I was very kindly invited by Mavis and Kay to join them on a trip to Ham Wall in Somerset on Monday 19th May, a place I last visited with Mavis 4 years ago, and it turned out to be an excellent and wildlife filled day indeed.
I was picked up at the usual place in Plympton at around 8am and it was overcast and cool in the breeze, not what was forecasted, and while we all wished we had brought warmer gear with us at least it wasn't meant to rain.
We arrived at Ham Wall at around 9:45am and headed off into the reserve towards the Avalon Hide. Birds were singing away but mostly keeping out of sight but we did get glimpses of Blackcap, Reed Warblers and a Willow Warbler while Chiffchaffs were heard only.
Most notable were Four-spotted Chasers, they were everywhere along with smaller numbers of Scarce Chasers, I've never seen such numbers of Dragonflies before. The cool weather meant they were keeping out of the wind but when the sun occassionally appeared and the temperature lifted the air was full of them.
Lots of "Blue" Damselfly were flitting about too with Blue-tailed and Variable Damselfly positively ID'd
Bitterns were heard booming away and we were treated to some nice flyover views at times, we even saw one being hassled in flight by a male Marsh Harrier but sadly never managed to get an on the ground view of one. Great White Egrets were much more showy with some birds seen very close to, no idea of numbers but they seemed to be everywhere with birds feeding in the reeds and flying over. The highest number seen together at any one time was 5 but undoubtedly many more were present, they certainly are doing very well here.
A Cuckoo was briefly heard calling, Great Crested Grebes and Coots were busily attending to their fledglings out on the water where Pochard, Mallard, Gadwall, Tufted Duck and Shoveler were also present, a Hobby briefly flew over, Marsh Harriers quartered over the reeds, 2 Redshank and Lapwings (including a small chick) were the only wader sightings of the day, Water Rails were heard squealing in the reeds and Kay picked up a flock of around 20 Cattle Egrets flying over.
We had a look at the 2 Tern rafts out on the water, a Black-headed Gull pair were nesting on one of them and there were 3 Common Terns present which was good to see. However as we got nearer and had a closer look we realised the Common Terns were in fact decoys to attract the real thing in to nest on the platforms!
As the day wore on we walked over to Shapwick Heath where the sun slowly began to appear from behind the clouds and the temperature began to rise. The highlight here were Hobby dashing across the reeds and snatching Dragonflies out of the air to eat on the wing, again it was difficult to assess numbers but at least 10 must have been present and undoubtedly more. It was fascinating to watch their aerial skills and how easily they caught their prey and as they tucked in to their meal in flight the dragonflys wings would be removed and we could see them spiralling down to the ground.
Other birds of note here were Garden Warbler and Great Spotted Woodpecker both heard, a Red Kite with Buzzards and a Sparrowhawk overhead and yet more Great White Egrets and Marsh Harriers.
There were plenty of Odonata also flying around here too and including Banded Demoiselle and Red-eyed Damselfly. A Speckled Wood and 2 very smart looking Small Tortoiseshell were also seen flitting about and the canal was full of Yellow Waterlily coming into flower. Vapourer and Knot Grass caterpillars were also found on Bramble leaves.
Back at the car park as we were packing up for the drive back to Plymouth 3 Swallows were flying around and a male Brimstone flitted past. I had just put my binoculars away in my rucksack when I noticed a Grey Heron flying overhead in the company of what I at first thought was a Great White Egret until I realised it's neck was outstretched. This resulted in a frantic rummage for my binoculars and I managed to get a brief look at it before it dropped down out of sight behind the trees, I expected it to be a Common Crane but it turned out to be a White Stork!
It looked like it might have been coming in to land on the ground and so as we drove out of the car park and along the road we kept our eyes peeled. We quickly found around 20 Cattle Egret feeding in a roadside field amongst a small herd of Cows while a farmer in a tractor was cutting grass nearby. We pulled in by the field gate for a look at the Cattle Egret and as we scanned around we quickly found the White Stork feeding amongst the cut grass and eventually managed to get some good views of it, there were no rings on its legs but it is presumably one of the birds from the Knepp reintroduction scheme in Sussex. It was a new bird for both Mavis and Kay and a very exciting end to a very, very enjoyable days birding and wildlife watching.
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