They're not laughing now..

“People used to laugh at me when I said I wanted to be a comedian - well, they’re not laughing now.”

What a great line from Bob Monkhouse.

Happier times at Somerset Birdwatching Holidays

Well, we at Somerset Birdwatching Holidays are not laughing either.

Today, we had a full group booked to go on a day trip birdwatching. I am sure we would have seen the first sand martins passing through, heard chiffchaffs amongst the blossom, and bitterns booming amongst the reedbeds. That is what we had hoped for.

What with the social movement restrictions in place with the COVID-19 virus any thought of group birdwatching has had to be postponed, for the foreseeable future.

It is not all gloom and doom tho’, as Stephen got in touch to see if I wanted to go down to Cheddar Reservoir to check out the gull roost at dusk.

To be honest, I don’t get that excited about gulls. Stephen knew that and said, “You don’t do gulls, do you?”

I know I should. I mean, what is more menacing than a great black-backed gull? or more dainty than a common gull - which actually isn’t that ‘common’ anyway. So we agreed to travel separately, and meet at the reservoir at 5, just before a cold early spring sun was setting over Brent Knoll.

There was quite a crowd. The word was out that some rare gulls had been reported.

Gull spotting.

There were plenty gulls to see, mostly black-headed, herring and lesser black-backed. There were other birds too; pochard and tufted ducks, great crested grebes, and many fluttering sand martins, the first of the true summer hirondelles (swallow family) arriving from Africa.

Then there was a flurry of activity amongst the ‘twitchers’ (for let’s be honest, that’s what we were).

The shout went up “2 o’clock, just to the left of the green buoy - immature laughing gull”.

Much excitement rippled through the spacially separated birdwatchers.

It was a laughing gull right enough, blown off course from the USA, a rare visitor to Somerset and a first for Somerset Birdwatching Holidays.

Not sure if we should laugh or cry and what is happening in the world just now.

Please stay safe and healthy, and we hope to see you all again on the other side of the current crisis.

With best wishes from

Graeme and Kay Mitchell and Stephen Moss

immature laughing gull