Hope for the weekend   8+ 1 Cattle Egrets again today this time around 1530 with one drake Garganey and 34 Blk. Wits.present.  Plenty of Hobbies p.m. despite strong S.S.E, wind. Sparrow Hawk carrying prey and a Jay back and forth occasionally. several G.W.Egrets including the 2009 French ringed bird Orange over Pistachio!

11-May-2017
To Alan’s posting, after he had left, I can add: 3 Hobbies, 2 Cuckoos - both heard (one back of Meare Heath and one behind the Estate Grounds) and an immature (2cy) Red Kite that very slowly flew east at 15:45 taking 5 mins to pass by and reach the car park area, where it slowly circled, gaining a lot of height and then drifted away to the south at 15:55.

Nine Cattle Egret in small groups passed over behind the scrape heading east around 1430.  2 drake Garganey and a flock of around 30 Blk. Wits. still remain.

A single Wigeon joined the Godwits and the Little Ringed Plover this evening. Cuckoo heard from 70 acres and a Garden Warbler heard but not seen along the track.

2 male Marsh Harriers gave excellent views over the scrape at about 7pm.

3 Cattle Egrets passed by mid afternoon heading S.East. One Little Ringed plover ; 30 Blk. Tld. G’Wits and a drake Garganey were the other birds of note.
In the warm sunshine there were at least 20 hobbies in the sky looking towards both Meare village and south over 70 acres. I didn’t have eyes in the back of my head my two oppos were counting and shouting!

4 Cattle Egrets mid afternoon passed by, only one stopped for a couple of minutes!  30, Black Wits and a few misc ducks.
3 Garganey were again on Catcott Lows this morning

Mon mid morning 5 Ringed Plover still there at 1430, plus 1 Little Ringed Plover and a dozen Blk Wits: an Oystercatcher flew over calling heading West!. Left early so only saw 2 Cattle Egrets singly during 3 hours,  Hobbies up to 7 together in the warm sunshine

One Wood Sandpiper on the scrape at 9.30 this morning but it was driven off along with everything else by a flyover Sparrowhawk. The 28 Blackwits there returned quickly but the Sandpiper didn’t.

Seventeen! Cattle Egrets dropped in just before 1500hrs,  two up on yesterday! 30 Blk Wits and a drake Garganey were the other birds of note. Some 20 mins. later the Cattle Egrets overtook me, as I rode my bike toward the Ashcott Corner car, park heading East

No improvement on the wader front today just 21 Blk Wits present.
What may be a record number for this site saw 15 Cattle Egrets drop in together mid afternoon.  5 Hobbies in the air together today.

31 Blk. Wits were the only waders today, Water level is now excellent after a couple of periods of pumping (yesterday and this morning).
There was an early afternoon flyover by about a dozen Ringed plover Sp. they did a lap of honour but headed off N.West Eventually 9 Cattle Egrets gathered and stuck the cold windy conditions for three parts of an hour before heading off to find somewhere more sheltered. The three broods of Greylags have lost a few goslings in the last couple of days, one being consumed by a Carrion Crow yesterday, it tried it’s luck a couple of times today but was driven off by the adult geese.

A drake Garganey had reappeared on the scrape today, the pump was put back on to remove the water delivered by the weekends rain. Otherwise just 20 Blk tld. G’Wits and one Dunlin were the only birds of note. Early this afternoon 15 Hobbies were in the air together behind the scrape, several largish Dragonflies were about probably Hairy’s with good numbers of Damsels. No sign of any Terns on Noah’s this morning.

By 1030 or so when we arrived the only waders left were about a dozen Black Wits!  N.E. Tractor had made two passes cutting grass on the edge of the main track . Mid afternoon 12 Cattle Egret arrived but left after 10 minutes. 2 Cranes were seen heading S.W, around 1300hrs:  A Red Kite flew over 70 Acres and headed for Shapwick village mid afternoon. Several Hobbies ( 7 were seen Not by me! together over Noah’s Lake

The Otter was seen again at around midday and offered good views. It eventually caught an Eel before dissapearing in to the reeds on the right.Later the 11 Cattle Egrets returned and remained until I left ( 5:00pm ). On my way back I saw a Red Kite which had drifted over from ‘’ Noahs ‘’. It headed off North east over Mere heath where it was mobbed by a Crow. This all happened yesterday ( 26th ) and I apologise for the late posting.

The 11 Cattle Egrets returned again to the scrape again this afternoon as they also did yesterday!. Today there were 50 Blk Tld G’Wits present and just on Little Egret. Many 100’s of Sand Martins around plus a few House Martins and a couple of Swifts.  A Cuckoo was again calling nearby at 1030 as were two Garden Warblers.