Day trip report Sunday 13th October

An early return to Walls Farm for Ruth, who had been on one of Kay’s ladies cycling weekends just three weekends’ earlier, and who thought it would be a nice day out for her Dad and husband to do some birdwatching on the Somerset levels.

We started off at Steart Marshes where the old joke about ‘guaranteeing to see cranes’ again fell flat as Graeme pointed to the horizon and Hinckley Point power station construction site which of course is surrounded by towering cranes.

From the carpark we soon saw our first birds – a female kestrel landed on a nearby pylon followed by a big black raven, which appeared to have a large egg in its powerful beak. Goldfinches clustered around some birdfeeders and were most obliging by staying put while we worked out the best binoculars to take.

Fortunately, the forecast rain had not materialised and after negotiating around some large puddles we made it quickly along to the Quantock Hide relatively dry-shod, stopping once to see a beautiful female stonechat sitting atop of some reeds.

On the watery lagoon in front of the hide, there was a large flock of lapwings with their long head-crests fluttering in the breeze. There was a good collection of ducks (mostly mallard, with a few gadwall and teal), three or four little egrets, looking impossibly white, while a collection of cormorants looked the complete opposite – grubby and brown.

The highlight though, was a splendid spoonbill, standing most of the time on one leg with its bill tucked under its wing. When it did stir, and unsheathe its massive bill, it was indeed an impressive weapon – huge in length, and very much living up to its name in its broad flat girth. It obliged us by showing how it filter-feeds, by sifting water through its bill for grubs and insects in a sweeping motion, before sticking it once again under its wing for a snooze.

Spoonbill

There were some shelducks on the water along with black-headed gulls and the odd herring and lesser black-backed gull too. A couple of pied wagtails flew overhead alongside a sizable flock of skylarks with a sprinkling of meadow pipits. A patient grey heron was rewarded with a small silvery fish after a long period of stealth. Gulp, down in one.

We walked on to the Mendip Hide enjoying a close-up view of a large flock of linnets. There was not much happening other than some more little egrets, however when we moved on we saw a beautiful juvenile buff-coloured wheatear perched on the roof of the hide, bobbing its tail up and down, and when it flew off we could clearly see its white rump, from which it got its old Anglo Saxon name of ‘white-arse’ now (fortunately), changed to a more acceptable wheat-ear. This little bird was quite happy to sit and let us all see it close-up through the telescope to really take in its beauty. It was probably a young northern bird on its first migration.

young wheatear

Two reed buntings flew by, and a most handsome great tit stood out like a sore thumb with its yellow breast, black head and white cheeks.

All round the reed-lined footpaths at Steart we heard from time to time the explosive call of the Cetti’s warbler – one of the few birds that call all year round.

Back at the van, we enjoyed a brew and some posh biscuits before heading back inland to look for some avian cranes.

Before we had even got as far as Bridgwater a sparrow hawk and a peregrine falcon had both flown over the van adding to our raptor list.

We passed by the site of the last pitched battle on English soil, at Westonzoyland - that of the Battle of Sedgemoor in 1685 and were now in the heart of King Alfred the Great’s kingdom, being close to Athelney, where he is reputed to have ‘Burnt the cakes’ before going on to defeat the Danes at the Battle of Edington in the year 878.

 Soon we were at the hamlet of Stathe on the banks of the River Parrett, overlooking Aller Moor. Here we scanned for our elusive Somerset cranes – and they were proving to be just that…elusive. Not a crane to be seen. We did see plenty more herons and passing house martins all heading in a southerly direction, and Ruth and Graeme saw two grey wagtails with a flash of yellow from their tummies. All was not lost, as right in the centre of our view was a very light-coloured buzzard scraping around in a soggy field looking for an easy lunch.

Lunch at King Alfred’s favourite pub was now in order after another quick scan over the vastness of West Sedgemoor from the railway bridge we headed to the pub. Sadly it was to be no cranes today.

 After a hearty lunch, we stopped off at RSPB Greylake and walked the short distance to a nice observation hide at the end of a reedbed track. From the hide we watched a hunting marsh harrier (male), several different flavours of duck – mallard, gadwall, teal and shoveller – and in the distance three or four cattle egrets flitted between and around a herd of grazing cows, doing what cattle egrets do so well, grubbing around looking for insects. The cattle egret is a squatter bird than the more graceful little egret we had seen at Steart, it has more rounded wings and a bit of a punk-rock hairdo. It was our second egret of the day.

There was a nice family group of roe deer grazing by the hide and enjoying the afternoon sunshine.

Going back to the van we had excellent views of an Emperor dragonfly resting on a reed and hiding under a sheet of corrugated iron was a coiled baby grass snake, the size of a very small pencil.

 For our last visit, we had to cross over the Polden Hills to the northern area of the Somerset Levels and the RSPB’s flagship reserve of Ham Wall.

Now the skies were clear, and we had perfect views across to the Mendip Hills and Glastonbury Tor with St Michael’s Tower on its summit.

Walking along the disused old railway track in glorious early evening sunshine there were long-tailed tits moving through the birch trees and an olive-green coloured chiffchaff pecking at spiders in the branches.

Over some distant reedbeds was to be our third egret of the day, the great white egret – its long neck looks almost reptilian, and its huge wings seem to fly in slow-motion.

 Soon we met up with Stephen Moss, Graeme’s friend and colleague at Somerset Birdwatching Holidays. From the first viewing platform, we got wonderful and prolonged views of another male marsh harrier, little grebes and great crested grebes. A pair of stonechats sat out on top of some bracken and a kingfisher shot by, unfortunately not seen by all, but was a fitting bird to round off our enjoyable days’ birdwatching in Somerset full of birds, good company and fun.