Trip Report 24-26 January 2020

Friday 24th January

We met assembled in front of Walls Farm at 2.00pm just as two splendid ravens were cronking away to each other in a tall tree in the adjacent field – lovely big black birds, with a menacing blunt chisel for a bill, thick throat and neck, and a most distinctive fanned tail. Ravens have always been omens for one thing or other – we took them to be a good omen for our birdwatching weekend.

Our first stop was on Tealham Moor to scan over the flooded fields, where we saw two distant great white egrets and a couple of little egrets. A lone buzzard sat on a pole, fluffed-up. Also in the fields were a collection of fieldfares and crows, with several meadow pipits and goldfinches flitting overhead.

A lone male stonechat and a single cock pheasant were the only other birds of note on the slightly drier Tadham Moor as we headed over to the car park at RSPB Ham Wall on the Avalon Marshes.

The car park was busy, but nothing like the previous weekend, when sunny and frosty conditions brought the crowds out in force, to the point where the large carpark was full to overflowing. Cars had spilt out and were abandoned for half a mile on either side of the reserve entrance, causing a complete log-jam, which took the best part of an hour to clear after the starling murmurations were over.

There was no sign of the carpark firecrest that had been reported, however, we did get a smart little goldcrest and two pairs of bullfinches as we headed over the road and through the trees into Natural England’s reserve at Shapwick Heath.

On the first pond, the Meare Heath Pool, there was a good covering of waterfowl; mostly ducks – shoveler, gadwall, tufted duck, and teal, with a couple of pairs of wigeon. There were plenty of coots, and along the fringes were some moorhens. Occasionally we heard the squealing call of a water rail, but we did not see one. Amongst the reeds at the edge of the pond Graeme got somewhat excited as two long-tailed silhouetted birds were seen, however, rather than being bearded tits, as Graeme hoped, they somehow morphed into long-tailed tits. That was disappointing, but we soon cheered up with the first sighting of both a male and female marsh harrier cruising across the reedbeds.

We popped into the raised hide which overlooks Noah’s Lake to see it covered in waterfowl, which was going to be a trend over the next couple of days. In addition to good numbers of the ducks we had already seen, there were some great crested grebes, grey herons, more egrets and, once you got your eye in, we spotted over 100 pintail ducks which were delightful – the males, with their chocolate heads and white and grey flanks leading to that splendid long pin tail.

Pintail

The task at hand beckoned, and we had to get into position further along the track where we hoped the starlings would come in and do their light fandango.

There was a wait for about 20 minutes with not much happening, not much, if you discount the regular fly-past by a male marsh harrier and a stonking spot by Paul of a perched female marsh harrier who sat still and looked beautiful as, as only a female marsh harrier can do, while we waited for the first starlings to appear.

Until it happens, it hasn’t happened… and one day it won’t happen. The empty skies got Graeme fidgeting and checking his watch. “They’ll be here any minute,” he said trying to sound convincing…

Another 10 minutes passed, with just an opportunist sparrowhawk and the drumming from a great spotted woodpecker. Then at 4.10 pm the first birds were seen in long ribbons coming in along a distant skyline. Expectation grew amongst the crowd, as the birds got closer, and Graeme could relax.

More and more birds past over, in ever-increasing numbers.

The ‘Ooohs and aaahs’ began to be heard from the audience as the starlings began their show, now merging into ever denser flocks above our heads.

They seemed to be swirling around for a long time and looked like they might settle over beyond the wood and the south drain on the northern side of the reserve – but then they moved off again and swirled round to the block of reeds known as the Roughet. The great spotted woodpecker flew off, but no one was interested in Woody.

Tighter and tighter they got, huge numbers now, possibly up to half a million birds, hypnotic liquid shapes that changed from a gigantic amoeba to a slowly beating winged beast. One shape merging into another, like millions of iron-filings dragged through the air, by some unseen magnetic force.

Then they were gone…. as if down the plughole. All the starlings disappeared into one tight area of reedbed and the show was over. It was 4.35 pm and one felt there should be a round of applause.

Dorothy was ecstatic, with a smile from ear to ear, her ambition had been achieved and she was not disappointed – even Paul, an experienced and well-travelled birder, had seen nothing like it before.

Somerset’s starling murmurations had delivered one more time, and there was a great line of happy birders that snaked its way back to the carpark in the dusk.

The ‘cherry on the cake’ was a beautiful barn owl that perched on a gate next to the road as we crossed Tealham Moor, heading back to Walls Farm and a beautiful supper prepared by Kay.

Stephen joined us for supper, although Graeme did warn our guests to tone-down how magnificent the murmurations were, just in case they weren’t quite so good the next night…

Saturday 25th January

Saturday dawned with what the weather forecasters call ‘anticyclonic gloom’, but at least the rain seemed to be holding off, and it was relatively calm, as after hearing a jay in the Walls Farm garden we headed west to the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust reserve at Steart. Today our small and select cohort was joined by a cohort of day-visitors, which made for a jolly group!

“Mrs Moss’s car park rule” (the best birds are always in the car park) kicked in almost as soon as we had got out of the van, with a hovering kestrel, flocks of goldfinches and a lovely pair of stonechats perched on a nearby fence, giving very good scope views. We then walked into the reserve, seeing skylarks, meadow pipits and lots of pheasants in the field by the Quantock Hide.

The lagoon overlooked by the hides was thronged with birds: several thousand lapwings, lots of golden plovers, shelduck, teal, wigeon, shoveler, and a couple of redshanks, plus one female marsh harrier. The ducks and waders were quite flighty (we found out why soon afterwards), and we were distracted by a view of a lolloping brown hare at the back pf the pheasant field.

On the way back we saw a tiny chiffchaff flicking its tail as it hopped around the reeds – this species used to winter in Spain and North Africa but more and more now stay over with us, hoping the winter will stay mild (as this one has so far at least!). Then we noticed a crow flying rather oddly around a pylon, and discovered a male peregrine perched there. This magnificent falcon may be the fastest creature on the planet, but this individual didn’t look as if it wanted to go anywhere – until that is, the pair of crows persuaded it to move on, and it swooped down towards the birds on the lagoon, this time without success.

Next stop was Stathe, alongside the River Parrett, whose level had mercifully dropped a little since our last visit. Our target bird was the crane – 100 or so of which have been living here since they were released in a reintroduction scheme a few years ago. No cranes, but at our second stop at the railway bridge there were lots of fieldfares, several distant little and great white egrets, and a distant drumming great spotted woodpecker, along with a couple of stonechats – and, at last, a very brief view (from Paul only) of a distant crane, which dropped out of sight and steadfastly refused to reappear.

To compensate, we decided to add some historical perspective, with a visit to the Athelney Monument (to King Alfred and the mythical burning of the cakes), which produced good views of a mixed flock of redwings, fieldfares, starlings and goldfinches in a nearby tree. We were now ready for lunch at our usual stop, the excellent King Alfred’s Inn at Burrow Bridge.

After lunch, we decided to head straight to RSPB Ham Wall, which gave us an hour or so to explore the reserve before heading back to the starling roost at Shapwick Heath. We finally enjoyed really good views of a feeding great white egret, along with at least 300 lapwings, teal, shoveler, wigeon and gadwall, with little grebe and water rail calling though not seen. From the first viewing platform, we enjoyed seeing a pair of great crested grebes (one in breeding plumage, the other still in non-breeding) building their floating nest with sticks and bits of water weed. It reminded us that grebes are truly the most aquatic bird family, never actually coming to land.

Brief views of a sparrowhawk in the distance were followed by much better views of a male kingfisher, conveniently perched on the edge of the reeds on Loxton’s Marsh, giving excellent views through the scope.

We then headed into Shapwick and Meare Heath reserve over the road. Meare Heath pool contained lots of Gadwall, Coots and a single male Wigeon, several marsh harriers, and nearby we had good views of a resting Great White Egret with its neck hunched up, looking very different from the usual long-necked appearance. Cetti’s warblers uttered their incredibly loud song, and a few of us at the back of the group stopped to watch an adult male peregrine perched on a bare twig; giving lovely views.

peregrine

Then it was the starlings’ turn. With the weather much darker and murkier than usual, they came in at least half an hour earlier than the week before, from about 4.15 pm. They were accompanied, as they often are, by predators: lots of marsh harriers, a peregrine, up to four sparrowhawks (which flew in very low and disappeared) and to our delight, a sighting of the ringtail (i.e. female or immature) hen harrier, which flew right across our field of view – our 6th raptor species of the day. The starlings did not disappoint either: coming in from all angles, and instead of heading down into the reeds, they stayed airborne for at least half an hour, swirling around and putting on a really great show, until they finally finished at about 4.45 pm (roughly the time they had started the previous weekend when the sky was much brighter).

starling murmuration

On the long walk back to the car park we enjoyed another great white egret flying overhead, a distant roost of several hundred jackdaws, and the sound of a breakaway group of starlings now well hidden in the Meare Heath reedbed. Overall a great day out!

Sunday 26th January

On Sunday morning we woke to a much better morning than had been forecast. There had been an exciting start to the morning at Walls Farm when Graeme had taken the spaniels out for their ‘morning constitutional’ around the front garden: a large brock badger had been disturbed by Lily, who chased after her new large fluffy playmate across the garden. There was only going to be one winner if the badger was to stand its ground against the daft dog. Fortunately, Mr Badger out-ran Lily and disappeared through the hedge - luckily Lily lost interest.

Rain was forecast, so there was a change of plan, and we agreed to head back to the Levels and visit a couple of reserves that have good hides that would offer a degree of shelter should the weather get really nasty.

Our first stop was at the Somerset Wildlife Trust’s reserve at Catcott Lows. The hide here is adjacent to the carpark and offers a great panorama across a flooded landscape to a distant Glastonbury Tor.

The watery scrape right in front of the hide had many pairs of wigeon, teal, mallard and tufted ducks. Around 40 Canada geese were on the water too, with a sprinkling of little egrets for good measure. A pair of marsh harriers quartered the foreground and a buzzard landed close to the hide looking for easy pickings in the long grass. With the benefit of the telescope, we managed to see a raven building its nest high in the same electricity pylon that it had used for the last two years. Catcott hide is a spot where you can sit for half an hour or half a day and simply watch nature come and go.

We then crossed the mighty Polden Hills and dropped down onto the southern Levels once more to visit RSPB Greylake, a compact little reserve that punches well above its weight in comparison to the heavyweight reserves on the Avalon Marshes.

A kestrel hovered, with its head stock-still, in the gathering winds and incoming weather. Walking the short distance through the reedbeds a large flock of golden plover flew overhead and a Cetti’s warbler blurted out its song as if it was using a megaphone. A wee wren moused along by our feet at the edge of a flooded footpath. In the still of the hide, we were met by a spectacle of wildfowl that was hard to take in at first. There was simply a mass of ducks – a huge number of literally thousands of ducks – mostly wigeon, teal, shoveler, mallard, some tufted, with many pintails to add to the throng.

It was quite breathtaking, with the added attraction of the birds being so close to the hide, you did not need to use binoculars to enjoy the scene. A pair of marsh harriers gave us a fly-past and the female settled rather obligingly on a stunted tree nearby giving excellent views of her long yellow legs and coffee-cream-coloured cap. Once you were able to study the mass of ducks, soon it was easy to pick our good numbers of snipe settling down to see out the worst of the heavy rain that was now coming across the flat landscape in curtains.

Graeme picked up an incoming larger wader which focused into a lone black-tailed godwit, which banked and landed in front of the hide, disappearing amongst the flock before the others could get a view.

We had a most rewarding half-hour at Greylake, a top winter reserve on anyone’s list. With time running out we headed back to Stathe for another go at trying to see some cranes, but to no avail. The weather had turned into a stinker, and we were not cheered much when we were told by a local lady out walking her dogs along the River Parrett that “You should have been here yesterday afternoon, about four o’clock… sure, there must have been about a hundred cranes here….they come in at dusk you know…. sure I have no idea where they are now”.  Thanks.

Our last stop was at another RSPB reserve (we are well served by the RSPB here in Somerset), at Swell Wood, most famous for being the home of the largest heronry in the south-west atop a beautiful oak wood. But today the woods were quiet, no herons yet, the only call was that of a nuthatch looking for a mate and a couple of coal tits. We walked to the edge of the wood high on its ridge, and we were able to look down and gaze over the vast expanse of West Sedgemoor lying below us. It was then we could understand just how easy it can be to lose 100 cranes in such a landscape.