Somerset Wild Walks: On the Levels 5/3 Cettis Warbler, Snipe, Sparrowhawk

An early arrival to Ham Wall at 07:30 to a lovely blue sky sunny morning although this would change later to increasing cloud with a couple of showers.

Leaving the carpark we had great views of Lesser Redpoll feeding in the Alders, still fairly high up but nice to see the sun on them. On to the first platform where there were still good numbers of Wigeon, Teal, Shoveler, Tufted, Pochard to be seen. Also had a lovely view of a male Roe deer with full antlers sitting along the path in the sun.

From the screen on the way to Tor View hide the Kingfishers were racing and chasing up and down the channel. A few Snipe, Teal and Shoveler were on the island and a Heron flew into the mix. From Tor View hide we had our best views ever of a Cettis Warbler as it looked for food in the reeds below. Water Rails were heard squealing from the reeds and Little Grebes could be heard and seen everywhere.

From Tor View hide we walked onto the second platform but nothing of note was on the water in fact it was very quiet. The path leading to the platform was busy with smaller birds in amongst the trees Blue Tits, Great Tits, Dunnock, Robin, Wren and a couple of Siskin.

After lunch we took a walk down the Shapwick side to Tower hide that overlooks the scrape and 70 acres. On the way we saw a few Bullfinches feeding on the new buds in the scrub area. A bit further on a flock of Goldfinches were settled in a tree. From the hide you get a great view overlooking the scrape which at the moment is full to the brim with water, a few Tufted Ducks and Pochard. Not much to see here so we settled on the other side of the hide to overlook 70 acres a vast reed bed. Work has been carried out here to remove a large numbers of trees and scrub that were starting to become invasive to the area. We often see Bearded Tits here but not today, we did however see a couple of Marsh Harriers and a Sparrowhawk whizz across the reeds. 48 species of birds seen today the highlights being Bittern, Cattle, Little & Great Egrets, Snipe, Water Rail, Sparrowhawk, Marsh Harrier, Cettis Warbler, Kingfisher, Goldcrest, Siskin.