The Somerset Levels

Carolyn joined me today for a fabulous day on the Somerset Levels.
At home the weather was rather dreary (again) but by the time we arrived at Shapwick Heath the sky had completely cleared.
Parked up at the visitor's centre to get some info about the starlings and where they last roosted. Only the tel helpline available.
It was just about warm enough to sit outside with our morning drinks while we hatched a plan for the day, centred around being in the right place at the right time to see the starlings come into roost.
As the name suggests, walking on The Levels is so easy compared to the Devon hills so we left the car at the centre and headed off across the heath towards Ham Wall, another RSPB wetland area known for its variety of birds including bittern.
It was a glorious day as we ambled along, spotting grebe, marsh harriers, woodpeckers, great white egret and so many waterfowl.
There were many birders in the various hides and from chatting to them, we learnt a lot.
There was so much to see, Carolyn and I decided to keep on walking, only returning on our route at sunset.
By 3.30pm it was getting rather chilly and more and more people were arriving in the same hope of seeing a starling murmuration.
Now the guessing game started. Where to stand in this vast area to get the best views?
As we were waiting the sun sank over the reed beds giving me my blip of the day. At the time I thought that it would make a colourful 'extra'.
We were surrounded by people with powerful binoculars who were spotting flocks of starling in the distance and it soon became clear that everyone was in the wrong place.
As our car was parked a good 2 miles away and over in the direction of where the birds seemed to be headed, we decided to head back, rather than struggle along the track in the dark.
Threading ourselves through numbers of spectators all along the trail, we were aware of thousands of birds flying in but still high overhead.
You could feel the disappointment all around. My blip of the day just wasn't to be
 :-(
Having said all that, Carolyn and I had such a great day. I didn't take many photos as many of the birds of interest were too far away but we added 8 miles on to our walking challenge.
Once back at the car I don't think we thawed out until we were half way home.

Day total: 8miles
Year total : 119.5miles