Today I think we had the select few of the few with only 4 members having nothing better to do than go to the Somerset Levels and the weather couldn’t have been nicer. Yes, (Ham) wall to wall sunshine.

But we knew it would be a cool start: The ladies all sporting varying numbers of layers of clothing ready to remove as the day got warmer. One member having a fur trimmed jacket and myself had accessories of gloves and sunscreen, both which were left in the car.

I would like to say to you all that couldn’t come that we didn’t see much but I would be lying. Only five minutes along the canal at Ham Wall when we saw our first ‘A’ listed bird. That would have been sufficient in itself and such a good view. But that was only the start of what we spotted from the first viewing platform on our way to the Avalon Hide. The usual culprits like Lapwing, Cormorants, Gadwall, a new one for me, a Garganey, and  a duck which we are very familiar with, a Tufted Duck, which after closer inspection was a Ring-necked Duck. But not much from the Avalon Hide except a Marsh Harrier. Now do we call that an A listed bird in the company we saw today. I’m not sure. We were disappointed we didn’t see the Bittern but we did hear it quite a few times

But it was after our picnic lunch that we saw three more ‘A’ listed birds and one I would describe as an A+ lister at RSPB Grey Lake on our way home.

But you are going to have to look at the bird list to see what we did see. And we have proof to show it as well, thanks to some excellent photos from our very new member Mike.

Janet