Day Trip - Saturday 21st September

A two Peregrine day is always a good day.

A bright, breezy and warm morning was the order of the day as we left Wedmore to head for Somerset’s coastline for our first spot of birdwatching.
En route through Blackford we saw the usual domestic and farmland birds of Rooks, Jackdaws, Magpies, and Collard Doves along with the arrival of autumn’s growing flocks of Starlings.
Just before the village of Mark, Graeme spotted a Peregrine Falcon passing over the road above the splendidly named ‘Splot Farm’.

On arrival at WWT’s Steart Marshes reserve situated beyond Bridgwater, Graeme’s guarantee that we would definitely see some Cranes came quickly to fruition as he pointed towards the horizon and Europe’s largest construction site at Hinckley Point Nuclear Power Station. The building site was of course surrounded by enormous towering cranes - Sorry, it was a very poor joke, and didn’t get a laugh at the time either.

More promisingly was our first bird of the morning seen through our binoculars, a lovely female Kestrel which hovered nearby then landed on a large pylon giving us good views.

We walked along to the Quantock Hide from where we enjoyed half an hour or so scanning the lagoons. There were many Little Egrets, and gulls (mainly Black-headed, Herring and a few immature Lesser Black-Backed Gulls). We also saw several moulting Shelducks, a few Lapwings and 3 roosting Greenshanks, which most probably would have been resting during their southerly migration from their northern breeding grounds to overwinter on the coast of West Africa. Sadly no matter how hard we tried, we did not manage to turn any of the Egrets into Spoonbills that had been recently reported on the reserve.

Walking back to the car we saw several Grey Herons, a large flock of Linnets and two passing Reed Buntings. A nice Roe Deer was also seen.  From a small pond two Cetti’s Warblers were heard but not seen, chuntering away to each other from deep amongst the reeds.

A much-appreciated tea and biscuits stop was had at Wall Common car park before we walked the short distance to the shingle breach above a muddy seashore and a high tide. It is always reassuring when there are other groups of birdwatchers gazing through their telescopes or lying flat on the ground peering through a long-lensed camera towards seemingly invisible birds. There must be something interesting about, and after a couple of minutes of getting our eye in, we soon saw several well-camouflaged Ringed Plovers and 3 sleeping Curlew Sandpipers amongst a small group of Dunlin.

Walking back to the car we had our second Peregrine sighting of the day with a stunning male falcon soaring directly above our heads in magnificent sunlight, showing off its slate blue back, dark moustache, and barred chest. It was a wonderful sight.
We then left the coast and headed back inland to look for some ‘avian’ Cranes which now breed on West Sedgemoor. Our journey was made more interesting not by a vast array of birdlife, but more by some good conversation on the Monmouth Rebellion as we passed by the site of the Battle of Sedgemoor - the last pitched battle fought on English soil which took place at Westonzoyland on 6th July 1685.

We then passed by Burrow Mump, like a mini version of Glastonbury Tor – a small hill with a ruined church on its top, then travelled down the River Parrett into West Sedgemoor where we stopped at the hamlet of Stathe. Here we crossed to a raised piece of land which offers wide views across Aller Moor which is often a good spot to have distant views of Somerset’s Cranes. As it happened there was another couple there scanning with their binoculars to no avail. We did, however, see in the distance a Grey Heron and had the excitement of a fleeting colourful flash of a Kingfisher landing on the bridge behind us - but sadly no Cranes on this occasion.

Such was the interest in local history, before lunch we swung round to visit Athelney, the fortress hiding place where King Alfred the Great allegedly ‘Burnt the cakes’ before going on to defeat the Danes in 878 AD.

To show respect to King Alfred we went on to have a splendid ‘al fresco’ lunch in his favourite local pub named after the great man, sat out in hot sunshine with twittering House Martins above, and a large group of Long Tailed Tits flitting through the trees by the pub’s car park.

Our afternoon birding did not get off to a great start by visiting RSPB Greylake. It was a nice short reed bed walk to the hide, but there were no birds to be seen other than a family of Moorhens, so we quickly retraced our steps to head back over the Polden Hills to the northern Levels and Somerset Wildlife Trust’s reserve at Catcott.

Here we got great views of up to a dozen Cattle Egrets a few Little Egrets and one Great White Egret – all three of the recently colonized egrets that have moved from the Continent into Southern England due to Climate Change. Another Kestrel was seen along with some roosting Lapwings and Mallard.

It is amazing to think that within just a few weeks both Greylake reserve and Catcott will be rammed with winter ducks and waders enjoying the milder winter conditions that Somerset offers. Winter too, will bring the excitement of our Starling murmurations, when up to half a million Starlings come in to roost each evening on the reed beds.

Our last visit of the day was a short drive away to the Avalon Marshes and in particular to RSPB’s Ham Wall reserve. Here a Great Spotted Woodpecker flew over our heads just after we left the car park. In the lakes and ponds, there were good numbers of Gadwall Ducks, Coots, Great Crested Grebe, Mute Swans, and much to our delight a male and female Marsh Harrier were seen hunting over the reed beds.

We returned to Wedmore via the un-intensively farmed land of Tadham and Tealham Moors where we had close views of Grey Heron in the roadside rhynes.

It had been a most enjoyable day in the field with excellent company.

 

Curlew Sandpiper