2nd January saw an early start for the
black-throated thrush in Somerset. A lifer for Dan, Jeff and myself. We arrived around 8:40am with a suspected speeding offence in the bag! It didn't look promising at first as a few birders were leaving to look elsewhere. We scanned the
fieldfare and
redwing flocks to no avail. Patience paid off however, as after about half an hour or so the bird appeared about 250 metres away giving prolonged views.
Jeff managed this record shot. After a while, Geri, Kevin and Martin arrived and we decided to team up for a jaunt through Somerset. We left Curload having ticked
kingfisher,
grey wagtail,
little egret too.
We stopped at North Curry Moor for some reported
Bewick's swans. There was no sign, but we had nice views of two
peregrines overhead.
We headed north for Shapwick Heath NNR, stopping a couple of times for reported
ruff in the area. Again this species proved elusive, but we enjoyed huge flocks of
lapwing with smaller numbers of
dunlin and
golden plover.
At Shapwick Heath, we were soon viewing upto 16
water pipits at the first tank. Cetti's warblers were heard along the path upto the Noah's pools.
Canada goose was seen here along with 3 grey geese. We thought
greylag at first but Geri suspected
pink-footed. We didn't get good enough views to confirm identity either way though. We all however, managed brief glimpses of
Cetti's warbler though. On the return Geri did his best impression of
water rail to entice a skulking bird out of the bog. He failed!
On to Chew Valley Lake for a reported
Slavonian grebe on Herriot's Pool. Dan did well to pick out the distant resting bird and Geri picked out
ruddy duck too. We headed on to nearby Barrow Gurney reservoirs where a long-staying
great northern diver remained. Tank 3 gave us nice views of 4
black-necked grebes feeding together amongst the ducks. 5
goosanders were on show too. Over the road to tank 1 for the diver. It was showing well, and constantly diving. This is a big, heavy bird! A large flock of
linnets flew across empty tank 2.
The light was fading now, but we had just enough time to dash across to Avonmouth to conclude the day with the long-staying drake
ring-necked duck at Avonmouth Water Treatment Works.
An enjoyable day out with some great birds.
Jeff, Colin and I left Cardiff at 7:35am and in good time we were in the top fields searching for cirl bunting about 30 minutes before the club arrived. Though we were unable to locate our target bird, the good news was that Geri and Kevin had seen a couple lower down the hill near the Farm Cattages. A small group of us wandered down the hill and were onto a nice male in short time.
As ever Geri and Kevin were keen to press on and as there was no sign of the club moving soon we decided to follow them over to Woodbury Common for a long-staying great grey shrike.
On arriving at the carpark it was raining so we had a bite to eat and a drink. As the rain eased we headed south to where the bird had been last seen. We spent about 45 minutes searching to no avail. Just as we were about to give up and head to Dawlish for the high tide, Kevin got news on his pager that the bird was now northeast of where we were parked. Another hour was spent searching the heath to no avail except for a brief Dartford warbler seen by me and Jeff. Disappointed we returned to the carpark intending to move on. One last scan of the heath from the carpark however, revealed a bird at the top of a tree about 200m south. Sure enough it was our bird and another nice tick for the day. We managed to put a few other bedraggled birders on to it too.
We moved on to Dawlish where the club were reporting that the long-staying first winter glaucous gull was showing well down to 20m. Sure enough as soon as we crossed the railway bridge near Langstone Rock the bird was spotted paddling around near the seawall. It flew back and for to the rock a couple of times too, so we enjoyed good flight views. Although the bird was in really close digiscoping proved difficult as it bobbed up and down on the waves. Nevertheless, this was a great bird for me - another lifer for the year.
Other birds on show here were razorbill, shag, gannet, eider, and red-throated diver. As we had little daylight left moved on to round the day off at Bowling Green Marsh. Along the way we picked up black-tailed godwit and little egret at Cockwood Harbour, red-breasted merganser from Starcross railway station and dark-bellied brent geese on the golf course at Starcross.
At Bowling Green Marsh were the usual ducks out on the march with a few pintail too. We headed on to the Exe and were pleased to see plenty of birds feeding. Dozens of avocets, dunlin, curlews, bar-tailed godwits and a lone grey plover were on show.
We rounded off another enjoyable day with about 15 minutes on the viewing platform overlooking the Clyst. Another grey plover was in close with a few common waders and a fishing little egret.
