Another week has flown by in the blink of an eye - I've been very busy this week with some other staff members away or poorly. At times I don't feel I have time to look up and see what wonderful wildlife is around. Although just a few minutes of downtime a day on the reserve is enough though to get a flavour of what's happening and there are plenty of wonderful volunteers and visitors who feed back to me too.
This morning I spent a few minutes at Waltons - the sun was shining at this point which always helped. Coots were angrily dashing and splashing about defending invisible territory lines in the water, large numbers of shoveler were grouped together, grey herons were noisily defending pockets of reedbed where it is likely they will nest (at least 4 territories I think) and a well marked male marsh harrier was quartering over the reedbeds (he's been seen here a few times this week).
On the cut islands, a couple of hundred lapwing were loafing and feeding with a few snipe well camouflaged amongst them. For these try the third screen or the Tor View Hide. Thanks to Sandie Andrews for her snipe shots taken at the end of last week and John Crispin for his shot of snipe with some lapwing taken this week:
Snipe were seen this morning flying around in groups (usually fast and tightly packed). Listen out for their flight calls to alert you a ca-atch sound, like a muffled sneeze.
These same cut areas have often been good for teal in past years. Seems to be less this year but we have cut a large area of Loxtons this winter and good numbers have been loitering there. Thanks to John Crispin for this fine shot of a male teal taken this week - really showing off his colours well:
Also heard in Waltons this morning was a booming bittern. In fact there are several around the reserve at the moment - some stronger than others. I was listening to 2 calling simultaneously yesterday. On one side a very deep bassy boom and on the other a higher more fluty sound. The bittern band in practice.
A visitor reported seeing one in flight this morning over Waltons and there have been several others here this week either flying over the first platform (VP1) or flying to the South East before dropping in. The Avalon Hide has also been the venue for other bittern sightings this week including this one from Mike Pearce - thanks Mike:
Another amazing thing to look out for in Waltons are the great crested grebes undertaking their courtship displays. There are 2 pairs in Waltons at least and were seen head bobbing together. They have also been seen doing their weed dance. Thanks to John Crispin who captured this shot of a grebe presenting its partner with a lovely present:
Listen out also for the call of the little grebe - sounds a bit like a whinnying horse as opposed to the squealing pig noise of the water rail - this is a nature reserve and not a farmyard!
More lapwing are still using the area in front of VP1 pushed into little bunches by the higher water levels. Quite a few duck out here too and often a great white egret or two are present. A male pintail has also been spotted Weds and yesterday - not sure if it was there this morning though. Thanks again to John Crispin who photographed it yesterday:
If you're looking wigeon perhaps try the Avalon Hide (although there were huge numbers over on Shapwick Heath last week and in some non access parts of Ham Wall). Gadwall, pochard and mallard also seen here this week and often the best place to see marsh harriers - particularly in breeding season. They may well soon be preparing nest sites here. I could certainly hear the calling to each other in flight early this week. A well marked female is being seen regularly over the reserve.
The car park can often bring some pleasant sightings - some things just fly over like great white egrets and ravens. Others need a bit more work. A firecrest was spotted from the wooden boardwalk bridge that leads out towards Shapwick Heath Reserve along with numerous other small birds bathing in the ditch. A grey wagtail was also spotted - these were reported by Mike Dilger on the Somerset Ornithological Society website - great for local bird sightings.
A mistle thrush has also been spotted on a couple of occasions along with the wonderful song thrush. A bullfinch was seen near the bird feeders which were very busy with blue tits and great tits. Bullfinches have also been spotted along the main path with an array of other species including: blackbird, numerous robins, treecreeper, wren, redpoll, siskin, goldfinches, long tailed tits, chaffinches, chiffchaff and blackcap. The latter two are technically migrants but are more commonly over wintering in Britain these days. Thanks to Sandie Andrews for her shots of long tailed tit, wren and blackcap and to Mike Pearce for his chiffchaff shot:
Also seen on the reserve this week: 3 roe deer near the Avalon Hide, kingfisher from the Avalon Hide and from the old rail bridge on the main track, 4 Egyptian geese over Waltons yesterday, the drake ring necked duck still present this morning in Waltons, a few redwing spotted at various locations, a linnet seen at the car park, cormorants in breeding plumage staking out nest sites (thanks to Mike Pearce for his shot of a cormorant in flight), great spotted woodpeckers seen and heard drumming, a sparrowhawk spotted from the Tor View Hide this morning and a kestrel from the Avalon Hide earlier in the week. Also a male hen harrier which was spotted distantly from the second platform during the starling murmuration last Sunday.
This leads me to starlings, which have left Ham Wall as of Wednesday night. we weren't 100% sure where they had actually gone but have been advising people to try Shapwick Heath from the Ham Wall end - I think from the little information I have found toady that this was the right advice but as with anything wildlife related it is not certain and the starlings have a large area to choose from.
Elsewhere in the area: hundreds of cattle egret are still marauding the Somerset countryside - I often see them on my way to work as I cross the moors from Wells to Westhay. They can sometimes be seen on the Westhay road that leads towards Wedmore. 2 Glossy Ibis roost with some of them at night and spend they day feeding in local fields whilst a third glossy ibis spends most of its days at Catcott Reserve (Somerset Wildlife Trust). Also the Baikal Teal (think I've spelt that correctly) was once again seen at RSPB Greylake this morning.
Think I'll stop there for now. Thanks for reading and have a fantastic weekend!