Category Archives: birds

Not Bank swallows

16 Tuesday Jun 2026

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During last week’s wander around Cardiff Bay and on in to the city I paused for a wonderful 20 minutes to watch the Sand martins flitting constantly in and out of their nests in every available gap, hole and crevice in the walls of the Bay’s many old docks.

Their activity has reached a level of frantic that means I can safely assume they’re now feeding young.

In North America the Sand martin is known as the Bank swallow, something I didn’t know until quite recently when a man tried a little too forcefully to tell me (the term ‘mansplaining’ applies here, I think) that the birds I was watching and listening to were Bank swallows, rather than Sand martins, because that’s what his Merlin bird app told him.

(Note to Merlin users: if you live in the UK, make sure you change your settings to British bird names!)

A fledgling Long-tailed tit

11 Thursday Jun 2026

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It’s that time of year when all the young fledgling birds are out and about, following their parents and siblings through the trees, begging for food, learning to forage, constantly calling to stay in contact with each other.

Though it’s often difficult to spot the individual birds now that the foliage on the trees is so lush, it always make me smile to hear them and, occasionally, one bird will pause briefly in the open so, if I’m quick, I’m able to grab a few photos. This juvenile Long-tailed tit recently provided me with just such an opportunity.

A surprise Spotted flycatcher

04 Thursday Jun 2026

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It’s not unusual, during Spring migration, not to see many of the bird species that pass through. Unless they need to rest or refuel, there’s no reason for them to stop, and the urge is strong to reach their breeding locations and get the reproduction process underway. I assumed this was why no Spotted flycatchers had been sighted locally this Spring, though it now seems that a lot of birds are late arriving this year, coming in waves depending on when the weather conditions are favourable for long-distance flights. Then, one evening, I got lucky.

I was sitting at my table/desk, deliberately positioned next to a window with views of the adjacent woodland and out to the Bristol Channel, when I noticed a bird chase a small butterfly along the tree line. My birding skills must be improving because I was immediately on the alert – the bird, the way it moved, its jizz didn’t look like one of the usual birds – definitely not a Robin or a Dunnock, nor, I didn’t think, a Chiffchaff. I kept my eyes on the place where the bird appeared to have landed and reached behind me for the binoculars that live, when I’m home, in a handily positioned bookcase. And there it was, a striking little Spotted flycatcher!

For perhaps 30 minutes I watched it flitting in and out from the trees, attempting to catch small flying insects, sometimes pausing and settling as if preparing to roost for the night but then getting tempted into flight once more by the sight of a succulent titbit. Eventually, it flew further along the woodland and was lost to sight. I can’t imagine a nicer way to spend my evening!

A Tawny fledgling

01 Monday Jun 2026

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I was soaked from un-forecast rain showers when I reached the bus stop outside Cosmeston Lakes Country Park and just hoping a bus would come quickly so I could get home and into dry clothes. But, when I got there, two of my birding acquaintances were also awaiting a bus and told me, excitedly, that they had just been watching a fledgling Tawny owl sitting low down in a tree close to the car park.Although I’ve seen the occasional adult Tawny and sometimes hear them calling at night in the woodland adjacent to my building, I hadn’t seen one for a couple of years and had never seen a fledgling. So, understandably, it only took me a moment to decide that I simply had to go for a look, soaked or not.As it was still raining, I didn’t want to damage my camera so only managed to get a few quick photos, and I also didn’t want to disturb the bird, though I’m sure one, or both of its parents were perched nearby, well hidden amongst the foliage, keeping a close eye on their offspring. What a special sight this was – a bundle of fluff, perched on a branch, looking sleepy and making the occasional low chirruping sounds.

p.s. I wrote this post last week. In the interim, this little fledgling has become something of a local celebrity, and it’s been really heartwarming to see how delighted people have been at seeing it. It’s also been good to see how respectful and protective of the bird the visitors have been. Of course, I have since revisited the site as well, and managed to shoot this short video clip of the fledgling. Enjoy!

Five little cygnets

30 Saturday May 2026

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I’ve never really understood how anyone, let alone a talented writer like Hans Christian Andersen, could label a cygnet an ‘ugly duckling’. In my opinion, there is nothing even remotely ugly about a cygnet; it is the very embodiment of cute.

These five very young cygnets were with their Mute swan parents, pottering along the water’s edge where the River Ely flows in to the western edge of Cardiff Bay, and watching them certainly brightened up a very dull, grey, occasionally wet day. I hope you enjoy this massive dose of cuteness as much as I did.

Bar-tailed godwits

26 Tuesday May 2026

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In a blog about Black-tailed godwits, after seeing a huge flock of them just off Cardiff Bay Barrage in February last year, I wrote:

We have two species of godwit in Britain, Black-tailed and Bar-tailed (Limosa lapponica), and, at first glance, they can be difficult to tell apart but, as you can see in some of my photos, the Black-tailed have broad white wing-bars and their white tails finish with a black band, hence their name.

Though we sometime see Bar-tailed godwits (Limosa lapponica) in south Wales, as they pass through during their spring and autumn migrations, I haven’t seen any locally since 2019, so it was wonderful to see them several times in Dorset, both at Lodmoor and along the shore line in front of the Wild Chesil Centre at Ferrybridge. In fact, early one morning, I took a seat on a small concrete slipway by the road at Ferrybridge and spent perhaps 30 minutes watching these two birds feeding. I was hoping they’d come closer as the tide came in but, just as they were getting nearer, a dog walker and his pet walked along the sand between me and the birds, scaring them further away.

One morning at Lodmoor, this single Bar-tailed godwit flew in, and was joined a short time later by two little Sanderlings – more very enjoyable birdwatching minutes were spent watching these birds as they foraged along the water’s edge.

Pipits feeding their families

22 Friday May 2026

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As I mentioned in Tuesday’s blog (Skylarks and Stonechats), the area around the Ferrybridge Wild Chesil Centre is rich in birdlife at this time of year, the lush wildflowers and thick scrub obviously providing a rich diet of lurking insects for breeding birds to nourish their young. As well as the Skylarks and Stonechats, a healthy population of Meadow pipits also breeds hereabouts, and I caught this adult with a beak full of foraged food, just waiting for me to pass by before heading in to the undergrowth to its nest.

Later that day, as I sat on a boulder eating my lunchtime snack at Portland Bill, I was entertained by another member of the pipit family busily gathering titbits to feed its family. This Rock pipit looked gorgeous as it sat on a rock, surrounded by the delicate pinks of the lush flowering Thrift, waiting for a family of humans, who were clambering around the remains of a former quarry, to move away before flying down to its well-concealed nest to satisfy, if only momentarily, the hungry tummies of its chicks.

Skylarks and Stonechats

19 Tuesday May 2026

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The area around the Wild Chesil Centre at Ferrybridge in Weymouth is alive with small birds in the spring and summer months. As soon as you arrive, your ears will be filled with the joyous sound of displaying Skylarks, the trills and warbles of their lengthy song flights audible even above the almost constant sound of cars passing on the busy road to the Isle of Portland. And, as this area is also busy with human traffic, the birds are more tolerant than usual of approaching people walking the tracks behind the Centre’s car park and on the opposite side of the road, along the well-vegetated edge of Hamm Beach. In fact, the colours of the Skylark pictured below blended so well with the stony path that I was almost upon the bird before it scuttled a few yards ahead of me, its close proximity providing a nice photo opportunity.

The Stonechats in this area were also a delight to watch.

Mum and Dad Stonechat (that’s the male above) were perched up on the tops of low shrubs, making their usual contact calls (like two stones being knocked together, hence their name), and, when I spotted them, I also noticed these two youngsters, sitting watching the goings on. These, presumably, were the first brood of the year, now fledged and able to fend for themselves, which means the parents will be able to move on to raising another one, possibly two more broods before the summer ends. Busy little chats!

Little tern courtship behaviour

16 Saturday May 2026

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The only time I get to see Little terns is when I visit Weymouth, in Dorset, during late spring and summer, as these stunning little birds spend their winters in west Africa and only return to Britain between April and August to breed. Chesil Beach is the furthest south west Little terns breed in England and is home to the Chesil Little Tern Project, which aims to monitor and protect the Little tern colony during their breeding season. A temporary electric fence is erected around the breeding area, and over 60 volunteers assist RSPB staff in engaging with and educating the public about the birds, and protecting the colony from predators, people and their dogs.

I didn’t visit the breeding colony itself – I figure the fewer people who go near them the better – but the birds can be seen flying over and fishing in the waters of the Fleet lagoon from the roadside at Ferrybridge so I found a handy boulder and plonked myself down to watch. And it was fascinating!

What I saw was the Little terns’ courtship behaviour. The male bird catches a fish and flies around calling, in the hope of attracting a female; I presume the fish is his way of advertising his ability to provide for his mate and any chicks they might have. If the female likes the look of him, she will chase and fly with him before both birds descend to the beach, or, in this case, the small buoys in the water. If the female accepts the fish the male offers then the courtship has been successful, and the breeding process gets underway. Do I detect a rather smug look on the male’s face in this last photo?

Sunning

11 Monday May 2026

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It’s an interesting way to get yourself clean but I’m sure you’ve all seen birds sunning themselves like this Blackbird, head up and beak open as if panting with the heat, body close to the ground with wings outspread. The BTO website gives two reasons for this behaviour:

It helps oil from the ‘preen gland’ to spread across the feathers, keeping them healthy and in good condition. It also drives parasites out from within the plumage. Some of these parasites feed on the feathers themselves, degrading their quality and function, and all are highly specialised, with many only found on a single species of bird.

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