Plenty of activity today including several wheatear, good flock of lapwing, a hobby and a couple of peregrine. I urge anyone who hasn't been since the seawall breach and the consequent flooding to get along. Two outstanding hides, excellent parking and very knowledgeable staff. Should be amazing later in the season.

Feel there should be a campaign to get the entire area from Glastonbury to Bridgwater Bay designated as Somerset Levels National Park. We are so lucky to have all this on our doorstep.

Well said Bob. My wife and I went to see the high tide on Monday evening, watching from the observation point on the truncated Parrett Trail just north of the breach. We too say several Wheatear but more interestingly, a small flock of roughly 20 Avocets flying up and down the Reach at high water time.
Should be a fantastic area come the winter

1 Great White Egret on the eastern lagoon viewed distantly from the Mendip Hide this morning, also 1 Hobby.
5 Little Stint and 2 Curlew Sandpiper on the beach at Wall Common shortly before high tide.

Steart Point this very quite morning only afew swallows and 2 chiffs .
On Steart marsh 200 black t godwits a great white egret and a few wheatear

That's a great idea Bob, though I can think of a lot of obstacles!

Somerset would do very well in any competition to find the best county in Britain for birding and all-round imaginative conservation projects, and as the gw egrets and little bitterns show, birds are already voting with their feet

PS Steart will get a mention in the next (November) issue of BBC Wildlife mag...

My first visit to the new Steart Marshes this afternoon, and I was very impressed with the work that's been done.

Not a great deal on show from the hides, with just a single GWE along with a handful of Little Egrets the only birds of note.

A walk in the sunshine all the way out to the breach along the Parrett Trail produced better results. At one point, on three consecutive fence posts were sat a Wheatear on one, a Stonechat on the next and a Whinchat on the one after. Aside from the single Whinchat, the other 2 chats were in good abundance.

Very good numbers of Kestrels were seen, with a best guess of 5 individual birds seen (hard to track which ones had simply moved). Other raptors included 6 Buzzards (including an almost white individual), and 2 Sparrowhawks, one of which decided to give a Wheatear a chase right in front of me, but failed to catch it.

Really great place.. but it's a longer walk out to the breach than I'd thought .

Jamie