Saturday 19 December- Uphill Leader: Jane Cumming

I was assigned to the monthly WeBS count on the estuary at Uphill in mid-2016 so I’ve monitored birds there regularly for more than four years. The last thing I expected as we set out for this morning walk was to get not one but TWO “patch ticks” – species I’d never seen there before. The threatened rain fell before the start of the walk and the morning went from dry and pleasant to clear, sunny and absolutely beautiful by noon (followed by thunder, lightning and hail at 15:30 but we were all safely back home by then!). With a 10:00 high tide we started on the beach checking the ducks and waders along the edge of the salt marsh: 143 Shelduck, only seven Mallard (where did the rest go?), 62 Wigeon and 275 Teal. A goose lurking in waterside reeds across the estuary was assumed to be a Canada until we put telescopes up and realised it was a Brent Goose – not at all common along the Severn and my first patch tick. We found nothing unusual amongst the winter waders but got typical counts of 80 Oystercatcher and 25 Curlew. We only saw six Dunlin, a low count, and I suspect we missed a lot of the Redshanks as we picked up only about 40 along the muddy banks of the River Axe and there are often a couple of hundred. Flocks of Black-headed Gulls were passing constantly up and down the coast. We noted three Great Black-backed Gulls (two immature) and two Lesser Black-backed Gulls amongst a dozen or more Herring Gulls. Meadow Pipit and Pied Wagtails completed the beach list. Moving down to Uphill marina we walked out past the pool which held two Little Grebes and a Moorhen, along the path at the base of the cliff – Goldcrests, Blue Tits, Chaffinch – and out onto Walborough Hill. A Raven flew over calling. The marshy pools below the hill held a few Teal and a Little Egret, and we scanned the Brean Down side to count 27 wintering Mute Swans in the fields. We walked on south along the dyke towards Weston Sewage Treatment Works. Skylarks failed to appear but we did see a Stonechat and a flock of Linnets, a Sparrowhawk hunting low over a stubble field, and flocks in flight which resolved themselves into 70 Redwings and 400 very distant Lapwings (probably over Bleadon Levels). Then something sprang out of the ditch by the cycle path, close
to some walkers, and sped low and fast along the hedge away from us. It was quite large, chunky, loosefeathered and brown, and I couldn’t think what it was (partridge? Little Owl?) until it jinked sideways to show the long bill – Woodcock! My second patch tick, and most unexpected in this habitat of marsh, hedge, pool and ditch but no woodland. I wonder if it had migrated in overnight. It certainly made my day! We had 39 species altogether, or 40 if you count the rabbit…(Thanks Jane for leading) Jane Cumming