351/365 Sully beach beauties

17 Tuesday Dec 2019

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature, winter

Tags

birding, birdwatching, British birds, Dunlin, Ringed plover, Sully beach, Turnstone

It’s been a few weeks since I bussed to Sully and walked back to Penarth so, when I realised today’s high tide was mid morning, I headed off. And I was lucky.

191217 sully birds (1)

When I first arrived at the beach there was a large flock of 21 Ringed plovers flying back and forth over the water, and further west a large flock of Oystercatchers hovered right on the water line.

191217 sully birds (2)

Nearer at hand was a mixed flock of around 35 Turnstones, 13 Ringed plovers and 3 Dunlins, though I couldn’t actually see all the birds at once – they were scuttling back and forth to avoid the rising tide, and frequently disappeared behind small rocks and larger boulders.

191217 sully birds (3)

Dogs and their owners kept flushing the birds, which meant I didn’t manage any good photos, though their frequent flying did allow me to count them more easily.

191217 sully birds (4)

348/365 The final brood

14 Saturday Dec 2019

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, Moorhen, Moorhen chicks, three brood of Moorhen chicks

The Moorhens of Cosmeston’s dipping pond have had a bumper year.

191214 moorhen family (1)

I blogged about their first brood of five on the day they hatched 1 April ‘91/365 New arrivals’ and then reported on their progress on 28 April ‘118/365 Chick update’.

191214 moorhen family (3)

Then, on 25 June, in ‘176/365 More new arrivals’, I happily announced the arrival of five more chicks.

191214 moorhen family (4)

I must have missed the hatching of the third brood, which probably arrived in early September. I’m not sure how many there were but four have survived and flourished, as you can see in this latest set of family photos.

191214 moorhen family (2)

These adult Moorhens are obviously excellent parents!

344/365 Another day, another Robin

10 Tuesday Dec 2019

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature, winter

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, robin, Robin Redbreast

This photo was taken yesterday, when it wasn’t windy and raining and cold, and I had seeds for the birds, sun on my face, and this Robin smiled upon me. Joy!

191210 robin

343/365 The nut warbler

09 Monday Dec 2019

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, Nut warbler, nuthatch, Telor y cnau

The Nuthatch is such an entertaining bird, with its propensity to run, quite quickly, headlong down tree trunks.

191209 nuthatch (1)

Over the centuries, and throughout Britain, this very handsome bird has acquired a wealth of vernacular names. My Fauna Botannica lists the following: mud dabber and mud stopper (I’ve never seen one near mud but this, apparently, refers to its plastering of mud around the entrance to its nest); nutcracker, nutback, nut jobber and nut topper (it is rather partial to nuts); woodcracker, woodbacker and woodjar (it likes to wedge the nuts it collects in cracks in tree bark, to hold them firm while it attacks them with its beak); and jar bird and jobbin (‘to job’ meaning ‘to jab’, at the nuts).

191209 nuthatch (2)

In Welsh the Nuthatch is Telor y Cnau, which translates as Nut warbler. I’m not sure I would label its rather strident call a warble – to me it’s more of a trill, but that’s just my interpretation.

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This particular bird was stocking up on the sunflower hearts I had put out for the small birds to snack on at Cosmeston today.

191209 nuthatch (4)

341/365 Marsh tit

07 Saturday Dec 2019

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature, winter

≈ 4 Comments

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cogan Wood, Cosmeston, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, Marsh tit

Having stocked up on bird seed yesterday (the littlies are rather partial to sunflower hearts, I’ve found), I was delighted today to tempt out one of the resident Marsh tits in Cosmeston’s Cogan Wood.

191207 Marsh tit (1)

Actually, it wasn’t all that difficult. I was mobbed by Great and Blue tits as soon as I began sprinkling the seeds on an old tree stump, with one particularly cheeky Great tit grabbing a seed from my container before I’d even started tipping them out.

191207 Marsh tit (2)

I wasn’t sure the Marsh tit would come but it soon appeared and, although initially a little hesitant to compete with the other birds, it didn’t take long to summon its courage and was picking up 2 or 3 seeds at a time before flying off to find somewhere quiet to eat them.

191207 Marsh tit (3)

We’re lucky to have this bird at Cosmeston as it’s now an ‘uncommon and thinly distributed resident breeder’, according to the Glamorgan Bird Club’s Eastern Glamorgan Bird Report No.56, and these tits were only recorded in 8 locations in our county in 2017.

336/365 Birds and berries

02 Monday Dec 2019

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature, plants, winter

≈ 4 Comments

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autumn berries, birding, birds eating berries, birdwatching, blackbird, British birds, Fieldfare, Mistle thrush, Redwing, Song thrush, winter thrushes, Woodpigeon

It’s only been a few weeks since I saw my first winter thrushes of the season but now they’re everywhere, feasting on autumn’s bounty of lush, delicious berries. Song and Mistle thrushes, Blackbirds, Redwings and Fieldfares and, not a thrush, the Woodpigeons are also indulging in the berry-fest. The Redwings are particularly skittish but I’ve managed to sneak up on a few to grab photos, though, more often than not, the whole tree I’m trying to approach will suddenly erupt with birds flying off in all directions. And then I feel a little guilty about interrupting their repast.

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333/365 A Bay full of birds

29 Friday Nov 2019

Posted by sconzani in autumn, birds, nature

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birding, birdwatching, Black-headed gull, British birds, Cardiff Bay, Cardiff Bay birds, Chiffchaff, Coot, Goosander, Great Crested Grebe, Kingfisher, Linnet, Pied wagtail, Turnstone

What a wonderful long walk I had around Cardiff Bay today! Here are some of the birds I spotted along the way.

191129 1 goosander

There were nine Goosanders in total, four in the River Ely where it flows in to the Bay and another five further east, in the Bay proper.

191129 2 turnstone

My favourite little Turnstones, again four along the Ely embankment and more near Mermaid Quay.

191129 3 linnet

Linnets, a small flock of six flitting about the grassy slopes of the Barrage.

191129 4 pied wagtail

Pied wagtails – I lost count of these cheery little characters who appeared wherever I wandered.

191129 5 Great crested grebe

One of several Great crested grebes that live in the Bay, constantly diving for fish.

191129 6 black-headed gull

I was getting ‘the look’ from this Black-headed gull, in the pond at the wetlands reserve, for not supplying food!

191129 7 coot

This Coot was also hoping for food.

191129 8 chiffchaff

This Chiffchaff was a surprise – it’s either very late migrating or has decided to over-winter in Britain, as some now do. Interestingly, I saw a Chiffchaff yesterday too, in a different location.

191129 9 kingfisher

The best possible end to my walk – a Kingfisher peep-peep-peeped in to the pool near Hamadryad Park and perched on a branch over the water.

332/365 A Robin a day

28 Thursday Nov 2019

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

birding, birdwatching, British birds, mental health benefits of Nature, robin

191128 robin

A Robin a day keeps the black dog at bay!
I feel extremely fortunate not to suffer from depression but if I do feel a bit gloomy, Nature is my healer. And just as an apple a day is supposed to keep the doctor away, so the joyful trilling or the determined tick-tick-ticking of a Robin always lifts my spirits and makes me smile.

326/365 Return of the Redshanks

22 Friday Nov 2019

Posted by sconzani in autumn, birds, nature

≈ 4 Comments

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, Ely embankment, Redshank, ringed Redshank

This morning’s stomp along the Ely embankment produced my first Redshank sightings there of the autumn / winter.

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And they’re late – in 2017 I saw them first on 22 October and last year it was the 30th. Of course, other Redshanks may already have arrived in Cardiff Bay and I simply haven’t seen them.

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This morning I saw three and, even better news, one of the birds was ‘Peter’, a ringed bird I’ve also seen in previous years (and blogged about here, and his life story is here). Welcome back, my Redshank friends!

191122 redshank (1)

325/365 Sleeping ducks

21 Thursday Nov 2019

Posted by sconzani in autumn, birds, nature

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, sleeping duck, Tufted duck

A freezing easterly wind was blasting anyone and anything foolish enough to be out and about today, which, of course, included me. At least I had the luxury of several layers of clothing, plus woolly hat, scarf and gloves.

For the Tufted ducks at Cosmeston, it was a case of lying low, in the lee of any vegetation that provided shelter, and trying to sleep, though with one eye open in case some kind person should toss them some seed.