A day at Ham Wall, 6 April

It was a beautiful sunny start to a day’s bird watching at RSPB Ham Wall, with the sound of birds singing with their best spring chorus voices. As the group moved off around the trees, we started to spot our first birds of the day – a pair of blue tits, a wren and a singing chiffchaff flitting from branch to branch.

Moving on towards the first viewing platform, we passed a pair of great crested grebes and a soaring buzzard. When we reached the platform, we could see many species of birds roosting around the lake. We saw little egret, tufted duck, snipe, shoveler and garganey to name but a few. Then we moved onto the next bird hide where we were alerted to 4 lesser redpolls feeding high in the trees. We found coots, pochard, and the sound of a water rail in the reeds by the nearby lake.

After a stroll through the reserve to the second viewing platform and then the Avalon hide, we viewed several marsh harriers low over the marsh reeds. We then retraced our way back to the cars for lunch.

After lunch, we moved on to Shapwick Heath. From Noah’s hide, we saw greylag geese, wigeon, and mute swan. We then made our way back, very pleased with a good day’s birdwatching, having identified 54 species in total.

Richard Winfield

54 birds identified (H denotes heard-only): Canada Goose, Greylag Goose, Mute Swan, Garganey, Shoveler, Gadwall, Wigeon, Mallard, Teal, Pochard, Tufted Duck, Woodpigeon, Water Rail (H), Moorhen, Coot, Little Grebe , Great Crested Grebe , Herring Gull , Lesser Black-backed Gull, Lapwing, Black-tailed Godwit , Snipe , Redshank, Cormorant, Bittern (H), Grey Heron, Great White Egret, Little Egret, Marsh Harrier, Buzzard, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Green Woodpecker (H), Kestrel, Magpie, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow , Raven, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Sand Martin, Swallow, Cetti’s Warbler, Long-tailed Tit, Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Wren, Blackbird, Robin, Dunnock, Chaffinch, Lesser Redpoll, Goldfinch, Reed Bunting