Darren Pearce
Well-known member
A change of idea this year. I thought that I would have a go at an Avon year list. Although Avon is no longer a county it is still a bird recording area made up from Bath and North East Somerset, South Gloucestershire, North Somerset and the City of Bristol. I know that I won't get to see everything recorded in the county as I work full time 8-30 to 5 and I have family commitments but we will just have to see how it goes. If the wheels fall off then this post will disappear into the depths of page 2.
The year started with a trip to Chew Valley and Blagdon Lakes to try and see all of the decent birds that straggled over from 2009. First up I tried the field where the Cattle Egret had been seen. No cattle and no egret. I went back to Herriots Bridge and picked up a few year ticks Goldeneye, Goosander, the returning wintering drake Red Breasted Merganser. Then the pager went off to say that the egret had returned. I rushed back to Heron's Green and saw that the cattle had been let back into the field and tucked away in the corner was the Cattle Egret a great start to the year list.
I moved on to Blagdon Lake and quickly found the Great Northern Diver that had been around for a few days.
Now that my luck was holding I thought I would try for the Long Tailed Duck back at Chew. I drove round to the Bernard King Hide and found it full of people with dogs. Of course it was New Years Days, but unbelievably there were dogs in front of the hide. I looked out for the duck but the afternoon sun made viewing impossible. I thought I would try from Sutton Wick so I drove round and then looked back to the BK hide with the sun behind me and remarkably the Long Tailed Duck was there, constantly diving then up for a few seconds then gone again.
All in all a good day out with same decent Avon birds.
Today I was back at Blagdon looking for 2 Slavonian Grebes that were reported yesterday. It was always a long shot as there was no location given and as I thought it was like a needle in a haystack and freezing cold so I soon gave up.
On the way back my daughter wanted to pop into Cribs causeway so I dropped into Sea Mills as I was passing. Incredibly the wintering Greenshank flew into my scope at the exact moment that I looked through it. A Greenshank presumably the same one has wintered here for umpteen winters
Here is the first list. notables in red
1 Mute Swan
2 Canada Goose
3 Shelduck
4 Wigeon
5 Gadwall
6 Teal
7 Mallard
8 Pintail
9 Shoveler
10 Pochard
11 Tufted Duck
12 Long-tailed Duck
13 Goldeneye
14 Red-breasted Merganser
15 Goosander
16 Ruddy Duck
17 Great Northern Diver
18 Little Grebe
19 Great Crested Grebe
20 Cormorant
21 Cattle Egret
22 Little Egret
23 Grey Heron
24 Sparrowhawk
25 Buzzard
26 Kestrel
27 Moorhen
28 Coot
29 Lapwing
30 Common Snipe
31 Greenshank
32 Redshank
33 Black-headed Gull
34 Common Gull
35 Lesser Black-backed Gull
36 Herring Gull
37 Great Black-backed Gull
38 Feral Pigeon
39 Woodpigeon
40 Collared Dove
41 Blackbird
42 Fieldfare
43 Song Thrush
44 Redwing
45 Cetti's Warbler
46 Chiffchaff
47 Long-tailed Tit
48 Blue Tit
49 Great Tit
50 Coal Tt
51 Jay
52 Magpie
53 Jackdaw
54 Rook
55 Carrion Crow
56 Starling
57 House Sparrow
58 Chaffinch
59 Greenfinch
60 Goldfinch
61 Bullfinch
(Avon birds missed potential claw backs Slavonian Grebe, Black Redstart, Bittern)
The year started with a trip to Chew Valley and Blagdon Lakes to try and see all of the decent birds that straggled over from 2009. First up I tried the field where the Cattle Egret had been seen. No cattle and no egret. I went back to Herriots Bridge and picked up a few year ticks Goldeneye, Goosander, the returning wintering drake Red Breasted Merganser. Then the pager went off to say that the egret had returned. I rushed back to Heron's Green and saw that the cattle had been let back into the field and tucked away in the corner was the Cattle Egret a great start to the year list.
I moved on to Blagdon Lake and quickly found the Great Northern Diver that had been around for a few days.
Now that my luck was holding I thought I would try for the Long Tailed Duck back at Chew. I drove round to the Bernard King Hide and found it full of people with dogs. Of course it was New Years Days, but unbelievably there were dogs in front of the hide. I looked out for the duck but the afternoon sun made viewing impossible. I thought I would try from Sutton Wick so I drove round and then looked back to the BK hide with the sun behind me and remarkably the Long Tailed Duck was there, constantly diving then up for a few seconds then gone again.
All in all a good day out with same decent Avon birds.
Today I was back at Blagdon looking for 2 Slavonian Grebes that were reported yesterday. It was always a long shot as there was no location given and as I thought it was like a needle in a haystack and freezing cold so I soon gave up.
On the way back my daughter wanted to pop into Cribs causeway so I dropped into Sea Mills as I was passing. Incredibly the wintering Greenshank flew into my scope at the exact moment that I looked through it. A Greenshank presumably the same one has wintered here for umpteen winters
Here is the first list. notables in red
1 Mute Swan
2 Canada Goose
3 Shelduck
4 Wigeon
5 Gadwall
6 Teal
7 Mallard
8 Pintail
9 Shoveler
10 Pochard
11 Tufted Duck
12 Long-tailed Duck
13 Goldeneye
14 Red-breasted Merganser
15 Goosander
16 Ruddy Duck
17 Great Northern Diver
18 Little Grebe
19 Great Crested Grebe
20 Cormorant
21 Cattle Egret
22 Little Egret
23 Grey Heron
24 Sparrowhawk
25 Buzzard
26 Kestrel
27 Moorhen
28 Coot
29 Lapwing
30 Common Snipe
31 Greenshank
32 Redshank
33 Black-headed Gull
34 Common Gull
35 Lesser Black-backed Gull
36 Herring Gull
37 Great Black-backed Gull
38 Feral Pigeon
39 Woodpigeon
40 Collared Dove
41 Blackbird
42 Fieldfare
43 Song Thrush
44 Redwing
45 Cetti's Warbler
46 Chiffchaff
47 Long-tailed Tit
48 Blue Tit
49 Great Tit
50 Coal Tt
51 Jay
52 Magpie
53 Jackdaw
54 Rook
55 Carrion Crow
56 Starling
57 House Sparrow
58 Chaffinch
59 Greenfinch
60 Goldfinch
61 Bullfinch
(Avon birds missed potential claw backs Slavonian Grebe, Black Redstart, Bittern)
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