Saturday 2nd March 2024.
It had been arranged earlier this week that I was to take a trip into Somerset with both Emma and Matt Parkes, to the excellent Greylake RSPB reserve to hopefully see the long staying drake Baikal Teal. Sadly, the bird had not been seen for several days and it was not to be seen today either. Bugger! However, there was a super supporting cast to cheer me up. Matt had kindly done the driving this morning, picking me up around 6.30am to take the 81 mile trip through a very snowy Wiltshire (!) into a damn cold Somerset; enjoying a few Buzzards and Kites on the way and good numbers of Hares out in the countryside fields.
On arrival, we parked up in the car park and made our way to the two Hides present on the reserve. Matt and Emma had already been to the reserve a few weeks back and also had seen the Baikal Teal, but despite a good search through the hundreds of Teal present, there was no sign of the star bird. A Cetti’s Warbler greeted us with its loud song and showed well in a block of reeds by the footpath and seconds later, we flushed a Water Rail from the edge of the footpath, but the bird quickly settled into the reedbed opposite and out of view.
From the Hide, there was a large number of both Wigeon and Teal in front of the Hide, intermingled with good numbers of Common Snipe that performed superbly. Though there was no rain at the time, the skies were heavily overcast and therefore, a lot of my photos were not of the quality I would have liked, however, the birds painted a different picture. The site was infamous for its raptors as we enjoyed good numbers of Marsh Harriers quartering over the reserve. Buzzards were seen on the fence posts and a distant Kestrel could be seen hovering in the distance. A female Peregrine making sorties over the reserve, scattering the hundreds of Teal and Wigeon into panic, but it gave me a chance to check out the Teal that were hiding in the reeds and vegetation; but to no avail; for there was no sign of the Baikal Teal this morning at least. To round off an impressive list of raptors seen this morning, a superb male Hen-harrier soon sailed past us and headed off behind the Hide and over the fields behind the car park. Stunning!
This site boasted Common Cranes on the reserve and it didn't take long for me to find a pair of birds in the distance, but I could even hear one ‘honking’ way in the distance. The birds eventually flew off (see film footage) and another pair were seen later that morning while we were there. Both Great White Egrets and Little Egrets graced the reserve also and the former easily outnumbered the latter; with at least 8 possible 10 birds seen in the whole area? Among the wildfowl, there were smaller numbers of Mallard, Pintail and Shoveler and close to the Hide, a Chiffchaff put in a brief appearance. We checked out the second Hide which was adjacent to the first Hide overlooking the same area and it seemed to be surrounded by the ‘invisible’ Water Rails that called close to where we stood.
Our next stop was to be Calcott RSPB Reserve for more Harriers and we were not to be disappointed either. The reserve only has one Hide and it was pretty much full when we arrived and so both Matt and I viewed from the screens adjacent to the Hide. From here, there was a lot of wildfowl present on the lake in front of us and an adult Great White Egret patrolling the edge of the reedbeds to keep us entertained. We regularly scanned the marshes and water meadows behind the lake and a few Marsh Harriers kindly obliged, quartering the whole area and eventually, some chap from the Hide gave us the ‘heads up’ that a ‘ringtail’ Hen-harrier was flying over the reserve. We quickly got onto the bird which eventually flew down and settled out of view within the water meadows. It did fly up only to fly off over the trees in the distance, though the same bird was seen right in front of the Hide some ten minutes before we arrived here! Several Ravens were seen flying over the reserve and through the scope, I did pick out a male Stonechat perched on one of the fence posts.
The rain had started to fall now and as it was nearing midday, we decided to have lunch in the car before heading to our next destination - Stolford. Yesterday, I had checked on Birdguides of any interesting birds in the area and a small flock of four Cirl Buntings were seen on the footpath by Stolford seafront Car Park and see that Emma had never seen this species before and Matt had only ever seen this species in France, the guys were more than happy to take the 40 minute drive to this lovely location. The car park was very quiet, bar one elderly couple of birders who were also wanting to see these lovely birds. We walked north along the footpath for a couple of hundred yards then the shout went up that a couple of passerines had flown into a bramble nearby. Bingo! It was a female Cirl Bunting sitting quietly in the bramble and through the scope. However, we didn't realise that we were standing in the seed that was put out for the birds and so stepping well back, we let the birds come down to feed, including a superb male bird. From then on, we enjoyed cracking views of these rare Buntings; the first of this species I have ever seen away from East Prawle in Devon.
Where next? Apparently, there was a flock (!) of Ring-necked Ducks at Shapwick Heath nature reserve, but I also knew that a female Kentish Plover wasn’t too far away at Burnham-on-sea beach. This is a species both Emma and Matt had not seen before and this is where we went next! Another 30 minutes later, we parked up along the Esplanade and made our way down to the sandy beach to find this wader; but it wasn't going to be as easy as one hoped. While searching the huge expanse of beach in front of us, we enjoyed views of both Raven and a female Peregrine before I eventually found a flock of Ringed Plovers distantly on the opposite mudflats in Bridgewater Bay. The light was now excellent, but I had to use my highest magnification to go through the twenty plus Ringed Plover some distance away to locate the Kentish Plover among them. I went through the plumage details very carefully (sandy coloured upperparts, incomplete breast band, short tail giving the bird a stumpy appearance compared to the other Ringed Plovers) and concluded we had our bird. Matt was ‘over the moon’ with his first Kentish Plover under his belt as we enjoyed distant views of the bird. This was my first Kentish Plover for many a year; the last being on Sandy Point, Hayling Island, I believe. This bird has been wintering here, which explains why there were no birders present and though reported on Birdguides this morning, it was probably a lot nearer to the promenade with the tide up?
Time was getting on and seeing it was now close to 4pm, though the Ring-necked Ducks were very tempting, I knew we were going to be very late home should we have gone to Shapwick and so made our way home, with a long list of great sightings for our trip into Somerset. Great company and great birds. Meanwhile, back in dear old Hampshire, my birding pals Geoff and Andy, took a trip to Acres Down for the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker again and missed the bird by 10 minutes!!!
I've just stumbled across your blog today, and it reads beautifully. Your trip to Somerset really delivered and thanks to your info on the cirl bunting not that far from me I popped down this afternoon and saw these beauties for myself. I'll be following your blog. Andrew
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