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Tag Archives: Gadwall

Ms Gadwall finds a friend

15 Saturday Oct 2022

Posted by sconzani in birds

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, Gadwall

Do you remember my piece back in July about The Gadwall that thinks she’s a Mallard? Well, she’s back – or perhaps she’s been lingering unnoticed in the more sheltered spots around Cardiff Bay – and, though I still think she thinks she’s a Mallard, she now has a male Gadwall friend who’s trying to convince her otherwise.

221015 gadwalls (1)

Personally, I hope he succeeds, not from any notion that a pairing would somehow be romantic but rather because in the area where they are now several birds (and a large fish) have been found dead in recent weeks. This might be due to avian flu (it has been reported to the appropriate authorities) or it could be the poor water quality, but it would certainly be better for all the local ducks if they moved elsewhere.

221015 gadwalls (2)

The only positive thing about their location, in the old canals of Cardiff’s Atlantic Wharf area, is that you can get very close views. And so I couldn’t resist a visit, partly to say hello to Ms Gadwall again but also to get some good photographs of the drake.

221015 gadwalls (3)

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The Gadwall that thinks she’s a Mallard

28 Thursday Jul 2022

Posted by sconzani in birds

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cardiff Bay birding, Cardiff Bay Wetlands Reserve, comparison between Gadwall and Mallard, Gadwall, Mallard

It’s quite unusual for Gadwall to spend time at Cardiff Bay Wetlands Reserve and for them to be so confiding and so consistently in the company of Mallards rather than their own kind, so this little beauty may well be the same bird that visited the reserve back in March 2021.

220728 gadwall

Yesterday, she was puddling about right next to the boardwalk, which gave me the perfect opportunity to take some comparison shots with a female Mallard: Gadwall images on the left, Mallard on the right. Female ducks can be tricky to tell apart but you can see here that the differences in their body shapes are quite distinctive.

220728 gadwall mallard

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Gadwall up close

25 Thursday Mar 2021

Posted by sconzani in birds

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cardiff Bay birding, Cardiff Bay Wetland Reserve, Gadwall

As well as the Wheatear I wrote about yesterday, Monday’s walk around Cardiff Bay also turned up another treat, this time at the wetlands reserve.

210325 gadwall (1)

Gadwall can be quite shy birds, and I’ve certainly never seen one as close as this beautiful female, who was mixing quite happily with the Mallards by the boardwalk. Apparently, she had even been coming to feed on the bread some people had thrown in the water.

210325 gadwall (2)

Several other people were on the boardwalk, waiting in anticipation of seeing one of the Water rails that have been quite showy in recent days, but ignoring this stunning duck right under their noses.

210325 gadwall (3)

Not me – I took a ton of photos of her, many of which turned out a bit blurry because she was almost too close for my long lens. And that’s not something that happens very often in the world of bird photography!

210325 gadwall (4)

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20/365 Gadding about

20 Sunday Jan 2019

Posted by sconzani in 365DaysWildin2019, birds, nature

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, Gadwall, Gadwalls mating, Spring is in the air

While I was feeling glad of my hat, scarf, gloves and woolly jumpers today, Mr and Mrs Gadwall were clearly thinking that Spring was in the air.

190120 gadding about

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March at Cosmeston

29 Thursday Mar 2018

Posted by sconzani in birds, flowers, nature, reptiles, spring, wildflowers

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, Chiffchaff, Common frog, Cosmeston, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, Gadwall, Great Crested Grebe, Hawfinch, Meadow pipit, primrose, Reed buntin, Sand martin, Scaup, treecreeper

11 March  This visit to Cosmeston started with me being yaffled at by a Green woodpecker – I always think they’re jeering at me, trying to lure me into stalking them for that ever-elusive close-up. I resisted and walked on, then paused to watch a Magpie trying to carry off a very large twig / small branch, proof that nest-building has begun.

180329 1 primroses

Masses of pale Primroses were flowering prettily along the western boundary path, and the lake was overflowing the boardwalk at the west end due to recent heavy rain.

180329 2 drake Scaup

I paused near there, as I always do, to look at the gulls and finally, FINALLY, spotted the drake Scaup that’s been visiting the Cosmeston lakes on and off in recent weeks, this time in company with a female Tufted duck, which could be why some interesting hybrids are occasionally sighted locally.

180329 3 Treecreeper
180329 4 Gadwall & Tufted ducks

I walked up Mile Road and then off the main track to where the bird hide used to be (it was burnt down by vandals last year and has not been rebuilt), and spotted a Treecreeper hopping up a nearby tree, then turned to see a group of five Gadwall on the east lake, much closer in than usual.

180329 5 Great crested grebes

I watched them a while then was charmed to also watch a pair of Great crested grebes displaying – more on those here. I wandered on, up Mile Road to the top end where I head back in to suburbia, and was farewelled by a large flock of perhaps fifty Fieldfare and Redwing that flew up from the area of Old Cogan Farm and landed in the trees above me.

180329 6 Scaup
180329 7 Common frog

16 March  I only walked through Cosmeston as part of a longer walk from Sully to Penarth, so I didn’t linger long but I did manage to get closer views and better photos of the Scaup, as it was sitting right off the boardwalk and ‘swan feeding area’ near the cafe. And I also detoured past the dipping pond to check out the Common frog eruption – see more on the frogs here.

180329 8 Meadow pipits
180329 9 Meadow pipits

19 March  I stomped off to Cossie with snow still on the ground (but steadily melting) after the ‘Mini-beast from the east’, the second instalment of cold weather to blast us this month. The most notable wildlife effect was in the large numbers of Meadow pipits to be seen, sometimes in singles, at one point a flock of at least 20 grazing together.

180329 10 Chiffchaff

It was also a day of confusing birds: there was a female Blackbird with a pale bib, making me think she might be a Ring ouzel, and two Chiffchaffs pretending to be Reed warblers, presumably because there were more insects to be had close to the water – behaviour also seen at another site in south Wales that day.

180329 11 Sand martin

And, another sign of spring, I saw my first Sand martins of the year, three of them, hawking back and forth on the east lake.

180329 12 Reed bunting

23 March  Once again, this was a walk through rather than around Cosmeston, as I was doing the same walk as a week ago, from Sully back home. As I had recently stocked up on bird seed, I was sprinkling small amounts here and there as I strolled, and was delighted to see three male Reed buntings come down for a snack in one spot – such handsome birds. The other highlight was the Chiffchaffs, at least six crisscrossing the lane between the two lakes, flycatching the multitude of little gnatty things flying about on this sunny day.

180329 13 hawfinch

29 March  Well, I wasn’t intending to make another visit to Cossie this month but then one of my birding friends spotted a Hawfinch there on the 27th and I couldn’t let that pass without at least having a look for it. (For non-birders, Hawfinches are usually difficult to find, though they have been having a good winter this year.) So, trying, somewhat unsuccessfully, to dodge heavy rain showers, I headed over to Cosmeston early this morning. I knew the approximate location to look but it certainly wasn’t easy spotting anything in the dense trees. Luckily, I had listened to the bird’s call on the RSPB website before I set off and that’s how I found it … by listening very very carefully and then following that sound. The bird was very high in a tree and almost obscured by intervening branches (my photo is a heavy crop) … but I was very chuffed to find it!

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January at Cosmeston

01 Thursday Feb 2018

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature, parks

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

birding, birdwatching, blackbird, British birds, chaffinch, coal tit, Common Gull, Cosmeston, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, Gadwall, Great tit, long-tailed tit, Marsh tit, nuthatch, Pochard, Reed bunting, robin, shoveler

180201 1 Long-tailed tits & Blackbird

7 January Gale-force winds were blasting across the exposed areas around the lake today but, with blue skies overhead, the park was full of people out walking, despite the chill. The wee birds were hungry and I was greeted with much happy peeping wherever I scattered seed and virtually mobbed at the dragon tree in Cogan Woods, by Great, Blue, Coal and Long-tailed tits, Dunnocks and Robins, Chaffinches and Nuthatches, Blackbirds and a Reed bunting were all happy to accept any tasty little morsels.

180201 2 Reed bunting
180201 3 Chaffinch
180201 4 Nuthatch
180201 5 Great tit
180201 6 Robin
180201 7 Coal tit

On the lakes the birds were mostly hunkered down, as it was too windy for flying. Teal, Gadwall, Pochard and a Shoveler were some of the highlights.

180201 8 Shoveler
180201 9 Gadwall & Pochard

17 January After much scrutinising of the huge numbers of gulls that you nearly always find at Cosmeston, I spotted my first Common gull of the year.

180201 10 Common gull

23 January A regular Cosmeston-going birding friend had reported an adult Yellow-legged gull the previous day and I fancied a good walk so I headed to Cossie for a look. These was no sign of the gull but I was delighted to see one of the Marsh tits that frequents a particular spot in Cogan Woods, and it became bird number 67 on this year’s list, before I strode quickly home in pouring rain (yep, drenched!).

180201 11 Marsh tit

I’ve been to Cosmeston a couple more times this month but those outings were more about braving the rain  to satisfy my cravings for fresh air and exercise than nature-watching, particularly as it’s been too wet to have camera and binoculars out and about. Let’s hope February is a bit drier.

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Gadding about

17 Tuesday Oct 2017

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature

≈ 1 Comment

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Anas strepera, birding, birdwatching, British birds, dabbling duck, duck, Gadwall, Glamorgan Bird Club, Lodmoor, RSPB Lodmoor

Here’s another beauty from last weekend’s wonderful birding trip with the Glamorgan Bird Club. Though this bird is not the rarity of yesterday’s Rustic bunting, it’s not terribly common either, and is ‘Amber listed’, meaning its population has declined in recent years and its situation is being monitored.

171017 Gadwall (1)

This is a male Gadwall (Anas strepera), a very handsome dabbling duck, a little smaller than a Mallard. Sitting on one of the ponds at the RSPB’s Lodmoor Reserve near Weymouth in Dorset, he was looking a little sleepy. Perhaps that’s why he wasn’t bothered about us looking at him, as he actually approached quite near – a bonus for me trying to get reasonable photos. We didn’t hear a peep out of him but, apparently, it’s their chattering call that originally gave the Gadwalls their imitative name.

171017 Gadwall (2)
171017 Gadwall (3)
171017 Gadwall (4)
171017 Gadwall (5)

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Two go cuckoo at Camber

25 Thursday May 2017

Posted by sconzani in birds, coastal fauna, nature, walks

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

birding, birdwatching, Black-headed gull, Common tern, Gadwall, Lapwing, Marsh harrier, Oystercatchers, Ringed plover, Rye Harbour Nature Reserve, sheep, Shelduck, Skylark, Sussex Wildlife Trust guided walk

I celebrated my birthday, with my friend Jill, with a quick morning romp around the bird hides at Rye Harbour Nature Reserve, followed by an afternoon Sussex Wildlife Trust guided walk around the inland part of the reserve, including a peek inside the normally locked Camber Castle. And what a superb day it was!

170524 Rye Harbour fauna (10)

I’ve already blogged about one of the highlights, the gorgeous Avocets and their chicks; another was hearing, and catching a fleeting glimpse of my very first Cuckoo. Here are a few more (not so crisp) photos of the wonderful (but mostly distant) wildlife we saw: Common terns, Skylark, Oystercatchers and Dunlin, Black-headed gull, Ringed plover, Gadwall and Shelduck, Lapwing and a Pied wagtail, Marsh harrier, and a number 72; plus, not pictured, Redshank, Coot, Cormorant, Tufted duck, Mallard, Little ringed plover, Grey heron, Kestrel and Whitethroat, as well as the more common birds. A birthday to remember!

170524 Rye Harbour fauna (1)
170524 Rye Harbour fauna (2)
170524 Rye Harbour fauna (3)
170524 Rye Harbour fauna (4)
170524 Rye Harbour fauna (5)
170524 Rye Harbour fauna (6)
170524 Rye Harbour fauna (7)
170524 Rye Harbour fauna (8)
170524 Rye Harbour fauna (9)

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About me

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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