Little Robin redbreast may look cheery but I’m sure it was feeling the icy easterly chill as much as I was today, judging by its fluffed-up feathers.
Redbreast
25 Tuesday Jan 2022
Posted in birds
Tag Archives: birding
Dancing with weeds
22 Saturday Jan 2022
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Tags
birding, birdwatching, British birds, Great Crested Grebe, Great crested grebe courtship dance, Great crested grebe courtship display, Great crested grebes dancing with weeds
I consider myself fortunate to have seen the courtship of Great crested grebes many times during my years residing in Britain but last Thursday was the first time I’d seen the part of their display that includes them dancing with weeds in their beaks.
I recognised the noises the birds make as they work up to their display and was lucky enough to be very close by, so quickly got my camera out of my backpack. As I did, both birds reached down under the water’s surface before emerging with long strings of slimy weed in their beaks. Pushing rapidly against the water with their feet helped them raise their bodies almost fully out of the water and their bellies bumped together as they moved their heads from side to side, almost slapping each other with the weed.
After a couple of minutes of this strenuous activity, they subsided back into the water, first one grebe then the other dropping the weed, but they continued with their usual display routine of head shaking and dipping from one side to the other. Several more minutes passed before, presumably satisfied that their pair bond had been sealed, they sailed off to carry on with their day. For me, the experience was magical, birdwatching at its absolute best!
Meet Stumpy
20 Thursday Jan 2022
Posted in birds
I first met Stumpy in early February 2020 – nicknamed Stumpy because of the damage to its left leg, which now ends in a stump, no claw.
Almost two years and several sightings later, this charming little Pied wagtail is still going strong. In fact, it’s a friendly little thing and quite fearless: if I stand completely still, it will walk past within inches of my feet.
These particular photos of Stumpy were taken a couple of weeks apart, the first on 22 December last year and the second, just a couple of weeks ago, on 6 January.
Number 76
17 Monday Jan 2022
Posted in birds
I really enjoy the excitement of beginning each new year’s patch bird list, walking miles (I’ve clocked up my first hundred today), checking out locations I’ve come to know much more intimately during the last two years of enforced restrictions on movement (one of the few positives of this pandemic has been learning my local area more thoroughly), finding the less common birds that often elude me. And the latter includes this stunning Common gull (Larus canus), number 76 on my 2022 list.
It was on the lakeside boardwalk at Cosmeston Lakes, feeding with the Black-headed gulls on seed that had been sprinkled by an earlier passer-by. My approach caused the birds to move back to the water, but not far away. I took a few photos, then sprinkled some seed of my own to encourage the birds back to the boardwalk, which worked a treat.
A fleeting Scaup
11 Tuesday Jan 2022
Posted in birds
Catching up with December’s bird visitors again today, this time with a Greater scaup that spent a few days before Christmas at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park. Sadly, it didn’t hang around for us local patch birders to add it to our 2022 bird list. This handsome bird, pictured below with a male and female Tufted duck, is probably a first-winter male, which is why it doesn’t yet have the fully light grey back seen in adult males.
Brambling!
08 Saturday Jan 2022
Posted in birds
This was Tuesday’s magical moment – well, actually, about 30 minutes of moments grinning like a Cheshire Cat while standing in the bitter cold, but what better reason to get frost bite than a Brambling!
These beauties are rarely seen in my part of south Wales. Bramblings breed in the far north, in parts of Scandinavia and Russia, heading south to Britain during our winter, so are often seen passing through when the weather starts to turn cold here. And local birders did report seeing them and hearing their distinctive calls in November-December 2021 (I also had a flyover sighting of two birds in December). But then they disappeared, presumably flying further afield in search of their favourite food, Beech mast, which is sparse locally this winter.
Presumably, a combination of a lack of food elsewhere and the increasingly cold weather is why some birds are now returning and being seen, with their cousins the Chaffinches, coming for seed from garden feeders and in other locations where people put out food for small birds in the winter. This is one reason I always carry some seed with me on winter walks. You never know what you might be lucky enough to see.
Three Black redstarts
05 Wednesday Jan 2022
Posted in birds
On 10 December the word went out to local birders that someone had spotted a Black redstart in the Porth Teigr area of Cardiff Bay, so the next morning I wasn’t the only person to head over to see if I could find it.
Turns out, there are, in fact, three Black redstarts dotting around together, two males (one, above) and a female (below). I’ve been back to see them several times now and they are worth every strip of shoe leather I wear off my soles walking there and back. They are simply stunning little birds!
p.s. I wrote this post yesterday and, amazingly, in the interim, one of my birding friends noticed that there are actually two females, meaning there are four Black redstarts. I walked across for another look this morning and, sure enough, there were two females. Amazing!
Voiceless Raven
04 Tuesday Jan 2022
Posted in birds
While my A-to-Z countdown to the end of 2021 was underway, I had a few wildlife encounters I want, belatedly, to share. First up is this gorgeous Raven, a juvenile I think, which was utterly voiceless. No matter how hard it tried – and it was straining, almost looking like it was trying to vomit, no sound came out, not even a squeak. I still find myself wondering how this inability to communicate vocally will affect its life.
Let the birding begin
01 Saturday Jan 2022
Posted in birds
In what is becoming something of a tradition, I enjoyed a lovely long walk around Cardiff Bay today to kickstart my patch birding list for the year. I managed to spot 45 species, with the highlights being an overwintering Blackcap; a Common sandpiper (pictured below); the Yellow-legged gull I blogged about a couple of days ago; and one of three Black redstarts currently in the Bay – more on those in a forthcoming blog post. I also caught up with several friendly fellow birders, always a pleasure. Happy New Year, one and all!
Y is for Yellow-legged gull
30 Thursday Dec 2021
Posted in birds
The Yellow-legged gull is my bogey bird, one I see reported by much more experienced birders than me but which I always have trouble identifying. So, imagine my delight when this 2cy bird (its age – this is the second calendar year since its birth) was mentioned on our local birders WhatsApp group. I recognised where it was standing and knew another (or the same?) Yellow-legged gull had favoured the same place last year. So, on my next walk around Cardiff Bay, I looked for and found it, and was very pleased to add a late new bird to my patch birding list for 2021, bringing the total to 119, one more than last year (though the mix of birds was different).
earthstar 
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