13th March: Return to The Levels

After a couple of weeks away over in East Somerset, i'm back in Westhay and very much looking forward to the onset of spring on the Somerset Levels (though it didn't feel all that imminent with the snow flurries throughout the day!).

First task upon returning was to head down to the Avalon Marshes complex to see some of the quality birds present there at the moment.

5 Great White Egrets were on the drained lagoon at Shapwick Heath NNR. A colour-ringed adult, just starting to come into breeding plumage was fishing on its own on one side of the lagoon, while these 4 seemed to be trying to get some shelter from the wind on the edge of the reedbed. The two central birds had straw coloured bills with dark tips, a sign of young birds, so are possibly the birds hatched on-site last summer in the first british breeding record of the species. The other two looked to be adults in non-breeding plumage.

Great-white Egrets

Next stop was back over the east side of the road to Ham Wall RSPB. The drake Ring-necked Duck was showing nicely, though a little distantly at the far end of the reserve. Even in the gloom, the white 'spur' in front of the grey flanks shone out, as did the bill pattern, particularly the white ring around the base of the bill. Ring-necked Duck is an American species, similar to our Tufted Duck. This bird probably crossed the Atlantic and arrived in Europe last autumn having taken a wrong turn whilst migrating south through the Americas. It is often the case that birds arrive on our side of 'the pond' and remain undetected through the winter, and it is only when they move about in the spring and end up on a well watched site such as Ham Wall  that they get discovered by birders.

Ring-necked Duck

The Pied-billed Grebe was still on the newly flooded area in front of the second viewing platform. it looks very comfortable here, and hopefully will stay a bit longer.

Pied-billed Grebe

A nice sign of spring was this male Goldcrest, which was displaying, and flashing the orange centre of its crest stripe, even as it fed constantly. In cold weather such as we are having at the moment, small birds like this need to keep continuously searching for food, even if they may have other priorities on their minds.