Wanderer Returns !

Date: 22/10/2015

Location: Crooks Peak - Chew Valley Lake

Weather: Grey + Overcast

Other Species: Fieldfare, Redwing, Bullfinch, Kestrel, 

Little Egret, Grey Heron, Buzzard, Common Gull, Black-Headed Gull, Goosander, Kingfisher, Water Rail - Plus Many More.

Observation: 

Fancied Crook's Peak, Somerset today and a nice wander up the hill which overlooks the M5, Bristol Channel and most of Somerset and beyond! Also the chance of a Ringed Ouzel but none seen.

There were some Fieldfare (3) & Redwing (10) but they didn't hang around.

After a ponder at top, headed towards Chew Valley Lake, not been since February! Its 9 miles in a straight line from home think I could walk it!..Not Sure :/

@ Herriotts Channel - Little Egrets around 4 scrabbled for the best perch. 

While noticing a Kingfisher hidden in bush saw this Water Rail scamper at waters edge !

Headed round to Heron's Green side for a coffee.

Lovely Grebes

  Normal stuff about, Goosander far side lots of Coot and Black Headed Gulls and a few great looking Common Gulls.

A nice fly past from Grey Heron and headed to Dam End.

Final shot of the day was a Egyptian Goose looking sleepy.

Thanks For Looking !

Portugal Birding Holiday !

Date: 8th October - 15th October 2015

Location:  Albufeira - Portugal (Lagoa Dos Salgados)

Observation: A family holiday isn't complete without doing a spot of birdwatching whilst there. We stayed in Balaia Golf Villages and there were surprisingly ALOT of new ticks about including Hoopoe, Azure-Winged Magpie, Cattle Egret and Sardidian, some of these we actually got without leaving the apartment, which was lovely! 

Pictures of the on-site wildlife below:

Hoopoe

Hoopoe

Sardinian Warbler

Azure-Winged Magpie (With Stonechat Egg)

Cattle Egret

Lagoa Dos Salgados was recommend to us so was a must visit, we used the CitySightseeing bus to get there about an hour from where we were staying. We visited on 11th October and arrived about noon, sun was shining. Before getting into the reserve we spotted the Purple Swamphen (distant but a tick!). Along the boardwalk we spotted quite a few tiny little birds using the wires and under the boardwalk to feed they turnt out to be Zitting Cisticola (Streaked Fan-Tailed Warbler), they seemed to be very showy birds.

Next tick for us was White Stork, we were told by the locals they don't normally stop of here in the daytime so to see a total of 87 White Stork fly in whilst we were walking around was AMAZING to see !

 Came so close these are non-cropped images!

A Marsh Harrier kept causing havoc for the gulls, waders and Coot's this called for amazing sights of flock of hundreds of Ibis's and more in the air! 221 Glossy Ibis were counted in one flock that arrived also! Along with 20+ Spoonbill washing and feeding.

221 Glossy Ibis's Arriving !

A few more new ticks for us included Crested Lark, Corn Bunting and Black-Winged Stilt, all stunning birds !

A few waders were on the shoreline on the exit of the reserve including Ringed Plover, Sanderling and a single Dunlin, who let you get very close to them, which was a change !

We were so pleased with our first visit we decided to return to the reserve on 13th October in the hope for better shots of the Purple Swamphen and to see the Little Bittern. The bridge entering the Reserve the Purple Swamphen was about 10 feet away, it didn't show fully but we got some nice shots including this one.

The White Stork, Spoonbill and Glossy Ibis's were present again.

Weather:  Mostly Sunny, Little Cloud and Little Wind (Tropical Storm - Saturday)

Our Hotel (Balaia Golf): Hoopoe, Azure-Winged Magpie, Cattle Egret, Spanish Sparrow, Sardinian Warbler.

Lagoa Dos Salgados:  Purple Swamphen, Crested Lark, Black-Winged Stilt, Western Marsh Harrier, White Stork, Glossy Ibis, Yellow-Legged Gull, Sandwich Tern, Cattle Egret, Little Egret, Kingfisher, Streaked Fan-Tailed Warbler, Corn Bunting, Linnet.

With a total of 9 new ticks for the both of us it was a successful birding trip and would recommend this reserve (Lagoa Dos Salgados) to anyone visiting the area.

Thanks For Reading !

Almost !

Date :01/10/2015

Location: Patch - Newton St Loe + Home

Weather: Warm 20c, Blue Skies, Some Cloud

Species seen: Linnet, Kestrel, Buzzard, Grey Heron, Nuthatch, Goldcrest, Skylark.

Observation:

Walked out through Bath Mill quiet, group of about 30 Linnet on Top Field and one Skylark, went to ground middle of field. Crows covering lower fields by Globe pub, farmer ploughing or seeding fields.

Saw this rather camp looking Grey Squirrel think he took a fancy to me ! :)

At 'Send A Cow' new car park, been open 3 days Nuthatch, 2 Robins & Tits on floor !

Not anything different on Lakes so headed back.

At feeders Goldfinches squabbling so set camera up to wait 

Been trying a while to get sharp shot, these not but almost !

The gang of Long Tailed Tits just looked on! Ahhh.

Thanks For Looking !

Glossy Ibis Levels Wander

Date: 28th September - All Day

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

Observation:  We headed off fairly early today in the hope of spotting the Common Crane's at Aller Moor / Swell Wood, after a good look and a drive around the droves unfortunately we couldn't see any but we will be back to look for them soon! We headed onto Greylake on our way back up, both hides closed due to some 'aggressive' wasps, but a few birds in carpark on seed tables, along with group of Long-Tailed Tits and a few Chiffchaff's feeding just inside the gate on the wooden sculpture.

Going in for the kill!

Straight in the hatch!

Inquisitive Robin!

Stunning Blue Tit!

We moved onto Ham Wall + Shapwick Heath, stopping in Canada Farm (once we found it!), Kingfisher was seen 20 minutes before we arrived on the 'famous' perch, we heard him call a few times but he didn't show unfortunately! Also a Great White Egret along with some Gadwall and Little Egret, we thought the Cattle Egret was on the far right in a sluice but couldn't confirm (later seen flying off at 3pm!).

Onto Ham Wall, we were pretty disappointed nothing was close enough to photograph, so we focused on the many of Dragonflies! There were hundreds about! Mostly Ruddy and Common Darters and some Hawkers. 

One of the hundreds of Common Darters !

We walked along to the Second Viewpoint using the Ham Wall Loop, and when we arrived someone shouted across to let us know a Glossy Ibis has JUST landed, in the far pool on the mud bank, we watched it for a few minutes. 

Before a Marsh Harrier came in low flushing everything, the second time the Marsh Harrier come back he flushed the Glossy Ibis up and he flew to the left and couldn't be relocated. 

The Marsh Harrier dived a few times all were unsuccessful whilst we were watching, he stopped in for a drink in the pool.

Was amazing to see a Marsh Harrier and Glossy Ibis in the same frame on the camera, and to see them fairly close also! Was a lovely day out and we were rewarded with the Glossy to finish the day!

Weather:  Blue Sky, Sunny + Warm

Other Species: Kingfisher, Buzzard, Sparrowhawk, Kestrel, Long-Tailed Tit, Chiffchaff, Robin, Marsh Harrier, Glossy Ibis, Wigeon, Teal, Shoveller, Great White Egret, Little Egret, Snipe, Reed Bunting, Lapwing, Dunlin, Great-Crest Grebe - + Many More!

Thanks For Reading !