Public vote

I have had the honour of one of my entries into the Somerset wildlife trusts photographic competition short listed into the final 10. The final 10 entries are now open to a public vote to find the winner of the peoples choice award. Please take a couple of minutes to visit the voting page here & pick your favourite. The winners of the peoples choice & judges choice will be announced in february.

Waxwings at last!

Waxwings have invaded the country. Some huge flocks have been seen stripping berries in Scotland & the far north. Birdguides birdmap has been "pebble dashed" with markers denoting where they have been spotted, everywhere it would seem but down here in Somerset. Over the last fortnight, small numbers have been spotted in Weston-super-mare, Avonmouth & Bristol. This week they have been turning up locally at Shapwick NNR (18), around Taunton & Westonzoyland. The latter is where I ended up this morning after a post on Twitter from Roger Musgrove (thanks mate!) where he had spotted 3 in a small suburban street. By the time I had got there the total was now 6. They were favouring a Rowan tree with its ample supply of pink berries.

Stint at Steart

A Small flooded field at Stockland reach near Steart in Somerset has turned up another quality wader, this time in the form of a Temmincks stint. An arctic breeder, this bird should now be wintering in Africa. Much less common than the Little Stint but as likely to occur in spring & autumn on passage. I have seen them before at Meare heath & at Titchwell in Norfolk but both those birds were a long way off & still dots even with a scope. This one was only 35m away & came as close as 20m on occasion. The sun even came out briefly!