Mipits in the Bay

05 Tuesday Nov 2024

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cardiff Bay birding, Meadow pipit

This time of year can be fairly quiet in Cardiff Bay bird-wise. Any migrating birds have mostly passed through, and the weather has been quite calm, which means that none of the rarities we are lucky enough to see during the winter months have yet appeared. The one bright light in my birding day when I walk around the Bay is the return of those birds that left to breed elsewhere but have now returned to overwinter in the Bay’s calmer conditions.

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One of those birds is the Meadow pipit. Though there are Rock pipits in the Bay all year round, they look very grey compared to the rich spicy brown of the Meadow pipits newly moulted plumage so they’re easy to identify, even when they perch on the Barrage rocks.

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Most of the time, the Meadow pipits can be found poking about in grassy areas, looking for tasty insects but, when disturbed, they frequently pop up on to higher spots, like fences, until they feel it’s safe to fly down to the ground again.

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Two Firecrests

31 Thursday Oct 2024

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, Firecrest

‘Tis the season for Firecrests, those darling little birds that only flit through my local area for a few of the cooler months of the year – the official description by Glamorgan Bird Club is ‘uncommon passage migrant and winter visitor’.

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This is another bird species that I’ve looked for over the past few weeks, in locations where it’s been seen in previous years, unsuccessfully. So, when I heard two Firecrests had been sighted in Cardiff’s Bute Park – another favoured location, I thought I’d take a look – I had chores to do in the city, and the autumn colours in the park are always worth a visit, so I figured that, even if I dipped the birds, it wouldn’t be a wasted journey.

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And, as you can see from my photos, it most definitely was not a wasted journey. Firecrests can be quite elusive and secretive, and, as they are tiny, are often obscured by vegetation. These were the best and closest views I’ve ever had, so I was over the moon!

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Woodpigeon migration

29 Tuesday Oct 2024

Posted by sconzani in autumn, birds

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autumn migration, birding, birdwatching, British birds, Woodpigeon, Woodpigeon migration

An amazing bird migration occurred last week, and the whole phenomenom is a bit of a mystery.

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The migrating birds were Woodpigeons (Columba palumbus), which may surprise you – who knew Woodpigeons migrated? Even more surprising is the numbers heading south west, estimated to be between 50,000 and 150,000 birds. I saw some of the flocks passing over and they were huge – it is truly an amazing spectacle to witness, and it happens every year, in late October / early November, the timing probably dependant on various weather conditions.

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What’s mysterious about this migration is where the birds come from and where they are going. These do not seem to be local British birds, as our population seems either to be mostly stationary or restricts its movements to within the UK, so the current assumption is that these are predominantly Woodpigeons passing through Britain, possibly originating in Scandinavia and likely heading to Spain and Portugal to over-winter.

The nut hacker

26 Saturday Oct 2024

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, nuthatch, Sitta europaea

I was wondering how the Nuthatch (Sitta europaea) got its name when I flicked on to the Woodland Trust website and there was the answer: ‘The nuthatch’s habit of hacking at these nuts to retrieve them from their hiding place is thought to have earned the species its name.’ The comment refers to this bird’s practice of stashing nuts in gaps and crevices in the bark of trees as a safeguard against the leaner days of winter, much as squirrels and Jays do.

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Dipping the YBWs

23 Wednesday Oct 2024

Posted by sconzani in autumn, birds

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, Chiffchaff, dipping rare birds, Yellow-browed warbler

I sometimes wonder if I give the impression on here that I always find what I go searching for. That is very far from the truth as today’s blog illustrates.

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This year, there’s been a much larger than usual influx of Yellow-browed warblers to the UK from their breeding grounds in Siberia. The only time I’ve seen one of these was back in 2020 and there have been none locally since then, until this past two weeks, when at least four birds have been sighted within walking distance of my home. Have I seen them? Not even a distant feather! And I’ve been looking four times, for two of the birds in two different locations, for over 30 minutes at a time, standing staring at trees and listening in vain for their distinctive calls. Nada!

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I ‘celebrated’ my third time dipping (birder-speak for not seeing) these birds with the following tongue-in-cheek post on social media:

My birding day in 3 photographs, which I have entitled ‘Not a Yellow-browed warbler’, ‘Not a Yellow-browed warbler’ & ‘Definitely not a Yellow-browed warbler’.

These are those photos – the birds, in case you’re wondering, are all Chiffchaffs.

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The return of the wintering birds, 2

19 Saturday Oct 2024

Posted by sconzani in autumn, birds

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cardiff Bay birding, Common Gull, Larus canus, over-wintering birds

Another bird sighting that brightened a dull Tuesday was that of my first Common gulls (Larus canus) of the autumn – this is one of them trying to keep its balance on the yellow buoy behind the Black-headed gulls.

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According to the BTO website, these beauties breed ‘in the north and west of both Britain and Ireland with a preference for upland areas’, which is why we don’t see them around Cardiff Bay or along the adjacent coastline until the temperatures begin to cool.

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At first, I only spotted the one sitting on the yellow ball but then it flew towards the adjacent string of orange buoys that mark the entrance to the Barrage locks and upset another of its species that had been sitting on the ‘Keep clear’ sign. That was a bonus as it helped me get flight shots of the two of them.

The return of the wintering birds, 1

18 Friday Oct 2024

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cardiff Bay birding, Goosander

The damp gloom of Tuesday’s walk around part of Cardiff Bay was much improved by the birds, in particular the presence of species that disappear to breed in other parts of the country before returning to spend their winter days in the local area.

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One such species is the Goosander, though they’re not yet looking in their best condition. These birds are still in what is called eclipse plumage, where it’s difficult to tell which is male and which is female, as the male birds assume a kind of in-between plumage after they finish breeding and before their full winter plumage grows in. So, the redhead above might be a female but, equally, it might be an eclipse male, whereas the Goosander below is definitely a male.

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Spatula-billed ducks

12 Saturday Oct 2024

Posted by sconzani in autumn, birds

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Anas clypeata, birding, birdwatching, British birds, Roath Lake birding, shoveler

The RSPB website‘s description of the Shoveler (Anas clypeata) pretty much nails it: ‘surface feeding ducks with huge spatula-shaped bills’. All the better to shovel as much food as possible from the water to your stomach as efficiently as possible, I reckon.

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Shovelers are winter visitors to south Wales, and, although one or two pop in to Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, most of these handsome ducks I see locally are at Roath Park Lake, which is where these photos were taken on two recent visits.

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Little jokers

09 Wednesday Oct 2024

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, little grebe

I’ve another mid-week time-line cleanser for you today, this time a couple of Little grebe photographs (sorry they’re not the best images but I hope they’ll produce a smile). The more I watch these cute little fluffy bottomed birds, the more they make me laugh. I caught this first one mid shake so its fluffed out feathers make it look like it’s eaten a lake’s-worth of insects.

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And, on my next visit to this same lake, a pair of Little grebes was again close enough to the shore for reasonable photos and some quality grebe watching. I’m not sure what this guy thought it was doing – morning exercises, perhaps?

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Black tern

01 Tuesday Oct 2024

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birding, birdwatching, Black tern, British birds, Childonias niger

It’s just over two years since any Black terns (Childonias niger) last visited my local area (Phenomenal fliers, 10 September 2022) so I was both delighted and relieved to learn yesterday morning that the Black tern which had been at Cardiff’s Lisvane Reservoir over the weekend was still present.

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After narrowly missing the first available train, I was even more relieved when I eventually got to the reservoir and almost immediately spotted the tern performing its amazing aerial manoeuvres in a constant search for food.

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It was always distant for my camera, and weather conditions weren’t the best, with grey skies and strong blustery winds, but it was such a joy to spend some quality time watching this incredible flier.

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