Category Archives: birds

Saxicola rubicola

16 Tuesday Oct 2018

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Very few scientific species names roll off the tongue – most are more inclined to be tongue twisters – but the Stonechat has a name I find much easier to say and remember. Saxicola means rock dweller (from the Latin saxum, meaning ‘rock’, and cola from incola, meaning ‘dwelling in’) and rubicola means bramble dweller, so we have a small bird that lives amongst rocks and brambles.

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In fact, most of the Stonechats I see seem to prefer tall shrubs or hedgerows or wildflowers: at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, where there have been good numbers of Stonechats in recent weeks, some perch on the tallest branches in the hedges, and many seem to prefer sitting atop and hunting for insects beneath the tall umbellifer flower-heads that grow in the northern end of the west paddock.

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This time last year, that paddock was mowed and I assume that mowing will be scheduled to happen again soon, so I’ve been making an effort to see this year’s Stonechats as often as I can before they get forced to move elsewhere.

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Birding at WWT Steart Marshes

14 Sunday Oct 2018

Posted by in animals, autumn, birds, nature, seaside, walks

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Storm Callum was wind-blasting the south-western counties of Wales and England with 50-mph-plus gusts yesterday but that didn’t deter 10 mad keen (some might just say mad) members of the Glamorgan Bird Club from heading to England, to the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust property at Steart Marshes in Somerset, for a day’s birding. And what a magnificent place it is and an incredible day we had!

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This is a man-made landscape, engineered to deal with local flooding issues and future sea-level rises, but it has the advantage of providing much-needed and extensive salt- and fresh-water wetland habitats. You can read more and watch a video on the WWT website.

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I don’t have a lot of close-up photos to share from this trip. As I mentioned at the start, it was incredibly windy so the conditions for non-blurry photography were difficult, and many of the birds were distant so I was relying on my bins and the generosity of my birding friends and their telescopes for better views.

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That doesn’t mean you can’t see some incredible sights here with the naked eye though: the miracle of hundreds of Lapwings or Bar-tailed godwits rising and flying in unison is one of Nature’s finest wonders, as are views of birds of prey like Merlin and Hobby screaming like fighter jets across the marshes in pursuit of prey.

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We also saw small numbers of Roe deer and Hares, scampering about in the fields.

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For the serious birder, there was much to quicken the heartbeat, with 13 species of wader seen, 12 Cattle egrets, a Spoonbill and a Glossy ibis. I managed to add five ticks to my year list so I was well pleased.

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This is a site that will only improve in future years and will almost certainly continue to attract star birds, but it’s also a place for everyone to enjoy the many walking trails, the excellent wildlife viewing facilities and the stunning beauty of the saltmarsh, an environment more colourful than I had imagined it would be. If you can, do visit!

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My species total for the day was only 49 but this list is about quality, not quantity. Five of these were year ticks for me: Mute Swan, Canada Goose, Shelduck, Eurasian Wigeon, Mallard, Northern Pintail, Pheasant, Little Grebe, Glossy Ibis, Spoonbill, Cattle Egret, Grey Heron, Little Egret, Cormorant, Marsh Harrier, Common Buzzard, Kestrel, Merlin, Hobby, Moorhen, Coot, Ringed Plover, European Golden Plover, Grey Plover, Northern Lapwing, Knot, Little Stint, Dunlin, Ruff, Common Snipe, Black-tailed Godwit, Bar-tailed Godwit, Eurasian Curlew, Spotted Redshank, Greenshank, Common Redshank, Black-headed Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Herring Gull, Woodpigeon, Magpie, Carrion Crow, Skylark, Wren, Starling, Pied Wagtail, Meadow Pipit, Goldfinch and Linnet.

The ones I missed but others saw or heard: Eurasian Teal, Northern Shoveler, Mediterranean Gull, Stock Dove, Collared Dove, Raven, Jackdaw, Blue Tit, Cetti’s Warbler, Blackbird and Chaffinch.

Flocking Linnets

13 Saturday Oct 2018

Posted by in autumn, birds, nature

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I seem to be seeing Linnets everywhere at the moment.

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There have been little flocks of four, six and ten browsing for seeds amongst the wildflowers that grow on the stones of the Ely River embankment in Cardiff Bay.

And then there have been much bigger flocks of 50 to 100 birds (sometimes joined by Goldfinches) grazing in the maize fields along the edge of the coastal path between Penarth and Lavernock.

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And, when those Linnets feel threatened by a predator (like the bird of prey in the top left of the second photo below), they very quickly join together to form enormous flocks of at least 500 birds that whirl and swirl to try to confuse the hunter. I’ve seen this incredible phenomenon twice recently and it is truly amazing to watch and to hear all those birds tweeting and twittering at once.

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Birding at Ogmore and Pant Norton

11 Thursday Oct 2018

Posted by in birds, insects, nature, walks, wildflowers

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Though a cool wind was blowing in off the sea, yesterday was a gloriously sunny day for our Glamorgan Bird Club outing to Ogmore. The fine weather also meant we had a great turn out of 26 people, more than usual for our field trips.

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We started off near Portobello House, scanning the dunes of Merthyr Mawr and checking the River Ogmore, where the ubiquitous Cormorants were adorning this big dead tree in the water.

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A Kestrel hovered over the dunes, and we witnessed a spectacular chase by a Sparrowhawk after a Meadow pipit – only very blurry photos of that, unfortunately. (The mipit escaped.)

Two Wigeon flew in to join the Canada geese, Mallards and gulls up river.

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After grazing along the muddy banks down river for a time, this Curlew flew upstream to find another place to feed.

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, our birding trips are not just about birds. Many birders are also interested in flora and other fauna so, yesterday, Dave was able to point out to us the invasive Buttonweed (Cotula coronopifolia) (he was the first to spot this plant in Wales!) and a Musk thistle (Carduus nutans). And another of our keen-eyed birders spotted this Wall butterfly, only the second time I’ve seen one of these beauties.

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After a wander up and down the riverbank we headed across the road and up a track into a series of small valleys, an area known locally as The Pant. As well as many other small birds, there were several Stonechats popping up and down in the shrubs and bracken.

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And then, what for me was the highlight of the day, really close views of a Kestrel hunting for its lunch. This handsome young male caught three creatures – probably voles or other small mammals – in the space of 10 minutes or so. It was incredible to watch how this bird’s amazing eyesight enabled it to hone in so accurately on its prey and, though I can’t help but have some sympathy for its victims, to see what an efficient hunter the Kestrel truly is.

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My total number of species for the day was 41: Mute Swan, Canada Goose, Eurasian Wigeon, Mallard, Little Grebe, Little Egret, Cormorant, Sparrowhawk, Common Buzzard, Kestrel, Eurasian Curlew, Greenshank, Common Redshank, Black-headed Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Herring Gull, Woodpigeon, Magpie, Carrion Crow, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Coal Tit, Skylark, Long-tailed Tit, Common Chiffchaff, Wren, Nuthatch, Blackbird, Song Thrush, Robin, European Stonechat, House Sparrow, Grey Wagtail, Pied Wagtail, Meadow Pipit, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Siskin, Linnet, Bullfinch and Willow Warbler.
I must have wandered off when these birds were seen: Greenfinch, Stock Dove, Jay, Jackdaw, Rook, Raven, Goldcrest and Dunnock.

A Nuthatch moment

04 Thursday Oct 2018

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This Nuthatch is pretending to be calm and aloof and not interested in the fact that I’ve just been dishing out food to the other small birds. But really …

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‘Hey lady, have you got any seed for me?’

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‘Maybe you put some in here.’

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‘Nope. I don’t see it.’

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Rest assured, it did get some seed. It just had to come down out of its tree to get it.

Friday’s walk 2: Rocky the pipit

30 Sunday Sep 2018

Posted by in autumn, birds, nature, walks

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Before leaving Friday’s walk along Sully beach, I have another bird encounter to share.

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There were a lot of Rock pipits foraging amongst the rocks and piles of seaweed, more than I have seen before on Sully beach.

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One bird was reasonably close to where I was sitting so I had the camera up, trying to get some photos of it, when I noticed what seemed like rather odd behaviour.

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The bird hopped down from the seaweed on to a flat stone and started to stamp its feet and shuffle back and forth, looking for all the world like it was practising its line-dancing moves.

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Because I had the camera up to my face and was zoomed in on this one bird – let’s call him Rocky – I didn’t realise that there was actually another Rock pipit standing very close by.

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Rocky was focused intently on this other bird. He puffed up his chest and strutted about and did some more line-dancing moves, but the other bird didn’t seem very impressed. If this had been springtime, I would have said Rocky was trying to impress a female but it’s autumn.

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Next thing, Rocky’s done with the dancing and flew straight at the other bird.

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They bumped chests, flapped wings and generally fluttered about for a couple of minutes, presumably each bird trying to assert its dominance through this display.

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The other bird relinquished the rock, and the seaweed, to Rocky, who looked rather pleased with his success. I’ve since read that Rock pipits can be very territorial so I assume Rocky was defending his patch on the beach from the intruder. It was certainly fascinating to watch.

Friday’s walk 1: along Sully beach

29 Saturday Sep 2018

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I try to time my walks at Sully with a mid-morning high tide – that way I don’t have to get up too early for the bus and I miss the early morning dog walkers. Yesterday was one such day and, though there was a cool wind blowing, it was a lovely day for a long walk. At first, I just sat and scanned the beach and the shoreline and the sea.

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Several Turnstones were browsing the big deposit of seaweed the tide had rolled in and then this Dunlin flew in to join them.

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With my bins I followed it in and saw it plop down to join a small number of Ringed plovers by the water’s edge. To me, their dark eye masks make Ringed plovers look like bandits, though very tiny and very cute bandits to be sure.

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One of the banditos only had one leg but it seemed to be managing to hop along okay. That made me think of Hop-along Cassidy but I was mixing up my masked men – the Lone Ranger was the one who wore the mask and, of course, he was no bandit.

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At that point a dog and its owner came tootling along the beach, which put all the birds up … and I realised there were, in fact, two Dunlins (the two lower birds in the centre of this photo).

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I took this opportunity to walk further along the beach and found myself a spot on the stone wall edging a slipway, a location where my birding friend Ceri said he’d seen a large number of waders the previous day. I hadn’t been sitting there long when a Wheatear flew right over my head and on to a boulder about 10 metres in front of me. I’m not sure who got the biggest surprise!

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A large group of waders flew across from Sully Island and landed on rocks near the water. They were a bit far away to see clearly but most seemed to be Ringed plovers, a group of perhaps 30.

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People walking along the coastal path above me scared my little Wheatear friend away but then I realised there were actually two birds flitting along the rocks and scrub.

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They’re such lovely little birds and this one managed to catch itself a snack, which reminded me that it was almost lunchtime, time for me to be moving along on my walk. More tomorrow …

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Definitely a Dunlin

27 Thursday Sep 2018

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Here’s another beautiful wader from my recent bird club walk at Kenfig National Nature Reserve.

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The Dunlin (Calidris alpina) is probably the British wader most people have seen – even if they didn’t realise what it was. With 9,600 breeding pairs and 350,000 Dunlin over-wintering in Britain, it’s certainly the most common.

And because it’s so common, it’s been given a huge number of common names by the folks that live in different parts of these isles. Some of my favourites are: sand mouse (Westmorland), peewee (Northamptonshire), pickerel (Scotland), bundie (Orkney), and sea lark, from several different locations.

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Glorious Golden plovers

23 Sunday Sep 2018

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As well as the Sanderlings I blogged about yesterday, the other stand-out birds from last Saturday’s birding walk were these Golden plovers (Pluvialis apricaria) though, in stark contrast to the Sanderlings, they did not move, at all, not one inch, in the 15 minutes or so I was watching them. And, as you can see in my second photo, they were keeping a close eye on me so I couldn’t move around much either in case that scared them off.

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As a result my photos are all very similar and, just to be clear, I have had to lighten these images a lot so you can see the plumage details (it was mostly a very dull day). Still, I hope you can tell how magnificent the plumage of these birds is. These yellow and black markings are their summer colours, which change in winter to a more stark combination of white and beige.

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These birds are British residents, breeding in the high moorland areas of Scotland, northern England and Wales, and then, in the autumn, moving to lowland areas, to fields and sometimes coastal sites, where they can often be seen feeding and flying in large flocks during the winter months.

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I didn’t hear so much as a peep out of the Golden plovers I saw at Sker but I really want to hear their call now that I’ve read this in my copy of Stefan Buczacki’s Fauna Britannica:

The Cheshire name ‘sheep’s guide’ arises from the belief that it gives warning to sheep of impending danger by its plaintive call. In Aberdeenshire, its cry is said to be giving friendly advice to the ploughman: ‘Plough weel, shave weel, harrow weel.’ In other areas, such as North Wales, it is the Golden Plover rather than the Lapwing, Curlew or other waders that has been linked with the legend of the Seven Whistlers (seven birds, flying together by night, whose cries forebode disaster). In common with other birds with plaintive calls, Golden Plovers have also sometimes been regarded as lost souls.

Scurrying Sanderlings

22 Saturday Sep 2018

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Watching these busy little birds scurrying back and forth along the beach at Sker last Saturday was the highlight of my day.

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I had walked away a little from the group of birders I was with as I wanted to try to get better photographs of the waders moving along the water’s edge, and I’m so glad I did, as the birds weren’t as bothered about one person standing very still and silent as they would’ve been about 25 chattering people moving about, and so came up reasonably close to me.

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Small flocks of Sanderlings (Calidris alba), and other small waders, were flying back and forth from the rocks to the sandy beach to feed, poking their heads right up to their eyes in the soft sand to probe for their preferred food of small crustaceans and molluscs.

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According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, the name Sanderling is a combination of the fairly obvious ‘sand’ and ‘erling’, which probably comes from the Old English yrthling, meaning ploughman (from yrth earth and erian to plough). That certainly makes sense when you see these little birds in action.

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Sanderlings are passage migrants that move through Britain in spring and autumn on their way to and from their breeding grounds in the High Arctic and their over-wintering sites in southern Europe and Africa.

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The birds’ plumage changes for the breeding season, becoming much darker, with shades of reddish-brown on the head, neck and back, and you can still see hints of that on some of the birds in my photos. Also, many of my birds seem to be juveniles, with quite chequered markings on their backs and very clean white under-parts.

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One fascinating factoid I discovered when reading up about these birds is that they have only three toes on each foot, with no hind toe to provide balance, and this is the reason for their scurrying motion. If you want to see Sanderlings in action, I uploaded a very short video to youtube.

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