Hudsonian Godwit ....Meare Heath in Somerset

Great White Egret at Meare Heath.

Yesterday the 30th April at 4.30am i set of to Meare Heath in Somerset in the hope of seeing the Hudsonian Godwit which would be a lifer for me , apart from a diversion on the M3 i had a pretty uneventful journey and arrived on site at approx 7.30am.

As i walked through the car park i could hear a Bittern " booming " in the distance , great start and what an awesome sound , i eventually joined the already assembled birders but sadly there was negative news regarding the target bird .

However i had plenty of birds to look at as i waited for the anticipated arrival of the Hudsonian Godwit , first bird to catch my eye was a splendid Great White Egret in all it's finery and showing quite close .

Close Great White Egret.

Love the plumes blowing in the wind.

I also had an array of waders to look at including Ruff , Dunlin , Redshank and approx 170 Black Tailed Godwits , i also saw a superb male Garganey.

Male Garganey.

I decided to have a sit down on a near by bench whilst keeping a close eye on the the birds that were coming and going from the pool , and then another birder picked up the Hudsonian Godwit flying into the pool at approx 9.30am , awesome i was soon onto the bird and had fantastic scope views of this cracking wader .

Hudsonian Godwit.

Streaking extending down to under tail coverts.

Overall alot darker than the Black Tailed Godwits.

Lovely colours on this bird.

I watched the Hudsonian Godwit for about an hour and a half , seeing it in flight on a few occasions where the black under wing was a stand out feature .

I also added 12+ Common Swift's plus at least 3 "Booming " Bittern's , Hobby , Marsh Harrier , several Cetti's Warblers , Blackcaps and a singing Garden Warbler to my days birding at this wonderful site.