A frosty start to our visit to Greylake with fast increasing cloud very quickly giving a grey and overcast morning. Plenty of the smaller birds around the carpark and feeder including Reed Bunting, Chaffinch, Starlings, etc. The walk to the hide was alive with the calling and whistling of Teal and Wigeon and over head a huge flock of around 100 Snipe whizzed overhead a few times. We have never seen so many Snipe.
From the hide its self we had good views of the large numbers of Shoveler, Wigeon, Teal, Snipe and a few Pintail. The Shoveler seemed to be very active this morning with plenty of flights here and there. Unfortunately the dull and overcast conditions didn't help with the photography but the birdwatching was good. Two Great Egrets were seen at the back of the reserve and also a Marsh Harrier which took flight and alarmed the wildfowl at the very back of the reserve. It's a shame that on this visit the Harrier didn't come a little closer to the hide.
After a couple of hours we left the hide to journey home but stopped off on the way to Brean Down Cove to try and see the Black Redstart. The cloud had thickened up even more and the first few spots of rain began to fall. We had just enough time to walk along the beach find the Black Redstart, Stonechat, Rock Pipit and Raven before the rain well and truly came down.
Drake Shoveler
Wigeon and Pintail
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