Very large mixed flock of Egrets, Cattle, Little and Great in field south of Westhay carpark this morning. I think the largest flock I’ve seen in this country,  I’m afraid I didn’t count them though but maybe 6-700. at least.  Also large Lapwing flock, at least one Egyptian Goose. and a few Grey Heron . Further along the road the three Glossy Ibis were in their regular   field opposite the turning to Lewis Drove although they had moved off for a while. before returning while I was there. Also about some Siskin , Lesser Redpoll, Fieldfare, Redwing, Jay, Sparrowhawk Buzzard etc.

Couldn’t see the RND in it’s usual Tufted Duck pool today, but Glossies have been along road to north of reserve for last few days (since their previous field, & now the road, have mostly dried up), also 250 Egret (mostly Cattle), but smaller mixed flocks to west, south & east, some including Greats & Grey Heron. Another Great was on Tealham & one in field west of Burtle

4 huge flocks of Starling across the levels with several smaller groups; plus Redwings at Westhay, & finally a decent flock of c.300 Lapwing at tealham

Ibis still in same field with 21 Little (11 elsewhere) & 39 Cattle (34 otherwise) Egrets, but not much else, although 500 Lapwing were flying from fields opposite Reserve entrance.

Counted 100 Chaffinch & 2 Greenfinch today - although very few definitively identified, so other finches may still be present (no Gold though). Other species not noted yesterday included Tufted Ducks, Moorhen, Redwings & a Jay, plus a Warbler that flitted before I could get glasses on it, but presumably Chiffchaff (no Crests, but also not sunny)

Otherwise much the same, with more Starlings & a few Mallard at Tealham, plus another 15 Cattle Egrets along the Wedmore road

Remarkable couple of hours birding east of Westhay - started by driving along the north side of reserve, as this avoids the deepest of the floods (although it has dropped a bit since yesterday) - flocks of “only” 12 + 34 + 28 Cattle Egrets (total 104) & 2 Littles. The pools along eastern edge held Wigeon, then at SE road junction (same place as previous reports) the 2 Glossy Ibis were in a field with 12 Little & 30 Cattle Egret (included above), plus 1 Grey Heron, 2 Mute Swans, c.150 Lapwing, a few Pied Wagtails, 1000s of Starlings, BH, Herring & LBB Gulls. At 2.40pm a Buzzard flew across, disturbing almost everything & the Ibis briefly followed it before circling back & landing in next dry field with most of the Cattle egrets.

Driving through the flood I stopped on the other side to take a photo of sun reflecting off the water & realised the trees were alive with finches - at least 200 Chaffinch had been feeding in the maize, along with a few Greenfinch, but almost the first thing I pointed my camera at (& obviously just after Graham had driven past me) was a male Siskin & then a Brambling was also in the same shot! The Siskin continued feeding in the alders with a few Goldfinches, but I didn’t pick up the Brambling again. However, during the next hour I also had a pair of Robins chasing each other around a willow, Blue, Great & LT Tits, Goldcrest (& I believe a Firecrest flashed across my line of sight), Chiffchaff, Fieldfare, Blackbird, heard Cetti’s Warbler & Water rail (at dusk). In the pools to north of road were Gadwall, Teal & Shoveler, then a slightly larger flock of Lapwing nearer the Tollhouse (not sure if included same or different birds), plus a single Great Egret in the field where Brambling were in previous winters & more Starlings heading back to Ham Wall. Wow.

Not much more than Mutes, Crows & a Great Egret on Tealham. My photos are in public group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/305832500995370

A selection inc. videos of Siskin & Ibis (Brambling & Chiffchaff pics in Replies), are also on: https://twitter.com/MikeMoxon2

two glossy ibis in the same place this morning in heavy rain but the road is steadily getting under deeper flood water so beware.

9-Dec-2023
The two imm Glossy Ibis this afternoon feeding with 15 Little Egrets on a roadside partially flooded roadside-field at the junction of Westhay Moor Drove and Lewis’s Drove; this about half-a-mile east of Westhay Moor NNR Car Park.

On Tealham the droves are flooded, but not the roads. Most of duck seem to have departed with the frost, but a few Mallard & Wigeon seen yesterday. Couple of Great & Little Egrets, Stonechat, still about & another birder saw couple of marsh harrier

Very wet indeed, most hides inaccessible even with wellies, but lots about. 2 subadult glossy ibis and 2 Egyptian Geese feeding with the little egrets on the flooded fields on the southern side of the reserve. Flock of about 50 redpolls in alder on the main path (/watercourse), with chaffinch, goldfinch, reed bunting, Cettis, goldcrest and chiffchaff also present. Few lone great white egrets, passing flock of c30 cattle egrets and another of lapwing. Ducks galore, the male gadwall looking particularly magnificent now. Huge flock of mixed corvids on drove road at E end of reserve, and a dead barred grass snake at the bottom of London Drove. 46 spp in a couple of hours, rather better than I expected given the amount of water everywhere!