I spent this morning wandering up through Hodders coombe on the Quantock hills, near to my home in Somerset. I was thinking on the way up that the leaf cover may be to much to see anything, how wrong I was. Due to the prolonged cold spell, spring has only just sprung up on the hills & many of the trees are only just starting to sprout fresh leaves.
My targets for the trip were the 3 woodland specialities of Redstart, Pied flycatcher & Wood warbler, all summer migrants. Wood warbler was in the bag after only 5 minutes up the coombe, its trilling song giving its position away. Further up the footpath, Pied flycatchers started to be heard & seen. The female below posed beautifully. A couple of the males also allowed me to grab a bit of video footage as well. At this point I was starting to think that there were no Redstarts here yet when I heard a bird calling further along the path.
I found a pair down in a gulley catching insects above the stream. A convenient fallen log was used to rest the lens on to get the shots below. Also seen in the coombes were Mistle thrush, Jay, Great spotted woodpecker, Goldcrest & various tits.
I walked back along the high road across Higher Hares knapp & saw more Redstarts as well as Tree pipits, Meadow pipits & Whitethroat.
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| Female Pied flycatcher |
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| Wood warbler |
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| Wood warbler |
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| Female Redstart |
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| Male Redstart |
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| Male Redstart |
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| Meadow Pipit |
