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!
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.
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.
01 Friday Oct 2021
Tags
autumn migration, birding, British birds, Cardiff Bay birding, migrating birds, Oenanthe oenanthe, Wheatear
During a recent circuit of Cardiff Bay, I spent a wonderful 30 minutes with this very confiding Wheatear.
Though it was naturally very wary of the noisy people and dogs passing by, as I was quiet and non-threatening it allowed me to get quite close.
As I watched, it went scurrying across the grass after flying insects, dipping and flashing the white under-tail feathers it’s named for, constantly checking the sky for signs of danger.
And I particularly loved how, when there was no higher object to pop up on, it hopped on to a small rock to try to survey its surroundings. Magical moments with a special little bird!
24 Tuesday Aug 2021
Tags
autumn migration, bird migration, birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, Redstart
Thanks to a chat with local expert birder, Graham, I saw splashes of autumn, the flashing orange-red of a young male Redstart, at Cosmeston yesterday.
And he – the bird that is, not Graham – certainly wasn’t shy about displaying the glorious colours under his tail and wing, as he flitted from bush to ground to small tree to wire fence in his constant search for food.
There was another bird calling constantly very close by, probably a second Redstart, but I didn’t manage to get on to it before getting a message that there were Whinchats on the other side of the park. I love this time of year – you never know what’s going to turn up next.
19 Thursday Aug 2021
Tags
autumn migration, birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, Spotted flycatcher, Willow warbler
These three were hanging out together in a clump of trees at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park yesterday, two Spotted flycatchers flanking a Willow warbler. All are starting their annual autumn migration to Africa, the Willow warbler to southern Tanzania or northern Mozambique, the flycatchers anywhere from the coastal forests of the Gulf of Guinea to South Africa. I hope to get better photos of these birds in the coming weeks but was delighted to get this shot of all three together.
03 Tuesday Aug 2021
Posted in birds
Tags
Actitis hypoleucos, autumn migration, birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cardiff Bay birding, Common sandpiper
Autumn’s in the air, not only with slightly cooler temperatures but also because birds are beginning to move to their over-wintering locations. Though the odd Common sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos) will remain in Britain, most make the long flight to the warm climes of West Africa, and the only time we see these little birds locally is when they are on passage in the spring and autumn. This little beauty stopped in at Cardiff Bay yesterday to top up on food for its journey.
28 Friday Aug 2020
Tags
autumn migration, bird migration, birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, Spotted flycatcher
It’s over a month since I saw my first Spotted flycatchers for 2020, the family group I encountered on my visit to Slade Wood back on 21 July. But, now I’m seeing them much more regularly, in ones and twos, as they pass through my local area on their autumn migration. I spotted my first migrant on 5 August, then had to wait a week until my second sighting on the 13th but, since then, have seen them almost every time I’ve been to Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, with 2 on the 17th, 4 on the 18th, 1 on the 20th, 3 on the 22nd, 2 on the 24th, and 3 on the 26th. In fact, I tend to go to Cosmeston much more often at this time of year specifically to see what migrants I can find, and I look especially for these stunning little birds, as I love to watch their fly-catching aerobatics.
24 Monday Aug 2020
Tags
autumn migration, bird migration, birding, birdwatching, British birds, Clep yr eithin, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, Crec yr eithin, Saxicola rubetra, Whinchat
The scientific name for the Whinchat is Saxicola rubetra which, apparently, means ‘small rock-dweller’, a reference to where this delightful little bird likes to make its home: saxicola is from the Latin saxum, meaning ‘rock’, and incola, meaning ‘dwelling’, and, also Latin, rubetra means ‘a small bird’.
In Welsh, the Whinchat is Crec yr eithin or sometimes Clep yr eithin, eithin being the Welsh word for gorse (also known as furze or whin), where the bird is often seen perching; and crec and clep both meaning clap, a reference to the bird’s call.
Here in south Wales, the Whinchat is a passage migrant, meaning I only get the chance to see it locally in autumn – it passes through in spring as well, of course, but, as it’s then in a hurry to reach its breeding grounds, it usually just flies straight over. Both the gorgeous little Whinchats in my photos stopped over at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park last week, feeding up before they set out on their long migration flight south, crossing the English Channel, western Europe, the Med, North Africa, and finally the Sahara Desert before arriving at their wintering grounds in central and southern Africa.
According to the RSPB website, Whinchat numbers in Britain declined more than 50% between 1995 and 2008, though the reason for that decline is not known. I imagine the hazards of their long migratory flight might well have something to do with it. Safe journey, little Whinchats!
I love this photo with the Greenfinch – just shows how small the Whinchat really is.
earthstar 
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