The week before last, Elaine Steane visited the Somerset Levels. She writes: I joined five others on a Naturetrek-led two day visit to the Somerset Levels, based from a very comfortable old coaching inn, The Swan in Wells, just opposite the Cathedral.
We visited numerous RSPB nature reserves. At Grey Lake we heard and saw Water Rails and bright apricot-coloured Bearded Tits (Reedlings). In bright sunshine we followed that with a visit to Swell Wood, which is high above the flooded landscape.
From there, our expert leader, Simon Woolley, spotted four Cranes – two adults and two juveniles. They were so close that we could see the rings on their legs. We found a Scarlet Elf Cup fungus in the woods and saw Marsh Tits coming to feed. We had lunch in the warm at the Avalon Centre, where our WOFC group had visited in May 2022 [report here], then ended the day at Ham Wall to witness the million or so murmurating starlings. There are starlings everywhere during the daytime, on farm roofs and in the fields.
The next day, we went searching for Cattle Egret, of which we found 54 at close quarters. At even closer quarters a husband of one of our party who’d never birdwatched before said “What are those birds?” which were enthusiastically poking about in the mud just by the road where we were. They turned out to be Glossy Ibis – two parents and a youngster.
The above is only a very small list of all the birds that we saw. Naturetrek are leading another party from Wednesday 31st January to Friday 2nd February, if anyone is interested
Elaine Steane 17 Jan 2024
Members are encouraged to send short reports – some text and a photo or two – to Blog(at)thefieldclub.org.uk
WEST OXFORDSHIRE FIELD CLUB 