After an absence of over a month is was great to spend the day at Greylake again.
You only have to walk 100 yards along the board walk and it hits you – the noise of the singing warblers is incredible. Sedge warblers are calling throughout the reserve and the reed warblers seem to be calling near the board walk closer to the hide. At times you’ll only be a matter of feet from the birds singing at the tops of their voices and there are so many birds singing they can only be a few feet distant from each other!
With a bit of time and patience you can see both of these birds though most likely you’ll see the sedge warbler singing from a perch on the reeds or a low bush. The clear off-white supercilium, stripe above the eye, is a distinctive feature of the sedge warbler.
From the hide lapwing could clearly be seen holding territory in the fields in front of the hide – the display flight and call of a breeding lapwing is always a treat and no longer a common spectacle in Somerset. From time to time a pair of redshank were also seen and heard.
Two hobbies were seen hunting and taking insects on the wing – keep an eye out for when the bird seems to slow to eat it’s meal on the wing.
After lunch a whimbrel was found in the rushes out from the hide and at the same time a pair of shelduck flew in from the west, again confidingly into the field in front of the hide.
The highlight of the day though was what could be heard rather than seen – these riot of sound won’t last forever so take the chance to visit and find out for yourself.
Nick Edge