Wednesday 9th May and a very early start saw me heading off on the bus to Yelverton at 06:20am to meet Mavis for the drive to Ham Wall in Somerset for a days birding. It was bright and sunny as we drove over Dartmoor to pick up the A38 at Ashburton but rain and wind was forecast for later in the day, it did indeed cloud over but didn't rain until I caught the bus back to Plymouth from Yelverton at 7pm which was very fortuitous.
A willow warbler, blackcap and chiffchaff were singing away as we arrived at the RSPB Ham Wall car park at just after 9am starting things off nicely. We headed out to Noahs Hide on Shapwick Heath first and along the way we heard reed warblers and garden warblers singing with a songflighting whitethroat showing well as it snaffled down a huge earthworm.
From the hide we picked out a pair of gadwall, 2 greylag geese, great crested grebes, tufted ducks and a male pochard amongst the coots, mallards and mute swans. More unusual fare were a flyover female marsh harrier, up to 7 hobbies swooping around together high over the trees and the occassional flyover great white egret along with booming bitterns, a feeding great white egret on a pool close to the path and 2 little ringed plovers feeding out on the mud - quite magical.
Great White Egret
Great White Egret
We returned back to Ham Wall, seeing brimstone, green veined whites, blue damselfly species and large red damselflys along the way, and after a refreshing cup of tea from the RSPB information hut while swifts screamed around overhead we walked on into the reserve towards the Avalon hide as the skies gradually started to cloud over.
Large Red Damselfly
Blue Sp. Damselfly
More bitterns were heard booming and great white egrets and hobbies were regular overhead with some excellent views had of the great white egrets feeding out on the marsh.
Great White Egret
Great White Egret
Great White Egret with Mute Swan
Great White Egret
Great White Egret
Great White Egret
Great White Egret
From the Avalon hide we heard a sedge warbler singing and a tawny owl chick was briefly seen at the entrance to its nest box but the stars of the show were the hobbies which swooped and stooped over the reedbeds giving some great views, very mobile and difficult to assess numbers accurately.
A pair of marsh harriers danced over the reeds and a pair of bitterns showed well if distantly as they chased each other around before disappearing back into cover. A male garganey was a nice find as it fed out in the open but it soon disappeared back into cover and there were more gadwall, pochard and tufted duck seen plus 2 young great crested with their parents, 1 small one on its parents back and a larger one following its parent across the water while begging for food.
Garganey - record shot
Pochard
Pochard
Pochard
Mute Swan
Swallows, house martins and sand martins were buzzing around with the swifts while reed warblers and garden warblers were again very vocal with good views obtained of both including a very showy garden warbler which regularly chased after a nearby singing blackcap.
Garden Warbler
It was soon time to head off home at around 4.30pm in darkening skies but it had been an excellent day out - thanks Mavis!
