08 Thursday Sep 2022
Posted in birds
I know cleanliness is really essential for birds to keep their feathers in good condition but, watching these Linnets enjoying their bathing on the edge of Cardiff Bay, I think there was also a huge element of fun involved.
07 Wednesday Sep 2022
Thanks to my fellow local birders who found first one (first sighting to Graham), then two (Mat spotted the second), and then a third (Ian got all three, and was trying very hard to turn a Reed bunting into a fourth), I managed to get all my Whinchats in a row during Sunday morning’s walk.
These weren’t my first Whinchats of the autumn – they were the sixth, seventh and eighth, but this might well be the first time I’ve seen three together. And every single one is a little gem!
05 Monday Sep 2022
Posted in birds
Teal obviously like Cosmeston’s dragonfly pond but they’re easily freaked by passing walkers and their dogs, and fly in panic back to the safety of an inaccessible pond on the other side of the nearby woodland.
But if you’re patient and wait, perhaps slightly obscured behind a shrub, sometimes no more than ten minutes, like avian yoyos, the Teal will return to the dragonfly pond once again. On Saturday morning, five little beauties were doing just this … and all the while the Mallards wondered what the fuss was about.
30 Tuesday Aug 2022
Posted in birds
It may just be because my bird-spotting skills are improving, or it could be because I’ve been going to Cosmeston Lakes Country Park more frequently than usual, or it might be because Spotted flycatchers have enjoyed better than usual breeding success this year, or it could be something else entirely. Whatever the reason, I’ve seen more Spotted flycatchers so far this autumn migration than in any previous year (17 individuals on 8 separate days, starting on 9 August) – and it’s not over yet. They are gorgeous little birds and their fly-catching skills are a joy to watch – I’ve been extremely grateful for the pleasure and the distraction from the constant doom-and-gloom of daily life that these feathered friends have brought me this month.
24 Wednesday Aug 2022
Tags
Anthus trivialis, autumn migration, bird migration, birding, birdwatching, British birds, Tree pipit
In last week’s post about the start of the autumn bird migration, I mentioned that I’d blog about the individual species if I managed to get some better photos. Well, there have been a few obliging Tree pipits passing through, so today they get star billing.
The only time we see Tree pipits (Anthus trivialis) here in coastal south Wales is on passage, in the Spring heading to their breeding grounds in the Welsh Valleys and points further north (I see and hear them singing at Aberbargoed NNR when I go looking for Marsh fritillaries in May and June), and then again in the Autumn as they fly south to their over-wintering sites in Africa.
Tree and Meadow pipits are very similar and can be difficult to tell apart. As a rule of thumb, at this time of year, the Tree pipits move through first, with Meadow pipits following a few weeks later (and some Meadow pipits linger through the winter months). If you can get a good look at them (or reasonable photos), you will see that the breast markings on Tree pipits are finer, more thinly streaked than the bolder flecks of the Meadow pipits, whose markings also extend further down the belly and the flanks.
22 Monday Aug 2022
Posted in birds
It may be young and still coming in to its adult feathers but it’s already got the moves, the sideways shuffle, the hotshot hustle, the cocky swagger that seems to come naturally to Carrion crows, male and female.
20 Saturday Aug 2022
More birds are out and about now that they’ve finished the exhausting process of raising young and refreshed their look through their annual feather moult, and it’s been a joy to see and hear them more often during my daily walks. This Reed bunting was showing off its fresh look to perfection amongst the berries of a large old Hawthorn tree.
18 Thursday Aug 2022
Tags
autumn migration, bird migration, birding, birdwatching, Redstart, Spotted flycatcher, Tree pipit
Most birders label the movement of birds before and after summer, to and from their breeding locations, as spring and autumn migration, so I had to chuckle recently when someone on Twitter took exception to my post saying I’d seen my first Spotted flycatcher of the autumn. It seems that what I had actually seen was ‘a bird on post-breeding summer passage’ rather than on autumn migration. Whatever you prefer to label this movement, it has begun, and I’ve now seen a Redstart, several Spotted flycatchers, and a few Tree pipits heading south. As you can see from my images, the birds have all been distant so far but I’ll blog about the individual species if I manage to get better photos.
16 Tuesday Aug 2022
Posted in birds
Most of my sightings of Garden warblers have been fleeting and partial, heads poking through leaves to snatch Elderberries, passing glimpses through gaps in foliage, or, sometimes, not even sightings at all, just the joy of hearing their melodious warbling, which has been favourably compared to that of the Nightingale. So, imagine my delight when this beautiful creature stayed put in its tree, stared me in the eye, moved its head from side to side like a model going through their poses. Maybe the heat had made it sluggish – I know how it felt! Or, perhaps, it was a young bird and didn’t realise it should be wary of creatures it didn’t recognise. Whatever the reason, I was very pleased to take advantage and grab some photos.
13 Saturday Aug 2022
Posted in birds
Tags
birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cardiff Bay birding, Cardiff Bay Wetland Reserve, ducklings, Tufted duck, Tufted ducklings
Once upon a time (22 July, to be precise) there were ten Tufted ducklings, tiny little fluff bundles following their mother as she ventured tentatively out from the reed beds at Cardiff Bay wetlands. Seventeen days and, presumably, many hungry gulls later, there were four Tufted ducklings. It’s a sad story but almost inevitable in this bird-rich wetland setting. The good news is that the remaining four should now be large enough to be safe from more hungry gulls. When young and at a distance, the ducklings looked black but now, seen more closely, they look a rich, chocolatey brown, and drop-dead gorgeous!
earthstar 
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