Davidstow Airfield and Steart WWT
After my attempt to photograph the Long staying American Golden Plover over a week ago failed, another attempt was on the cards. This time i went down with another local photographer Lee Gardiner. The weather was a bit hit and miss on the way down and as we approached Davidstow the fog came down!!!! Not good for photography!!!
We arrived at the Airfield and you could hardly see your hand in front of your face. We started to drive around the Airfield checking the pools and margins for the bird. First trip around produced a few Pied Wagtails, Meadow Pipits, Crows, Rooks and around 16 Lapwings.
The 2nd trip around was a bit more eventful I was obviously not paying attention and drove right past the bird. Luckily eagle eyed Lee caught sight of it and screamed out to stop. So i smashed on the breaks and there is was. The Large white Supercilium was the big give way.
The bird seemed very skittish and was moving up and down this seemed unusual behaviour as everyone pervious to us had been viewing this bird at point blank range. So we gave the bird some space and watched it feeding. Eventually it came and stop about 5 meters from the car were it sat for over an hour giving us amazing views. The sun even shone for about 5 minutes.
The only thing that seemed to bother this bird was the occasional Rook or crow overhead when it would sit low into the Grass.
After about 2 hours of watching this bird it moved off allowing us to photography the bird at a distance. What an amazing bird hopefully it will stick around for others to see.
On the way out of Davidstow we noticed a flock of starlings feeding amongst the horse dung. They are so often overlooked but are such an amazingly beautiful bird up close.
Davidstow after the fog had lifted
On Route back to Bristol we stopped off at WWT Steart a new and exciting wetlands reserve near to Bridgewater. The reason for the stop off was to see the Pallid Harrier that has been in the area for the last week.
We had a good walk around the reserve and it seems to be producing some good birds already. Also on the day a Great White Egret had been reported sadly not seen by us.
We had noticed a large gathering of birders on the far side of the reserve so headed around. The Pallid Harrier had been seen from here earlier in the day. We were there for an hour before it was seen, but soon disappeared into the reeds. It was another 15 minutes before it was seen again. Although views were distant i managed to watch it though my bins. My 2nd new bird of the day.
Marshfield
A Great Grey Shrike had been found by Local bird Martyn Hayles on Monday so I thought I would make the trip before work. A lot of the local usual suspects were on site when I arrived and it didn't take long before the bird showed. It was very distant and flighty so didn't really manage many photos.
Cheddar and Aust
After a Brian Thompson tip off yesterday i decided to head to Cheddar to see if i could photograph the Dippers that Brian had done so well with. Sadly they didn't really perform but were great to see even at a distant. A Kingfisher was a nice bonus as well
Bit distant but something to work on over next few months.
A brief visit to Cheddar Reservoir produced the usual suspects, A Million coot, Mute Swans, Canada Geese, Black-headed Gulls, Pied Wagtails, few Great Crested Grebe, Meadow Pipits, A Common Gull and 2 fly over Raven.
Next stop was Aust Warth to see if i could find some Short-eared Owls which should be turning up around here anytime now. Aust was dead on arrival so i checked twitter to see what was happening in the birding world today!!!! A GREAT GREY SHRIKE at Marshfield!!!!!!!!!!!! Ooops missed that hopefully it will stay till tomorrow. Midday start at work means i can get a few hours in pre work!!
No Short-eared Owls again but a stunning sunset and a showy Stonechat were good to see
Budleigh Salterton
A brief after work trip to see the very tame Grey Phalarope or Red Phalarope if your from the other side of the Pond, that had been reported at Budleigh Salterton in Devon. I managed to get away from work at midday after Lee Gardiner had confirmed the bird was still there. 90 minutes later i joined Lee and Brian Thompson on a muddy stream just off the River Otter.
The bird was showing at point blank range. I couldn't believe how tame this bird was i genuinely think you could of walked over to it, picked it up and put it in your pocket!!!! Such a amazing bird just a shame the weather didn't do this bird justice. Sadly the sun i had seen travelling down had been replaced by dull clouds. Oh well you can't have it all. I spent just under 2 hours photographing and observing it. The only thing that seemed to bother this bird was any large bird flying over head. Were it would get pretty low into the mud in an attempt to hide. White bird muddy background couldn't see it becoming wader world hide and seek champion. Below are a small selection of the few 100 photos I took.
Davidstow Airfield
The very photogenic American Golden Plover at Davidstow Airfield in Cornwall had me interested all week. Then seeing some amazing photos of it at point blank range on Sunday, made my mind up to make the 2 and a half hour journey South. I left Bristol at 6.30am to the sounds of a Snipe and Redwing migrating over the garden. Always a good start.
I arrived at a very wet Davidstow Airfield in poor visibility at just after 9am. No one else was around so if i could locate it i would have it all to myself. I headed to its usual haunt but there was no sign, not a great start. Visability was poor so i drove around the Airfield, still nothing. Two waders caught my eye boom was it to be !!!!!
No sadly not. If i am not mistaken these are both European Golden Plover. I carried on around the Airfield, there were lots of Pied Wagtails, Meadow Pipits, Rooks, Crows and Starlings about. Sadly no American Golden Plover to be seen.
I did find a small wader flock containing 2 Dunlin and 4 Ringed Plover. I managed a few shot of these birds, the sun even shone for 5 minutes
One of the Ringed Plovers
One of the Dunlins
After 4 hours of searching i gave up and headed back to Bristol. On route home I stopped off at Brean Down to see the reported Ring Ouzel. Sadly missed that as well, but was good to catch up with Lee Gardiner.
Oh and guess what Tuesday saw the American Golden Plover return to Davidstow Airfield!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!