Ham Wall and Shapwick Heath

Ham Wall and Shapwick Heath

Saturday 28th June

Richard organised a full day’s visit to include both these reserves, with a guided walk to Ham Wall in the morning led by volunteer warden John Crispen and Ham Wall warden Ray Summers. In total sixteen of us met in the car park at Ashcott Corner, and were delighted when John led us straight on to a section of the reserve not normally open to the public.

As we walked and observed water birds on the flooded areas, including Mallard in ‘eclipse’ plumage, Pochard, Tufted Duck, Great Crested Grebe and a flock of Gadwall flying, John explained that the reserve was originally created on land from which 15’ of peat had been removed, and is now managed by the RSPB primarily for Bitterns, Bearded Tits and Marsh Harriers – all of which have have differing habitat requirements.

A measure of the success of this management is that this year, for the first time ever on re-established reed beds, two bittern’s nests have been created. John had just stopped and gathered the group together to tell us about this exciting event - when we all saw a female flying across the reserve from her nest to fetch food for her young! He then explained that inland habitats for bitterns, such as Ham Wall, are increasingly important now because global warming means that coastal sites (e.g. in Norfolk) may well be lost to the sea.

Our walk continued, with sightings of Sedge Warbler (the only bird of British reed beds that does song-flights), Reed Warbler and Whitethroat; and Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Willow Warbler and the elusive Cetti’s Warbler advertising their presence in the marshes by song. We were shown poly-tunnels where reeds are raised to plant out on the reserve, the electric pumps which move water to where it is most needed, and the site where harvested reeds, grass and sedge is composted, for sale to the public for garden use.

Swifts, Black-headed Gulls and Lapwings were seen flying overhead as John showed us otter spraint – and encouraged us to smell it (very fishy) - and pointed out the nesting boxes provided for Barn Owls on the edge of a copse, one of which has been used this year.

We returned to the open section of the reserve and walked along the Old Glastonbury canal to the main viewing point – where we were soon lucky enough to see the female bittern again on her long ‘fly-past’.

After a picnic lunch, Richard took us into the Shapwick Heath reserve. This walk could hardly compete with the excitements of the morning, but we enjoyed visiting both hides, where we saw more water birds, and the slightly bizarre sight of a great many cormorants, with nests, perched in a row of dead trees. Walking along the canal we found a stand of beautiful Marsh Orchids and also saw brightly coloured Tiger Moths.

Some of us paid a brief visit to the Catcott Reserve hide on the way home which rewarded us with sightings of Lapwings, a juvenile Redshank, and a Hobby hunting for dragonflies.

In all we saw (or heard) 40 species on a truly memorable day out.

Carole Lewis

Birds seen, in BOU order or alphabetic order

BOU order

Mute Swan

Greylag Goose

Canada Goose

Gadwall

Mallard

Pochard

Tufted Duck

Great Crested Grebe

Cormorant

Bittern

Little Egret

Grey Heron

Buzzard

Hobby

Moorhen

Coot

Lapwing

Black-headed Gull

Lesser Black-backed Gull

Wood Pigeon

Swift

Kingfisher

Great Spotted Woodpecker

House Martin

Wren (H)

Dunnock

Blackbird

Cetti’s Warbler (H)

Sedge Warbler

Reed Warbler

Blackcap (H)

Whitethroat

Chiffchaff (H)

Willow Warbler (H)

Long-tailed Tit

Great Tit

Carrion Crow

Starling

Chaffinch

Reed Bunting

H = heard only

Alphabetic order