A walk along the Taff

10 Monday Sep 2018

Posted by sconzani in autumn, birds, nature, parks, trees, walks, wildflowers

Tags

Bute Park, Carrion crow, Goosander, Green alkanet, Grey heron, Grey wagtail, Mallard, Mute swan, River Taff, riverside walk, Speckled wood, woodland trail

On Friday, after I’d paid a visit to the tree I’m following, I enjoyed a stroll along the trail in Cardiff’s Bute Park that meanders through mature woodland alongside the River Taff. Despite this summer’s drought conditions, the recent rains have revived the local trees and plants so everything was looking wonderfully lush and vibrant.

180910 Walk by the Taff (1)

A female Goosander sailing down river was a pleasant sight. Both males and females can often be seen on this part of the Taff from autumn through to spring.

180910 Walk by the Taff (2)

Near the far river bank, a Grey heron stood tall on one of the many exposed rocks and boulders. The river is quite low at the moment.

180910 Walk by the Taff (3)

There weren’t a lot of signs of autumn yet – only the leaves of the Horse chestnuts were yellowing and curling up and beginning to drop.

180910 Walk by the Taff (4)

A Speckled wood was well camouflaged on the woodland floor. There weren’t many butterflies around, just half a dozen Speckled woods and a few Small whites.

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A Mallard enjoyed a snooze near the river’s edge.

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I liked the colours and patterns of the pebbles and the occasionally blue sky reflected in the river water.

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This was one of two Mute swans feeding.

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I’ve seen this particular Carrion crow many times before when I’ve walked this way. I know it’s the same crow, not because of how it looks but because it has virtually no voice. It tries to croak but hardly any sound comes out.

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Most of the wildflowers have finished flowering but this Green alkanet was a pretty exception.

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Just a few hints of autumn showing here. I love how this path meanders through these magnificent trees.

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The woodland trail finishes just below Blackweir, where the current low water level means many rocks and boulders have been exposed. This was the perfect spot for a group of perhaps 20 Grey wagtails to fly-catch, and watching their aerial antics was the perfect end to my wander alongside the Taff.

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In a Pengam garden

05 Thursday Jul 2018

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

birding, birdwatching, blackbird, British birds, bullfinch, Carrion crow, Collared dove, garden birds, Goldfinch, Great spotted woodpecker, Woodpigeon

My friend Sharon has a lovely garden: an area of lawn bordered by flowers, shrubs and hedge; a separate area for growing vegies, the glasshouse and the beehives; and a lovely little bit of wild woodland at the end. It’s a paradise for birds, particularly because Sharon also has lots of feeders that she keeps stocked up with seeds of various kinds and suet blocks. As a person who lives in a first-floor flat with no garden, I just love visiting Sharon’s garden. I could sit watching the birds all day long.

180705 1 Pengam garden birds

My photos show just a few of the birds that entertained us yesterday – and these 14 species are not the only birds that visit: House sparrow, Blue tit, Great tit, Collared dove, Woodpigeon, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Bullfinch, Carrion crow, Great spotted woodpecker, Magpie, Robin, Dunnock, and Blackbird.

The Great spotted woodpeckers have been bringing their offspring to the garden this year

The Woodpigeon doesn’t look too happy about the Carrion crow being so close

A Blackbird with an odd beak

‘This is ours’, squawked the Goldfinch to the Bullfinch, but …

… the Bullfinch won out on the day!

A beautiful Collared dove

Ely embankment revisited

15 Friday Jun 2018

Posted by sconzani in birds, flowers, nature, walks, wildflowers

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Tags

#30DaysWild, 30 Days Wild, Cardiff Bay, Carrion crow, Coot, Ely embankment, feral pigeon, Linnet, Mallard, Mute swan, Pied wagtail, River Ely, Small tortoiseshell

My regular followers will remember that, over the winter months, when there were more birds around, I posted a regular monthly roundup of the action along the embankment where the River Ely flows in to Cardiff Bay. Today, for day 15 of #30DaysWild, I thought I’d take another look. Here’s what I found …

The embankment is a riot of colour, with both native wildflowers and garden escapees in full bloom.

Two Linnets were foraging on flower seeds but were very skittish.

Loving these Oxeye daisies.

A juvenile Pied wagtail was feeding near the waterline.

A flock of 7 Feral pigeons was also foraging amongst the flowers

This Mallard had found a sunny spot for a snooze.

23 Mute swans were floating up the river, many taking the opportunity to preen as they went.

9 Coots were congregating at the water’s edge.

I saw my first Small tortoiseshell butterfly of the year.

Looking back up the river as an Aquabus shows sightseers the river. The black hulk is a new apartment block.

And finally, a Carrion crow was prospecting for tasty morsels.

Nests

09 Monday Apr 2018

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature, spring

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

birding, birdwatching, Buzzard, Carrion crow, Coot, Great Crested Grebe, Magpie, Mute swan, nesting, nesting birds, signs of spring

Just like their makers, nests come in all shapes and sizes, and they’re made of all sorts of materials: twigs and branches, feathers, moss, paper and plastic, mud. They can be seen high in trees and on buildings, hidden secretively away in hedges and behind reeds, or plonked in a hole in a concrete platoon, as I saw some Coots do recently in Cardiff. Some are messy and loosely constructed, others are cosy and snug, still others are miniature works of art.

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This is prime bird-nesting season so it’s quite likely you’ll see nests when you’re out walking. Please stay well away and do not disturb parents, eggs or babies. In Britain (and I’m sure in most countries) it is, in fact, an offence under The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 to ‘intentionally take, damage, destroy the nest of any wild bird while it is in use or being built’ and to ‘intentionally take or destroy the egg of any wild bird’. (You can read more details here.) And, rest assured, my photos were all taken with a long lens, well away from the birds, so as not to disturb them.

January on the Ely embankment

30 Tuesday Jan 2018

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature, walks

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

birding, birdwatching, British birds, Carrion crow, Ely embankment, Goosander, Grey wagtail, little grebe, Pied wagtail, Redshank, River Ely, Rock pipit, Turnstone

31 December 2017 I’m being a bit sneaky here as I managed to fit in one last walk along the embankment before the start of 2018 but after I’d written my December summary. So, on the last day of last year there were 5 Turnstones, 2 Redshanks, 2 Pied wagtails and 2 Grey wagtails, 1 Rock pipit and a couple of Crows.

1 January 2018 The very next day, New Year’s Day, I passed this way as part of a complete circuit of Cardiff Bay. It was a glorious blue-sky day but there were just 3 Turnstones present.

180130 Ely embankment birds (5)

11 January This was another glorious day and another circuit of Cardiff Bay, though in the opposite direction. And it was a bumper day for the Ely embankment, with four Redshanks (including the ringed bird, shown above, which I’ve seen and written about previously), 6 Turnstones, 1 Pied and 4 Grey wagtails, and a Rock pipit.

16 January With 40-mph winds blasting down from snow-covered areas further north, the air temperature was hovering below zero when I walked along the embankment late morning. I wasn’t surprised, then, to find very few birds around – a single Turnstone that was wandering along half way up the embankment (not wanting to put its feet in the chilly water?), which was good for me as it was closer for photos, and just two Grey wagtails. There weren’t many birds on the river either, just a couple of coots, one Great crested grebe and several Black-headed gulls looking hopefully in my direction.

180130 Ely embankment birds

20 January I didn’t get out till late afternoon as it had rained most of the day, so the light was going as I strolled along the embankment path. But I was pleasantly surprised to see a few birds: my friends the Grey wagtails never disappoint (two of those); just one Turnstone poking away amongst the stones; and two Redshanks, including my little buddy the colour-ringed bird. Floating along the river were a Little grebe, a Great crested grebe and a pair of Goosanders – the latter were scared away by a boat cruising by and flew off towards the other side of Cardiff Bay, where I had seen a pair a week or so previously – perhaps the same birds.

25 January I detoured along the embankment on my return from a longer walk and was delighted to find six Turnstones (lovely to see so many), two Redshanks (but not my little ringed mate), two Grey and two Pied wagtails.

A leucistic crow

04 Thursday Jan 2018

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

birding, birdwatching, British birds, Carrion crow, Corvus corone, leucism, leucism in birds, leucistic crow

180104 Leucistic crow (5)

I posted a photo of this splendid leucistic Carrion crow (Corvus corone) on my new ‘Birding 2018’ page, after seeing him for the second time on a recent walk around Cardiff Bay, where he appears to frequent the area around the Norwegian Church.

I write ‘he’ but ‘he’ may well be a ‘she’, as I’m not sure how to tell the gender of crows. It’s certainly a handsome creature and I decided it was worth a post of its own. As you can see from my photos, the leucism seems to be restricted to its wings.
(If you’re not sure what leucism is, I wrote about it in an earlier blog post here.)

180104 Leucistic crow (4)

A murder of crows

14 Thursday Dec 2017

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature

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birding, birdwatching, Carrion crow, crow, crows and death, crows as weather forecasters, murder of crows, sayings about crows, superstitions about crows

I wonder if school children still get taught the weird and wonderful collective nouns for the various groupings of birds, animals and fishes. No one really knows the origins of some of these nouns but it’s easy to speculate about how a murder of crows came about. Humans have always been wary and suspicious of scavenging black birds like ravens and crows, thinking them harbingers of death and associating them with battlefields and cemeteries. Even the Ancient Greeks painted black birds in their pottery scenes, an inclusion that indicated someone was going to die, or had already died.

There are old folk tales and superstitions saying that crows will appear in large numbers in places where people or animals are expected soon to die. And just as there are rhymes associated with magpies, there is also one covering the number of crows seen together at one time: ‘One’s unlucky / Two’s lucky / Three is health / Four is wealth / Five is sickness / And six is death’.

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I’ve also read that crows make good weather forecasters. In Fauna Britannica, Buczacki writes that ‘In Wales, an indication of strong winds is given by ravens and crows flapping their wings and flying at a great height, while sunshine will follow if they are seen flying towards the sun.’ I’ll be interested to find out whether any of my Welsh friends have heard of this and, indeed, to know whether this forecasting method works! And I wonder if a crow standing in water means it’s going to rain.

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A walk in Nant Fawr

12 Tuesday Dec 2017

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature, walks, winter

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Tags

birding, birdwatching, blackbird, Brambling, British birds, Carrion crow, dunnock, Great spotted woodpecker, house sparrow, Nant Fawr, Nant Fawr Woodlands, Song thrush, walk in the woods

There was snow on the hills north of Cardiff on Saturday morning so I thought I’d try to get closer to take some photos but also combine that with a good walk. So, I jumped on a train and went a’stomping. Unfortunately, by the time I got closer, the snow had mostly melted away, which wasn’t helped by the fact that the footpath I had intended to follow, along the eastern side of the Llanishen and Lisvane reservoirs, was closed. So, I contented myself with a wander through the Nant Fawr woodlands and, afterwards, a circuit of Roath Park Lake.

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