343/365 The nut warbler

09 Monday Dec 2019

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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.

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341/365 Marsh tit

07 Saturday Dec 2019

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature, winter

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

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

Tags

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

≈ 4 Comments

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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

Tags

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.

*Note to self: Buy bird seed to take along on future winter walks.

321/365 Bath time fun

17 Sunday Nov 2019

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature

≈ 2 Comments

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, Grey wagtail, Grey wagtail bathing

There must have been something in the air today as all the Grey wagtails I saw were bathing. These are two of the five, enjoying some splashing good fun.

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319/365 Third time lucky!

15 Friday Nov 2019

Posted by sconzani in autumn, birds, nature

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

birding, birdwatching, British birds, Firecrest, St Mary's Well Bay

191115 firecrest

This Firecrest has been spotted by a few birders in St Mary’s Well Bay since late October but, twice previously, I’d failed to spot it when I’d walked back to Penarth from Sully. As that’s one of my favourite local walks, I went that way again today … and, this time, success! I only managed this one blurry photo before the tiny bird headed up in to the treetops in the company of two equally tiny Goldcrests and I lost sight of it. I will keep trying for more sightings though, whenever I walk this way again.

318/365 Good weather for ducks?

14 Thursday Nov 2019

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature, weather

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

birding, birdwatching, British birds, English idioms, Mallard, rain, reflections in water, wet weather

I always thought the expression ‘It’s good weather for ducks’ referred to wet weather: persistent rain leading to the formation of large pools of water that a duck might enjoy swimming in. Turns out I may have been wrong, and it may well have come from comments by the shooters of waterfowl, who find wet weather better for their hunting.

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