25 Thursday Apr 2019
Posted in 365DaysWildin2019, birds, nature
The Lesser black-backed gulls mostly disappear during the winter months – I’m not sure where they go – but, come the Spring, they return, and they’re very good at making their presence felt. They often wake me very early in the morning, sometimes by jumping about on my roof, other times with their screeching calls. I’m hoping you can imagine the noise by looking at this series of photos.
12 Friday Apr 2019
Tags
birding, birdwatching, British birds, colour-ringed gull, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, Flat Holm Island, Larus fuscus, Lesser black-backed gull, movements of gulls
I have been out wandering today but, rather than sharing some photos from that, I want, instead, to share this information I’ve received about a ringed bird I reported. The bird is a Lesser black-backed gull (Larus fuscus), which I spotted at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park on 1 April and reported through the European Colour-ring Birding website.
It’s a common enough bird, of course, and, as you can see from the list of sightings below, it seems to spend most of its time flying back and forth between Flat Holm Island and Cosmeston, except in November 2017, when it obviously fancied some time in warmer climes. I can’t help but wonder whether that was a one-off trip or whether it just hasn’t been spotted and reported on its other European sojourns.
08/07/12 FLAT HOLM ISLAND, Cardiff
02/09/12 Cosmeston Park, Cardiff (23 km, NNW, 56 days)
13/10/12 Cosmeston Park, Cardiff (23 km, NNW, 97 days)
12/06/14 Cosmeston Park, Cardiff (23 km, NNW, 1 yr 339days)
24/08/14 Cosmeston Park, Cardiff (23 km, NNW, 2 yrs 47days)
14/09/14 Cosmeston Park, Cardiff (23 km, NNW, 2 yrs 68days)
14/09/14 Cosmeston Park, Cardiff (23 km, NNW, 2 yrs 68days)
26/07/15 Cosmeston Park, Cardiff (23 km, NNW, 3 yrs 18days)
06/09/15 Cosmeston Park, Cardiff (23 km, NNW, 3 yrs 60days)
03/04/16 FLAT HOLM ISLAND, Cardiff (3 yrs 270days)
24/04/16 Cosmeston Park, Cardiff (23 km, NNW, 3 yrs 291days)
29/04/16 Cosmeston Park, Cardiff (23 km, NNW, 3 yrs 296days)
04/05/16 Cosmeston Park, Cardiff (23 km, NNW, 3 yrs 301days)
02/07/16 Cosmeston Park, Cardiff (23 km, NNW, 3 yrs 360days)
21/08/16 Cosmeston Park, Cardiff (23 km, NNW, 4 yrs 44days)
13/05/17 FLAT HOLM ISLAND, Cardiff (4 yrs 309days)
14/05/17 Cosmeston Park, Cardiff (23 km, NNW, 4 yrs 310days)
04/11/17 Costa da Caparica, Setúbal, Portugal (1493 km, SSW, 5 yrs)
07/07/18 FLAT HOLM ISLAND, Cardiff (5 yrs 364days)
01/04/19 Cosmeston Park, Cardiff (23 km, NNW, 6 yrs 267days)
27 Wednesday Jun 2018
Tags
#30DaysWild, 30 Days Wild, birding, birdwatching, Cosmeston, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, ducklings, Grey heron, gull chicks, gull nesting on urban rooftop, heronsew, Lesser black-backed gull, Mallard, young heron
The blue-sky heat was relieved ever so slightly on day 27 of #30DaysWild by a nice breeze, so I strolled along to Cosmeston Lakes Country Park for a mooch around. I had a lovely time, though after a couple of hours chasing butterflies in the glaring heat, I felt rather envious of the water birds enjoying the cooling water of the lakes.
This young Grey heron – apparently called a heronsew, from the French heronceau – has not yet learnt to fear humans and was very close to the boardwalk by the cafe.
As I was watching it, Mum Mallard brought her brood of five well-grown ducklings out for a swim. They looked a bit like gawky teenagers and have already been taught to approach humans in the hope of some food.
Then, on the walk home, I spotted a bundle of fluff moving around on a rooftop. By the time I got the camera out, it had sat back down with its sibling and, though I was on the other side of the street, mother (or father) Lesser black-backed gull flew past screeching at me, before landing on the chimney to keep an eye on its chicks. I’ve heard of these gulls nesting on factories and taller buildings but not on a house in an urban area.
30 Thursday Nov 2017
Tags
birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cardiff Bay, Coot, Ely embankment, Lesser black-backed gull, Linnet, long-tailed tit, Redshank, River Ely, Rock pipit, Turnstone
The 9th of November was a ‘5 Turnstone, 2 Rock pipit, 1 Grey wagtail’ kind of day at Cardiff Bay, with a cool wind blowing through huge banks of clouds and the odd rain shower. That didn’t deter the birds browsing along the embankment edge though.
On the 15th, a beautifully marked Song thrush was feasting on berries in the small front garden of one of the apartments that sits on the edge of the embankment (see Berries and Birds a few days ago), and, as well as 2 Rock pipits and 6 Turnstones, there were 3 Redshank grazing along the water’s edge – a nice treat. Also, a Lesser black-backed gull was looking exceedingly pleased with itself for finding a huge dead fish and vociferously defending its prize with loud screeching.
On the 17th – a ‘3 turnstone’ day – the star of the show was a lovely little Linnet. I’d seen a family party of parents and two fledglings grazing amongst the rocks here back in August so perhaps this bird was one of those.
My last November wander by the Ely was on the 25th, when 3 Turnstones, 2 Linnets (nice to see them again), 2 Pied and 2 Grey wagtails, and 1 Redshank were joined by a Dunnock and a small flock of Long-tailed tits passing through the shrubs edging the walkway. Also, something freaked out a group of Coots and, rather than ‘run’ rapidly across the top of the water as they usually do, they actually flew. I’d never seen coots fly before.
16 Thursday Nov 2017
Herb: “Don’t look now but there’s a human over there with one of those black pointy thingies covering one eye, looking in our direction.”
Alby: “Do you think it’s going to hurt us, Herb? What should we do?”
Herb: “Those things don’t usually hurt. Maybe if we just keep perfectly still, it’ll go away.”
Alby: “I think it’s still there. Can you take a look, Herb?”
Herb: “Yep, still there. It’s making a clicking noise.”
Alby: “What should we do?”
Herb: “Let’s do something really weird. That might scare it off.”
earthstar 
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