Brean Down 14th December

As we were on our way to Bristol on Sunday afternoon, we decided to make a small detour to Brean Down on the north Somerset coast. The previous day, three species I had never seen before had been present in the area, along with a couple of other scarcities.

As soon as we arrived, it became apparent that an enormous number of birds were feeding in the area of Brean Down Farm. There were hundreds of Redwings and Fieldfares and a number of the other thrushes. Unfortunately however, there had been no sign of the Lapland Bunting nor of the Jack Snipes seen the previous day and the Twites had flown off earlier in the morning. It was not looking good, but thankfully the Snow Bunting was apparently showing well. Our search appeared to have been in vain before we had a brief view of it flying low over the saltmarsh. This was my third Snow Bunting ever, and as always was a great bird to see.

Soon, I found two Water Pipits feeding on the marsh, along with a large number of Starlings, Skylarks and Meadow Pipits. Just offshore were numerous Shelducks, Wigeons and Oystercatchers. After continued searching, I came across several Reed Buntings- sadly none of them were Lapland Buntings! Soon, a flock of Linnet appeared. The Twite would almost certainly be with them, though the views were far-too-brief to be able to find them, and the flock quickly moved off far into the distance. As we headed back to the farm, a flock of four finches shot past me along with another Water Pipit. Raising my binoculars, I realised that they were all Twite. This species is a relatively common breeding bird in the moorlands of Scotland and northern England and Wales, normally wintering along Britain's east coast. It is a scarce species in the southwest- a truly mega rarity in Dorset and just about annual in small number on the north Somerset coast and in Avon. Though certainly not the most exciting species to look at and despite my views being really rather poor, it was still very satisfying to see this new bird for me. Needless to say, photographing the birds was impossible. I'll have to wait for a Jack Snipe and Lapland Bunting!