Another rare grebe

24 Wednesday Jan 2024

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birding, birdwatching, Black-necked grebe, British birds, Cardiff Bay birding, Podiceps nigricollis

For the past week or thereabouts, a Black-necked grebe (Podiceps nigricollis) has been making its home in the middle of Cardiff Bay, visible to those well versed in identifying distant specks of black and white through their telescopes but not so easy for the likes of me, deficient in those skills and with old eyes and mere binoculars. However, I did wonder if perhaps the battering and raging of Storm Isha overnight last Sunday might have encouraged the grebe to shelter close to the western side of the Bay.

240124 black-necked grebe (3)

And I was right! There it was, with a large flock of Tufted ducks, a few Goosander, Coots, Mallards and a couple of Gadwall, and several of its grebe cousin the Great cresteds. With the Red-necked grebe still present on Cardiff’s northern reservoirs, it’s a real treat to have another rare grebe visitor this year already.

240124 black-necked grebe (2)

The BTO (British Trust for Ornithology) website says that, on average, just 115 birds overwinter in Britain, and some 50-odd pairs breed here, though they are both secretive and mostly kept secret, so as to prevent interference with this amber-listed beauty. I would certainly not want to disturb their breeding but I would love to see one of these grebes in its summer plumage – it’s a far cry from the smudgy black and white our local rare visitor is currently sporting. (The Bird Guides website has a page that provides excellent information and includes stunning images of all our local grebes in both winter and summer plumage).

240124 black-necked grebe (1)

Pale-bellied Brent geese

22 Monday Jan 2024

Posted by sconzani in birds, winter

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birding, birdwatching, Branta bernicla hrota, Brent goose, British birds, Pale-bellied Brent goose, Sully Island birds

Four Pale-bellied Brent geese (also known as Light-bellied) (Branta bernicla hrota) have been present, mostly distant, in the waters around Sully Island on the Welsh south coast for a week or so and, during last Friday’s walk, I was very fortunate to find them feeding along the shore line in Swanbridge bay.

240122 pale-bellied brent geese (1)

There are four distinct races of Brent goose, depending on the colour of their bellies (some are dark-bellied – see my November 2022 post A rare visitor to Cardiff Bay) and where they breed (the Bird Guides website has a good article on the different sub-species). Pale-bellied Brents found on the western shores of Britain are almost certainly from the population that breeds in Canada, and they usually overwinter in Iceland.

240122 pale-bellied brent geese (2)

However, population expansion (the Canadian population doubled between the mid 1990s and mid 2000s, according to one article I found) has led the excess numbers to find other overwintering locations, including sites like Anglesey and Morecambe Bay. There has for some time been a very small population at Aberthaw approximately 10 miles west of Sully Island along the south Wales coast. Perhaps, if numbers continue to increase, more Pale-bellied Brents will move further east, and we will be lucky enough to see these beautiful birds in my neighbourhood more often.

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Flashes of teal

20 Saturday Jan 2024

Posted by sconzani in birds

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, Forest Farm Country Park, Forest Farm Nature Reserve, Kingfisher

My most frequent views of Kingfishers are as passing piping flashes of teal, streaking around the edges of Cardiff Bay. So, it was a delight, on Thursday, to walk along the Glamorgan canal at Forest Farm Country Park and find one sitting on a branch, staring at the water, intensely focused on finding its next meal.

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Whose feet?

19 Friday Jan 2024

Posted by sconzani in birds

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birding, birds feet, birdwatching, British birds

The owner of these feet approached me yesterday, looking for food. A bigger clue to its identity I could not give! So, whose feet are these?

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The big reveal …

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Have you worked it out now? It’s a Herring gull.

Red-necked grebe

18 Thursday Jan 2024

Posted by sconzani in birds, winter

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, Llanishen Reservoir, Podiceps grisegena, Red-necked grebe

This handsome bird, a Red-necked grebe (Podiceps grisegena), was first sighted on north Cardiff’s reservoirs last Thursday 11 January by our county bird recorder, who lives very near this location. He says this bird is only his ninth ever at the site and the first since September 2001 – by anyone’s definition, a local rarity.

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The reservoirs are just a train ride and a half mile walk from where I live so I headed up on Thursday to see if I could spot it. I did, firstly on the much larger Llanishen Reservoir from where it flew across to neighbouring Lisvane Reservoir but, at least while I was there, it remained very distant. As is the way with birding, later that day the grebe moved very close to the reservoir edge nearest the café, so afternoon visitors got very good views of the bird.

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As I needed to go to north Cardiff again this past Monday on another matter, I thought I’d visit the reservoirs for a second look. And this time my luck was in, both with the sunny, less windy weather and with the grebe, which had returned to Llanishen Reservoir but, fortunately, was cruising around much closer to the western edge.

240118 red-necked grebe (3)

According to the RSPB website, ‘Less than 20 individuals spend the summer in the UK each year, with numbers increasing slightly in the winter when birds move here from colder Europe’, so I feel particularly privileged to have spent time observing and photographing this Red-necked grebe. Oh, and if you think its neck doesn’t look very red, it’s because the bird is in its winter plumage. Take a look at the RSPB website for photos of how stunning this bird is in breeding plumage.

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Blackbirds and berries

15 Monday Jan 2024

Posted by sconzani in birds, trees

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berries, birding, birdwatching, blackbird eating berries, British birds

I mentioned yesterday that any remaining berries are fast disappearing as hungry birds search for sustenance in the cold winter weather. Well, here’s one of those berry eaters, the one that I find a bit more cooperative when it comes to photographs than many of the other berry-eating birds, the beautiful Blackbird. (I find Redwing and Fieldfare, Song and Mistle thrushes all tend to be a little more elusive.)

Lifer: Waxwings

13 Saturday Jan 2024

Posted by sconzani in birds, winter

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bird migration, birding, birdwatching, British birds, Waxwing

I’ve been waiting, and waiting, and waiting, trying to be patient, not always succeeding. Then, finally, this week, Waxwings arrived at a park in north Cardiff, just a train ride away from home. I’m sure the four Scandinavian stunners felt right at home in the freezing temperatures today – not so the 20 or so birders waiting for the birds to come down from the treetops to eat the berries on the row of Rowan trees edging the park’s central path. Unfortunately, the Waxwings only came down to feed for a very short time while I was there but these were my first ever Waxwings so I was more than happy! Have you seen any this year?

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Pete Redshank returns

11 Thursday Jan 2024

Posted by sconzani in birds, winter

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cardiff Bay birding, colour rings on Redshank, Peter Redshank, Redshank

Every year I worry just a little about our local ringed Redshank, affectionately named Peter for the fact that s/he was ringed at Peterstone Great Wharf, just along the coast from Cardiff (see Tracking Mr Redshank, March 2017). This handsome bird is at least eight years old, possibly older, as it was ringed as an adult in February 2016. And each year our local Redshanks brave the perilous north Atlantic twice, to fly to Iceland to breed and then return to our shores to over-winter. Fortunately, our Pete has made it safely back; s/he was seen by another local birder late last year, and I finally caught up with our local celebrity last Sunday.

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Good timing

08 Monday Jan 2024

Posted by sconzani in birds, winter

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, Lisvane Reservoir, Ring-necked duck

I timed my visit to the north Cardiff reservoirs extremely well last Thursday because, unbeknown to me, the previous day had seen the arrival of a handsome male Ring-necked duck, drawn no doubt by the presence of a female, who has spent much of the winter cruising about Lisvane Reservoir. She had enjoyed the company of another female for a short while and a male – perhaps the same male – for a few days as well, but has spent most of her days with the good numbers of Tufted ducks, Mallards, Coots and Little grebes that live in this reservoir’s shallow waters. I was also lucky that they were relatively close to the edge of the reservoir, which enabled me to get some reasonable photos of the male and female together. I’m not sure what had attracted their attention when I took this image – I never realised their necks could extend this far!

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A lovely Loon

06 Saturday Jan 2024

Posted by sconzani in birds, winter

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, Common loon, Gavia immer, Great northern diver, Llanishen Reservoir, Loon

Finally, on Thursday, we had a break in the almost constant procession of wet and windy weather that made miserable many of my winter walks in December. To make the most of this, I caught the train to north Cardiff and enjoyed a wonderful walk around the recently reopened Llanishen and Lisvane Reservoirs, through the still muddy Nant Fawr woodland, and on down to Roath Park Lake. The highlight for me of this walk was getting relatively close views of the Great northern diver (Gavia immer) (what my American viewers would call a Common loon) that has been overwintering in Llanishen Reservoir. The bird was still some distance from me so my photos don’t do justice to how beautifully patterned this bird is but it was a pleasure to watch its constant diving.