5: Shipham
I have lived in Shipham since 1985 and have looked more closely at the birdlife since my retirement in 2011. We
are lucky to live 600ft up on Mendip with wide views and lots of options for walking and birding in the surrounding
countryside. The surrounding landscape is mainly grassland with grazing animals but Rowberrow Forest, which is
largely coniferous, and Blackdown are not too far away.
Though not large, our garden hosts a fair number of birds including all the tits, Collared Dove, Wood Pigeon, House Sparrow, Dunnock, Wren, Goldfinch, House Sparrow, Chaffinch and the occasional Greenfinch and Siskin plus Jackdaw in profusion. Buzzards are regularly overhead. Less frequently a pair of Nuthatch visits the feeders. Great Spotted Woodpecker is often heard and sometimes appears. Its Green cousin is heard but never seen from the garden. Perhaps the most exciting visits have been from Sparrowhawk. One sat on the lawn two metres away for several minutes and another chased a Blue Tit into a bush and made the kill in a flurry of feathers. Blackcaps occasionally pass through and Lesser Redpoll have been on the feeders.
In the wider countryside a singing Nightingale was an exciting find last spring and Blackdown sometimes throws
up rare visitors such as a Pallid Harrier a few years ago. One thing is certain: the number of farmland birds has
declined since our arrival here and in the last few years corvids have increased in numbers dramatically. Starlings
are now rare visitors.
Mark Watson
