WALL COMMON & WWT STEART MARSHES
WEATHER: Clear start with a moderate to high north-westerly wind.
I ordered the Guru Taxi to collect me at 7:30am this morning for a morning trip to Steart, near Bridgewater to look for a Sabine's Gull that had been frequenting the beach at Wall Common, Steart.
Guy arrived on time and we drove to Wall Common, Steart, arriving around 8:30am. A message went out that the Gull had been seen not five minutes before we arrived. Skylarks were flying around in small groups, we also noted Meadow Pipits, Linnets and a distant Curlew. A Sparrowhawk dashed across the marsh, Guy missed it because he putting on his extra layers of clothing.
At the beach we met a local birder who told that the bird had flown off onto the Steart nature Reserve and sent us off in the right direction. We stood at the reserve fence and set up our scopes to scan the beach area as the tide came in.
We saw more Curlews, Oystercatchers, Black-headed, Herring and lesser Black-backed Gulls, but there was no sign of the Sabine's Gull. A sole duck flew along the beach and landed in the sea, it turned out to be a female Pintail Duck!
After about 1/2 hour of searching I happened to turn around and look at the beach behind us. I'm not kidding when I say that the Sabine's Gull was walking in the sea-weed not 5 meters away from us!! Guy burst out laughing, "it's behind you" he shouted!! I couldn't believe, the little bugger sneaked up behind us. Its a good job I wasn't with a group, how embarassing would that have been?
We filled our boots and used phones to take pictures, the bird walked away from us and we followed. It took short flights on occasion and son we were joined by four other birders. The Gull got more wary and took flight to a safer distance, boy does this bird light-up when it spreads its wings, what a beauty.
Juvenile Sabine's Gull - some say it looks like a feral pigeon at times!
We spent another 30 minutes enjoying the bird before we walked away, well pleased that the bird had shown itself to us - not that we had found it - it found us!
We decided to abandon our idea of visiting the Tower Hide for a sea-watch, the wind wasn't strong enough to blow birds into the bay. Instead we drove to the WWT Steart Reserve to view the marshes from the Otterhampton Hide. As we approached the hide a huge flock of Golden Plovers flew over us, they circled the marsh and then set down on the islands.
some of the Golden Plovers
the view from the Otterhampton Hide
From the hide we watched Teal, Gadwall, Shoveler, Wigeon, Little Grebes, Cormorants, Little Egrets, Grey Herons, Lapwings and more Skylarks. We moved to another section of the hide and added a huge flock of Linnets to the list, also Pheasants, a Stonechat, some Goldfinches and Meadow Pipits.
A young birder told us that he had picked out a Red Knot in with the Plover flock, so we walked back to the other side of the hide to look for it. Sure enough, there was a single Knot, pretending to be a Golden Plover!
can you pick out the Red Knot amongst the Golden Plovers?
I love watching large flocks of birds, no matter what species they are. The Linnet flock was impressive, the Starling flock was quite large but the Golden Plovers were amazing. The silver glow of the underwing flashed as they turned in the sunlight, the Starlings joined them too.
Golden Plovers without the Red Knot
Walking back to the car we found some sheltered areas, little sun-traps, where we found two species of dragonflies. Common Darter is shown below and we also saw Southern Hawker.
Common Darter
We added distant Buzzard, Raven and Common Kestrel before we left the area.