Visit to RSPB Shapwick Heath 27th April 2013
Visit to RSPB Shapwick Heath 27th April 2013
Having spent a bit of time at the RSPB reserve at Ham Wall I decided to forego lunch with the friends I was with and instead to have a quick look at the adjoining Natural England reserve at Shapwick Heath. I only had time to walk down to the first set of hides, stopping off at the pools on Meare Heath. I had a look for the Pied-billed Grebe but again I was out of luck. The largest presence was a fifty strong flock of Black-tailed Godwits. There was also a fairly large number of Gadwall and a single Little Egret.
I Walked down to the woodland hide on the other side of the water and as I passed through the woods I stopped for a while to look at, and listen to, a beautiful Blackcap. As I neared the hide a Sparrowhawk zoomed past me across the path at not much more than two or three metres off the ground. The hide overlooked a small body of water but there was only a single Mallard to be seen. I returned across the bridge and down the opposite path and just as I reached the start of the path to the hide that overlooks “Noah’s Lake” I saw a male Whitethroat on tip of a bramble bush and, as it displayed, I also caught sight of the object of his attention. I stopped for a minute or two watching the pair and listening to the male singing before it headed off into the depths of the brambles.
At that hide I had apparently just missed a display of Hobbies but for me there were only Swans, Cormorants and Lesser Black-backed Gulls. Time was getting on so I had to head back to the car park for my lift but as I did so I could hear Chiffchaffs and the distant sound of a Great Spotted Woodpecker drumming.
Bird Sightings : Shapwick Heath
| Species | Count |
|---|---|
| Gadwall | 40 |
| Shoveler | 4 |
| Cormorant | 4 |
| Little Egret | 1 |
| Sparrowhawk | 1 |
| Black-tailed Godwit | 50 |
| Lesser Black-backed Gull | 20 |
| Great Spotted Woodpecker | 1 |
| Chiffchaff | 4 |
| Whitethroat | 2 |