Somerset Levels 07-06-17 (birds)

Spent the day at Ham Walls/Shapwick Heath with Dean yesterday. Luckily the weather was fine and we didn't hit the rain until we came back over the bridge. The mid-day sun was particularly hot and we had to strip off a layer for the afternoon session.

We saw a total of 75 species. There were a number of rarities on the reserve and we also had good views of the speciality species of the area, Photography wasn't great for the birds are they were mostly too far away, but we did take a number of record shots. Dean had half a dozen lifers, so he was quite pleased. Highlights included :-

Great Bittern (7 seen, many booming)
Little Bittern (heard constantly for 1hr, but didn't reveal itself)
Great Egret (6)
Cattle Egret (2 - carrying nesting material)
Glossy Ibis (1 - full breeding plumage)
Marsh Harrier (7 - 3pairs plus immature male)
Red-footed Falcon (1 female)
Eurasian Hobby (16)
Bearded Reedling (1 female)

Supported ably by - 5 Little Egret, 1 Cuckoo, 2 Kingfisher, Garden Warbler, Water Rail (H), 37 Black-tailed Godwit and breeding Gadwall, Tufted Duck, Pochard, Shoveler, Cetti's, Reed and Sedge Warbler. It was also heartening to see such huge numbers of Swift (500+).