109/365 Welcome back, Whitethroats!

19 Friday Apr 2019

Posted by sconzani in 365DaysWildin2019, birds, nature, spring

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#365DaysWild, birding, birdwatching, British birds, Common whitethroat, Grangemoor Park, Sylvia communis, Whitethroat

Did you know that the Whitethroat (Sylvia communis, also known as the Common whitethroat to distinguish it from the Lesser whitethroat, Sylvia curruca) is one of thirteen birds on the British list that has the colour white in its name?*

190419 whitethroat (1)

At least this is one bird that is relatively easy to identify, both because of that prominent white throat and because of its distinctive warbling song. And that’s how I managed to spot my first four Whitethroats of the year today at Cardiff’s Grangemoor Park, singing their hearts out, having just arrived back in the country after spending winter in the Sahel, just south of the Sahara.

190419 whitethroat (2)

* This is according to Stephen Moss’s excellent book Mrs Moreau’s Warbler: How birds got their names, Guardian Faber, London, 2018.

107/365 Merry as a martin

17 Wednesday Apr 2019

Posted by sconzani in 365DaysWildin2019, birds, nature, spring

≈ 2 Comments

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#365DaysWild, birding, birds nesting in Cardiff Bay, birdwatching, British birds, Cardiff Bay, Sand martin

I braved the school holiday crowds for a walk around part of Cardiff Bay today ’cause I wanted to see how the Sand martins were settling in to their chosen nooks and crannies. It was a delight to see so many of these charming little birds swooping back and forth over the waterways, merrily chattering all the while, and they seem to be actively nesting in almost every one of the old docks.

I watched them for a long time and loved every moment but I couldn’t help but feel sad that so few of the people there today even noticed them. They were missing something very special.

106/365 Snoozing

16 Tuesday Apr 2019

Posted by sconzani in 365DaysWildin2019, birds, nature

≈ 4 Comments

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#365DaysWild, birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cardiff Bay, Ely embankment, female duck, female mallard, Mallard, sleeping duck

190416 female mallard

Some days, when it’s grey and misty and still a bit damp from the morning’s rain, the best thing to do is tuck your head under your wing and snooze the afternoon away – at least that seems to have been the opinion of this female Mallard on the Ely embankment today.

103/365 Distant, blurry and bottoms

13 Saturday Apr 2019

Posted by sconzani in 365DaysWildin2019, birds, nature

≈ 6 Comments

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birding, birding at Marshfield, birding at Pilning, birdwatching, British birds, Corn bunting, Little ringed plover, Red-legged partridge, Redstart, Ruff, Wheatear, Yellowhammer

Distant, blurry and bottoms. These three words tell the story of the photographs I took on today’s Glamorgan Bird Club trip to Marshfield and Pilning, both places across the border in Gloucestershire. But don’t be misled by the (lack of) quality of my photos – it was a superb day, with birds I don’t often see at Marshfield (Yellowhammers, Corn buntings, and Red-legged partridges), as well as several Wheatears and a stunning male Redstart. And at Pilning, at the water’s edge between the two Severn bridges, I was able to add Little ringed plover, Yellow wagtail and Ruff to my year list. And as for those photos … well, see for yourself …

190413 1 yellowhammer

The blurry bottom of a Yellowhammer

190413 2 wheatear

A distant, blurry Wheatear

190413 3 corn bunting

The distant, blurry bottom of a Corn bunting sitting on top of a tree

190413 4 redstart

There’s a distant Redstart in this picture

190413 5 red-legged partridge

The blurry bottoms of two Red-legged partridges as they flew away

190413 6 little ringed plover

A distant, blurry Little ringed plover

190413 7 ruff

A very distant, very blurry Ruff

102/365 November in Portugal

12 Friday Apr 2019

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature

≈ 3 Comments

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, colour-ringed gull, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, Flat Holm Island, Larus fuscus, Lesser black-backed gull, movements of gulls

I have been out wandering today but, rather than sharing some photos from that, I want, instead, to share this information I’ve received about a ringed bird I reported. The bird is a Lesser black-backed gull (Larus fuscus), which I spotted at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park on 1 April and reported through the European Colour-ring Birding website.

190412 Lesser black-backed gull ringed

It’s a common enough bird, of course, and, as you can see from the list of sightings below, it seems to spend most of its time flying back and forth between Flat Holm Island and Cosmeston, except in November 2017, when it obviously fancied some time in warmer climes. I can’t help but wonder whether that was a one-off trip or whether it just hasn’t been spotted and reported on its other European sojourns.

08/07/12          FLAT HOLM ISLAND, Cardiff
02/09/12          Cosmeston Park, Cardiff (23 km, NNW, 56 days)
13/10/12          Cosmeston Park, Cardiff (23 km, NNW, 97 days)
12/06/14          Cosmeston Park, Cardiff (23 km, NNW, 1 yr 339days)
24/08/14          Cosmeston Park, Cardiff (23 km, NNW, 2 yrs 47days)
14/09/14          Cosmeston Park, Cardiff (23 km, NNW, 2 yrs 68days)
14/09/14          Cosmeston Park, Cardiff (23 km, NNW, 2 yrs 68days)
26/07/15          Cosmeston Park, Cardiff (23 km, NNW, 3 yrs 18days)
06/09/15          Cosmeston Park, Cardiff (23 km, NNW, 3 yrs 60days)
03/04/16          FLAT HOLM ISLAND, Cardiff (3 yrs 270days)
24/04/16          Cosmeston Park, Cardiff (23 km, NNW, 3 yrs 291days)
29/04/16          Cosmeston Park, Cardiff (23 km, NNW, 3 yrs 296days)
04/05/16          Cosmeston Park, Cardiff (23 km, NNW, 3 yrs 301days)
02/07/16          Cosmeston Park, Cardiff (23 km, NNW, 3 yrs 360days)
21/08/16          Cosmeston Park, Cardiff (23 km, NNW, 4 yrs 44days)
13/05/17          FLAT HOLM ISLAND, Cardiff (4 yrs 309days)
14/05/17          Cosmeston Park, Cardiff (23 km, NNW, 4 yrs 310days)
04/11/17          Costa da Caparica, Setúbal, Portugal (1493 km, SSW, 5 yrs)
07/07/18          FLAT HOLM ISLAND, Cardiff (5 yrs 364days)
01/04/19          Cosmeston Park, Cardiff (23 km, NNW, 6 yrs 267days)

99/365 Yellow dishwashers

09 Tuesday Apr 2019

Posted by sconzani in 365DaysWildin2019, birds, nature

≈ 6 Comments

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#365DaysWild, birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cardiff Bay, Ely embankment, Grey wagtail, Motacilla cinerea, Yellow dishwasher

190409 grey wagtail (1)

I knew that one of the Pied wagtail’s vernacular names is Polly dishwasher but I’ve only just found out today that its cousin, the Grey wagtail (Motacilla cinerea), is sometimes known as Yellow dishwasher … and Barley bird, and Gypsy bird, and Winter wagtail, and Oatseed bird. Such fascinating names, and such pretty little birds. These two, a male (above) and female (below), were picking their way along the rocks of the Ely River embankment in Cardiff Bay this morning.

190409 grey wagtail (2)

98/365 Under pressure

08 Monday Apr 2019

Posted by sconzani in 365DaysWildin2019, birds, nature, spring

≈ 2 Comments

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#365DaysWild, birding, birdwatching, British birds, chaffinch, Chaffinch foraging for food, male Chaffinch

190408 chaffinch (2)

Judging by how single-mindedly this male Chaffinch was searching the ground for food snacks and how he totally ignored me when I moved quite close to him – and, in fact, walked even closer towards me, I’m guessing he had several hungry offspring in a nest somewhere nearby and was feeling pressured to fill those gaping beaks.

190408 chaffinch (1)

92/365 Barrage wags

02 Tuesday Apr 2019

Posted by sconzani in 365DaysWildin2019, birds, nature, spring

≈ 6 Comments

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cardiff Barrage, Pied wagtail, wagtails

190402 pied wagtail (1)

Over the past couple of weeks local birders have been finding migrating Wheatears stopping over on the huge pile of rocks that is the Cardiff Barrage, the man-made structure that was built in the 1990s to cut Cardiff Bay off from the Bristol Channel and turn it in to a virtual lake. The Wheatears are returning from over-wintering in tropical Africa and, after taking a short breather on the Barrage, they head further north to their breeding grounds in- and up-land. Unfortunately, I couldn’t locate any Wheatears today but the many Pied wagtails were entertaining, flitting busily hither and yon.

190402 pied wagtail (2) 190402 pied wagtail (3)

91/365 New arrivals

01 Monday Apr 2019

Posted by sconzani in 365DaysWildin2019, birds, nature, spring

≈ 9 Comments

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#365DaysWild, baby birds, birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cosmeston, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, Moorhen, Moorhen chicks

At 9am this morning, one of these Moorhen parents was still sitting on five eggs. By the time I got to the pond at 11.30 there were five newly hatched little bundles of fluff, two of which were already venturing out of the nest. And Mum and Dad were already mating, in preparation for their next brood. If these are the same Moorhens that bred at this site last year, they had three broods in total, I think, and those born first were helping the parents feed the subsequent generations. I’ll be keeping an eye on what happens this year.

190401 moorhen family (1) 190401 moorhen family (2) 190401 moorhen family (3) 190401 moorhen family (4)