It's been another scorching week on the reserve and the wildlife is perhaps a little less willing to show itself at times - but find yourself a hide or a shady spot and wait a while and there is still plenty to see.
There are plenty of juvenile birds showing themselves - some easier to spot than others. Many of the marsh harrier youngsters are very close to fledging. They can be seen being dropped food by adults or perching up for periods on scrub in the reedbed. Look out for brown birds with golden coloured heads. The Avalon Hide as good a place as any to catch a sighting of these.
They've also been spotted in Waltons hunting on several occasions so any young ducks and grebes in here better watch out. There are both adult and juveniles of great crested grebes and little grebes showing well here.
John Crispin's shots below of a young great crested grebe show it in transitional plumage. Remnants of its old stripes can be seen still but its contour feathers are taking on the colour of an adult bird too. Thanks John!
Meanwhile, nearby little grebes can be seen feeding young as Graham Wagner's shot shows - thanks for sending it in Graham:
Harder to see will be the young sedge and reed warblers that are fledging or close to it. Thanks again to John Crispin for his shot of a juvenile reed warbler and also to Andrew Kirby who managed to get a great shot of a youngster being fed:
Reed Warbler juvenile: John Crispin
Reed warbler juvenile: Andrew Kirby
There's likely to be a few young sedge warblers about soon too judging by Andrew's other photo. Here an adult bird can be seen carrying food.
A walk along the main track will give you a chance of seeing other new arrivals too. Family groups of long tailed tits can often be seen and heard and there are always plenty of blackcaps so see if you can spot any youngsters here too.
In the reedbeds you may be lucky enough to spot some bearded tits. I've been asked a few times this week where you might be able to see them. I usually tell people either close to, or at, the Avalon Hide or perhaps in front of the second platform (VP2). As it happens the 2 places written on our sightings board this week where they have been tally with that. Seen in front of VP2 on Monday and in front of the Avalon Hide on Tuesday. John Crispin managed to get some shots of juveniles during his survey yesterday and has also seen me some text to include with them to give you some clues as to what to look for - thanks John:
" Both photos show juvenile male birds. Juvenile males have orange bills whilst females are black which will then turn orange. One distinguishing feature of juvenile birds is the black stripe over the mantle. Changes in its iris colour too - black/brown when fledged with a gradual change over a few months to grey yellow and then a dull yellow. It is thought that this can be used to determine the age of juveniles".
We are also now beginning to see more fledged Great White Egret chicks and it is believed that there are as many as 25 birds that could potentially fledge this year in the Avalon Marshes. News of the young bird ringed 2 years ago on Ham Wall which is nesting on Shapwick Heath is that there are 3 very small chicks present. Given the inexperience of at least one of the parent birds, the size of the chicks and the extremely hot weather we will have to wait and see with fingers crossed how they get on.
Sightings are easy to come by wherever you go. You can even just sit tight at the car park and wait for them to fly over if you don't want to go far but they are also being seen from both platforms and the Avalon Hide and its hard not to see one on a visit. John Crispin took this shot this week. The photo shows its long neck and head angled slightly - perhaps to help to get a better view of its prey. It was successful in its a hunt short time later. Thanks John:
There's lots of prey for it to hunt for at Ham Wall. Many areas of the reserve are teeming with fish as are many of the drainage channels. Stop at the old rail bridge on the way down the main track and look over the side. Plenty of rudd and tench were seen this week along with a couple of large pike. Look out also here for grass snakes taking in the sun - particularly earlier in the day when its a bit cooler. There was also one under the bridge by the road this week when I looked on Wednesday.
They'll take frogs too of course and I've been hearing a few of the Iberian water frogs calling on the reserve this week and spotted some around the ponds by the car park. There are also plenty of common frogs around too - in damper areas you maybe lucky enough to see the very small froglets that have emerged this year. Thanks to Graham Wagner for his shot of common frog taken this week:
The cormorants also enjoy a fish super of course whenever possible - thanks again to Graham Wagner for his shot taken in the Waltons section this week:
Back to Juvenile birds briefly. I mentioned in last weeks blog that we would be going out with Chris Sperring from the Hawk & Owl Trust to look at our barn owl boxes. Well we did that after lunch yesterday hence the blog later than normal as it's taken up a bit too much of my office time - apologies for that. Well it was worth it as it's good news as far as we are concerned. Our first box (the one opposite the first platform) had 2 healthy chicks which were ringed - pretty good when compared to other sites locally.
A second box to the right of the Avalon Hide proved more difficult. A female adult left the box as we arrived but the door we needed to open to access the box was stuck tight. We decided to abandon the attempt as to reduce the disturbance as much as possible but will monitor this by sight to determine any success it just means any youngsters will not be ringed as the first 2 were. The 3rd set of boxes had a pair of adult birds together but no evidence of any young or eggs but this doesn't mean nothing will happen. They could attempt a late nest so again we will monitor the activity and there's a chance of us ringing more here if they do try in September time - but we'll have to wait and see. I'll put out a short blog on the owls when some photos are passed onto me of the day. Thanks to Chris and his helper Dave for coming in to check things out for us- we really appreciate it.
If you are after sightings of barn owl the 1st platform's a good place to start or up at the Avalon Hide - we'd be particularly interested if you see activity here and around the wood to the right. A Barn Owl hunted close to the 1st platform last night and later a tawny owl perched on the sign about reed growth and reed cutting attached to the platform.
As well as bountiful bird life it seems to be a good time for butterflies at the moment. Whilst tidying up the garden area near the welcome building at the car park yesterday several species were noted including: small tortoiseshell, brimstone, peacock, green veined white, comma, meadow brown, ringlet and plenty of gatekeepers (pictured). Add to this small skippers over by the shelter and ponds and it's quite a good list you are getting. Also worth looking out for painted lady at this time of year and we have had reports of white admiral along the rail path (there are several being reported from the Shapwick side). Also a volunteer photographed a fritilary (I'm guessing silver washed) along the main track too.
Gatekeeper: John Crispin
Also this week: still lots of warblers along the main track such as blackcap, chiffchaff & willow warblers but also look out for jays, bullfinch and treecreeper which I heard on Wednesday, keep your eyes to the skies for passing swift, swallow and house martin - all spotted this week and for kingfishers Waltons can be good or wait at the old rail bridge a while and look towards the wood on the left - they are making flights into here quite frequently. We've also had red kite over again a couple of times this week including on Thursday morning along with a sighting or two of ravens. In terms of waders Shapwick heath is a better bet currently but we have had green sandpiper, snipe and black tailed godwit reported.
There are still a few hobby being spotted too after some of the many dragonflies we have on site - it seems like a really good year for them here and grab your last cuckoo sightings while you have a chance. They won't hang around much longer but they have been seen and heard around the reserve this week - try around Waltons, either platform or at the far end of the main track - all locations where they've been spotted this week. The latter where Graham Wagner took his shot from - thanks Graham.
Cuckoo: Graham Wagner
That's it for this week. Have a great weekend and enjoy the sunshine.