Somerset - Day 1 - Westhay Moor & Ham Wall

Because we are gluttons for punishment and had a gap in our caqlendar, we took ourselves off to Somerset for a few days over half-term. Not a great time to choose because of the holiday traffic, but we had wanted to spend a few days down there as we hadn't been for a while and a recent half day down there had whetted our appetite and this would be the only window that we would get.

We travelled down on the Monday of half term and decided to have a lunch stop at Dyrham Park NT on the way, from a birding point of view there was little of note, but the Deer offered some nice views:

We had three full days, so decided to start with Westhay Moor a site that we had never been to before. Its a nice reserve with a couple of nice hides, although some of the hides are standing only and when you are little like Tina, you can't see anything through the openings! (Much to her annoyance!) Particularly when the Hobbys were displaying so well!
Red Kite,

 Whitethroat,

 Dragonfly and

Hobby

We spent a good few hours at Westhay, but without much else to report apart from Buzzard, Sparrowhawk, Heron and booming Bittern, though none were seen.

We decided to go to Ham Wall for the late afternoon, hopefully in this case for Barn Owl near the bridge. However we should have done our homework, the bridge was closed for repair work, so we walked the long way round to the first viewing platform and the screens. The weather by now had turned a bit dull and windy, so it wasn't much fun, but we stuck it out for a while.
Great Crested Grebe,

 Grey Heron,

 Great White Egret,

 Cormorant,

 Whitethroat

We did manage to see a Bittern this time, but too quick for me to get a photo.

So off to Tesco in Glastonbury to find something for tea!