A large group, which waxed and waned a bit throughout the walk, but for the most part numbered 41 members, set out on this new Tuesday walk. The morning started warm but cloudy and turned into a real sunny summer’s day. Our route took us into pastures with long (wet) grass and the sound of many Rooks plus the first of several Song Thrushes with extensive vocabularies which were heard throughout the walk. There were many wonderful views to all points of the compass and with the good visibility Mute swans on Chew Valley Lake were added to the list. Among the summer migrants, seen and heard, were Blackcap, House Martin, Chiffchaff, Whitethroat and Willow warbler.
At coffee break Mark Watson reminded us that as part of the Club’s 50th anniversary activities, we are funding the purchase of hedging for a planting project at this Avon Wildlife Trust location. This will take place on a Tuesday in late October – hopefully with an even larger group of members! Bird News will have all the details in due course.
We can usually count on seeing a Buzzard, which reminds some that it’s time for a coffee break. Four were seen early on this occasion and a Kestrel towards the end of the walk. A Hobby, spotted by Sue Prince, was possibly the star of the show for some – though our group was sometimes split into two or three so although the final count did match the number of walkers, not everyone saw or heard every species, which included Great Spotted and Green woodpecker, five species of corvid, most of the Tits, Goldcrest, Dunnock and Nuthatch. Two lucky returners to the carpark were treated to a very close, low level, noisy flypast of a Hobby hot on the heels of a Carrion crow.
Many thanks to Jean for leading and introducing so many of us to the delights of Folly Farm. Nancy Barrett
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