Spring is trying its best to get going but I've still been left feeling a little chilly at times this week. Spring migrants are beginning to arrive with around 500 sand martins reported over at Shapwick Heath yesterday - only a handful reported from Ham Wall so far and I'm still awaiting my first.
Birds are singing well, particularly during sunny spells - Tuesday morning was particularly pleasant with blackcap singing around Loxtons and chiffchaff at Waltons. Dunnock, great tit, blue tit, robin and song thrush have also added their voices to a growing chorus. I also heard the drumming of the great spotted woodpecker on Tuesday morning.
In the reedbeds cettis warblers are belting out their songs more and more. It's around this time of year that we survey for them by playing their call and mapping out the replies from the males. Over the years this gives us a trend of how they are doing. They are notoriously hard to see at the best of times so this is the best method. The best places to catch a sighting of one at the moment is probably the Tor View Hide or in the cut areas of reed on the way to the Avalon Hide.
We cut several small areas around the reserve each winter to vary the habitat but also to give visitors better views of wildlife. The cut islands in Waltons have been great for snipe in recent weeks, with 14 present of Tuesday morning. These 12 were photographed by John Crispin in flight from the first viewing platform (VP1). Thanks John:
The glossy ibis have been spending a good amount of time out here this week but often come and go during the day. Mornings tend to be the best time but they were there yesterday afternoon for quite a while.
Despite the arrival of the first spring migrants, many of our winter visitors are still present with pretty good numbers of wigeon and teal across the site along with a few redwing being spotted each day. Thanks to John Crispin for his shot of wigeon taken this week from VP1:
Some of our resident birds are nest building or already nesting - the grey herons have been underway for a few weeks already, whilst great crested grebes have been displaying and made a couple of nest building attempts already, which have come to nothing so far.
Marsh harriers have also been seen carrying sticks and making various interactions in mid air. This male was carrying food but didn't want this female to have it - we think it was for another. It's not uncommon for some males to have more than one female. In the past the male in this area (Avalon Hide) has done just that. Thanks to Andrew Kirby for his images:
Bitterns are booming well and can be heard throughout the day although early mornings are usually the best. Staff and volunteers were out across the whole of the Avalon Marshes from 4.30am onwards for the first of our 2 annual booming bittern counts. When the totals are in I will pass it on to you. It was a bit breezy though, which makes it harder to hear and pinpoint all the birds.
This bittern was seen at the Avalon Hide this week - not the blue tinge to the lores indicating that this is a male bird. Thanks to Andrew Kirby for his photo:
Thank also to John Crispin who captured this bird in flight from in front of VP1. It then flew ver the platform and into the Waltons section:
Great white egrets are present too, although a serious lack of nesting activity so far on Ham Wall. The good news is that there are a couple of colonies building up over on Shapwick Heath. You can often see these birds feeding along the main drain or in front of VP1. Little egret has also been spotted out here on a few occasions this week (I've seen one myself 4 days running). This individual was photographed by John Crispin this week. Thanks John:
Sitting for a while at VP1 on Thursday brought quite a few nice sightings. The glossy ibis were present along with both great white egret and little egret but we also watched a lovely male stonechat perching on the brambles with its familiar tail flicking, a kestrel, a sparrowhawk and displaying lapwing - they were displaying again this morning too. Another sparrowhawk was seen on Monday on the north of the reserve - we'd seen another Lapwing displaying over fields north of our boundary we heard it call - perhaps an alarm call, and it then shot off with a sparrowhawk behind (too far behind to catch it thankfully).
As mentioned before there are plenty of duck around the site, still hanging around in larger groups generally, although I did nearly tread on a mallards nest on Wednesday. The female was so well hidden. My foot was touching the eggs (at least 10) when I looked down but not a single one broken. She did give me a fright when I disturbed her.
It's interesting to see how the ducks divide themselves across different sections of the reserve - I guess it comes down to their feeding preferences. My WeBS count on Thursday saw good numbers of pochard and tufted duck, slightly less of wigeon and teal but very few gadwall and mallard and not a single shoveler. As soon as I walked to the section next to mine there were plenty of shoveler to be seen.
They can be tracked down pretty easily in Waltons and Loxtons sections. Thanks to John Crispin for his wonderful shots of a shoveler taking a bath during the week. Lovely action photos:
Also look out at VP1 for kingfisher. There have been a few sightings this week. There was one at the back of Waltons yesterday, a sighting from the Avalon Hide this week and from the old rail bridge on the main track. Learn the whistling call to give you a chance - blink and you might miss it. John Crispin just managed to catch this one as it zipped across the VP1 area this week. Thanks again John:
Also this week: green woodpecker at the car park on Monday, 3 raven over the car park the same day, buzzards seen daily, a wood mouse and a vole seen in and around the little wood piles in the wildlife garden behind the welcome building at the car park, jays seen flying at the end of the reserve on Monday, an avocet (symbol of the RSPB) seen and heard over the Avalon Hide on Wednesday, great tits seen setting up nesting territories but also still eying up visitors for food along with robins, a pair of pintail present from VP1 for much of the week (2 pairs present on Monday), redpoll seen along the main path along with bullfinch, goldcrest, blackcap and chiffchaff, unconfirmed reports of a reed warbler on a bird alert app but no other news and a report of a red kite over the car park last Friday.
Look out also for one of my favourite little birds, the long tailed tits. Many will already be setting up their wonderful looking nests woven together with gossamer from spiders webs. This little one was photographed between Waltons and Loxtons this week along the trees by the ditch that runs in-between. This is known as cuckoo ditch - perhaps in days gone by it was popular with cuckoos - a wonderful noise slowly disappearing from our countryside. We will soon be lucky enough to hear some again on Ham Wall though - something I always loo forward to.
That's it for this week. Thanks for reading and have a lovely weekend.
Many thanks Steve, really look forward to your weekly updates. I was at Ham Wall Tuesday & was lucky enough to see most of what you said was around, except unfortunately the Glossy Ibis.