April 2013 archive

Apr 30 2013

Summary April 2013

Summary April 2013

Garden

Although April started out still cold, there were some signs in the first week of the possibility of Spring happening. It has at least been dry for a couple of weeks so the surrounding countryside is getting a chance to soak up the record rainfalls of March. Disturbingly there have been a few newspaper reports of migratory birds arriving in Britain to find that there are no insects around to eat yet. Eleven Stone Curlews were found dead in Norfolk and the conclusion byt he RSPB was that, since they were all severely underweight, they had died of starvation – possibly during the recent snows.

In the garden the Blackbirds are ever present and challenging each other. Robin and Dunnock are flitting about and sometimes singing. The plague that is Woodpigeon and Collared Dove has resumed and some snails have started to appear. We have had to put more wire netting back up at the bottom of the garden to try to discourage the cats – now five of them – that like to chase birds in our garden. As many as four male Blackbirds have been competing for our garden whilst a single female busies herself eating.

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Apr 30 2013

Visit to WWT Slimbridge 30th April 2013

Visit to WWT Slimbridge 30th April 2013

We had stopped off at Slimbridge to break up our journey back from Somerset to Manchester and again we stayed at the Tudor Arms Hotel in Slimbridge. This afforded us a chance to go to WWT Slimbridge once again before we had to go home. We started off by going up the observation tower at the visitor centre which was just as well because it was the last chance we had to see the Cranes. We could see three of them on Rushy Pen but we didn’t see much of them before they all flew off in the direction of the Severn estuary. Be that as it may we still had a fine morning. Continue reading

Apr 29 2013

Visit to RSPB Shapwick Heath 29th April 2013

Visit to RSPB Shapwick Heath 29th April 2013

Flushed with our glorious sighting of three Bitterns at the Ham Wall end of Ashcott Road, we crossed over the car park and onto the Shapwick Heath reserve. We walked up to the pools on Meare Heath and there were a couple of people who had been standing for quite a while hoping to see a Great White Egret that had apparently been seen well earlier in the day. We had a bit of a look but as there wasn’t much on the water and so sight of the Egret we thought we would ead up to the hides at the bridge. As it happens, the bridge was closed ff for some repair work so we did not cross over the water to the woodland hide and instead turned left down to the hide that overlooks “Noah’s Water” Again there were Whitethroat around and Swallows above. Continue reading

Apr 29 2013

Visit to RSPB Ham Wall 29th April 2013

Visit to RSPB Ham Wall 29th April 2013

We had a day off birding on the 28th as we went walking with the friends we were staying with. Even then we did see a Willow Warbler and a Rock Pipit. We left our friends on the 29th but we decided that we could afford another couple of hours visiting the RSPB reserve at Ham Wall and the adjoining Natural England reserve at Shapwick Heath. We hoped to see the Black-winged Stilts for a second time but when we got to the “second platform” they were nowhere to be seen. Still there were plenty of Gadwall and the flock of Black-tailed Godwits we had seen up at Shapwick Heath seemed to have moved over to the marshes here. We did see a drake Garganey however which was the first for us for the year. Continue reading

Apr 28 2013

Walk around Lyme Regis 28th April 2013

Walk around Lyme Regis 28th April 2013

We had something of a day off birding to go for a walk with the friends with whom we were staying. We all decided to take a walk around Lyme Regis and whilst this was not a birding walk we still did come across a Willow Warbler and, down at the Cob, a Rock Pipit.

 

Apr 27 2013

Visit to RSPB Shapwick Heath 27th April 2013

Visit to RSPB Shapwick Heath 27th April 2013

Having spent a bit of time at the RSPB reserve at Ham Wall I decided to forego lunch with the friends I was with and instead to have a quick look at the adjoining Natural England reserve at Shapwick Heath. I only had time to walk down to the first set of hides, stopping off at the pools on Meare Heath. I had a look for the Pied-billed Grebe but again I was out of luck. The largest presence was a fifty strong flock of Black-tailed Godwits. There was also a fairly large number of Gadwall and a single Little Egret.

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Apr 27 2013

Visit to RSPB Ham Wall 27th April 2013

Visit to RSPB Ham Wall 27th April 2013

Part of our holiday involved staying with friends in Montacute in South Somerset and, as we had been reading a lot recently about the RSPB reserve at Ham Wall and the adjoining Natural England reserve at Shapwick Heath, this seemed like an ideal opportunity to check these reserves out. As we approached the sites our friends commented that the times they had been here before it had been more or less deserted so when we arrived at the car park and it was full to overflowing we realised that something was up – that something was an ongoing “twitch” The question was what species had been spotted ? Continue reading

Apr 26 2013

Visit to RSPB Arne 26th April 2013

Visit to RSPB Arne 26th April 2013

Our three-day stay in Poole had come to an end and it was time for us to move on to Somerset where we were to stay with friends. However we had another chance to drop in on RSPB Arne which was more or less on our way anyway. We hoped that going on our own rather than being in a group would enable us to see more birds. We took the Coombe Heath path again hoping to have a second go at finding a Dartford Warbler and we were only minutes away from doing so as we discovered when we entered one of the hides and a couple said that they had just seen one on a bush right outside the hide! I would have felt worse but we have done the same to others ourselves and there is always an element of luck in birding. Perhaps it will be our turn to get lucky next time. Continue reading

Apr 24 2013

Visit to Brownsea Island 25th April 2013

Visit to Brownsea Island 25th April 2013

This was our last day in Poole so it was with some scepticism when we looked out of the hotel window to find that the promenade was hardly visible never mind Brownsea island. Anyway we thought that we would take a walk along the prom to see if the weather would perk up. As we walked along we came across a small number of Turnstones scouring the water’s edge looking for morsels. we turned inward after a while and walked through a sort of park cum open space where there were plenty of birds but also plenty of dog walkers so that wasn’t entirely satisfactory. Anne decided to go off shopping so I wandered around a little more before deciding to go back to the hotel to pick up my camera in order to get some photos of the Turnstones. Continue reading

Apr 24 2013

Visit to RSPB Radipole Lake 24th April 2013

Visit to RSPB Radipole Lake 24th April 2013

After we left RSPB Arne we drove over to Weymouth to visit the Radipole Lake which has been modernised considerably since our last visit. They have got rid of the shop and now have a children’s activity centre and a toilet of their own. Previously you had to use the council toilets in the car park which were not always even open ! They still have the big panoramic window overlooking the lake. We walked around the entire site enjoying the walkways and new raised platforms that give you a view over the reedbeds. The singing of Reed Warblers and Sedge Warblers could be hear loudly coming out of the reedbeds and from trees Chiffchaffs called and we even heard a Cetti’s Warbler. Overhead Swallows swooped in large numbers Continue reading