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Tag Archives: Blackcap

A Blackcap nest

20 Wednesday Apr 2022

Posted by sconzani in birds

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bird nests, birding, birdwatching, Blackcap, Blackcap nest, British birds

Blackcap males are singing from every available tree or patch of promising scrub at the moment, trying to impress females with their melodies.

220420 blackcap

And, during a recent walk, I spotted this nest, which, sadly, won’t get used as it had been exposed by people cutting back scrub, something that is, in fact, illegal during bird-nesting season. A BTO-nest-recording birder friend has advised that this is a Blackcap nest. He says: ‘The male builds a few “cock” nests before [the] final site is chosen. Hoping that was one!’ I hope so too.

220420 blackcap nest

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Blackcap in Elderberry

01 Wednesday Sep 2021

Posted by sconzani in birds, trees

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

autumn berries, bird migration, birding, Blackcap, Blackcap eating Elderberries, British birds, Elderberry, Sambucus nigra

It’s not only humans that like to go foraging for ripe berries in the autumn. Though the raw berries of the Elderberry tree (Sambucus nigra) are mildly poisonous to mammals, they do not seem to affect fruit-eating birds, and Blackcaps, in particular, love to feast on them. This beautiful female had interrupted her migration journey south to top up her tank with their succulent goodness.

210901 blackcap (1)210901 blackcap (2)210901 blackcap (3)

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March Nightingales

12 Monday Apr 2021

Posted by sconzani in birds, spring

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birding, birdwatching, Blackcap, British birds, spring migration

It was famous English pastoral poet John Clare who gave the Blackcap its ‘March Nightingale’ name, and quite rightly. The male Blackcaps’ melodious warbling can be heard from every bush and tree top as soon as they arrive back in Britain from over-wintering in Spain or North Africa, and that arrival is usually a month or earlier than the true Nightingale, which, sadly, many of us never see these days. So, enjoy the Blackcaps while you may for soon they’ll be too busy nest-building and chick-rearing to find much time for singing.

210412 blackcaps (1)

210412 blackcaps (2)
210412 blackcaps (3)
210412 blackcaps (4)

A brief pause to refuel then more singing …

210412 blackcaps (5)

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279/366 Being ticked off

05 Monday Oct 2020

Posted by sconzani in autumn, birds

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birding, birdwatching, Blackcap, Blackcap eating blackberries, bramble, British birds, female Blackcap

Having spotted movement in the Bramble bushes, I was moving in for a closer look, when out popped this beauty, a female Blackcap.

201005 blackcap (1)

She wasn’t at all happy with my proximity and started giving me a real scolding, a ‘ticking off’. I’m sure you’ve heard Robins and Wrens making their ‘ticking’ sound. Well, Blackcaps also have a ‘tick, tick’ contact call, which seems to get louder, harsher and much more insistent when they’re agitated.

201005 blackcap (2)
201005 blackcap (3)
201005 blackcap (3a)

Why was she annoyed? It seems I was keeping her from her food. She had spotted some particularly succulent-looking blackberries but didn’t feel comfortable about moving in to the open to eat them while I was nearby.

201005 blackcap (4)

A few minutes after I realised what was happening and moved away, she popped out and resumed her feast. So, she was content, and I got some nice photos – and, though the dictionaries don’t mention it, I do wonder if this is where the phrase ‘to tick (someone) off’ comes from.

201005 blackcap (5)

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352/365 Black redstart

18 Wednesday Dec 2019

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature, winter

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

birding, birdwatching, Black redstart, Blackcap, British birds, overwintering Blackcaps, Penarth marina

What a smashing day I’ve had! I went for a long walk around the outside of Grangemoor Park – it was too squidgy underfoot to walk up the hill (and found some nice blooms for this week’s wildflowerhour), then walked home via the Ely embankment and Penarth Marina.

191218 blackcaps

Amongst the houses at the marina, I spotted a couple of Blackcaps, birds that usually migrate during our winter months (though I did see a male Blackcap in the same area last winter – perhaps the same bird, and one of its offspring – these were both males).

191218 black redstart (1)

While watching the Blackcaps, I noticed another small bird dotting about on the rooftops behind and was immediately on the alert, because I’ve been keeping an eye out for one of these since the winter began.

191218 black redstart (2)

I was trying to angle for a better look when it flew above me and on to the roof of a much taller building opposite. The light today was shocking and the bird now distant, three storeys up. I thought I knew what it was but, even using my binoculars, I couldn’t be sure. So, I took lots of photos and hurried home. Once I had the photos on my laptop and was able to crop and lighten them, I was certain – a Black redstart, a bird we don’t often see in my area, though one has visited the marina in winter before. Yay!!!

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From garbage to glorious

09 Saturday Jun 2018

Posted by sconzani in birds, insects, nature, parks

≈ 12 Comments

Tags

#30DaysWild, 30 Days Wild, Bee orchid, Blackcap, Brimstone butterfly, Common blue butterfly, Common spotted orchid, Emperor dragonfly, Grangemoor Park, Holly blue butterfly, Large skipper, long-tailed tit, Meadow Brown, Pyramidal orchid, Southern marsh orchid

Day 9 of #30DaysWild saw me at Grangemoor Park, a place that used to be Cardiff’s rubbish dump: when it closed in 1994, it contained an estimated four million cubic metres of garbage, both commercial and household. Now, it’s not only a public park but also a SINC (Site of Importance for Nature Conservation), and is home to a wonderfully diverse range of flora and fauna. My photos show just some of what I discovered there today …

180609 1 Large skipper

Large skipper butterfly

180609 2 Meadow brown

One of seven Meadow brown butterflies seen today

180609 3 Common blue

Male Common blue butterfly

180609 4 Holly blue

Holly blue butterfly (and tiny friend)

180609 5 Brimstone

Brimstone butterfly (one of my favourites)

180609 6 Emperor dragonfly

Emperor dragonfly. There were many other dragonflies and damselflies at the pond but they were a bit distant for photos.

180609 7 Long-tailed tit fledgling

One of four newly fledged Long-tailed tits, foraging with their parents

180609 8 Blackcap female

Female Blackcap busy foraging for her family

180609 9 Pyramidal orchid

Pyramidal orchids

180609 10 Bee orchid

Bee orchid – love their ‘faces’!

180609 11 Southern marsh orchid

Southern marsh orchid (I think)

180609 12 Common spotted orchid

Common spotted orchids

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Gone birding: Blackcap

07 Monday May 2018

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature, spring

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

birding, birdwatching, Blackcap, Blackcap singing, Blackcap video, British birds, Sylvia atricapilla

Before I moved to Britain, I associated the word Blackcap with cricket: it’s the name of the New Zealand national men’s cricket team. Now, the word means bird, Sylvia atricapilla to be precise, the male with his black cap, the female with her brown one, and I look forward to their return migration each Spring.

180507 blackcap male (1)
180507 blackcap male (2)
180507 blackcap female (1)
180507 blackcap female (2)

The RSPB website notes that the Blackcap’s ‘delightful fluting song has earned it the name “northern nightingale”.’ If you haven’t heard the song, here’s a little video I shot recently of the male bird in action. British birds’ve got talent!

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April at Cosmeston

30 Monday Apr 2018

Posted by sconzani in animals, birds, insects, nature

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birding, birdwatching, Blackcap, British birds, Buzzards, Chiffchaff, Coot, Cosmeston, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, Hawthorn Shield Bug, Large Red damselfly, long-tailed tit, Swallow, Willow warbler

Easter Sunday – April the 1st this year – is not a particularly smart day to go to Cosmeston to spend a quiet, peaceful time with Nature, but I wanted to stretch my legs and public transport on Sundays is quite restricted. So, I passed through Cosmeston on one of my circular local circuits, avoiding the main paths, taking the fields less trodden. I still managed to spot a Long-tailed tit (below left) nest-building – it’ll be cosy with a few more feathers like that, and, with the help of my friend John, I heard and then spotted my first Willow warbler of 2018 (below right), a good start to the month.

180430 1 Long-tailed tit
180430 2 Willow warbler

180430 3 blackcaps

5 April  Another quick walk-through, to avoid the school holiday madness, but I did pause at the place I’d recently spotted a Hawfinch, to see if I could hear or see it. No luck with that but I did spot my first Blackcaps of 2018 (above), and there were Willow warblers and Chiffchaffs (below) aplenty!

180430 4 chiffchaff

8 April  Once again, I passed through Cosmeston as part of a longer walk, though I did linger for a short time by the west lake where I got talking to a fellow birder. From there, I had distant views of two Buzzards on the far shore – were they investigating a nest site? – and I got a fleeting glimpse and photos of a mysterious mammal swimming rapidly through the reeds. Was it a Water vole, a Stoat or a Mink? Debate raged on Twitter and Facebook when I posted photos and requested opinions but the jury is still out on its identification.

180430 5 buzzards
180430 6 unidentified mammal

11 April  Though the heavy rain of the previous night and morning had cleared, cloud cover was thick and low, making for a very gloomy walk around Cosmeston, and it was almost as if the birds were experiencing a similar dullness. Although I spotted several Blackcaps and many of the regulars (Blackbirds, Dunnocks, Robins, Chaffinches, etc), bird song was generally subdued.

180430 7 coot chick
180430 8 swallow

Highlights were my first Coot chicks of the season, with the attentive parents feeding three chicks near the former bird hide site on the west lake, and Swallows swooping and diving over both lakes. I tried for about 15 minutes to get photos of them but it was very difficult to keep up with their super speedy aerobatics, so a silhouette will have to do. There’s no mistaking that forked tail though.

I passed through Cosmeston again on 16 April, but saw nothing particularly noteworthy, and then had a break to see other sites and while a friend was visiting. My last visit for the month was today, 30 April. Though a cool wind was blowing it was fine, and warm in sheltered spots. And, though I could hear bird song all around, with the trees now rapidly greening, we’ve reached that time of year when the birds pretty much disappear behind the foliage.

180430 9 Large red damselfly

The good news is that this is also the time of year when the other flying creatures take over: today I saw my first damselfly of the year, a Large Red; the butterflies were out in numbers: Brimstones, Peacocks, Commas, a Large white, a couple of Orange-tips and several Speckled woods (I’ll do a separate post for those in a few days); and I also saw my first shieldbug of 2018, a Hawthorn. It was a lovely walk!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

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Baby Blackcap

21 Wednesday Jun 2017

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

birding, birdwatching, Blackcap, Blackcap chick, British birds, fledglings, Sylvia atricapilla

Okay, it’s probably more of a toddler than a baby but ’tis the season for young fledglings to be out and about, learning the ways of the world from their parents, so I thought I’d share some shots of one of four young Blackcaps (Sylvia atricapilla) that were harassing their parents most vociferously at Cosmeston recently.

170621 Blackcap fledgling (1)
170621 Blackcap fledgling (2)
170621 Blackcap fledgling (3)

This little one wasn’t quite sure what to make of the human with the camera pointed in its direction. I feel it was giving me a rather angry look in the photo above right and the caption for the image below might well read, ‘Are you still there?’

170621 Blackcap fledgling (4)

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Birding at RSPB Ham Wall

12 Monday Jun 2017

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

birding, birdwatching, Bittern, Black-tailed godwits, Blackcap, British birds, Glossy ibis, Great Crested Grebe, Great white egret, Little egret, Marsh harrier, Mute swan, RSPB Ham Wall, Shapwick Heath

Yesterday was an absolutely fabulous birding day, an outing with my friends from the Glamorgan Bird Club to the RSPB’s Ham Wall Nature Reserve near Glastonbury in Somerset. We also ventured briefly into the neighbouring National Nature Reserve of Shapwick Heath but I reckon you’d need a week at least to explore both places thoroughly and at all times of the day.

170612 RSPB Ham Wall

Most of the birds were rather distant so you’ll have to excuse my poor photos but I was able to see the birds clearly as many of the bird club members have good ’scopes and were happy to share. Some birding highlights were:

170612 Great white egret
170612 Great white egret (2)

* three species of Egret: Cattle, Little and lots of Great whites.

170612 Little egret & Glossy ibis

* my first sightings of a Glossy ibis (seen here with a Little egret) and a Red-footed falcon

170612 Marsh harrier (1)
170612 Marsh harrier (2)
170612 Marsh harrier vs Bittern

* more Bitterns than you could point a lens at and several beautiful Marsh harriers, gliding seemingly effortlessly over the reed beds. These two birds came into conflict at one point (fuzzy photo above right), with the Bittern presumably trying to defend its young against harrier predation.

170612 Baby Great crested grebe
170612 Baby Blackcap

170612 Baby Mute swans

* lots of babies, including those of Great crested and Little grebes, Mute swan, Tufted duck, Coot and Blackcap.

170612 Black-tailed godwits

* the Black-tailed godwits flying over the waters at Shapwick Heath.

On the way home, with the help of my car mates, I came up with an as-yet-unconfirmed list of 57 species seen on the day, and that was only the birds – more on the other creatures in tomorrow’s blog.

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About me

sconzani

sconzani

I'm a writer and photographer; researcher and blogger; birder and nature lover; countryside rambler and city strider; volunteer and biodiversity recorder.

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