Trip reports

WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE...

Saturday, 12 January 2008

Powick Hams was flooded, the flood barriers were up in Upton - we wondered whether we would make it to Somerset. But the sun was shining, the sky was blue, so we travelled hopefully. Siskins at the service station was a good start to what we hoped would be an excellent January day's birding at the Somerset Levels.
At West Sedgemoor, after a false start - the RSPB guides were 'there' but we were 'here' - we met up for guided tours round the three reserves we were visiting. Starting at West Sedgemoor we were treated to coffee and biscuits in the hayloft, or was it the carrot store? Probably the latter since the wet meadows and pools had previously been under cultivation for carrots. It is now classed as an environmentally sensitive area. Lots of duck were on the water, but far off and not easy to see without a scope, but the flocks of lapwing and black-tailed godwit made up for that. Some of the highlights were a kingfisher, pintail, peregrine and marsh tit. Oh, and roe deer.
Our next port of call was Graylake - no I don't know the origin of the name. Walking along the boardwalk to the hide I was delighted to see groups of snipe flying overhead - nine in one flock and twelve in another - they had been put up by a hen harrier. Further along was a stonechat and the increasingly ubiquitous little egret. Is there any watery area that doesn't have a little egret?
Our third and last visit was to Ham Wall, a raised walk on what had been a rail track with a circular walk leading off round the reserve and made famous by Bill Oddie when he showcased the starling roost on one of his programmes. Since then the reserve has attracted a lot of visitors and indeed, there was quite a crowd assembled by four o'clock when the aerial display was scheduled to start. Actually, the starlings were a little late as it was five past four when the first small flock arrived. Gradually, over the next thirty minutes, more and more flocks arrived and coalesced into a very large cloud of whirring wings, wheeling and turning, splitting off and rejoining the main body before shooting down like darts into the reeds, settling into a dark black line amid the gold. We could only marvel at the spectacle of tens of thousands of birds getting ready for bed.
Earlier, some of the Group did the circular walk round the reserve and were rewarded by another sighting of a hen harrier. Cetti's and water rail were heard but not seen, and one lucky person saw a bearded tit. I settled for a goldcrest but nothing could match the starling roost. I don't know what the Group total was, but I logged over forty species of bird, so as hoped, it was an excellent day's birding. Foul weather the day before; foul weather the day after; the day itself was lovely - our RSPB luck is still holding.