Booming' Fantastic - The Levels

 Date: 26th May 2014 - All Day

Location:  Somerset Levels - Ham Wall, Shapwick Heath, Greylake, Westhay + Catcott

Observation:  We started off at Westhay, where we done a quick walk to the hides, highlights were booming Bitterns and a group of 5 Hobby and lots of Reed + Cetti's Warbler's singing. We then moved onto Catcott, where from the car park hide, there were only 12 Mute Swans, so moved swiftly on to Greylake, where we stayed in the car park for half hour photographing the Chaffinchs, Buntings and Dunnock's feeding on the seed. We then done the new boardwalk, again lots of Bittern's booming with some flyovers and also lots of Reed Bunting and Warblers singing in the reeds, mostly hidden but odd one would pop up leaving you enough time to lift your camera before flying off! Only a few Swallows, Swifts and dragonflies around today, a few Four-Spotted Chaser's landing on the reeds. From the hide at Greylake, a Mute Swan

(+9 cygnets) and a Little Grebe, aswell as a distant Raven. Lastly we moved onto Shapwick Heath and Ham Wall and again lots of Bittern's heard booming with a flyover. Also 3 Great White Egrets flying over to Ham Wall. On the way to the new hide at Ham Wall, 2 Common Tern's landed and started fighting over a fish on the wooden platforms. We then seen a Cuckoo fly overhead which landed in distant trees and started calling. With that, another 3+ started calling also, two of which very close to carpark and one on FULL view but too far for close picture, but amazing to hear and see none-the-less! A very successful bank holiday Monday!

Weather:  Cloudy, Dry, Warm

Other Species: Grey Heron, Little Egret, Great White Egret, Bittern, Cuckoo, Buzzard, Hobby, Marsh Harrier, Reed Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Cettis Warbler, Great-Crest Grebe, Chaffinch, Reed Bunting, Greenfinch, Wren, Dunnock, Crow, Jackdaw, Raven, Common Tern