Thursday 1 March 2018

Shapwick & Ham Wall 27/2

An early start for a drive to Ham Wall, a lovely sunrise but still bitterly cold with a strong wind.  A trek to Tor View hide first where we again saw the Grebes but little evidence of the nest they were building yesterday.  A Marsh Harrier went down into the reeds, and we saw just one Cattle Egret fly over fairly high in the sky.  From the first platform a Great Egret was seen plus Pintail, Teal, Wigeon, Shoveler, Gadwall etc plus about 20 Black tailed Godwits. Leaving the area behind we caught sight of some Goldfinches in the Alders and on closer inspection a few Redpolls as well. 
Over to Shapwick side and we followed the track down to Meare hide. A few more duck species on the Scrape now Pochard, Tufted and Gadwall.  Walking through the woods down to Mere hide a Sparrowhawk flew past us,  no wonder there weren't any birds in the woods! At Meare hide we had our coffee. It was good to see that the reeds had been cut giving a slightly better view.  Not too much to be seen though the most exciting being a flock of Gadwall chasing around.
At Noah's the water level was pretty high and frozen around the edges but wow what a sight and sound of 1000's of Wigeon.  A few Pintail were seen as well as Tufted and Shoveler.  A couple of Cattle Egrets flew low across the water and Marsh Harriers came over a few times.  A Heron settled in the corner near the hide disturbing a Snipe that was quite settled feeding. The Kingfisher flew past a few times but didn't settle.
We left Noah's hide and walked back to Ham Wall car park. After some lunch we decided to return to the Tor view hide area. Around the carpark we had some great views of Bullfinches feeding on the new buds and a Goldcrest foraging in the low stems for food. 
Waltons trail next as we had heard that the Ferruginous Duck had been seen. Unfortunately it was in hiding when we reached the area.  Continuing around Waltons the skies started to turn grey and there were a few bits of snow falling.  We quickened our pace and reached the screen with cover just before a beautiful heavy snow shower took hold.  It only lasted a few minutes but in that time covered the ice that remained. Quite surreal to watch the birds in the snow including a Kingfisher that hovered in the sky as though it wondered what the hell was going on!
Our last visit to Tor View hide and this time we got a great view of a Water Rail feeding around the margins.  50 bird species seen today ..... Not a bad days birding! 

   Long tailed Tit

               
                   Wigeon flock

   Black tailed Godwits mixed in with Wigeon etc

               
                   Great Egret

    Blue Tit

               
                   Great Crested Grebes



               
                   Female Marsh Harrier



               




               
                   Moorhen swimming swiftly up the channel

    Great Egret

                


   Gadwall flock 

               
                   1000's of Wigeon on Noah's lake



                
                   Snipe seen close to Noah's hide



               
                   Blue Tit feeding off the reeds in front of Noah's



                
                   Mallard on ice



                
                   Grebe being chased off

   Wigeon

               
                   Bullfinch in the car park at Ham Wall

    Goldcrest foraging low down in the vegetation 

               




                
                   So agile as they search for food



               
                   Cettis Warbler showed briefly 

   Cettis Warbler

                
                   Just couldn't resist this Robin

   Long tailed Tit

               
                   

   Kingfisher in a snowstorm

               
                   Tufted Duck

   Moorhen in the snow

               


     
        Water Rail from Tor View hide

               


 
     Showing its tail

                
                   Great crested Grebe being chased off

     


               
                    It's almost like they run across the water

  

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