Tag Archives: Cosmeston Lakes Country Park

Red-crested pochard

22 Tuesday Mar 2022

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Last Monday it was a Little gull in Cardiff Bay; yesterday a Red-crested pochard at Cosmeston Lakes – I’m already wondering what next Monday might bring.

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According to the BTO website, the Red-crested pochard (Netta rufina) usually spends the summer in Europe and central Asia, and overwinters in north Africa, India and Japan. In Britain, where the earliest record of this bird dates to 1818, the population is tiny and originated from birds that escaped captivity.

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This particular Red-crested pochard was most likely the bird that was first seen at Kenfig National Nature Reserve on 10 March. It stayed on Cosmeston’s west lake all day Monday, diving often to find weed to munch on and contentedly preening between times. Unfortunately, it remained quite distant so I couldn’t get any decent photos but it was still a treat to watch this handsome exotic visitor.

First Spring Wheatear

12 Saturday Mar 2022

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I was just about to head home from Cosmeston when I got word there was a Wheatear in the southern end of the west paddock – I was at the northern end. Back I stomped and splashed – it’s exceedingly muddy there after all the recent rain – and enjoyed close views of this very handsome bird, as well as a lovely catch up with a female birding friend. I’ve since seen reports of Wheatears in other locations today – Spring migration has begun!

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Nut stashers

10 Thursday Feb 2022

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Today’s lovely long meander took me to Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, where I watched a large flock of Fieldfares and Redwings worming in the west paddock, enjoyed the antics of the almost-tame Crows that are feed daily by a regular visitor and now expect all humans to feed them, and chuckled at the small birds squabbling over which would get the sunflowers amongst the seed I dished out. The Nuthatches won that game most of the time, repeatedly nabbing two and three at a time to take away and stash for later consumption.

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V is for vole

27 Monday Dec 2021

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Only one animal has featured in this countdown to date so I decided we needed another, and what better than a cute little Ratty – Water vole, that is, not Brown rat, though I see rather more rats than Ratties these days. If you’ve been following along here for a while you may remember this handsome little beastie that was munching away on reeds in the brook at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park back in May.

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Opportunists

17 Wednesday Nov 2021

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The rat population at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park is thriving thanks to the generosity of those folk who leave seed for the birds. The rodents are fearless opportunists and extremely cheeky, approaching to grab their share of the bounty even before people have stepped away, but they do at least share the seed with the birds. The rats stuff their mouths full of seed and scuttle away, whereas the squirrels monopolise the seed, staying put and not allowing the birds to approach.

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Autumn Redstarts

24 Tuesday Aug 2021

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Thanks to a chat with local expert birder, Graham, I saw splashes of autumn, the flashing orange-red of a young male Redstart, at Cosmeston yesterday.

And he – the bird that is, not Graham – certainly wasn’t shy about displaying the glorious colours under his tail and wing, as he flitted from bush to ground to small tree to wire fence in his constant search for food.

There was another bird calling constantly very close by, probably a second Redstart, but I didn’t manage to get on to it before getting a message that there were Whinchats on the other side of the park. I love this time of year – you never know what’s going to turn up next.

Migration companions

19 Thursday Aug 2021

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These three were hanging out together in a clump of trees at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park yesterday, two Spotted flycatchers flanking a Willow warbler. All are starting their annual autumn migration to Africa, the Willow warbler to southern Tanzania or northern Mozambique, the flycatchers anywhere from the coastal forests of the Gulf of Guinea to South Africa. I hope to get better photos of these birds in the coming weeks but was delighted to get this shot of all three together.

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Baby Moorhens

22 Tuesday Jun 2021

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Following on from yesterday’s ‘baby’ theme, today we have some baby Moorhens from Cosmeston Lakes Country Park.

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I tend to avoid the lake, cafe and car park areas of the park as those are where most of the people congregate but, yesterday, I wanted to check out the dipping pond for dragonflies so walked that way.

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Though there were no dragons to be seen, there were three generations of Moorhen, an adult, one of an earlier brood of chicks, and at least six of the latest brood, in all their fluffy feather cuteness.

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