Clevedon Wildlife

 Have you ever read the latest "Finders in the Field" or, in times past "Birds new to Britain" and wondered who these superhumans are. A typical account seems to my, perhaps jaundiced eye, goes something like this : (with apologies to DIMW ) Whilst walking past a dense patch of bushes at the Abbey on Tresco I heard a single call. Immediately recognizing this as a Northern Waterthrush, I leant down, knowing,intimately the characteristic of the species from a book I had glanced at on a friend's shelf. Within seconds I had found the bird on the ground below the vegetation  and I managed to obtain the following 18 pages of detailed notes.  This is not my experience: and yesterday's Grey Phalarope illustrates what I suspect is the commoner reality. But first a proper view of it. I had just climbed the top gate into the Seawall proper and walked immediately down to the lower gate to avoid being shot or set upon by the notoriously confrontational farmer. As I got d...

 Another gloomy, wet week in the main but I've decided to plough on and do my loop walk just about every day. Today, however the sun came out and the wind dropped and Clevedon Pill looked sumptuous Mostly, though I have been seeing the same birds each day though one morning the black headed gulls... ....were joined by a smart adult winter Mediterranean gull for several milliseconds. Pointing the camera towards the distant flock was too slow a manoeuvre and the bird had flown off before I could find it in the viewfinder. (This, all Black-headed group, were much closer I might add) Tides have been fairly high , mostly covering Blackstone rocks and moving off any roosting waders from there. The first picture shows a typical view of the rocks as the tide has risen enough to cut them from the shore.  The next two pics show the power of my Nikon superzoom to "see" Shelducks and even Dunlin. Luckily some birds come closer and can simply be enjoyed; such as this Pied Wagtail And ...

 I am trying to combine the current restrictions with the ambition to loose weight so I am walking somewhere, pretty much every day.  Unfortunately the weather has been pretty grey and miserable almost every day. This has lead to some rather dark photos of wagtails with both Grey and Pied showing well One morning was exceptionally foggy but I was still fortunate enough to notice this Snipe and Oystercatcher at Dowlais Its easier to see what an Oystercatcher really looks like in the next picture taken from the path by the  golf course With the course shut; Herring Gulls were foot-paddling to draw up earthworms, with a degree of success Unusual sightings were few and far between but a flock of Shoveller have been hanging around for several days On a couple of days I tried other areas of town. My walk inland along the Blind Yeo produced an elusive Little Grebe and 3 Mute Swans while the Mandarin on the Land Yeo stayed out of camera shot   My walk across the town to chec...

 Fairly predictably we are back into a third and quite comprehensive lockdown. Once again I intend to make the most of where I live and walk, as often as possible, down to Dowlais. This year I am trying out a new way of recording birds on my walks by using ebird as I go. This has already thrown up a useful fact. If I walk the Dowlais loop from home and also do the 200 yard extension to the Kenn estuary mouth, then it is a 4 mile walk and not 2 miles as I believed. Thus, I reason;  I must be getting twice as much exercise as before ! Early morning light can be beautiful and the birds on the Blind Yeo river become secondary. These are supposed to be pics of Goosanders,  and this: Little egret and Grey heron,   but I am happy with just the look of them. Since New year we have had some very frosty mornings showing off Meadow Pipits at their best The main pool field at Dowlais is very wet and has been home to a large flock of Canada Geese at times as well as Lapwings and ...