HAM WALL, SHAPWICK HEATH AND CATCOTT MEADOWS
WEATHER: very cold 2C, with light snow to start. Sunny later, temperature rising to 4C.
I have a month's worth of Blogs and photographs stored away and I will put them out eventually and hopefully from today I shall get back on track with my postings.
Today I went to the 'Levels' with my local birding buddy Guy, he picked me up at 7:30am its was cold out there but we were well both wrapped up well.
At Ham Wall we searched for a Firecrest near the car park without seeing one and we stopped on the small bridge to scan the distant pools for a Ringed-necked Duck, a rare visitor from America. We searched huge flocks of ducks, Wigeon, Teal, Mallard, Pintail, Gadwall, Common Pochard and Tufted Ducks were all present but the yanky duck was AWOL.
From Viewing point No.1 we searched for a reported Glossy Ibis, again the bird was missing! We did see Great White and Little Egrets, several Marsh Harriers, Grey Heron, Common Snipe and Great Cormorants. Walking down to Tor Hide we were struck by the absence of birds on the water on either side of the track and from the hide all we saw was a few Common Coots and another Marsh Harrier.
this Chaffinch jined us for lunch
We were very cold by then and it started to snow, very light sleety type of snow, it didn't last long. We checked out the mixed flocks of birds along the hedgerows, with the Long-tailed Tits we found Blue and Great Tits, several Chiffchaffs and one or two Goldcrest.
Making our way back to the car for a quick toilet and coffee stop we saw Fieldfare, Redwings, Jays and small numbers of Chaffinches.
On the way to the raised hide at Noah's Lake on Shapwick Heath we stopped to listen for Firecrest in the bushes, we drew a blank again. In the Alder Trees along the southern shore of Noah's Lake we found a small flock of Siskins and Guy pulled out a Redpoll! We went on to find at least three more Redpolls, two Jays and several more Siskins.
Two special birds had been seen from the raised Hide at Noah's in recent days, another Ringed-necked Duck and a couple of Whooper Swans. Guy returned to Birding Guru status when he picked out the Ring-necked Duck amongst a thousand other ducks, to make it more impressive, the bird was fast alseep with its head tucked under its wing.
the Ring-necked Duck is in this picture, fast asleep, on its own, between the Great Crested Grebe and the Mute Swan and slightly left. You can just make out its grey flanks, with a white band at the front of the grey patch.
I tried to digi-scope the bird but it was very distant, we had to wait quite while before it raised its head, when we confirmed its identity and over the next 30 minutes it rasied its head a few more time and I got some record shots. In the meantime an Otter appeared just below the hide, it was eating something in the reeds, obscured most of the time.
record shot of the Ringo Duck, with two Tufted Ducks, it has distinctive white bands on the bill and Grey flanks
We picked out more Pintails and a single Goldeneye, taking our duck count to 10 species, we added Great Crested and Little Grebe and we searched in vain for the Whooper Swans. Returning to the main track we walked further northward to view Noah's Lake from the track, we searched the nooks and crannies and the hidden pools for the Whoopers, drawing another blank, we gave up at 12 noon and walked back to the car park to eat our lunch.
Ring-necked Duck with two Tufted Duck and surrounded by Eurasian Wigeon.
Sitting at the picnic tables eating our lunch, the sky got brighter and the sun came out, but it remained cold. We shared our lunch with Chaffinches, a Great Tit and a Robin.
On the way to Catcott we stopped at the Avalon Marshes Centre, I bought us a hot chocolate and Guy bought us a delicious flap jack. We then drove to Catcott where another American Duck had been seen, the Green-winged Teal. Along the way we saw a field with many gulls feeding in it alongside all three Egret species, Great, Little and Cattle.
From the hide at Catcott, we consolidated our frozen state as we sifted through hundreds of Ducks. We saw Wigeon, Pintails, Eurasian Teal, Gadwall and Shovelers, but we never found the rare American Teal. The sky cleared and the sun came out but it was too late to warm the frozen air.
brighter weather at Catcott Meadows, but no sign of the Green-winged Teal
In our frozen state we got back to the car around 3pm and decided to go out of way and drive back to look at the field covered in Egrets and gulls. It was good decision because we found the Glossy Ibis at the back of the field. I got some poor digi-scope pictures of it feeding with all three Egrets!
in this group shot we have Great Egret, Cattle Egret, Little Egret and Glossy Ibis!! Just a few years ago this picture would have been unimaginable as all four birds were just very rare visitors, now the three egrets breed in good numbers. This year alone, at least 100 Great White Egret chicks were raised on the 'Levels'!!!
That concluded our day out, we drove back to Stoford, I was home by 4:30pm. It took a short while to thaw out and a hot coffee helped me to recover.