Having spent a bit of time at the RSPB reserve at Ham Wall<\/a> 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<\/a>. 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.<\/p>\n I Walked down to the woodland hide on the other side of the water and as I passed through the woods I stopped for a while to look at, and listen to, a beautiful Blackcap. As I neared the hide a Sparrowhawk zoomed past me across the path at not much more than two or three metres off the ground. The hide overlooked a small body of water but there was only a single Mallard to be seen. I returned across the bridge and down the opposite path and just as I reached the start of the path to the hide that overlooks “Noah’s Lake” I saw a male Whitethroat on tip of a bramble bush and, as it displayed, I also caught sight of the object of his attention. I stopped for a minute or two watching the pair and listening to the male singing before it headed off into the depths of the brambles.<\/p>\n At that hide I had apparently just missed a display of Hobbies but for me there were only Swans, Cormorants and Lesser Black-backed Gulls. Time was getting on so I had to head back to the car park for my lift but as I did so I could hear Chiffchaffs and the distant sound of a Great Spotted Woodpecker drumming.<\/p>\nBird Sightings : Shapwick Heath<\/h4>\n
| Species<\/th>\n | Count<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n |
|---|---|
| Gadwall<\/td>\n | 40<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Shoveler<\/td>\n | 4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Cormorant<\/td>\n | 4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Little Egret<\/td>\n | 1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Sparrowhawk<\/td>\n | 1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Black-tailed Godwit<\/td>\n | 50<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Lesser Black-backed Gull<\/td>\n | 20<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Great Spotted Woodpecker<\/td>\n | 1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Chiffchaff<\/td>\n | 4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Whitethroat<\/td>\n | 2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\nMap of Shapwick Heath<\/h4>\n |