When a River Warbler was found about 8 days ago at RSPB Ham Wall in Somerset, it got a few of us thinking about visiting the place again. Last time was the 25th April 2015 for a Hudsonian Godwit! A 5am start was planned with Craig B driving and myself and Bob K making up the numbers. Good progress was made despite the usual road works that nobody is working on? Then the good news arrived about 7am that the River Warbler was singing away at its usual haunt. It was going to be a very hot day so lots of regular coats etc would not be needed, the car park was quite full as we arrived and set off on foot. Lots of singing birds were heard as we made our way out towards the Avalon hide area including: - Bittern, Cettis`s Warbler, Blackcap. After crossing a small bridge we saw an assembled clutch of birders, they were watching something? It was the very obliging River Warbler, not exactly sat out, but belting out its strange song and pulsing its body as it sang. Very smart bird and a lifer for one of us! Despite trying very hard to get a few snap shots of the bird without some growth being in the way, which proved to be difficult, the lads managed some smart pictures. An elderly gentleman from Wales stood near us as we waited for the bird to perch up not 5 yards away, he then began to tell everyone within earshot, that he had lost an end cap by mobile phone, it was annoying and funny at the same time! I had a wander to Avalon hide and saw a few more Marsh Harriers, Hobby, Great White Egret and a couple of Bearded Tit`s. What a well-managed reserve this place has turned into since our last visit. A wander to the area were the Hudsonian Godwit had been seen 6 years ago just made us all think, what a vast area this is for the bird species to prosper in.
Our next stop was at Collared Hill to hopefully see Large Blue butterfly, by now we were all beginning to feel the heat and a walk up a small hill was not really the thing to do. Spurred on by the chance of seeing a really nice species we began our search. A few other like-minded people were also searching for the butterfly and a couple had had a very fleeting glimpse of one. We all spread out and searched for about an hour, then suddenly I saw one, but despite going to the exact spot where I thought it had landed, I did not see it again. Quite frustrating really! The view from the top of Collared Hill was stunning, who needs foreign holidays when you have beautiful England like this. Time pressed on and we left Somerset at 3-45pm and after a good straight homeward journey we arrived in Rochdale at 7-15pm. Great effort by Craig B behind the wheel, our turn next!
