Above: Red Campion and Cow Parsley by the River Avon near the Tollbridge © Lucy Starling
Leader: Lucy Starling
Only four members joined me for a very pleasant stroll through riverside fields and along walking/cycling tracks on a gloriously sunny and warm day.
Male Blackcap siinging
We heard many song birds as we headed towards Mill Lane, including Wren, Dunnock, Blackbird, Song Thrush, and Chiffchaff but the most numerous and ubiquitous was Blackcap. We soon encountered two more warbler species, Common Whitethroat and a single singing Lesser Whitethroat, the latter deep in a lush and thick hedge close to the inner cattle grid entrance to New Leaf Farm. I last found this species here back in June 2020.
At The Tollbridge, we delighted in watching Sand Martins swooping over the river catching insects and investigating nesting opportunities. I then heard a Swift call briefly twice but could not locate it. After a short break in the walled garden at Batheaston.
We continued toward the A4 roundabout, stopping to watch some paddle borders and listen to our fifth warbler species, a Garden Warbler, singing its rapid bubbling chatter of notes from bushes on the far side of the river. Another Common Whitethroat was seen and heard in the dense and varied vegetation close to where we were standing.
Walking across Bathampton Farm Field, we at last saw a bird of prey, a male Kestrel, and I was pleased to find yet another Common Whitethroat in the hedgerow along Tyning Road.
Male Orange Tip
Finally, as we returned along the canal towpath, just past The George , a small party of Swifts screamed low overhead; the sound of Summer.
Insects recorded during the four hours walk were Orange-tip, Speckled Wood, Peacock, Green-Veined White, Holly Blue and Brimstone butterflies, and a very fresh female Broad-bodied Chaser.
Lucy Starling
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