Beautiful Bybrook, Wiltshire and maybe an otter passed by

A wonderful Sunday afternoon amble along the Bybrook river on the edge of the Cotswolds, and a hunt for signs of otters may just have paid off.  The small valley is bordered by ancient woodland and there is a fair smattering of riverside trees and small overgrown meanders - good for wildlife and nice habitat for otters...

With my iPhone in hand these are the images showing where a crayfish met its last moments and also some fishy remains turning up as a marker by way of a scat - could be mink - hope that it was an otter...:
 

 

Levels yields up its treasures

A cold wind and occasional sunshine characterized Saturday on the Levels in Somerset.  A long vigil for otters did not pay off, but I was more lucky on the bird side.

At Westhay SWT Reserve the summer warblers were hard at it, proclaiming their territory, along with the booming bitterns, under the shadow of a number of marsh harriers hunting the reed-beds.  I saw my first swift, house martins and later swallows of the year, with sand martins chattering above too.

Water rails screeched, but kept elusive, and the occasional pink-pink of bearded tits was almost as frustrating - until I caught one flash of orange dive into the reeds.

Ham Wall RSPB Reserve had some special visitors too - glossy ibis, yellow wagtails (4 - all the colour of canaries), a little-ringed plover, black tailed godwits (many in their summer plumage) and a short eared owl.

These beauties were all rather far away, but being able to view them through a borrowed Swarovski scope allowed me to get great views.  The photos are therefore very much record shots...:

Glossy ibis in the distance

 

Short-eared owl - very calm and relaxed

Glastonbury Tour seen from Avalon Marshes

Dipped out

OKAY...so I dipped out on the stork, the glossy ibis, the garganey and the short-eared owl, but I did see a coot trying to swallow a huge snail - what could be more fun than that!

Amazingly he\she did manage it, then went on stamping on its nest.  The image makes me think that he\she was regretting the decision to try!

Actually I had great views of a number of stunning marsh harriers, heard some good old booming from the bitterns and saw more egrets (GW and Little) than I could shake a stick out - but they were not what I went to the Somerset Levels for!

Oh...and those hides are quite good to get out of the rain, but keep the shutters down in Noahs!