Near the bridge into the caves car  park I saw the flash of a black and white tail - a  Wheatear!  It was only passing  through.  They come up from sub Saharan Africa about now on their way to upland areas of  Wales or Exmoor, but it could go as far as Norway or even Iceland. A huge journey for such a small bird. Just  for an afternoon delighted me with its company.
	I wonder if any of you will hear the cuckoo this spring – they very rarely heard  near our village these days .  Ham Walls on the levels is a good bet.
The Wells SWT have a walk there on Tuesday  3rd of May, meeting in the Ashcott corner car park. at 7.00pm (ST449397).  Ham Walls is a real hot spot for all sorts of birds and other wildlife – If you haven’t heard them before it would be a chance to hear bitterns booming!

 Les      C:    This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.   

Early nesting birds: 

 The winter thrushes, the Redwing and the Fieldfare  have left  us for their northern breeding grounds.

but we still have our own three residents:  

Our British climate is, if possible, getting more changeable – and with Global Warming it will continue to become more and more extreme.  The effects on wildlife are a good indicator of how our climate is warming.  Over my lifetime wild flowers have been blooming earlier and earlier. But in the present winter the effects are even more extreme than anyone could have predicted. The Botanical Society of Great Britain, who do a regular New Year’s day survey of wild flowers found in bloom, usually count less than thirty flowering in the whole of GB- but this year they recorded 600!

Picture – looking down on winter floods from high ground

Most of us can be pretty smug, not much of our village floods, but my heart bleeds for those poor people up north that have been flooded time after time. In Somerset it is a bit different.  The levels are supposed to flood!  If we are going to have more exceptional weather events as Global Warming accelerates it will happen again and again. Dredging to upper Parrett is only a partial solution – and will probably mean the water will rush off even faster and flood Bridgewater!