drove up on the Mendip Hills and then went to Kennard Moor. First stop, the River Husk that flows past the Bishops Palace at Wells, where we soon located a pair of Dippers; then on to Green Ore and a nearby farm, for our target bird, the scarce Tree Sparrow. We were lucky and saw at least 20 of these bright sparrows, cheerfully chirping away along a trimmed hedgerow, and although it was a miserable overcast morning I did manage this one distant photo.

 

 

Whilst here, we also saw 3 smart-looking Yellow Hammers and 2 Ravens that ‘cronked’ overhead. Our next stop was Wookey Hole, where a short walk along the River Axe soon produced a Grey Wagtail and good views of another Dipper, this one feeding with its head under water and allowing me to take a couple of photos in the gloomy, morning light.

 

 

 

Our last stop on the Mendips was at Ebbor Gorge, where we had a packed lunch and watched the hanging-feeders. We very soon saw these 2 Marsh Tits and this Nuthatch, and also several Coal Tits and this party of Long-tail Tits (photos). The later like little 'jail-birds', as they popped in and out of the bars surrounding the feeder!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After lunch, our drive across Kennard Moor was successful in that we saw the 2 Great Bustards (orange wing-tag 15 and yellow wing-tag 22) from the releases on Salisbury Plain, a single Little Owl, perched on a low pollarded willow, and a pair of Peregrines that flew close overhead.

 

January 6th 2009

Because of the cold (-3C) and my cold, Kay and I did a swan search by car, driving around Sharpham, Butleigh Moor, Kings Sedge Moor, Catcott, and Tealham/Tadham Moors. A family party of Whooper Swans (2 adults and 4 juvs) together with another adult bird were grazing with Mute Swans at Sharpham, and I managed these somewhat distant photos.

 

 

 

 

 

We found this Trumpeter Swan on Butleigh Moor; a North American swan that as an escapee has been around in the County for the past couple-of-years.

 

We came across plenty of Mute Swans, but couldn’t find any Bewick’s – the object of our search.

 

 

 

January 3rd 2009

 

 

 

Yesterday, my afternoon visits to Wyke Champflower and to Bruton were both unsuccessful. I couldn’t find the Glaucous Gull at the first place or any Hawfinches at the second.

 

This morning was better: still no sign of the Glaucous Gull, although a juvenile male Peregrine was some compensation; afterwards I saw two Hawfinches at Bruton and managed to take this photo of one of them, when it landed in a small tree for a brief few seconds before flying down to feed behind a high garden wall along Lower Backway.