A day Avon Birding

Brean Down Salt Marsh

Brean beach

Raven 

Stonechat

Great White Egret

Sunday took me down the M5 into Somerset to try and catch up with a couple of species I've been missing on year list. The destination was Brean Down which is a few miles south of Weston-Super-Mare. Parking was a very reasonable winter rate of £1 for the whole day.

Leaving the car park a couple of Stonechats watched me head down towards the farm and salt marsh. The farm is a regular haunt for a small flock of Twite however despite two prolonged searches I didn't have any luck. 

As a walked along the sea wall a Peregrine hunted for an early breakfast over the salt marsh whilst a Sparrowhawk flew past the fields behind. The tide was low so waders were  restricted to Curlews, Lapwings, Snipe and Redshanks. As I was observing a flock of Linnetts a Water Pipit landed by the stream behind the second gate ! A real bonus. 

There were a handful of birders on the site and I had a good chat with a local only for the Lapland Bunting to fly over with a handful of Sky Larks. As hard as I tried I could not locate the Bunting on the ground but I did get another flypast. The birds seems to rotate between the marsh and the field. Fair play to those who got an image.

As I headed back the car a Raven was hounding the local Jackdaws and there was another two Stonechats enjoying the late morning sunshine.

The temptation to head back via Hawling was obvious but instead I stopped in at Chew Valley Lake. Not knowing the area I just drove around the perimeter until I found a place to stop. By pure luck the place was Herons Green where I could see a Great White Egret in the channel. I quickly set up the scope and grabbed a few nice digiscoped images. Other sightings included a Great Northern Diver, flock of Goosander, 2 Egyptian Geese, Snipe,  60+ Cormarants, 10 Shelduck, 30+ Pintails, Wigeon, 3 Little Egret, Grey Heron, Great Black-backed Gull and many of the normal wildfowl. Chew Valley Lake is a place you really need a full day to make the most of it and I need to remember not to go back via Bristol on future visits. The Clifton Suspension bridge didn't compensate for the shocking traffic.

This area is an area that seems to getter better and better for birds unlike most counties and the new reserve at Steart Marshes should be another great place to visit. I will be visiting there in 2015 for sure.