01 Wednesday Mar 2023
Posted in birds
I enjoyed a fabulous walk along Sully beach on Monday, seeing 2 Curlew, a Grey plover, 4 Dunlin and at least 6 Ringed plover, which is a good number and variety for a beach that is, these days, often empty of birds due to disturbance by walkers and dogs off their leads. Sadly, those birds were all quite distant for photographs but this gorgeous little Pied wagtail was much more obliging, walking jauntily along the top of a nearby stone wall, chissicking all the while.
25 Saturday Feb 2023
Posted in birds
This has been a very good winter for Snipe sightings. As well as the Jack snipes I blogged about back in December (Not one but two, 8 December), I enjoyed a more recent sighting, on 18 February, both of those thanks to local birder Graham’s use of a thermal imager. Then, yesterday, I spotted a Common snipe (Gallinago gallinago) in the same area. There was no need for an imaging device with this bird as it was sitting in plain sight, along the edge of an area of reeds. Snipe often take to the air immediately they notice movement nearby so I was extremely lucky that, even though it had obviously noticed me, this bird stayed put and let me take several photographs.
23 Thursday Feb 2023
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It’s been three years since I saw a Siberian chiffchaff, though one or two seem to appear in the county almost annually these days, blown off course as they move from their Siberian breeding territories to their usual over-wintering grounds south of the Himalayas. I first spotted this one in early February and thought it a Common chiffchaff but a more expert local birder did tell me then that he thought it had the look of a Sibe about it (the Siberian birds look rather grey and have darker legs). Almost a fortnight passed until that same birder saw the bird again and, more importantly, heard it call, because that is the clincher when it comes to these birds. Though it has been very elusive, I’ve managed two further sightings but have yet to hear that distinguishing call.
21 Tuesday Feb 2023
Posted in birds
‘The shape and voice of wildness’ – that is one of David Gray’s many evocative descriptions of the Curlew in his piece for the BTO’s publication Into the Red. ‘Mottled mud spirit’, ‘dressed understatedly in streaked browns and greys’ are two more but, as you would expect from a well-known singer-songwriter, Gray’s most basic response is to this mystical bird’s voice: ‘To hear a Curlew’s song as it carries across the land, is to hear, quite literally, a place being sung into being’. I sincerely hope you and your children and grandchildren get to experience that singing.
16 Thursday Feb 2023
Posted in birds
This gorgeous male Chaffinch looks like he’s deep in contemplation though I suspect that he is actually staring intently at a potential item of food on the ground below his perch.
14 Tuesday Feb 2023
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I was walking along Sully beach over last Friday’s high tide when a walker and her wide-roaming dog put up this little flock of waders. In panic, they flew together along the beach, wheeled out over the waves and around, heading back to their original location.
Luckily for me, once they considered the woman – or, more likely, the dog – was far enough away, they settled back on the rocks again. The astute amongst you may have counted the flying flock and noted that there were, in fact, more than a baker’s dozen. That was the number of Ringed plovers. They were accompanied by two Turnstones and a single Dunlin.
11 Saturday Feb 2023
Posted in birds
Tags
birding, birdwatching, Britain's largest finch, British birds, Coccothraustes coccothraustes, Hawfinch
I’ve been holding off sharing any photos of these magnificent birds, hoping I would see them again and get closer views but I fear that’s not to be as sightings, for all the local birders who’ve spent many an hour standing and staring at likely trees, have been very random. These are Hawfinches (Coccothraustes coccothraustes), Britain’s largest finches. As they are a rare, red-listed species, we have been very fortunate indeed over the last several years to have a few birds visiting Cosmeston Lakes Country Park during the winter months. I had my first sighting this year, of a single bird, on 6 January, and then these three popped up in front of me on 30 January. Fingers crossed I will see them again before they head off to breed.
07 Tuesday Feb 2023
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Tags
birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cardiff Bay birding, Peter Redshank, Redshank, ringed Redshank
I try not to anthropomorphise wild creatures but this handsome Redshank is one exception, and that is mostly because by naming him Peter, I can more easily remember that he was ringed at Peterstone, just along the coast from Cardiff. I hadn’t seen Peter since last January and was a bit concerned that something had happened to him, so I was relieved and delighted when another local birder spotted him on 30 January, and extremely happy when I finally saw him on 2 February.
04 Saturday Feb 2023
Posted in birds
Tags
birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cardiff Bay birding, early breeding of Raven, Raven, Raven family, Raven fledgling
Ravens are amongst the earliest of breeders in the bird world but, even knowing that fact, I was very surprised to see such a well-grown youngster with its parents at a local beach on Thursday. I struggled to find breeding information other than on Wikipedia, which gives figures of 18 to 21 days for incubation and 35 to 42 days for fledging. Counting back, that would mean this pair were egg-laying at the beginning of December, which I would not have believed if I hadn’t seen this family with my own eyes.
01 Wednesday Feb 2023
Posted in birds
Tags
birding, birdwatching, British birds, comparing Song and Mistle thrush, Mistle thrush, Song thrush
While we’re on the subject of Song thrushes …
I know many people have trouble working out whether the bird they’re seeing is a Song thrush or a Mistle thrush. As I’ve managed to get reasonably close photos of both recently, I thought I’d post a blog comparing the two.
The Song thrush (left) is smaller than a Blackbird, has arrowhead-shaped markings on its upper breast, its tail is the same colour as the rest of its back, and the edges of its wing feathers are a pale orange-buff colour. The Mistle thrush (right) is larger than a Blackbird, has breast markings that start off looking like sharp thorns then become more rounded and often smudge together, its tail tends to be a different colour to its back, and its wing feathers are usually edged in white. Also, the Mistle thrush has a very upright stance and often looks like it has a bit of a pot belly. The British Trust for Ornithology has an excellent short video on YouTube if you want to learn more.
– Song thrush, top, and Mistle thrush, below
earthstar 
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