The weathers taken a bit of a turn the last few days and its starting to feel more like autumn. The windy weather is keeping things a little quieter and we've had fewer visitors too. Many are spending more time in the hides. Staying in one place for a while and being patient often brings benefits though.
A stint in the Tor View Hide for example could bring you a host of sightings. There's been a great white egret here regularly and it's become somewhat habituated,spending quite long periods here. It's quite an accomplished fisherman too so a good opportunity to stay a while and observe some fascinating behaviour.
Other fisherman are often around. Kingfishers are seen here regularly and have in recent weeks, I'm told, used the stick on the edge as a perch. Little egret and grey heron too join the party with great crested grebe too on the other side often fishing well too.
Water rails have also been seen here this week with one being spotted out in the open only yesterday, whilst a few lucky visitors have reported seeing a bittern.
Other bitterns have been sighted from the first viewing platform (VP1) - again with a bit of time and patience you could be rewarded with a fly over - like the one I saw on Wednesday which did well to battle against the wind, or with a bird skulking around on the edges of the newly cut islands. Certainly worth scanning the edges for such a bird - they can blend in very well against the older reeds so look hard - you never know.
John Crispin captured these shots of just such a bird this week. thanks John:
The same morning he was lucky enough to see kingfisher here too quickly perching on the posts/rails etc sticking out of the water:
Also from VP1 this week: great white egrets daily, little egret, cormorant, grey heron, mallard, gadwall, teal, marsh harrier, buzzard & sparrowhawk. Look out also for swallows and martins still passing through and the occasional hobby. There are still a few passing through and have been seen from the Avalon Hide, Tor View Hide and both viewing platforms so a good chance of a sighting for the next week or two I should think.
Still quite a few dragonflies for them to feed on with good numbers of migrant hawker still about along with ruddy darter and common darter. Still a chance of the odd southern hawker and a visitor was sure they had seen a brown hawker during the week.
In terms of butterflies quite a few red admiral around - quite noticeable along with peacock, small tortoiseshell, speckled wood, green veined white, comma and common blue - all noted this week. Another insect of note would be the hummingbird hawk moth seen in the raised beds around the car park on both Tuesday & Thursday this week. One of the volunteers in the welcome building was trying to get photographs of it. I shall ask her if she can send me a couple of shots to show you all.
Like the hobbies there are still a few other birds hanging on. One or two reed warblers are still present but I shouldn't think for much longer. Thanks to John Crispin who took these shots last weekend:
Other birds on the move include this Whinchat seen near our Long Drove plot over in the Sharpham area. Again John Crispin was on hand to grab some shots. Thanks John:
Another hanger on would be a garganey reported from the second viewing platform (VP2) on Monday. It's a interesting time of year with lots of birds moving about but also changing their behaviour - flocking together for example. This is quite often evident when you disturb a group of ducks for example and teal fly off together in one direction whilst the gadwall together in another. Smaller birds flock together too - often in mixed flocks so worth scanning through the groups of birds if you see them You may come across a goldcrest or in this case a chiffchaff in amongst a mixed tit flock. Thanks to John Crispin once again for his shot:
VP2 can be a good place to wait a while too. Often you'll discover great white egrets and little egrets fishing in here but look out also for wading birds. Lapwing and snipe are regulars along with black tailed godwits but we also had a visit from a knot on Monday - again patience is the key - or blind luck of course which is always a bonus.
Marsh Harriers often use this area too (as well as the Avalon Hide area) and as many as 4 were seen here yesterday and also 4 bearded tits which was nice. We aim to do a survey with our volunteers next week for these so will hopefully have an idea of a population throughout the Avalon Marshes by the end of it. The activity can be a bit weather dependent so lets hope for a nice day.
Look out also in this area for the growing numbers of greylag geese. Estimated between 50 and 60 now it's a lovely sight to see them all. As John Crispin stated "it's not quite the Solway Firth but nice to hear all the same".
Early mornings are often best for wildlife watching but at this time of year you can often get rewarded with wonderful sunrises (and sunsets too of course). Thanks to John Crispin for his lovely shot of Glastonbury Tor taken from Ham Wall this week:
Also this week: grass snakes again seen in the car park pools this week on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday and another swimming in front of the western screen at Waltons on Wednesday, several kingfisher sightings from the Avalon Hide this week, raven seen and heard flying over on Wednesday and large groups of goldfinches seen at the car park.
Finally, I've been getting a few questions recently about the cranes and where to see them. I often don't know but say that Aller Moor is always a good bet. Well, John Crispin has been out catching up with them this week and found 21 on Aller Moor on Wednesday. They were feeding in a stubble field near to the River Sowey between 7.10-7.40 am. Unfortunately, they were spooked by some people walking along the Parrett Way path and took of. If you making a visit use this stubble field approach with caution - thanks for the advice John and thanks for these photos too:
That's it for this week - thanks for reading. Have a great weekend.