Saturday, February 2, 2013

Breaking 100 Species ST 4039

My third square visit this afternoon and a very productive one too. Bearded Tit calling in Seventy Acres reedbed was an early highlight so I decided to stand around there while the hordes all disappeared off along the South Drain track to see the Starling murmuration which has now moved to Shapwick from Ham Wall. As well as three gull species, I also had small parties of Golden Plover and Dunlin fly over me along with several hundred Redwings and Fieldfares. Then came the highlight of the afternoon when a Bittern started grunting in Seventy Acres and was answered shortly afterwards by another grunting male on Meare Heath. The Meare Heath bird then took flight and flew low over the wader lagoon, disappearing into the reedbed just north of the South Drain. These, along with a few invertebrate species now identified from my last outing have taken my running total to 106 now so I feel I am beginning to catch up. While the Bittern tuning up does not match the December 10th record over on Ham Wall, it is a great sign that spring is not far off.

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