Tag Archives: Cardiff Bay birding

Three Black redstarts

05 Wednesday Jan 2022

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On 10 December the word went out to local birders that someone had spotted a Black redstart in the Porth Teigr area of Cardiff Bay, so the next morning I wasn’t the only person to head over to see if I could find it.

220105 black redstart male

Turns out, there are, in fact, three Black redstarts dotting around together, two males (one, above) and a female (below). I’ve been back to see them several times now and they are worth every strip of shoe leather I wear off my soles walking there and back. They are simply stunning little birds!

220105 black redstart female

p.s. I wrote this post yesterday and, amazingly, in the interim, one of my birding friends noticed that there are actually two females, meaning there are four Black redstarts. I walked across for another look this morning and, sure enough, there were two females. Amazing!

Let the birding begin

01 Saturday Jan 2022

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In what is becoming something of a tradition, I enjoyed a lovely long walk around Cardiff Bay today to kickstart my patch birding list for the year. I managed to spot 45 species, with the highlights being an overwintering Blackcap; a Common sandpiper (pictured below); the Yellow-legged gull I blogged about a couple of days ago; and one of three Black redstarts currently in the Bay – more on those in a forthcoming blog post. I also caught up with several friendly fellow birders, always a pleasure. Happy New Year, one and all!

220101 common sandpiper

Y is for Yellow-legged gull

30 Thursday Dec 2021

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The Yellow-legged gull is my bogey bird, one I see reported by much more experienced birders than me but which I always have trouble identifying. So, imagine my delight when this 2cy bird (its age – this is the second calendar year since its birth) was mentioned on our local birders WhatsApp group. I recognised where it was standing and knew another (or the same?) Yellow-legged gull had favoured the same place last year. So, on my next walk around Cardiff Bay, I looked for and found it, and was very pleased to add a late new bird to my patch birding list for 2021, bringing the total to 119, one more than last year (though the mix of birds was different).

211230 yellow-legged gull (1)

D is for Dunlin

09 Thursday Dec 2021

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Seeing this Dunlin was a delightful surprise back in May (a fellow birder had spotted it and put the word out), as these shorebirds rarely stop over in Cardiff Bay. Sadly, the chances of seeing Dunlins at all have declined dramatically in recent years, as their population has plummeted, and, according to British Birds recently published report of ‘The status of our bird populations’, these birds have recently been added to the IUCN Red List, meaning they are now at extreme risk of extinction in Britain.

211209 dunlin

Birding around the Bay

13 Saturday Nov 2021

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Some recent sightings from my circuits around Cardiff Bay …

211113 common sandpiper

Common sandpiper, an unexpected sighting, as I was under the impression that these birds migrated to Africa to over-winter

211113 coot

Coot: often overlooked, frequently fractious, undeniably handsome

211113 crow

Carrion crow, frequently seen poking about on the stone embankments around the Bay

211113 goosander

Goosander, likely an eclipse male, i.e. in the process of changing from summer to winter plumage

211113 grey heron

A Grey heron – presumably the same Grey heron – that I’ve seen a couple of times lately on the dolphins and pontoons near Mermaid Quay

211113 mute swan

A Mute swan reflecting

211113 pied wagtail

A Pied wagtail preening

211113 ring-necked and tufted ducks

The currently resident Ring-necked duck with one of its Tufted duck friends

211113 rock pipit

Rock pipit, one of a healthy population of these birds that inhabit the unhealthy, rubbish-filled peripheries of Cardiff Bay.

First autumn Redshank

02 Tuesday Nov 2021

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The weather has really turned autumnal over the past few days, with strong winds and heavy rain. As stormy weather means birds sometimes need to seek shelter and a place to rest, it can lead to interesting bird sightings, so I ventured out between squalls for a look. There was nothing particularly unusual but it was a treat to see my first Redshank of the autumn sitting on the embankment where the River Ely flows in to Cardiff Bay.

211102 redshank

Peachy

28 Thursday Oct 2021

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She may be called a Black redstart but the female of the species is a mostly non-descript little grey bird, though she does have the characteristic peach-coloured bottom indicated by the ‘redstart’ name (the Anglo-Saxon phrase for red tail, red steort, morphed into the word redstart).

211028 black redstart

This particularly bird was first noticed on Cardiff Bay Barrage a week ago but eluded all efforts to re-find her (by several birders, not just me) until, much to my surprise and delight, I found her again in the same location Tuesday morning. And, since then, she’s disappeared again – she’s small and can easily flit into the gaps around the huge boulders of the outer Barrage and has, perhaps, half a mile of rocks to forage amongst, so it’s really not surprising. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time.

The entertainer

23 Saturday Oct 2021

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A Black redstart was reported from Cardiff Bay barrage so off I stomped to try to find it. Despite much searching, scanning with my bins, and walking back and forth, I failed to find it (I was somewhat gratified to learn later that more experienced birders had also not found it). But there was a small bonus, in the form of this delightful Stonechat.

211023 stonechat (1)

It was very active, flitting frequently between shrubs and rocks and back again, quarrelling with one of the resident Rock pipits, and being told off by a stroppy Robin. Luckily for me, in the middle of this flurry of activity it came to rest quite close to where I was standing and I managed to get a few nice photos. It was very entertaining!

211023 stonechat (2)

Shoveler

16 Saturday Oct 2021

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The highlight of yesterday’s stomp around Cardiff Bay was this male Shoveler quite close to the boardwalk at the wetlands reserve.

211016 shoveler (1)

He was standing on a submerged log, body up out of the water, so he could preen. As you can see, he was looking a bit scruffy, only part way through the moult to winter plumage (shown below in a photo taken in December a couple of years ago), and was mostly still wearing his breeding colours. He was having a good scratch and preening with that large beak, shedding several feathers during the time I watched him.

211016 shoveler (2)

The return of the Ring-necked duck

07 Thursday Oct 2021

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Many local birders, including our county bird recorder, seem to agree that this Ring-necked duck is the same bird that spent much of last winter in Cardiff Bay in the company of the large Tufted duck flock. She appears to have remained in the company of those ducks over the summer and now returned with them to over-winter in the Bay and on other local lakes and reservoirs. Long may she linger!

211007 ring-necked duck (1)

211007 ring-necked duck (4)