Somerset.... mainly Ham Wall RSPB

 So still catching up with stuff from June! We booked a week in Somerset in between visits to Birmingham. Ham Wall is one of our favourite reserves in the UK, mind you we do have lots of favourites 😂

Ham Wall:

Marsh Harrier

Dragonfly, not sure of species,

Growing up fast! A young Great Crested Grebe,

Great White Egret,

Broad-bodied Chaser,

Glastonbury Tor,

Dragonfly (species?),

At Westhay Moor, Great Crested Grebe, with chicks,

Dad bringing lunch home 

that was way too big! Eventually 'mom' had to eat it

Marsh Harrier back at Ham Wall,

Tufted Duck,

Little Grebe with two youngsters,

Merlin!

Black-tailed Skimmer (female),

Swans on one of the channels.

Black-tailed Skimmer (male),

Plenty of female Mallard, theres a few Gadwall in there too.

Grey Heron,

Mallard young at Chew Valley.

Gatekeeper Butterfly,

Common Blue Damselfly,

Broad-bodied Chaser,

Little Egret,

and a very distant blurred shot of a Bittern! We had quite a few Bittern sightings at Ham Wall but this is the only photo that is vaguely identifiable 😌

A Bit of Birding in Suffolk Part 1

After a very complicated visit to Birmingham last week, we had a few days in Suffolk before the looooong drive back to Scotland. Our plans were completely changed over Easter due to someone in the family testing positive for the dreaded 'Vid'. We already had 4 nights booked in Aldeburgh, so we hastily found a B&B for 2 extra nights.

On the way we popped into Ickworth NT and came across our first Egyptian Geese of the year, with goslings!

We found that we were near a reserve that we had visited in previous visit, this is the Suffolk Wildlife Trust's Hen Reed Beds reserve, we paid three visits over the two days. More Goslings, this time Greylag Goose,

Marsh Harrier over the Reeds,

and one of the many Twite that were about.

We also saw our first Swallows of the year here, collecting mud for their nest, as well as Cetti's Warblers, they just wouldn't stay still for a second, so no chance of a photo. Little Egrets put in a few appearances but liked to hide away from us or had reeds in front, so this is the best photo I could manage:

and finally a solitary Lawing:

Oh! I nearly forgot, we had a very very brief sighting of a Bittern as it flew over the reeds! In total just 24 species, but a great place to sit, chill and get sunburnt!

Monday at RSPB Ham Wall

With most of our local reserves still closed and being huge fans of Ham Wall, which is open, we decided to take advantage of the last of the good weather and go for a drive down.

We had a fabulous day, we arrived about 12:30 so not the best time of day for the heat but you have to do what you have to do!

We parked in the RSPB car park and walked slowly to the first platform and were rewarded very quickly with a Bittern flying over the reeds, it was fairly distant, so I didn't bother take any snaps, just watched and enjoyed. You don't get one of those down Old Hill Canal!

There were plenty of Egrets about, both Great White and Little...

So With hides and screens closed we wandered around and made the best of what presented itself;
Willow Warbler,

 Marsh Harrier,

 Hobby,

 Mute Swan with Cygnets,

 Damselflies,

 Cygnet,

 Whitethroat,

 Dragonflies,

Very distant Cuckoo!

It was a lovely day, we had a great chat with Paul a chap from Costa Rica, but originally from Rotherham! Who is stuck here and can't get home. We chatted about Costa Rica as we were there a few years back and various other things, it all felt quite normal. With social distancing rules of course.
I have now added his blog to those we follow, on the right hand menus. But if you can't see it go to: https://birdsforbeer.com/ for some great photos of what you can see over there and more.

We saw a total of 41 species at Ham Wall and our year list crawled up to 113.