Tuesday, 07 June – Pill Longshore

Swifts were seen over the Memorial Club car park before 21 of us, set off to look at a house nearby where they nest every year. Nothing there at the moment, but we examined possible entrances to the eaves and marvelled at the number of House Sparrows that live in Pill. We then walked past the harbour and along the marina beside a very high tide in the Avon, which meant that no waders were about, only a couple of Mallard sitting on a mooring drum in the river. House Martins were beginning to make their nests on the pub and the old Custom House and there were Herring Gulls floating nearby. We made our way on to the marsh, walking beside the thick hedges, which produced Blackcap, Wren and Dunnock singing and a pair of Crows in a tree nearby plucking at nest material. High over the M5 bridge were a Buzzard and loads of House Martins. We walked under the bridge, and two Peregrines (not feral pigeons?) were pointed out, one high up above a pillar and the other on a distant pylon across the river. We continued across the marsh to the path leading through hedges beside the river, and heard Reed Bunting, Whitethroat, Linnet and many Goldfinches, saw a Greenfinch on a fence, then picked up several loud and close Reed Warblers, some people getting occasional glimpses of one as it moved through the reeds. Sue found a Large Skipper butterfly, a Cormorant flew past and three Shelduck were seen sitting on a jetty across the river, waiting for some mud to appear. Others were seen on the distant mud in the estuary from the seat at the end of the path (another good information board). The pink flowers on tall grass stems were identified by Jean as Grass Vetchling. Back on the track under the M5 (Song Thrush song echoing here) we continued under the dock railway on our way to the cycle path back to Pill and heard Chiffchaff, saw Jay and another Buzzard and some lucky people had three Bullfinches, bringing the total species to 37. (thanks to Judy for leading) Judy Copeland