Trip reports
West Sedgemoor - 9th December
Tuesday, 11 December 2007
At the barn platform at Redhill it was found that the cold northerly wind was blowing fierce scats of rain into the faces of the birdwatchers who found it necessary to stand further back and view the teeming stretches of water through telescopes.
Immediately obvious were several parties of mute swan and Canada geese, but after settling in, many more species were quickly located including greylags, huge numbers of wigeon plus shoveler, pintail, mallard and many handsome little teal swimming in and out of the reeds, displaying their eyecatching golden-yellow tail flags.
The strong, gusty wind made it impossible to track any small bird that happened to be flying past, but occasionally flocks of starlings settled on the wet grass and were soon joined by crows, rooks and jackdaws, while further out over the water, large numbers of lapwing congregated on small patches of exposed grass.
At one point, thousands of birds took to the air and everyone quickly scanned for a possible peregrine. None was located, but in the melee it was noticed that among the thousands of lapwing were several good-sized flocks of golden plover that remained visible once everything had settled in to land.
The only birds of prey seen were a couple of buzzards along the edge of the high ground and a lovely kestrel that suddenly appeared and hovered in front of the hide. Eventually it settled on a near gatepost within good viewing distance.
Moving on, five of the hardier types decided to visit Catcott and were well-rewarded fior their efforts. Among the many wildfowl were tufted duck, and other species included 16 snipe very close to the hide, several meadow pipits, and a continuous flight of starlings all heading in the same direction, presumably towards their roost.
Best birds however were a peregrine resting on the grass and excellent views of a very attractive female marsh harrier.
This was the final field meeting of the year of the group .