No sign of Little Gulls or Terns this morning, but lots of new birds.c50 Swallow, c 40 Sand Martin and single House Martin.1 Yellow Wag, 1 Common Sand, 1 Kittiwake roosting on the sailing club pontoon and 2 Barnacle Geese.
11 common sand and one LRP among them, 3 oyster catcher also, and over a hundred mixed martins and swallow after a feast skimming the waves,a group of whitethroat but only one showing and singing in the copse next to the sports field
16 common sandpipers, 17 dunlin & 3 oystercatchers - all getting a lot of grief from pedestrian disturbance, which soon persuaded at least 8 of the dunlin to leave high to the north.
c.50 swallows and 20 house martins and a brood of 7 mallard ducklings with mum on the lake.
6 Common Sandpiper between the Axbridge tower & the car park this morning. Also 3 White Wagtail & Several hundred Swallow, House & Sand Martin, with a single Swift amongst them.
14 Common Sand this morning along with 2 yellow and 4 white wagtail. Also impressive compact flock of c150 Sand Martin. Only 1 House Martin and a couple of Swallow with them.
3 Common Sand and a fly by flock of 9 Whimbrel this morning. Also flock of c500 Sand Martin and c150 Swallow over the water, with a White Wagtail and Lesser Whitethroat around the edge. 1 Peregrine flashed by with the afterburners on!
very early walkabout this am,at the res, 6 common sand ,of which 4 flew off to the west away from the res, 2 yellow wag;s one white wag' and two fledgling pied wags feeding with adults near Axbridge tower, very large accumulation of martins and swallow over the water and along the res'bank s/west side, and a group of around a dozen [first of the year] Swifts approaching from the sports field, a further deviation toward the lane leading to the River Yeo, saw 5 Reed Bunting 3 m and 2 f, 4 reed warblers, 6 chiff chaff, several more swallow along the river,and a Buzzard
distant sounds of a cuckoo near the fishing lake ,and two Kestrel,one by the copse alongside the sports field,another at the bottom end of the rugby pitch off Sharpham Road both in hovering/hunting mode approx 08:30 am
very healthy number of swifts this am, over 3 dozen over the west bank, early morning heat combined with the sheep droppings bringing a source of a large flying breakfast, and silent too ,no screaming birds
two birds this am, of similar appearance and characteristics of Wagtails, bobbing rear up and down while grounded shortish flights and same sort of call , colouring was the only query, pale brown wings with shortish black tails, breast of a very pale creamy pinkish brown, with a very white rump,....3 common sand also, ... all these were on the west side of the res,
Around 80 Canada geese these last two days,13 mute swan, and a build up of Coot well into the 200 number, and a very healthy amount of wagtail and have been all summer
nothing seemingly out of the ordinary,but among a group of some 15 - 20 wagtails, ranging from "the norm" through pale grey in plumage, there was one with a very fair dusty in colour breast, large black bib and what appeared to be a sort of lemon coloured head where normally would be white in good light around 08:00 at the s/w area of the res
went down the lane toward the River Axe this morning, and one rather dowdy male Bullfinch visual chest was a very dull russet/brown. and 3 others audible, and 4 Jays, and very noisy at that, have seen a few singles around the Cheddar Village this week, is there an upsurge in population of this bird, usually never see one
arrival of around 8 Tufted duck ,5 Pochard among the gathering of Coots and a possible female goldeneye ,though slightly out of reach for positive id, the colour the bird was carrying a rich brown head or mauve ,the strong sun was making things slightly unsure , it seemed to be paired with another duck of just brown and white indiscriminate markings but the beak was quite long on this bird
