THE LEVELS AT HAM WALL RSPB RESERVE - CHEW VALLEY LAKE - CHEDDAR RESERVOIR
WEATHER: overcast to start with, some misty patches, then broken sunshine all day. No wind whatsoever. Top temp 23C
Birding Guru Guy Campbell picked me up at 7:30am and we drove straight to Ham Wall on the Somerset Levels. We saw a few species as we walked to the Avalon Hide, but our main interest today was to get a sighting of the American wader, the Pectoral Sandpiper.
Great and Little Egrets with a juvenile Grey Heron
Glossy Ibis feeding in front of the Avalaon hide
The Avalaon Hide was very quiet with only two other people sitting inside, that makes a nice change becuase throughout the summer this hide has been fully occupied by photographers. We settled down and started listing a good variety of species and we spent a wonderful two hours enjoying the very still conditions in superb light.
Green Sandpiper
Green Sandpiper with Common Snipe
We quickly found a Kingfisher, Glossy Ibis, Sedge Warbler, Green Sandpiper (4), Common Snipe, Lapwing, Water Rail, Great and Little Egrets, Glossy Ibis (2), Grey Herons and several species of common ducks.
It wasn't long before we located the Pectoral Sandpiper as it appeared from behind some reeds, Wowza! Our target bird was in the bag. Guy then spotted a Barn Owl flying over the reeds in the distance, hunting in broad daylight??
Pectoral Sandpiper with Common Snipe
Scanning the reedbeds and the muddy margins of the pool we found several Beared Tits feeding on fallen seeds, we also found five Water Rails, Meadow Pipits, Grey Wagtail and Sedge Warbler. Cetti's Warbler called and Willow Warblers/Chiffchaffs dashed around the reeds.
Pec Sandpiper with a male Bearded Tit (top right)
a pair of Bearded Tits
We left after two hours, well satisfied with our sightings and after a quick coffee-stop in the car park we set off for Chew Valley.
Over the last week or so another American Wader has been frequenting the pool at Herriot's Bridge, Chew Valley Lake. The Lesser Yellowlegs was in fact on show when we arrived. My god it was distant, but with our scopes and phones we managed to take a few blurry pictures. To our great surprise there was also another pectoral Sandpiper present!! That's two in one day! We filled our boots with these two nearctic waders and enjoyed watching up to seven Green Sandpipers, a single Black-tailed Godwit and many, many ducks.
Lesser Yellowlegs - a distant shot
the lesser Yellowlegs showing its yellow legs
We stopped off in West Harptree to buy a delicious pastie (stilton and beef), which we ate in the car park at Woodford Lodge. We made a short stop at Heron's Green view point to search for more waders. The water level was extremely low with vast areas of mud exposed around small areas of water. We counted 27 Great Egrets in this area alone! Also seen were many Little Egrets, Grey Herons and a good variety of ducks.
the view at Heron's Green - not much water here!
Guy found the only wader present, it was a Spotted Redshank, nice one Guru. many Little and Great Crested Grebes were also present. We searched the deeper water out in the centre of the lake for two Ruddy Ducks that had been noted for the last couple of weeks, we dipped on those.
Our last birding spot was the reservoir at Cheddar, this body of water was also extremely low in volumn. A large 'island' was now present not far out from the Cheddar Tower. On the far side of this island, which was covered in ducks and gulls, Guy found two Curlew Sandpipers and a single Ruff. We also noted 3 Ringed Plovers and a single Snipe.
Thousands of Teal sat on the island and were present in many other areas of the reservoir, a single Garganey was also present, but we never had the time to search through the Teal to find it. We had found this very same bird during our last visit 11 days ago.
our view of Cheddar reservoir showing the sandy island where most of the birds were found.
The afternoon sun was very pleasant and with no wind we savoured the moment and enjoyed the warmth and the beautiful scenery around us.
We drove home across the 'Levels' noting a couple of dozen Cattle Egrets in the meadows with cattle. Guy had called out at least three Red Kites, a Marsh Harrier and we saw a couple of Common Buzzards sitting on posts.
Bird of the day - Lesser Yellowlegs - with Pectoral Sandpiper coming close second.