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Twenty-four walkers gathered outside the village hall on a sunny day. Graham had kindly stepped in to lead at short notice and displayed excellent map reading skills. An early highlight was a group of over 500 Swallows on wires over the ploughed fields. The coffee break Buzzard was trumped by one of three Red Kites.

Just six of us, including a new member, enjoyed a walk around CSC in fine and dry weather. We spotted a bright Chiffchaff as we passed the Golf Club entrance but the Common itself was inexplicably quiet (the warblers reported the day before had seemingly moved on). The most numerous birds were Goldfinches – a

Fifteen members gathered at Folly Farm. It was an extremely windy day but dry and overcast. We set off at 10:00 into Folly Wood along a barked path. Not many sighting of birds but we heard a few Blue Tits and Robins. At 11:00 more people joined us. We were all excited to see a

Despite the dire forecast of heavy rain, the eight of us gathered had a very dry and sunny morning. The first stop was at the lake where we watched the Coots, Moorhens, Cormorant and one Little Grebe. Walking around the reed beds we heard Chiffchaff, Robin, Green Woodpecker and Great Spotted Woodpecker. Once in sight

A Goldcrest was our first species, hovering in the trees by St Adeline’s church, just by our departure point. A dedicated party of 13 were entertained by a Kestrel in the fields just above the now heavily screened reservoir. The pull up Horton Hill seemed long but a Blackcap, a Tit flock and accompanying finches

Swallows and House Martins were flying overhead as we arrived at Goldcliff. A dozen members enjoyed dry and fair weather although conditions were not ideal as a couple of the pools had dried out completely and the tide was out. The walk started with a pair of Stonechats perched on a fence and a fly-past

On a slightly grey Tuesday morning, with a balmy southerly wind, 19 BOC members including two new recruits met in a car park in Barrow Gurney. As we set off the sighting of the day flew straight towards, and over, us; a Marsh Harrier! With plenty of Swallows and Martins around, we set off uphill

Sixteen people set out from Priddy Green rightly optimistic that the rain would stop. We walked up through the churchyard before zigzagging our way towards the Nine Barrows at the top. A few tits and Wrens were calling as we walked up until someone called out a Sparrowhawk overhead. A large flock of Jackdaws and

Six members joined me to have a look around the lake, albeit mainly using our cars rather than walking any great distances. We started at the south end of the dam where we saw the usual Common Sandpiper on the wall and scanned the west end of the lake carefully. Due to an angling competition

There was a healthy turnout of 17 members. It had been a while since I’d been out with the Tuesday group, and it was great to reconnect with the friendly folk. A distant Raven got the bird count off to a good start. We set off from the car park down a lovely woodland path.