A very brief visit on Fri 6th.  mid day produced one Juv Cattle Egret with a distinctly very black bill ,the other youngsters are now difficult to differentiate from the non breeding adults so I think this is a new addition to the previous 5 juvs seen here this year.

Catcott Lows from West hide 8.15am to 10.00am
3 Sedge warblers 1 Whitethroat foraging amongst the “weeds” on the South Island along with 4 Reed Buntings feeding on the weed seeds.
A brief visit from a Kingfisher.
Other species seen from the hide:
Great White Egret 1
Cattle Egret 3
Little Egret 1
Mute Swan 5
Gadwall 5
Canada Goose 19
Swallow 6
House Martin 1
Carrion Crow 5
Wood Pigeon 1

1-Sep-2019
24 Cattle Egrets early afternoon; also a Hobby, 2 Wheatears, a Whinchat and a Yellow Wagtail.

  Tuesday 27th.  afternoon. A Spotted Flycatcher appeared on the fence immediately left of the car park hide but it didn’t stay long, my first this year! also present although difficult to see were a couple of groups of 4 or 5 Yellow Wagtails. 24 Cattle Egrets are still around. A start was made today on cutting the Sedge on the North side of the central ditch, this may make passing wagtails easier to see! Good progress is being made on the second pool excavation off Lower Ropes Drove, it may well be finished this week.

Four distant and fleetingly glimpsed Yellow Wagtails , a single Black Tailed Godwit and a Wheatear were present between 1400 and 1500 Tuesday as were the ‘resident’ 18 or so Cattle Egrets with 3 Little and one Great White Egret.

A Greenshank dropped in for a while late morning , otherwise much the same birds as before..

A total of 13 adult and 4 juvenile Cattle egrets on the scrape this morning, otherwise rather quiet; 3 Lapwing and a single Snipe.

Hi Alan - after you left on Wednesday, we eventually saw 10 CEs all in the air at once, put up by a marsh harrier.  Dick

A Barn Owl has been visible at the back of the Lows on the last 2 evenings I spent there, most recently Wednesday 3rd.

Lunchtime today and for the first time for several weeks a Kingfisher flew across in front of the car park hide. There are at least 8 Cattle Egret still regularly on the Lows mostly distant but the cattle they accompany do venture up to the pools to drink offering close views, although this could mean waiting for several hours! Today there was also an adult Little Grebe in front of the hide.  Up to 100 Lapwing have also been present this week but difficult to see in the tall veg!

The 3 Egyptian geese dropped in at 11am this morning. Moved of South and West at 1125, but returned 5 minutes later before finally heading off North-west just before noon.

Information from Mark Blake Somerset Wildlife Trust
“Please note that from 25-28th June, there will be limited access to Catcott Lows Hide as we will be fixing potholes in the drove leading to hide & replacing the access ramp to the hide. This may cause some noise so we apologise for any inconvenience. Thank you. “
I understand that we can access the hide on foot during the working period but this will mean parking vehicles at the entrance to Higher Ropes Drove.

James Packer and I had an adult Purple heron fly NNE across the marsh late last night in the direction of Burtle/Westhay. Worth keeping an eye open in the general vicinity.

During a period of sunshine this morning, about 10.30am, there were substantial numbers of Swifts hawking insects only a few meters above the ground; however hirundines were few in numbers with only 5 House Martins seen.
3 little Egrets and 5 Cattle Egrets foraging, often disappearing amongst the Rushes.
A passing female Marsh Harrier carrying prey flew from behind the west hide (from the southwest) going east northeast and out of sight.
At the margins of the car park Blackcap, Whitethroat and Dunnock were present.

Around 08:00 Again the Barn owl put on a good display flying around in the light rain.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/paulcousins/47986232561/in/datetaken/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/paulcousins/47986234041/in/datetaken/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/paulcousins/47986196193/in/datetaken/

There were also 4 cranes which were there when I arrived but could not see them (too far back) only when they took off around 10:00 ish.