It was a glorious spring day for a trip down to Avalon Marshes in Somerset, where I visited the rspb reserve at Ham Wall. After a fairly early start I arrived at the reserve carpark just before quarter to nine, and it was already getting warm. I put on my coat but quickly abandoned it in favour of a gilet, having considered it was probably worth putting up with a little chilliness until the sun warmed things up rather than have to carry a coat around.
Soon after I walked onto the reserve itself, I heard a bittern booming and cettis warblers calling from the reeds. In fact, there was a constant sound of booming bitterns throughout the day, although I didn't actually see one. The cettis warbler was slightly more obliging and I actually got a photo of one!
Most people seemed to be congregating around the first viewing platform where there were a good selection of waterfowl to be seen, including various duck species, little and great white egrets, black tailed godwits and three glossy ibis feeding at a distance.
I visited most of the hides and viewing areas, seeing great crested grebes, including one on a nest, marsh harriers and my first dragonfly, though I couldn't tell the species. Blackcaps and chiffchaffs were singing everywhere, and I caught a glimpse of a reed warbler singing amongst the dense reeds. Surprisingly I didn't see or hear a sedge warbler.
As the day warmed up, butterflies started flying and I logged a couple of new ones for the year, including green veined white and small tortoiseshell.
canada goose
nesting great crested grebe
cettis warbler
glossy ibis
small tortoiseshell
peacock
orange tip
green veined white
No comments:
Post a Comment