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~ a celebration of nature

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Tag Archives: Forest Farm Nature Reserve

312/365 Nuts

08 Friday Nov 2019

Posted by sconzani in autumn, birds, nature

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

birding, birdwatching, British birds, Forest Farm, Forest Farm Nature Reserve, jackdaw, Jay, Moorhen

Today was a glorious autumn day so I took myself to Forest Farm Nature Reserve for a long walk. I popped in to the hide to see what birds were around but it was very quiet.

191108 moorhens

Apart from a couple of Moorhens in the pond, the only feathered creatures I saw were these, a Jackdaw and a Jay that had been enticed down on to the grass in front of the hide by the peanuts another birder had thrown out for them.

191108 jackdaw191108 jay

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30/365 Preening

30 Wednesday Jan 2019

Posted by sconzani in 365DaysWildin2019, birds, nature, walks, winter

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

#365DaysWild, birding, birdwatching, British birds, Forest Farm, Forest Farm Nature Reserve, Moorhen, moorhen preening

190130 moorhen

Today was the calm before the storm – or, at least, it might have been – snow and strong winds are forecast for tomorrow afternoon but we’ll have to wait and see if that forecast is correct. Today, though, was bright blue skies, heavy white frost, a cracking walk around Forest Farm, lots of lovely birds (including my first Siskins of the year), nice catch-ups with birding friends and birding-chat with strangers – just perfect! Oh, and here’s one of the many Moorhens I saw, this one preening vigorously in the warm morning sunshine.

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21/365 A Snipe or three

21 Monday Jan 2019

Posted by sconzani in 365DaysWildin2019, birds, nature, walks, winter

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

birding, birdwatching, British birds, Forest Farm, Forest Farm Nature Reserve, Snipe, Snipe in reeds

When I headed to Forest Farm Nature Reserve today, I was hoping to add a Dipper to my year list (tick) and, as frosty mornings often lure them out from the reeds, I was also hoping to see some Snipe – these are they. Not as close as I’d have liked but still good to see as they are so well camouflaged they’re often difficult to spot. There were lots of other lovelies too: a Kingfisher, two Buzzards being harassed by Crows, three Great spotted woodpeckers, a ton of Mallards and Moorhens loudly staking out territories in preparation for breeding, four Grey herons like statues in a dead tree, and my first Snowdrops of the year. T’rrific!

190121 snipe

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Late autumn at Forest Farm

18 Sunday Nov 2018

Posted by sconzani in autumn, leaves, nature, trees, walks

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

autumn, autumn colour, autumn leaves, autumn trees, Forest Farm, Forest Farm Nature Reserve

When anyone asks me what my favourite season is I can never decide because they each have their good points but, this year, our late-arriving autumn has certainly been magnificent. On Wednesday I caught the train to Radyr for a meander around Forest Farm Nature Reserve and it was sublime. From bright golden yellows to rustling red-browns, with some leaves still decorating spreading branches above my head and others carpeting the woodland floor beneath my feet, I spent a marvellous day, my eyes admiring, my feet kicking, my neck craning and all my senses spilling over. Ah, autumn!

181118 Forest Farm (1)181118 Forest Farm (2)181118 Forest Farm (3)181118 Forest Farm (4)181118 Forest Farm (5)181118 Forest Farm (6)181118 Forest Farm (7)

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The day of the Demoiselles

28 Thursday Jun 2018

Posted by sconzani in insects, nature

≈ Comments Off on The day of the Demoiselles

Tags

#30DaysWild, 30 Days Wild, Beautiful Demoiselle, British damselflies, Calopteryx Virgo, damselfly, Forest Farm, Forest Farm Nature Reserve, Glamorgan Canal

I chose Forest Farm Nature Reserve for my wander on day 28 of #30DaysWild, to take advantage of the large shady trees, and I’m very glad I did because it was another scorcher. As well as the thrill of seeing my very first White-letter hairstreak butterfly (along with many other butterfly species), I was particularly delighted by the Beautiful demoiselle damselflies (Calopteryx virgo). Their iridescent colours sparkled in the dappled sunlight as they flitted back and forth along the old Glamorgan Canal. Fairies!

180628 Beautiful demoiselle female

Beautiful Demoiselle female, showing dark brown wings and white wing spot

180628 Beautiful demoiselle male

Beautiful Demoiselle male, showing dark blue wings and no white wing spot

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Moor babies

28 Saturday Apr 2018

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature, spring

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

baby birds, birding, birdwatching, British birds, Forest Farm, Forest Farm Nature Reserve, Moorhen, Moorhen chicks

All was peaceful as my friend Jill and I sat in a hide at Forest Farm Nature Reserve earlier this week. Light rain was falling and, though we could hear bird song in the reeds and surrounding trees, the only birds we saw were the cheeky little Great tits and Robins coming to feed on seed left by previous visitors to the hide.

180427 Moorhen chicks (1)

Suddenly, a Moorhen appeared over the lip of the hillock in front of us, making a determined beeline for the front of the hide to harvest the seed that had been thrown out on the grass. The bird wasn’t at all hesitant and nervous … and then we saw why, as first one, then another little bundle of black fluff appeared over the hillock behind. We eventually counted five Moorhen chicks, and both parents emerged to help feed their ravenous youngsters. They were so delightful and entertaining to watch.

180427 Moorhen chicks (2)180427 Moorhen chicks (3)180427 Moorhen chicks (4)180427 Moorhen chicks (5)180427 Moorhen chicks (6)180427 Moorhen chicks (7)180427 Moorhen chicks (8)

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Feathers and fungi at Forest Farm

19 Monday Mar 2018

Posted by sconzani in birds, fungi, nature, parks, walks

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

biodiversity, Blue tit, Blushing bracket, Brittle cinder, coal tit, Elfcups, Forest Farm, Forest Farm Nature Reserve, Great tit, Grey heron, Hairy curtain crust, Moorhen, nuthatch, Song thrush, wren

I’ve blogged about the charms of the Forest Farm Nature Reserve many times before but I thought I’d share some of the highlights from last week’s wander …

180319 Forest Farm

Oh, and I will just add that the combination of feathers – me mostly looking upwards – and fungi – eyes down – can be quite difficult. By the end of the day, I felt like one of those nodding dog ornaments you used to see in the rear windows of cars. Still, ’twas a lovely long meandering walk!

180319 Blue tit
180319 Blushing bracket
180319 Brittle cinder
180319 Coal tit
180319 Elfcups
180319 Great tit
180319 Grey heron
180319 Hairy curtain crust
180319 Moorhen
180319 Nuthatch
180319 Song thrush
180319 Wren

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Mr and Mrs Sprawk

09 Saturday Dec 2017

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Accipiter nissus, bird of prey, birding, birdwatching, British birds, Forest Farm, Forest Farm Nature Reserve, Sparrowhawk

On Thursday I showed you many of the lovely birds I had seen at Forest Farm Nature Reserve the previous week but I left out two of them, the male and female Sparrowhawk I saw several times during my meanderings.

171209 sparrowhawk (3)

The Sparrowhawk (Accipiter nissus) is a bird of prey and it was easy to tell when this pair was near by as all the other birds froze, no movement, no sound. A hawker of sparrows it may be but, as Buczacki points out in Fauna Britannica, they could just as easily be called finchhawk, larkhawk or tithawk ‘because this bird really is a scourge of small feathered things’. That sounds like bad news for the smaller birds but, interestingly, the RSPB reports that ‘long term scientific studies have shown that sparrowhawks generally have no or little impact on songbird populations’. (Read more here.)

171209 sparrowhawk (1)
171209 sparrowhawk (2)

I only managed to get distant fuzzy photos (above) of the male bird, with his distinctive blue-grey back and wings, but my shots of the female are a little better. I’ve seen Sparrowhawks many times before but have not had views as close as these, and they were magnificent to watch as they flew at high speed through the thick spreading branches in the woodland by the canal.

171209 sparrowhawk (4)

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Birds of Forest Farm

07 Thursday Dec 2017

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature, walks

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

birding, birdwatching, British birds, bullfinch, dunnock, Forest Farm, Forest Farm Nature Reserve, Great spotted woodpecker, Great tit, Kingfisher, long-tailed tit, Moorhen, robin, treecreeper

I had a meeting at Forest Farm last Friday so, of course, I took the opportunity while I was there to have a wander around the trails and along the Glamorganshire Canal. And it was wonderful, though I did come away feeling a little guilty. We’d had a week of low temperatures, with overnight frosts, and there was a bitterly cold wind blowing. It was obvious the wee birds were cold and hungry but I hadn’t taken any seed with me. Here are a Long-tailed tit, a male Bullfinch, a Dunnock, a Robin and a Great tit.

171207 Forest farm birds (1)171207 Forest farm birds (2)171207 Forest farm birds (3)171207 Forest farm birds (4)171207 Forest farm birds (5)

The water of the canal was sheltered from the breeze and very still, making for some stunning reflections (thank you little Moorhen). And I was treated to excellent views of a female Kingfisher, who sat for at least 15 minutes on her branch. From the way her feathers were fluffed up and she was hunched over her ‘toes’, I figure she was feeling the cold as well.

171207 Forest farm birds (8)171207 Forest farm birds (7)

The Great spotted woodpecker was a treat, as were the Treecreepers – at least four of them, perhaps a family group, were actively scuttling up the branches in one small area by the canal. It was a grand day – my meeting went well and the birding was even better than expected!

171207 Forest farm birds (9)171207 Forest farm birds (6)

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One-two-one

11 Wednesday Oct 2017

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature

≈ Comments Off on One-two-one

Tags

birding, birdwatching, Forest Farm, Forest Farm Nature Reserve, house sparrow, sparrow

‘I once had a sparrow alight upon my shoulder for a moment, while I was hoeing in a village garden, and I felt that I was more distinguished by that circumstance than I should have been by any epaulet I could have worn.’ ~ Henry David Thoreau. I have not shared Thoreau’s privileged occurrence but I do enjoy watching and listening to sparrows, like these two juveniles seen recently at Forest Farm.

171011 House sparrows (1)171011 House sparrows (2)171011 House sparrows (3)171011 House sparrows (4)171011 House sparrows (5)

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sconzani

sconzani

I'm a writer and photographer; researcher and blogger; birder and nature lover; countryside rambler and city strider; volunteer and biodiversity recorder.

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