Catcott Lows
9-Oct-2019
Apart from 16 distant Cattle Egrets and 2 Marsh Harriers, very little else of interest during on-and-off heavy rain this afternoon.
There were 9 Wigeon on the New Pool off lower Ropes Drove this Wed. afternoon my first here this Autumn.
66 Cattle Egrets were here around 1300hrs. They were mobile occasionally flying over the Car park hide and across the road to the West returning and assembling on the Lows. Also present a Hobby ,a couple of Marsh Harriers (male and Juv.) with 2 Sparrow Hawks and a couple of Buzzards. 7 Roe Deer were also pointed out!
My video of some of the c.50 Cattle Egrets at Catcott Lows Reserve can be seen by clicking on this link to Youtube…
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.