13th September

The last few days have mostly been spent driving around Somerset from one meeting to the next, but I managed to squeeze in a fair bit of birding on the way too, mostly at my favoured haunts of the new WWT reserve at Steart and the Avalon Marshes, but also a couple of other sites I don't get to quite so frequently:

 A stop at Curry Moor was most pleasant, this area is a fine example of the 'working' part of the Somerset Levels, so different from the Avalon Marshes. There weren't many birds around apart from ridiculously abundant Grey Herons, but brief Whinchat and Hobby were nice. This area comes into its own when it floods in winter and becomes a haven for wildfowl.

At Steart I had a good early morning walk along the beach at Wall Common, hoping for some migrants in the bushes. There had definitely been an arrival overnight, with plenty of Willow Warblers, Blackcaps and Sedge Warblers, a few Wheatears and Whinchats, and even a Goldcrest feeding amongst the Hawthorn berries, a very autumnal sight. Shortly before high tide, the waders that feed on the mud in Bridgwater Bay gather on the beach and can give great views. Amongst the many Dunlin and Ringed Plover were 5 Little Stint and 2 Curlew Sandpiper.

Curlew Sandpiper

Little Egrets

Kingfishers at a tidal pool, Sea Aster flowering below them

Little Stints

Dunlin and 2 Curlew Sandpipers

And finally on to Shapwick Heath NNR where the Meare Heath lagoon has been pulling in really good numbers of waders, one morning there I had 94 Knot, a great count for this inland site, and the Black-tailed Godwit flock had risen to 176, its only a matter of time before an american wader joins them....

The Great White Egrets were squabbling as usual...

...much to the consternation of the godwits!

Kingfisher posing nicely on Meare Heath bridge