23 March '17 Thursday - Cattle Egret

Cold morning but day cheered up with decent amount of sun, very windy at times

Red Kite at Latteridge and Bath
Swallow, White Wagtail at Portbury Wharf
Black Redstart, Wheatear at Uphill
Cattle Egret at Chew Valley Lake
Club trip to Herzegovina - one place left - trip details after Chew reports

23-3-17 Grey Heron in Bristol (Del Hickey)

BRISTOL

Downend:
1 Grey Heron

SOUTH GLOUCESTERSHIRE

Oldbury Coast:
2 Canada Geese, 2 Lapwing, 11 Chiffchaff

23-3-17 Short-eared Owl at Aust (Jeanette Sakel)

Aust Warth:
1 Short-eared Owl,

New Passage/Northwick Warth:
22nd gave Pintail, Shoveler, Water Rail, Little Ringed Plover, Ringed Plover, Black-tailed Godwit, Snipe, Redshank, Turnstone, Chiffchaff, Wheatear and Sand Martin on Severn Beach

Latteridge:
1 Red Kite

NORTH SOMERSET

Portbury Wharf:
Greylag Geese, 2 Kingfisher, 5 Sand Martin, 1 Swallow, 4 Cetti's Warbler, 7 Chiffchaff, 2 Grey Wagtail, 1 White Wagtail

23-3-17 Reed Bunting  in Yatton (Higgy)

Yatton, Stowey Road garden:
2 Coal Tit, 7 Reed Bunting (6 males fighting for 1 female!)

Uphill:

50 Mute Swan, 11 Canada Geese, 40 Shelduck, 30 Teal, 2 Cormorant, 2 Little Egret, 1 Grey Heron, 1 Little Grebe, 2 Kestrel, 120 Redshank, 1 Green Woodpecker, 7 Skylark, 1 Cetti's Warbler, 15 Chiffchaff, 1 f Black Redstart, 2 (13 on 22nd) Wheatear, 3 Meadow Pipit, 2 Greenfinch, 14 Linnet, 2 Reed Bunting

Churchill Academy:
1 Skylark flew over Churchill Academy. Spring on the way? One chuffed schoolboy!

East Harptree:
Chiffchaffs singing, 2 Siskin (19th)

BELOW M4 & BANES

Marshfield:
1 Barn Owl.

23-3-17 Red Kite in Bath (Peter Coslett)

Bath, St Johns Church:
2 Red Kite (SW at 1.00 pm), 2 eggs on Peregrine nest - Juvie KP accepted on the incubation team

RESERVOIRS:

Blagdon Lake:
1  Kestrel, 1 Peregrine, c. 250 Sand Martin, 1 House Martin, a few Redwing

Chew Valley Lake:
Denny Island:
3 Cattle Egret, 3 Little Egret

Herons Green:
1 Bittern (West to East at 5 pm 22nd)

Herriotts End:
3 Cattle Egret (same?), 1 Tawny Owl

Club trip to Herzegovina, 7-14 May 2017
A place has just become available on this upcoming BOC trip.  Please contact bocbirds@gmail.com  urgently if interested in joining us.  Top target bird is Rock Partridge.  7 nights inc 2 in Croatia, price approx £850 plus flights from/to Bristol for which a booked seat may be transferable.

Gran Canaria - not a brilliant place for birds but two Canary Islands endemics.

The first is of a recently fledged juvenile Canary Islands Chiffchaff - a very common bird on the island that is already treated as a separate species. The second photo is of a Gran Canaria Robin, which has been touted as a potential split from the European Robin. Apparently, it split off from our bird about 2 million years ago! It has a more intensely coloured breast and a larger area of blue surrounding it. Keith Vinicombe

Reports: Rich Andrews, Peter Coslett, Paul Cousins, Mark Dadds, Sean Davies, Lee Gardiner, Peter Hazelwood, Del Hickey, Higgy, Lois Pryce, George Rabin, Christopher Teague, blagdonlakebirds, CVRS, nslbirding, opsbirding, severnsidebirds, TBOSG