Somerset Levels 5th June

I enjoyed an absolutely remarkable day's bird watching today- possibly my best in England ever. We started by visiting Shapwick Heath and spent the early morning walking around the reserve. There were amazing numbers of calling cuckoos (including two seen), a calling tawny owl which we could unfortunately not find and a marsh harrier, there was not anything particularly of note, with great crested grebes, a kingfisher, whitethroats, 3 goldcrests, reed warblers, willow warblers, chiffchaffs and a calling Cetti's warbler being the other birds of interest. We then drove on to Westhay Moor and the rain started to bucket down. Sitting in the car park with the thought of getting out of the car exceedingly unappealing, I saw two garden warblers, my first of this common species in Britain. A very brief walk around the reserve in torrential rain brought no more than two reed buntings, a buzzard, three reed warblers and a pair of swans with their cygnets.

After a pub lunch, we headed to the other side of Shapwick Heath. About 200 yards up the path I enjoyed probably the most remarkable ten minutes of bird-watching in England I have ever had. A marsh harrier glided over the reed beds and the hedges on both sides of the path were filled with reed warblers and whitethroats. Incredibly, a drake ferruginous duck, a rare vagrant from southern Europe and my second in England, took flight from a nearby canal and there were decent numbers of black-tailed godwits, lapwings and gadwall by one little pool. Then, one of Shapwick's famous great egrets, the first of its species to breed in England appeared, as did a little egret to allow comparison in size. It was second species that was new to me in England for the day, and a stunningly elegant bird. I then spotted two drake garganeys, yet another rarity- a rare and declining breeding summer visitor, on the same pool. As we walked back to the car, a red kite soared high over the marsh. An unbelievable ten minutes of bird-watching!

We then headed over towards Ham Wall RSPB, and a bittern, arguably my favourite British bird, flew just in front of us. Two bitterns were booming in the marsh. Along the sides of the river, there were willow warblers, chiffchaffs, reed and Cetti's warblers, a single garden warbler, 5 or so blackcaps and 2 spotted flycatchers. We then went over towards Chilton Moor in search of short-earecd owls. Sadly there seemed to be very little bird life around, other than whitethroats, a skylark and a good view of a cuckoo. On the way back home, we stopped off at Swell Wood RSPB to see the heronry there. Over 70 pairs of grey herons and 7 pairs of little egrets were roosting in the trees. Overall, a quite stunning day!