04 Friday Sep 2026
Not just ‘more’ Spotted flycatchers – the most Spotted flycatchers I’ve seen in one day. Ten, in fact.
A pair at the first location, along a hedgerow at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park.
Then four together at the second site, along the woodland edge at Lavernock Nature Reserve.
And another four together at my final location, a hedgerow in the coastal fields.
What an absolutely brilliant day I had watching these stunning little birds feeding up before their long migration flights!
02 Wednesday Sep 2026
Tags
autumn bird migration, autumn migration, birding, birdwatching, British birds, Spotted flycatcher
It happened in August 2025, and again in May this year so, whenever I’ve been home lately, I’ve been keeping a keen eye on the garden. And last Sunday, 30 August, it happened again, not one but two hungry Spotted flycatchers feeding very actively along the woodland edge. They were entrancing to watch.
I took these photos from my living room and bedroom windows as there’s no real cover in the garden and I didn’t want to disturb their fly-catching – they needed the food for their migration journey more than I needed closer photos. And, after grabbing a few images, I put the camera down and just enjoyed their aerial prowess until the growing dusk made viewing difficult and the birds disappeared to roost a while in the vegetation, before they flew onwards during the dark of the night.
31 Monday Aug 2026
After my visit to Lavernock Nature Reserve last Wednesday, I walked the coastal path that runs along the cliff tops to the seaside town of Penarth. I was mostly looking down and around at eye level but noisy gulls and corvids encouraged me to look skywards, where five buzzards were gliding northwards along the coast. There followed a brief heart-thumping couple of minutes when I spotted this very pale buzzard among them, until I realised it was just a very pale Common buzzard. In case, that last sentence doesn’t make much sense to you, let me explain; this is the time of year when Honey buzzards, rare birds of prey that I’ve not yet seen, are migrating, so it’s always worth taking a thorough look at pale buzzards, just in case.
29 Saturday Aug 2026
I’d just spent a wonderful 30 minutes wandering slowly around one of the fields at Lavernock Nature Reserve, enjoying the beautiful butterflies and other insects feasting on the lush Devil’s-bit scabious and other wildflowers, and had moved through to the neighbouring field when, out of the corner of my eye, I became aware of a movement. A small bird was flying up from its perch on a tall bare branch, catching flies or tiny insects too small for me to see.
At first, based on its behaviour, I thought it was a Spotted flycatcher but the sun was behind the bird so I couldn’t get a proper look at it and looking at the couple of photos I took didn’t help. So, I walked slowly up the sloping path at the edge of the field, trying not to spook the bird but wanting to get a better view of it. A Whinchat! My first Whinchat of the year. The first Whinchat seen locally as this autumn migration season really gets underway.
27 Thursday Aug 2026
Tags
autumn bird migration, bird migration, birding, birdwatching, Black tern, Chlidonias niger, juvenile Black tern, Llanishen Reservoir
It was first spotted on Monday morning, 24 August, and, fortunately, remained for at least a couple of days (I haven’t heard whether the bird is still there today), long enough for me to catch the train to north Cardiff’s Llanishen Reservoir Tuesday morning for a look.
The bird? A stunning little juvenile Black tern (Chlidonias niger), a bird that only rarely breeds in the UK and so is mostly seen during Spring and Autumn passage. In the 11 years I’ve lived here, we’ve been lucky to have these terns stop off in the Cardiff area at least twice before, at Lamby Lake in September 2022, and at this same reservoir in late September 2024.
Black terns are small; the RSPB website gives their length as 22 – 24cm and their wingspan as 64 – 68cm. I’ve included a couple of photos so you can see this bird’s size relative to the Carrion crow that harassed it as it was feeding over the water, and to a Black-headed gull, as the tern sat preening on the muddy edge of the reservoir (the mud exposed due to a lack of water, caused by this summer’s drought).
My camera was not good enough to capture clear, close photos of the Black tern in flight – a mesmerising sight! – as the camera has neither the zoom range nor the sophisticated focussing software of more expensive models. Fortunately, this Black tern was alternating its time between 15 minutes flying, plucking miniscule invertebrates from the surface of the water, and 10 minutes sitting on the mud right in front of the visitor centre, so I was able to get good views of the bird preening, and took a little video clip, which I’ve loaded on YouTube. Enjoy!
25 Tuesday Aug 2026
Posted in birds
Tags
birding, birdwatching, Black-tailed godwit, British birds, Cardiff Bay birding, Cardiff Bay Wetlands Reserve
Cardiff Bay Wetlands Reserve, Thursday 20 August. A Black-tailed godwit had been spotted at the reserve the previous day and remained on the morning of the 20th, as reported by the birders in my local WhatsApp group. I hadn’t seen any migrating birds during a couple of recent days’ looking, and this sighting was enough of a local rarity that I figured I’d walk that way.
When I got to the wetlands, there was no sign of the godwit, nowhere within the reserve boundary and not in the little bay (shown above) where it had previously been seen. I waited and watched, enjoying the other birds, noticing a female Shoveler – not particularly common here.
Suddenly, a small wader flew out from where the godwit was meant to be, and continued in panicked circles over the water. A Common sandpiper.
Next, the many Mallards that had been cruising about, washing, preening, all went a little crazy, swimming together in a group away from the reed beds. A couple of Moorhens and Little grebes joined them, clearly rattled about something. Then, the Black-tailed godwit flew out, also looking panicked, and put in a few circuits of the reserve before settling down amongst the ducks. I still don’t know what spooked them all but both Otters and Mink have been sighted at the reserve recently so it was probably one of those species.
Both the Common sandpiper and the Black-tailed godwit flew circuits of the reserve again before all the birds seemed to realise that the threat had gone, and calm returned to the flock. Recognising this, the godwit headed back in to its little hideaway, probably intending to snooze the afternoon away.
15 Saturday Aug 2026
Posted in birds
≈ Comments Off on A local Linnet
Tags
birding, birds in Cardiff Bay, birdwatching, Cardiff Bay birding, Herb Robert, Linnet, Linnets eating Herb Robert seeds, Linnets feeding on Herb Robert
It’s that time of year when the seeds of Herb Robert are ripe and ready for any passing seed-eating birds to harvest.
Pigeons, both Woodpigeons and feral, seem to quite enjoy them but it’s the local Linnets I see feasting on them most often.
These particular Herb Robert plants grow amongst the stones of the embankment of the River Ely where it flows in to Cardiff Bay, convenient for the small flock of Linnets that spend their lives around the Bay.
14 Friday Aug 2026
Posted in birds
≈ Comments Off on Moorhens big and small
Tags
birding, birdwatching, British birds, Forest Farm Nature Reserve, juvenile Moorhen, Moorhen, Moorhen chick
On Tuesday, as we moved in to our fifth heatwave of the year, I decided it would be prudent to walk somewhere with shade so headed to Forest Farm Nature Reserve, where the towpath alongside the Glamorgan canal proved to be the perfect choice.
There was enough sun coming through the trees on to the water for me to spot lots of dragonflies but it was the numerous families of Moorhens that stole the show.
From the miniscule to the well grown, from those waggling their tiny wing stumps and peeping constantly for their parents to feed them to those old enough to feed themselves, they were very entertaining and a delight to watch.
11 Tuesday Aug 2026
Posted in birds
Last Sunday, much to my delight, Mrs Mallard and her two ducklings came cruising along the River Ely where it flows in to Cardiff Bay while I was standing on the footpath above, enjoying a cooling breeze blowing gently over the water.
These may well be the same birds I saw during a similar walk on 16 July, though I’m a bit doubtful about that.
I think the ducklings would have grown more in the intervening 24 days, and Sunday’s mother duck looks to be quite a young duck herself. Perhaps that’s why she’s bred so late in the season.
08 Saturday Aug 2026
Posted in birds
I took this photo during a walk around Cardiff’s Roath Park Lake on Thursday, and I’ve been puzzling over it ever since because I have no idea what this young Grey heron thought it was doing. It was just plain weird!
** Edit ** My followers are the best! Check out the link to a blog shared by Discovering in a comment below that includes images of lots of heron species doing ‘pilates’. 😉