17 Thursday Sep 2026
Tags
autumn bird migration, bird migration, birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cardiff Bay birding, first Turnstones of autumn, Turnstone
A shorter post today after the verbal diarrhoea of the last few days …
Just to say I’ve finally seen my first two Turnstones of the autumn, tootling along the Ely embankment on the edge of Cardiff Bay, a location we usually see these waders throughout the colder months. Winter is coming!
14 Monday Sep 2026
Posted in nature
Tags
birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cardiff Bay birding, Chlidonias leucopterus, White-winged black tern
At 9:02 last Tuesday morning, a WhatsApp message and back-of-camera photo came through from local birder Gareth: ‘I think this could be a juv ww black tern in Bay’. A flurry of posts followed from our local experts, agreeing with his identification, and then querying which would be the best location to see the bird from. More posts rushed in as excited birders started arriving: ‘flown towards the Barrage’, ‘can be watched from Penarth Marina with scope’, and, at 9:40, a slightly desperate ‘can you still see it?’.
Though I knew it would be a long shot for me to be able to spot the bird in Cardiff Bay using just binoculars, as I’d never seen a White-winged black tern I had to try. Being a pedestrian (and so not being able to drive quickly from place to place), it was also tricky knowing where to head, as the bird seemed to be moving about a lot, but the Barrage was closest so that’s where I went. And, miraculously, despite the distance, I managed to spot the bird almost immediately; having watched the Juvenile Black tern on Lisvane Reservoir very recently, it was easier to lock on to that distinctive swooping and diving flight pattern all tern species have.
After I’d watched the tern for a while, hoping in vain that it might come closer, and checked the Barrage for other birds, it was still only late morning, and the tern had moved from the Bay to the River Taff, flying back and forth just north of the A4232 road bridge. I thought I might have closer views in that location, so off I stomped.
As it turned out, the views were only marginally better as the bird was feeding on the opposite side of the Taff; if I’d gone to that side of the river, I would’ve had the sun in my eyes, so I stayed on the west side. Despite the distance, the bird was still a delight to watch, its flight so agile and energetic. In fact, I couldn’t help wondering how it was finding enough insects to create the energy to power its almost constant flight, but such is the way of terns.
Later, the facts rolled in. The records showed that no White-winged black tern (Chlidonias leucopterus) had ever been seen in Cardiff Bay before, and it was 33 years since an amazing three birds had visited Kenfig National Nature Reserve, further west along the Glamorgan coast. It was a brilliant find by Gareth, a suitable reward for all the hours he puts in checking for birds in the local area. And if you’re wondering, as I was, why it’s called a White-winged black tern, check out the photos on eBird of this tern in full breeding plumage – it’s a stunner!
09 Wednesday Sep 2026
Posted in birds
Tags
birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cardiff Bay birding, Cardiff Bay birds, Gulosus aristotelis, Shag
Last Friday evening word came through on my local WhatsApp birding group chat that a Shag (Gulosus aristotelis) had been sighted on the River Taff. Shags are rare locally – we see on average one a year somewhere around Cardiff Bay (see A Shag even closer, September 2025, and The Birding begins, January 2024) – but this particular Shag was even more rare than usual; it had joined the regular flock of Mute swans, Mallards, Canada geese, Feral pigeons and assorted gulls coming to bread on a local slipway.
This I had to see, plus I knew the site would allow very close views of the Shag, and the location was one I often pass during one of my regular walking circuits, so I headed that way the following morning. As you can see from my photos, the Shag was still present.
There had been a suggestion put forward that the bird couldn’t fly but I don’t know how it could have got to this site if that was the case. It certainly looked healthy enough, its eyes clear, its feathers glossy, and it was preening a lot. The major concern was its behaviour – no Shag should ever come to bread, and its confused behaviour could perhaps indicate illness of some kind.
Fortunately, access to the slipway had been restricted by chain and padlock, so the Shag wasn’t being threatened by boats being launched, but dogs and people remained a threat. While I was watching the bird, two women with two very young girls walked part of the way down the slipway, the children chasing the pigeons. I politely, but firmly, asked the women to stop their children from doing that because of the danger to the ‘sick’ bird. I half expected to be abused, but they withdrew. Why people let their children chase birds at all is beyond my comprehension.
But I digress. When I passed the slipway yesterday, the Shag was no longer there, and today I’ve seen a report of a Shag in the sea off Cardiff Bay. There’s no way to tell if it’s the same bird but I certainly hope it is, and that this indicates it’s okay. Fingers crossed it never tries to eat bread again!
25 Tuesday Aug 2026
Posted in birds
≈ Comments Off on A surprise Black-tailed godwit
Tags
birding, birdwatching, Black-tailed godwit, British birds, Cardiff Bay birding, Cardiff Bay Wetlands Reserve
Cardiff Bay Wetlands Reserve, Thursday 20 August. A Black-tailed godwit had been spotted at the reserve the previous day and remained on the morning of the 20th, as reported by the birders in my local WhatsApp group. I hadn’t seen any migrating birds during a couple of recent days’ looking, and this sighting was enough of a local rarity that I figured I’d walk that way.
When I got to the wetlands, there was no sign of the godwit, nowhere within the reserve boundary and not in the little bay (shown above) where it had previously been seen. I waited and watched, enjoying the other birds, noticing a female Shoveler – not particularly common here.
Suddenly, a small wader flew out from where the godwit was meant to be, and continued in panicked circles over the water. A Common sandpiper.
Next, the many Mallards that had been cruising about, washing, preening, all went a little crazy, swimming together in a group away from the reed beds. A couple of Moorhens and Little grebes joined them, clearly rattled about something. Then, the Black-tailed godwit flew out, also looking panicked, and put in a few circuits of the reserve before settling down amongst the ducks. I still don’t know what spooked them all but both Otters and Mink have been sighted at the reserve recently so it was probably one of those species.
Both the Common sandpiper and the Black-tailed godwit flew circuits of the reserve again before all the birds seemed to realise that the threat had gone, and calm returned to the flock. Recognising this, the godwit headed back in to its little hideaway, probably intending to snooze the afternoon away.
15 Saturday Aug 2026
Posted in birds
≈ Comments Off on A local Linnet
Tags
birding, birds in Cardiff Bay, birdwatching, Cardiff Bay birding, Herb Robert, Linnet, Linnets eating Herb Robert seeds, Linnets feeding on Herb Robert
It’s that time of year when the seeds of Herb Robert are ripe and ready for any passing seed-eating birds to harvest.
Pigeons, both Woodpigeons and feral, seem to quite enjoy them but it’s the local Linnets I see feasting on them most often.
These particular Herb Robert plants grow amongst the stones of the embankment of the River Ely where it flows in to Cardiff Bay, convenient for the small flock of Linnets that spend their lives around the Bay.
27 Saturday Jun 2026
Posted in birds
≈ Comments Off on A one-legged wagtail
Tags
birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cardiff Bay birding, Grey wagtail, male Grey wagtail, one-legged Grey wagtail
During the summer months I don’t often walk along the embankment of the River Ely where it flows in to Cardiff Bay as most of the birds I like to see there are elsewhere, busy breeding the next generation. However, during this past week, while we’ve been melting under the record-breaking temperatures of our second heatwave of 2026, the Ely embankment made for a pleasant and relatively short early morning walk before I retreated from the burning sun.
And, of course, there were still birds to be seen: Mallards snoozing close to the water’s edge; Coots ditto, until a passing dog walker’s mutt barked at them, scaring them in to the water; a couple of Great crested grebes diving often for sprats; and this handsome male Grey wagtail, standing guard over his two youngsters who were chasing each other with the mad exuberance of youth out over the water and back again.
Though Grey wagtails can be quite skittish, this one seemed more confiding. And then I noticed why that was – it only had one leg. This didn’t stop it from moving about but, when it was still, it was obviously more comfortable sitting with its body touching the ground. And, considering this bird had raised two healthy youngsters, it was obviously able to live a full life, which was very reassuring to see.
16 Tuesday Jun 2026
Tags
Bank swallow, birding, birds nesting in Cardiff Bay, birdwatching, British birds, Cardiff Bay birding, nesting Sand martins, Sand martin
During last week’s wander around Cardiff Bay and on in to the city I paused for a wonderful 20 minutes to watch the Sand martins flitting constantly in and out of their nests in every available gap, hole and crevice in the walls of the Bay’s many old docks.
Their activity has reached a level of frantic that means I can safely assume they’re now feeding young.
In North America the Sand martin is known as the Bank swallow, something I didn’t know until quite recently when a man tried a little too forcefully to tell me (the term ‘mansplaining’ applies here, I think) that the birds I was watching and listening to were Bank swallows, rather than Sand martins, because that’s what his Merlin bird app told him.
(Note to Merlin users: if you live in the UK, make sure you change your settings to British bird names!)
30 Saturday May 2026
Posted in birds
Tags
birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cardiff Bay birding, cygnets, Mute swan, Mute swan cygnets
I’ve never really understood how anyone, let alone a talented writer like Hans Christian Andersen, could label a cygnet an ‘ugly duckling’. In my opinion, there is nothing even remotely ugly about a cygnet; it is the very embodiment of cute.
These five very young cygnets were with their Mute swan parents, pottering along the water’s edge where the River Ely flows in to the western edge of Cardiff Bay, and watching them certainly brightened up a very dull, grey, occasionally wet day. I hope you enjoy this massive dose of cuteness as much as I did.
03 Tuesday Mar 2026
Yesterday’s post about Siskin was the last from my recent mini break in Weymouth (though I have already booked a return visit in a couple of weeks). Luckily for me, no rare birds turned up in my home area while I was away; miraculously, the first, this Little gull, arrived the very next morning (Saturday 21 February). And it’s been present every day since, so I’ve managed to see it, albeit distantly, several times now, which has been good practice for my birding skills, picking out a single small gull among several hundred, mostly Black-headed gulls.
This year’s Little gull (Hydrocoloeus minutus) is a 2nd winter 3CY bird. If you don’t speak ‘birder’, that means the bird has just lived through its second winter, which means it was born in the summer of 2024, and, as it’s now 2026, is in its third calendar year. I am not experienced enough to have worked that out for myself but our local experts can tell from looking at the bird’s plumage. There is a very detailed description of the precise details on the Gull Research website but, in summary, at this stage the bird looks quite similar to an adult Little gull but still has some black feathers towards the tips of some of its upper wings.
During last Monday’s walk around part of Cardiff Bay, the wind was blasting across the water from a westerly direction. That didn’t make for very pleasant walking, or birding, as my eyes stream in the cold wind, but the weather did have one good point – it pushed many of the gulls closer to the Barrage pathway, which is how I managed to get these few photos, before the heavy rain came in and saw me stomping quickly homeward.
19 Thursday Feb 2026
Posted in birds
≈ Comments Off on Our celebrity Redshank
If you’ve been here a while, you’ll know about this beautiful bird from my previous posts but, if you’re new, meet local celebrity Peter Redshank! Celebrity because it’s the only ringed Redshank in the area, Peter because it was ringed as an adult on 22 February 2016 at Peterstone Great Wharf, on the coast of the Bristol Channel just north of Cardiff. Peter has been re-sighted many times each year since 2016 and is now well known to those of us who bird the local area, but it’s always a joy to see him/her (we don’t actually know what gender the bird is) in and around Cardiff Bay. I caught up with Peter and took this portrait one day last week.
