Firstly, I ought to wish everyone a belated Happy New Year. There should have been a blog last week but something came up (apologies) so here we are almost 2 weeks into January already. Well, I think the theme for the new year so far is Wet Wet Wet!!
The reserve is a touch on the moist side to say the least. This morning the Avalon Hide path was just about passable in wellies but with more rain on the way, waders may be required by tomorrow. To compound this I have had to turn off our pumps, as the main drain is very high and we have another deluge on the way tonight and we can't pump water into an already full system so we will be collecting rather a lot more in the next 24 hours or so. It's the responsible thing to do, so bear with us and I will get those pumps back on as soon as possible.
The rest of the reserve is still accessible, although the Loxtons trail is most likely very sticky.
You can see plenty from the main path though. A stop at the first viewing platform (VP1) will give you a fair few lapwing. Commonly around 150 here daily but I'm pretty sure there were about 300 this morning. The water levels have come up significantly in here though (partly on purpose, as we want to try and drown out some of the reed regrowth to leave the area more open or patchy). It means many lapwing have been pushed out to other areas (some in Waltons on Monday) - there are plenty of flooded fields locally now for sure. There were as many as 2500 last week, perhaps even 3000 at times.
The 40-50 black tailed godwits have also been pushed out now by rising levels but again there was a group visible from the Tor View Hide on Monday. Thanks to John Crispin for his shots of black tailed godwits taken from VP1 before the levels rose:
Canada geese seem to be enjoying the reserve at the moment with 12 regulars at VP1, I have seen and heard plenty of others around the reserve this week. Ducks have joined them too with a fair selection from VP1 and over in Waltons in front of the screens and the hide: mallard, gadwall, shoveler, tufted duck, wigeon, teal and a few pochard all recorded (along with numerous coot in Waltons).
Snipe too can be seen here, although they can take a little more effort as they blend in so well to the cut reeds. Around 18 were counted on the first cut island visible at Waltons, with another 23 sat on a floating raft of cut reeds from the Tor View Hide. Some were visible on the cut islands here on Monday. Thanks again to John Crispin for his shot of snipe taken last week:
Look out also for great crested grebes. The pair that have been resident all winter have already been showing signs of courtship - although not yet in their breeding plumage. Visible often from the Tor View Hide with a third bird spotted from VP1. 3 little grebes have also been spotted from the hide. Thanks to John Crispin once more more his photos of great crested grebes taken at Waltons:
It may seem a bit grim out there but other birds too are thinking ahead to spring and finding their voice or at least practicing. we heard our first bittern of the year - not booming, but grunting - it's way of warming up that bit neck muscle ready for a proper boom.
During the brief sunny spells this week plenty of robins singing (ok nothing unusual) b ut also great tit, blue tit, song thrush and chiffchaff all heard (might get a shock next week - I've heard snow forecast - don't quote me.
This chiffchaff was photographed last week by John Crispin - thanks John:
It's showing well its primary wing projection, which is much longer in the willow warbler due to it being a longer distance migrant.
A couple of blackcaps have also been spotted (had 3 in my garden in Wells) close to VP1 but also check in the trees along the main path for bullfinch, gangs of long tailed tits, treecreeper, goldcrest, redpoll and siskin to name just a few.
The starlings continue to wow visitors, with the car park full to bursting on a few occasions during the Christmas break. It is still very popular so if you are planning a visit, avoid weekends if you can and arrive in plenty of time just in case (a good hour before dusk is recommended).
The flock has been a bit split, so the best advice we can give this week is to start at VP1 - a fairly good size flock has been dropping into Waltons all week and is nice and close. A peregrine passed through the flock last night and helped keep them up a bit longer so I hear.
A second slightly larger roost site is in front of VP2 but much more distant and not offering such good views as those at Waltons. Estimates in excess of 600,000 birds is what I'm hearing but I rarely get to see the roost myself so your estimate is as good as ours.
In the mornings, in particular look out for marsh harriers quartering over the roost site once they have left looking for prey - 4 were counted yesterday morning. A well marked male and a female were hunting here on Monday afternoon too, visible from the Tor View Hide.
As you can imagine, sightings this week have been harder to come by, wet weather and low visitor numbers means less information feeding back to me but there have been a one or two nice surprises recently - a cattle egret was in Loxtons on Monday (many out and about in local fields - although local flooding has most likely changed their locations), a male hen harrier was on the sightings board over the Christmas break but have no other information on this, 2 Egyptian geese flew over the main path to Loxtons last Friday, firecrest reported at Loxtons in the first week of January (could try in the car park scrub and hedges - it's a place they get spotted most winters), a flyover by some cranes during the Christmas break too and 2 grey wagtails seen on Tuesday sat on the pontoon bridge floating to the left (east) of VP1.
2 water pipits were also spotted from VP1 recently and have been pretty regular close to the artificial sand martin bank or even on it on one occasion. Thanks as always to John Crispin for his shots:
In the same area look out for cormorants often in their familiar wings out pose. The following bird in John Crispin's photo is in full breeding plumage, so you can now see all 3 stages on the reserve: breeding, non breeding adult and juvenile. I've seen cormorants already beginning to gather at their usual breeding site, so it won't be long. It means staff and volunteers need to get some vital tree work done in the area next week so we don't cause disturbance to breeding birds if they start early.
Also this week: kingfishers spotted regularly - try Walton or from the old rail bridge (seen on both sides this week), great spotted woodpecker heard at the car park and elsewhere, kestrel seen by a visitor from VP1 on Monday, sparrowhawks seen close to starling time, look out for stonechats perched high on reed stems, water rails getting very vocal this week, ravens seen and heard in flight, buzzards seen daily and the American Wigeon is still present over on Shapwick Heath - usually to the left of the section the tower hide looks at by the newly formed bank.
I'll have to leave it there for this week as I'm running out of time as always. Thanks for reading and have an enjoyable weekend - don't forget your brolly!