Birding England in August

Sally and Paul Bartho

This is not the best time of year to see birds in England – breeding waders are changing from their summer plumage and migrants have yet to arrive. We were here for a wedding so took our chances anyway. Unfortunately the weather was rather wet and gloomy and photography suffered too as a consequence.

Some birds around the wedding venue near Whitney:

Canada Geese

Common Starling

Common Tern

Great Crested Grebe and Coot

Grey Wagtail

Woodpigeon

Mute Swan

Signets – Mute Swans

We headed for Norfolk and visited Minsmere, Cley, Titchwell Marshes and Lakenheath over three days. Wet and overcast weather greeted us at each place. Of these our 2 favourites were Minsmere and Titchwell Marshes. They have excellent hides and the waders were varied and plentiful. Minsmere also had woodland/forest habitat.

Here are some pictures of some of the birds seen.

Minsmere:

Minsmere Marshes

Black-tailed Godwits and Avocets

Black-tailed Godwit and Common Redshank

Black-tailed Godwit

Wren

Spotted Redshank

Black-tailed Godwit and Common Redshank

Little Egret

Greenfinch

Green Sandpiper

Great Tit

Goldfinch – male

Dunlin – black patch on stomach

Common Shelduck

Common Redshank

Chaffinch

Cley:

Wind Turbines

Cley hide

Cley hides

Cley Marshes and background

Cley Marshes from the beach

Cley Marshes

Cley shingle beach

Cley with Wind turbines

Mystery Wader 3

Dunlin

Mystery Waders 2

Pheasants

Red Butterfly

Rook

Ruff

Grey Squirrell – bushy-tailed

Avocet

Avocets

Blackbird – male

Black-headed Gull

Black-tailed Godwit

Black-tailed Godwits

Butterfly

Canada Geese

Chaffinch

Collared Dove

Common Moorhen – juvenile

Common Redshank

Common Starling

Coot

Curlew Sandpipers

Dunlin

RAF

Gadwall

Golden Plover

Goldfinch

Great Tit

Greenfinch

Dunnock

Kestrel

Lapwing and ….?

Lapwing

Mallard – female

Mute Swan

Mystery Wader 1

Titchwell Marshes:

Gadwall – male

Mallard – female

Golden Plover

Golden Plovers

Great Crested Grebe

Grey Heron being bombed by a gull

Grey Heron – preening

Grey Plover (breeding plumage) and Black-headed Gull

Grey Plover

Grey Plovers in breeding plumage

Greylag Geese

Greylag Goose

Haystacks

Lapwing

Little Ringed Plover – juvenile

Little Stint

Marsh Harrier

Little Stint

Common Redshank

Mystery – Wader

Mystery 1

Linnet – unusually red to back of head

Mystery Warbler- Aquatic?

Oystercatcher

Red-legged Partridge

Red-legged Partridge with chicks

Red-legged Partridge

Ringed Plover

Robin

Ruff and Lapwing

Ruff and Wood Sandpiper

Shoveler – female

Shoveler – females

Song Thrush

Song Thrushes

Spoonbills

Spotted Redshank coming out of breeding plumage

Spotted Redshank

Teal

Titchwell Marsh

Titchwell Marsh Hides

Titchwell Marsh

Windmill

Wood Sandpiper

Avocet

Bar-tailed Godwit

Bar-tailed Godwits

Butterfly

Canada and Greylag Geese

Titchwell Marshes

Spotted and Common Redshanks

Common Redshank

Common Shelduck

Curlew

Curlew Sandpiper

Curlew Sandpipers

Curlew – seen in a field away from the coast

Dunlins

Egyptian Geese

Gadwall – female

Mystery Wader 1

Lakenheath:

Norfolk forest

Butterfly

Pink Heath

Mute Swan – juvenile signet

Mute Swan

Although the birds are plentiful in these areas, they are very distant and a scope is essential. And because the areas are quite vast, cycling from one location/hide to the next is a good option. You get there quicker and it saves your poor old knees.

From Norfolk we headed back to Chew Magna – south of Bristol. On the way back our timing coincided with the Rutland Birdwatching Fair. We visited the spectacle. It is amazing the number of birding people who were present. There must have been well over 1000 cars in each of the 3 car parks and another field full of campervans etc for overnighters and exhibitors. The Fair had 8 huge marquees – each at least 50 metres long; 3 venues for talks plus an enormous event marquee. Then there were the tents for food and drink as well as other displays for optics and cameras. This is all nestled among the numerous birding tracks and hides – well over 20 hides – so lots of walking. If you ever want to find out about birding in any country then this is the place to visit. Every country and in some cases different regions in a country seems to be represented by at least one tour operator. Very impressive occasion.

Rutland birds:

Green Sandpiper

Little Grebe – juvenile

Osprey at nest site

Ruff

Tufted Duck

Tufted Duck female and ducklings

Tufted Duck

Black-headed Gull

Butterfly

Great Crested Grebe

Green Sandpiper

The following days we explored reserves around Bristol going as far afield as Exeter on the south coast. Each day was dogged by rain unfortunately so variety of birds seen was poor. We went to Chew Lake, Exeter (and the RSPB reserves close by), Ham Wall/Shapworth Heath (twice) and Swell Wood.

Some birds in and around Chew Magna and Chew Lake – just south of Bristol;

Blackbird – female

Wren

Black-headed Gull

Magpie

Greenfinch

Mallard – male

Mallard – female

Robin

Lesser Black-backed Gull – juvenile

Sally with our rental – caramel and cream

Song Thrush

Jackdaw – white eye-ring and grey neck

Not Sure

Blue Tit

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Long-tailed Tit

Rook

Chiffchaff

Grey Wagtail

At Ham Wall and Shapworth Heath:

Cold sunny day at Ham Wall

Ham Wall canal

Blackbird

Black-tailed Godwits and Knots in front

Black-tailed Godwits

Chaffinch

Common Whitethroat

Cormorant

Goldfinch

Great Egret – unusual in the UK

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Lesser Black-backed Gull – juvenile

Great Black-backed Gull and Black-headed Gull

Chiffchaff

Mystery bird

Mystery bird and Wren

Mystery Warbler

Mystery

Reed Bunting

Ruff among Lapwings

Snipe among Lapwings and Black-tailed Godwit

Snipe

Snipes

Tufted Duck – female

Wagtails – Pied and Grey

Willow Warbler

Oli chopter

And at Exeter on a very wet day:

Buzzard

Curlew

Canada Geese and Bar-tailed Godwits

Mystery Gull with white legs

Finally on our second last day we had sunshine and spent the day in the Forest of Dean with a fellow birder – Nigel Milbourne. It was excellent having someone so locally knowledgeable. Nigel took us round all the potential areas in the Forest of Dean and then spent the next morning showing us around Blagdon Lake – an area to which we look forward to return one day.

Here are some of the birds photographed in the Forest of Dean:

Black-headed Gull – juvenile

Blue Tit

Coal Tit

Great Tit

Grey Wagtail

Common Treecreeper

Kingfisher

Carrion Crow

Moorhen with brown back

Northern Wheatear

Nuthatch

Peking Duck – female

Peking Duck – male

Raven (wedged tail)

Red Admira

Robin – juvenile

Song Thrush

Speckled Wood

Tufted Ducks

Wild Boar on the run through thick forest

And some birds around Blagdon Lake (just south of Bristol):

Ruddy Duck

Tufted Ducks and Ruddy Duck

Shoveler

Wigeon

Barnacle Geese

Canada Geese

Blackcap

Buzzard

Chiffchaff

Common Pochard

Coot and Ruddy Duck

Coot, Tufted Duck and Common Pochard

Goldcrest

Grey Squirrell

House Martin

Long-tailed Tit

Mute Swans

Mystery Raptor

Roe Deer

Finally, midday on our last day in the UK we met up with Nigel to recover the scope which we left in the back of his vehicle. He suggested we have a go at finding a Dipper in the Pensford area. Off we went to the first bridge, then the second, then the third and finally another – but without luck. We searched up and down along the banks of each of the fast running areas without luck. They like fast running water and not too deep.

However we did bump into a Little Owl.

Little Owl

Then on the way back we crossed back over a bridge we had not stopped at since the water was barely flowing and deep and there were repairs being made to it with workmen on it. Fortunately we were travelling quite slow through the repairs and I spotted our Dipper. The British Dipper is unique in that it has a chestnut band below the white bib. This can be seen in the photos below.