NOVEMBER 10th - Somerset day out

Oh to be away from England now that November is here! Since we arrived last Sunday it has been windy, wet, dull and cold' why would I ever want to come back for good. Well Wednesday is the answer, what a lovely day, clear blue sky, unbroken sunshine, beautiful colours and fantastic scenery. I planned a day out with my friend Brian and we certainly picked the right day.

We met at 8:30am in the centre of Crewkerne, Somserset and drove to a site just north of Wells where we hoped to get a rare sighting of a Tree Sparrow. It was very cold as we walked the track to look for the bird but the sun was warming us up. We had great views of Bullfinch, Fieldfare, Raven and lots of common species before we had our one and only brief sighting of the sparrow, but still, that was enough.

Red-necked Grebe

Next we drove to Chew Valley lake and took a visit to the Stratford Hide where hundred of birds could be seen. The best of which were Slavonian Grebe, Pintail, Goosander, Goldeneye and a male Sparrowhawk flashing by. There was also good numbers of Teal, Wigeon, Common Pochard, Tufted Duck, Shoveler, Gadwall, Gt Crested Grebes and Common Coot. On the shore we found lapwing, Dunlin, Linnets and Meadow Pipits.

Lapwing - used to be called Green Plover - see why?

We ate our picnic lunch in the car whilst watching a party of Long-tailed Tits, we then moved on to Cheddar reservoir passing through the famous gorge on the way. The water was quite low but there was still a huge concentration of wildfowl and gulls. We picked out two Whooper Swans amongst the many Mute and we soon located our target bird the Red-necked Grebe in the distance. We walked a fair distance round the perimeter of the reservoir to get a better view and on our return we found the other 'goody' a Red-breasted Merganser.

Common Kestrel

finally we drove into the centre of the 'Levels' at Ham Wall hoping for a spectacular display from the roosting starlings. The weather was just perfect, no wind, clear sky, a lovely setting sun but alas, although the birds did come in to roost in their thousands, they simply dove for cover on arrival, no display. We also noted Common Buzzard, Marsh Harrier, Little Egret, Great White Egret, Common Snipe and of course 500,000 starlings.

A fitting end to a lovely day out in Somerset.

NOVEMBER 4TH - GRIFFON VULTURE

A bit of excitement today as i was called by my friend Jorrian to tell me that an injured Vulture was wandering round in the grounds of a finca situated just behind the castle.

It took the two of us about 20 minutes to get there and round up the poor bird. It couldn't fly but we could not see any visible injury. Jorrian called a local bird sanctury and they collected it later in the afternoon. They said that there was nothing wrong with the bird except that it was exhausted and after a few days of recuperation it will be fine and released at a local feeding station.


The bird had rings on both legs and I am in the process of finding the details of where and when it was ringed.

Watch this space for more info.

6pm.
Just heard back from France with the following message:

This vulture was born in France in Grands Causses (Cévennes). He(it) was ringed in the nest on 25/05/2010 in Tarn Gorge, municipality "les Vignes" Département "Lozère". Region "Languedoc Roussillon". He(it) had not been observed here after his(its) flight.

SO A HAPPY ENDING TO MY STORY OF THE DAY

NOVEMBER 3RD - GAUCIN

The weather remains glorious, clear sky, no wind, unbroken sunshine. From our top terrace this afternoon we sat in lovely afternoon temperatures reading and sipping cool drinks.




The local palm trees are laden with fruit, Blackcaps are eating the berries whilst Chiffchaffs are feeding on the insects around them. Griffon Vultures drift over now and then and Black Redstarts are becoming increasingly more common. the local Blue Rock Thrushes are in fine song.