29th July 2015 (France)

French birding today was much as yesterday; had multiple Crested Tits, some of which showed at incredibly close range, but I was still unable to secure a good photograph. Also had a Serin again near the hotel.

Crested Tit

Blackcap

28th July 2015 (France)

Had another good day for birds today in France, considering it's not a birding trip. Delighted to see Crested Tits and a Serin from the Hotel Window this morning, and I also had a possible Western Bonelli's Warbler in flight a few times and 5 flyover common terns.

Crested Tit

Serin - What looks like a pale throat patch on this bird is actually a reflection on the camara screen.

These are pictures of my camara screen taken with my phone, so some may not be quite right, I will upload the proper pictures when I get back to the UK.

27th July 2015 (France)

Drove to Ashford yesterday, and had 2 Red Kites on the A303 and M3.

Took the Eurostar to France around noon today, and had a Ringtail Hen Harrier and a hobby from the train window, both French Ticks for me.

25th July 2015

Went to Portland Bill this morning, had singles of Raven and Kittewake and a flock of Manx Shearwaters.

Linnet

A short watch at Ferrybridge produced large numbers of Dunlin, Ringed Plover and Sanderling, with a few redshank, oystercatchers and turnstone and the first returning Med Gulls.

A look at lodmoor failed to produce the wood sandpiper, but a good selection of wader species were present, including common sandpiper, greenshank, redshank, dunlin, lapwing and black-tailed godwit.

19th July 2015

Went to the small hide at the top end of Blagdon Lake, to find that most of the ducks had drifted quite far out. Within half an hour I located the eclipse-plumage male LESSER SCAUP in amongst tufted ducks and coots. Due to distance and poor lighting, I was only able to eliminate a hybrid duck after it flapped its wings. Also, the car flushed a family of 3 green woodpeckers up from the road.

A quick scan of Herriot's Pool, Chew Valley Lake produced nothing more than 2 Great Black-Backed Gulls, a Common Sandpiper and the flock of Black-Tailed Godwits.

18th July 2015

Went to Kingsteinton today to look for the Gull-Billed Tern. Parked up at the Passage House Inn, however the bird had not showed all day. There was little else of interest on show other than some whimbrel, but some entertainment was had from a day-flying bat that flew very low over our heads several times, before landing on a post, allowing a rare close-range photo opportunity in good light.

Shortly after this, the bat started to descend the post, before jumping down directly into the water! It swam back to the post but was unable to climb it. At this point, another birder waded into the water to fish it out, and placed onto a nearby tree.

The Bat going for a swim!

After some lunch, we headed to the mouth of the estuary, where 4 common sandpipers and good numbers of quite distant sandwich terns were present. Scanning through the terns, I found a slightly smaller, darker individual which had a greyish upper-tail in flight, however I now think that the bird was just a young sandwich tern. After this, we had to leave, though the tern was not seen for the rest of the day. Another case of arriving exactly a day late!

15th July 2015

Returned to Sutton Bingham Res this afternoon, where the 2nd Summer Great Black-Backed Gull was still present and was more mobile than last week. Also had a Common Tern which showed at close range from the main road at the North End and scoped a distant green woodpecker North of the Car Park on the opposite bank.

11th July 2015

Went to Ham Wall today, highlights were c.4 Great White Egrets, 2 Bitterns, a Cuckoo, a family group of treecreepers, good numbers of buzzards, marsh harriers and hobbies and a single common tern.

Bittern

 

Also, some extra entertainment was had from a flyover Vulcan Bomber:

9th July 2015

Went to Sutton Bingham today, and had a Great Black-Backed Gull (My first at this site) and 2 Kingfishers. Also a good selection of butterflies along the side of the Res.

 Great Black-Backed Gull (Bird furthest to the Right)

 Lesser Black-Backed Gull

 Kingfisher

Great Crested Grebe

7th July 2015

A walk through Yeovil Today produced my first Painted Lady Butterfly of the year, and a male Bullfinch on Yeovil Openspace.

5th July 2015

Went to Bowling Green Marsh near Topshom today, had a good selection of waders including ringed plover, common sandpiper, sanderling, greenshank and whimbrel. Only other species of interest was a raven.

 Curlew

Whimbrel

Greenshanks 

Song Thrush

Raven