Thursday 29th May - Newport Wetlands

Was thinking about heading down to the Somerset levels today to try and Photograph some birds i hadn't seen this year yet, including the elusive Bittern and the impressive Marsh Harrier.  This wasn't to be the case due to the weather forecast saying rain and poor light all day. 

Instead i decided to make the trip across to the RSPB Newport Wetlands Reserve to try and improve on my photography efforts from Monday morning of the rare visitor to the Reserve the Savi's Warbler.  I arrived on the reserve at about 8am to hear it reeling its Grasshopper like song.  It wasn't long before i saw it clinging onto the reeds this was the last i saw of it for another half hour or so.  It didn't really show much for the first 4 hours of the day, every half hour it would reel for about 30 secs before disappearing into the reed bed the weather was damp and dull guess not what this bird is use to.  

Savi's Warbler, Newport Wetland 2014 During this time of waiting i saw and heard several Bearded tits,  2 Little Egrets and a Young Marsh harrier drifted across the distantreed beds.  There were plenty of Reed, Cettis, Sedge Warblers  and Reed Buntings around but no Cuckoos were heard or seen today.   There were also plentyof Swifts, Swallows and House Martins feeding in the sky above the Wetlands.

Around Midday the weather started to improve and the Sun poked out of the clouds for a few moments here and there this seemed to prompt the Savi's Warbler into showing its self extremely well, for about and hour it moved around the Reed beds crossing the path we were on several occasions.  It was still proving very hard to photography as it was still often obscured by the reeds. I did managed a few half decent shots which due to this birds rarity and its elusive nature i am very pleased with.  It was a  worth while 7 hour stake out.  Will hopefully get to the levels next week.