Cheddar Reservoir – Chew Valley lake ( Heron’s Green – Woodford Lodge – The Dam – Stratford Hide) – Barrow Gurney Tanks – Catcott Lows – Ham Wall Starling Roost.
Weather: a very cold wind all day, but no rain and lots of sunshine.
We had a full on day today, the weather was pretty good to us and we visited many sites without getting wet. After our comprehensive breakfast we set out for the short journey to Cheddar Reservoir via the pretty town of Wedmore.
Our first port of call at the reservoir was the car park at Cheddar Tower, when standing on the reservoir embankment we were blasted by a bitter cold wind, the water was very choppy and birds were hard to see never mind identify them! So, we moved to plan B and drove around to the Axbridge side of the Reservoir where we stood completely out of the wind, hundreds of birds were feeding just a few meters off-shore in a flat calm area of the water.
one of the two Black-necked Grebes seen at Chaddar Reservoir
Within a few minutes we had spotted two Black-necked Grebes that were very close to the shore and they were heading our way. We had superb views of them as got very close to us. Satisfied with our views of the grebes we concentrated on finding a pair of Greater Scaup, lo and behold we found a female not too distant from us. We moved a short way along the embankment to get better views and to avoid the sun glare on the water.
Other birds seen included all the seven common ducks: Mallard, Gadwall, Shoveler, Teal, Tufted Duck, Common Pochard and Wigeon, along with thousands of Coots, also Cormorants and Black-headed Gulls and Great Crested Grebes.
a female Greater Scaup - at Cheddar Reservoir
We heard a very distant Green Woodpecker and a Song Thrush was singing not too far away, we also found both Pied and Grey Wagtails. Time quickly flew by and we had to move on.
Our drive through the spectacular Cheddar Gorge produced lots of Jackdaw sighting and as we emerged from the steep sided cliffs we saw a Great Spotted Woodpecker sitting on top of a small tree (I think I was the only observer), the same thing happened when two Meadow Pipits flew up in front of the bus shortly afterwards.
A Little later we stopped to watch a large mixed flock of thrushes feeding in a grassy field, we noted Redwing, Fieldfare, Blackbirds and Starlings. Also on view was a pair of Raven and a Common Buzzard was hovering over a meadow.
At Chew Valley Lake we visited Heron’s Green first, from the viewing point we could see a large expanse of water with a small number of birds dotted about on the surface. We picked out a pair of Goldeneye, Tufted Ducks, Gadwall and many Mallards. The small pool behind us on the other side of the road held Shoveler, lots of Black-headed Gulls and a few Common Shelduck.
The cold wind was ferocious standing there so we moved on, we stopped at the driveway to Woodford Lodge. We parked near the entrance of the lane to view the Orchard next to the lane. Before too long we had found a couple of our target birds, Mistle Thrush and a female Blackcap. A Bonus bird was Green Woodpecker which dropped into a tree at the back of the Orchard. Other birds seen were Chaffinches, Robin, Blue Tit, Starlings and a few Redwings.
Driving around to the dam on the other side of the lake we parked in the main visitor’s centre car park only find that the centre was closed, so our hopes of a hot soup were dashed for now! We scanned the water near the dam and found several Goosander on the distant shoreline along with many Little Egrets and a couple of Great Egrets. A huge flotilla of Great Crested Grebes had gathered out on the water, I estimated there to be well over 100 individuals.
viewing the lake from the car park at the Dam
Jeremy brought our attention to a Common Gull and we also saw several common duck species, Mute Swans, Pied Wagtails and Chaffinches. A large group of Black-headed Gulls, some in their summer plumaged ‘black’ heads gathered with many Mallards around our feet hoping to be fed.
distant Great Egret with Little Egrets and Great Crested Grebes in the foreground
We drove into West Harptree to buy our picnic supplies and then took the nearby track down to the Stratford Hide, it was quite wet down there with large pools of water, from recent rains, covering the lane and some of the car park. We ate our lunch in the bus and then walked to the bird feeders to watch for visitors. There we added Coal Tit to our list, we also heard a Great Spotted Woodpecker calling but it never appeared. From the car park we watched a Song Thrush and a couple of Redwings.
The Reservoir ‘tanks’ at Barrow Gurney was our next stop, after parking at Tank No.1 we walked around the embankment to view Tank No’2. There we found our target bird the Great Northern Diver, it was distant but gave reasonable views as it wasn’t diving constantly . We also noted a dozen or so of Little Grebes and Jeremy picked up a Common Sandpiper on the distant bank. The wind we bitter cold standing out there in the open so we left after a short while, on the way back to the bus we stopped to watch some Wood Pigeons in a field, we searched for Stock Doves, we found two hares instead, also a Common Buzzard but no doves.
Little Grebes and a Coot on Tank No.2 at Barrow Gurney
We hadn’t finished yet! We drove all the way back to the levels to visit Catcott because a Ring-necked Duck had been reported there, along the way we saw a Barn Owl near Wedmore! Of course the ‘duck’ had disappeared by the time we got to Catcott, but we had good close views of the Wigeon and Shovelers from the hide, a Reed Bunting appeared in the bushes around the car park.
a record shot of the Great Northern Diver seen at Barrow Gurney
this was a very distant sighting, a Hare at Barrow Gurney
Finally, we dashed around to Ham Wall for the ‘starling roost’ , in a filed near Westhay we saw well over 200 Cattle Egrets, fewer Little Egrets and a single Great Egret. At Ham Wall, it was almost dark when we got there, we did see a vast number of Starling dropping into roost, viewing from the humped back bridge along the main track, we also scanned Goodwin’s Pool for another Ring-necked Duck but the light was too bad to pick it out.
A very tired group arrived back at the hotel around 5:15pm, we had seen nearly 70 species today and we all had stayed dry and everyone agreed it had been a lovely day out.