Tuesday 21 June – Compton Dando

A group of 17 set off from The Compton Inn at Compton Dando on an overcast but pleasant summer’s morning. There were a good number of common birds around the village including House Sparrows, House Martins, Swallows, Greenfinch and Song Thrush. After a very short walk to the bridge over the River Chew we saw a Dipper, and although not easy to see, the entire group did get a view of this rather special bird. We then walked through some pasture land bordered with woodland where we added Woodpigeon, Wren and a Buzzard was seen. The next part of the walk took us up a quite steep path through the woods where a Blackcap and a Goldcrest were heard. We crossed a beautiful meadow where we saw Meadow Brown butterflies and one or two Marbled Whites. About twelve Swifts gave us a nice display and we also saw 19 Goldfinches, including a family group of seven. As we came towards the end of the meadow a Kestrel gave us an excellent view and a Skylark was heard. We reached Woollard for another view of the River Chew from the road bridge where we saw Mallard with a number of chicks. A Grey Wagtail on the telegraph wire gave us a good view and we added Collared Dove, Long- tailed Tit and Pied Wagtail (including 1 juvenile being fed on a power line). We had planned to walk towards the church at Publow but there was quite a large flock of sheep that were being separated out by the farmer, so we turned round to head back to Compton Dando, this time on the south side of the river. Green Woodpecker, Moorhen, Grey Heron, three Jays and a family party of six Raven were seen. As we continued alongside the river some at the rear of the group had a fleeting view of a Kingfisher. It was a very pleasant morning’s walk and a total of 38 species were seen. Thanks to Nick for keeping his usual accurate bird list. (thnks to Mike and Elaine for leading)    Mike Landen