04 Thursday Nov 2021
Posted in birds
This juvenile Black-headed gull was watching me like a hawk, hoping I might have some food to spare … but no. I don’t think it’s a good idea to encourage young gulls to look to humans for food as that might cause them to make a nuisance of themselves later in life.
02 Tuesday Nov 2021
The weather has really turned autumnal over the past few days, with strong winds and heavy rain. As stormy weather means birds sometimes need to seek shelter and a place to rest, it can lead to interesting bird sightings, so I ventured out between squalls for a look. There was nothing particularly unusual but it was a treat to see my first Redshank of the autumn sitting on the embankment where the River Ely flows in to Cardiff Bay.
30 Saturday Oct 2021
With the changing of the seasons, some of the regulars who walk the fields and woodland at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park have started to leave food again for the birds, and this Nuthatch was just one of the many happy to take advantage of their generosity.
28 Thursday Oct 2021
Posted in birds
She may be called a Black redstart but the female of the species is a mostly non-descript little grey bird, though she does have the characteristic peach-coloured bottom indicated by the ‘redstart’ name (the Anglo-Saxon phrase for red tail, red steort, morphed into the word redstart).
This particularly bird was first noticed on Cardiff Bay Barrage a week ago but eluded all efforts to re-find her (by several birders, not just me) until, much to my surprise and delight, I found her again in the same location Tuesday morning. And, since then, she’s disappeared again – she’s small and can easily flit into the gaps around the huge boulders of the outer Barrage and has, perhaps, half a mile of rocks to forage amongst, so it’s really not surprising. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time.
23 Saturday Oct 2021
Posted in birds
A Black redstart was reported from Cardiff Bay barrage so off I stomped to try to find it. Despite much searching, scanning with my bins, and walking back and forth, I failed to find it (I was somewhat gratified to learn later that more experienced birders had also not found it). But there was a small bonus, in the form of this delightful Stonechat.
It was very active, flitting frequently between shrubs and rocks and back again, quarrelling with one of the resident Rock pipits, and being told off by a stroppy Robin. Luckily for me, in the middle of this flurry of activity it came to rest quite close to where I was standing and I managed to get a few nice photos. It was very entertaining!
16 Saturday Oct 2021
Tags
birding, birdwatching, British birds, British ducks, Cardiff Bay birding, shoveler, Shoveler plumage
The highlight of yesterday’s stomp around Cardiff Bay was this male Shoveler quite close to the boardwalk at the wetlands reserve.
He was standing on a submerged log, body up out of the water, so he could preen. As you can see, he was looking a bit scruffy, only part way through the moult to winter plumage (shown below in a photo taken in December a couple of years ago), and was mostly still wearing his breeding colours. He was having a good scratch and preening with that large beak, shedding several feathers during the time I watched him.
13 Wednesday Oct 2021
Posted in birds
Tags
Wire-dotter, pylon-swarmer, dusk-dancer, aerial-clinger … these are just some of author and poet Rob Cowen’s descriptions of these shimmering birds, the Starlings, in his poem ‘Starling’ from his recently published book The Heeding (Elliott and Johnson, London, 2021). I’m not a great reader of poetry but this work is magical, and includes the stunning illustrations of Nick Hayes – I highly recommend their work.
And Starlings are also magical: musicians that entertain with their broad repertoire of trills and whistles, flutes and warbles; murmuraters that fly en masse with remarkable precision; fashionistas that dazzle with the greens, purples and blues of their iridescent plumage.
09 Saturday Oct 2021
Posted in birds
Risk assessment: food or flee?
Food, of course, and these seeds are just so tasty!
One eye on the sky – or perhaps the tall human – just in case there’s a threat.
But these seeds are just so tasty!
07 Thursday Oct 2021
Posted in birds
Many local birders, including our county bird recorder, seem to agree that this Ring-necked duck is the same bird that spent much of last winter in Cardiff Bay in the company of the large Tufted duck flock. She appears to have remained in the company of those ducks over the summer and now returned with them to over-winter in the Bay and on other local lakes and reservoirs. Long may she linger!
05 Tuesday Oct 2021
Posted in birds
Tags
birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cardiff Bay birding, Great Crested Grebe, Humbug, juvenile Great crested grebe
It seems late in the season to be seeing a juvenile Great crested grebe that’s still constantly nagging its parent for food and still sporting the head stripes that have earned these birds the nickname ‘Humbug’ (for those unfamiliar with the word, it’s a black-and-white-striped boiled sweet) but there are still a couple in my area.
I presume these juveniles are the result of second breeding attempts by the adult birds after their first attempts have failed. Their parents may not agree but I think they’re incredibly cute!
earthstar 
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