Birding at Rhossili and Mewslade

02 Monday Jul 2018

Posted by sconzani in birds, insects, nature, walks

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, Glamorgan Bird Club, Grayling, Great black-backed gull, Kestrel, Linnet, Rhossili, Small tortoiseshell, The Worm

Yesterday was my second visit to Rhossili with my friends from the Glamorgan Bird Club, though I still haven’t walked along this magnificent beach.

180702 1 Rhossili beach

Our group of 15 met in the National Trust car park at Rhossili, then slowly meandered along the cliff tops towards the point, birding as we walked.

180702 2 Heading towards the worm

I saw my first Choughs, Fulmars were spotted gliding majestically below us, and a Great black-backed gull flew in and landed on a headland.

As mentioned in yesterday’s post, here I also saw my first Grayling butterflies. The first, pictured here on a discarded Coke bottle, was spotted by eagle-eyed Tate, and the second by another birder, Rob.

At the point, we enjoyed superb views, and the last of the bright sunny weather, while eating our lunch. Then, despite the rain starting, 11 of our intrepid team headed across the causeway to The Worm, where their scrambling and climbing and drenching were rewarded with views of Guillemots, Razorbills, Puffins and Manx shearwaters.

180702 7 Crossing to The Worm

Three of us chose, instead, to do the circular walk around the headland, seeing lots of Linnets and Meadow pipits in the fields, a Kestrel hovering in search of prey, and two lovely fresh-looking Small tortoiseshell butterflies.

180702 8 Linnet

After some of the team returned from The Worm, four of us went for a brief visit to nearby Mewslade, a beautiful little valley that runs down to a sheltered cove. Here we had incredibly close views of a Lesser whitethroat feeding young, spotted two very yellow-faced Great tit fledglings in an area of burnt gorse, and watched more Choughs and another Kestrel flying through. It was yet another superb field trip with my bird club friends.

180702 11 Kestrel

Ely embankment revisited

15 Friday Jun 2018

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

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#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.

March on the Ely embankment

31 Saturday Mar 2018

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature, walks, wildflowers

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#BeastfromtheEast, Cardiff Bay, Colt's-foot, Ely embankment, Great Crested Grebe, Linnet, Pied wagtail, Redshank, River Ely, Rock pipit, snow in Penarth Marina, Turnstone

A month of superlatives!

180331 1 Ely embankment

4 March The coldest! My first visit of March was in the aftermath of ‘The Beast from the East’ and Storm Emma, a weather combination that brought Cardiff an unseasonal covering of snow, with deep drifts in places. As the east-facing embankment had been subject to the full assault of those storm systems, it was not surprising to see piles of the white stuff still blocking the road alongside Cardiff Bay, and there was a smattering on the embankment itself.

Though I wondered if the storm might have blown in some European strays or other unusual birds, I wasn’t really surprised to find that the very exposed embankment was almost bare of birds. A smattering of perhaps 10 Coots, a couple of Mallards and Mute swans, and two Pied wagtails were almost the only avian wildlife. Even the gulls were sparse.

9 March The contrast between today’s weather and last weekend’s was almost unbelievable: it was 12°C, the sun was shining and it felt positively Spring like. Maybe that’s why the birds were out in force, with five Redshanks – the most I’ve ever seen on the embankment at once, 3 Turnstones – two venturing well up the stones away from the water’s edge, 2 Grey wagtails and 1 Pied.

And just to prove that I don’t only look at the birds, I noticed the Red campion was already in flower and I was most surprised to see a large area of Colt’s-foot flowers. They must be tough to grow in such a stony bank.

14 March A bumper day along the embankment, in light drizzle, which almost put me off going out for a walk. I’m so glad I got off my chuff! There were 3 Redshank, 7 Turnstone, 2 Grey wagtails, 3 Pied wagtails, 1 Rock pipit, 4 Linnets, 1 Carrion crow, 4 Feral pigeon and, in the water adjacent, 8 Coots, 5 Great crested grebes, 1 Cormorant, 2 Mallards, and 6 Mute swans. The greatest variety!

20 March This was another day of cold winds, blowing directly across the bay and slamming into the embankment, so the few birds that were around were sheltering further up the river, and there weren’t many to be seen – a single Redshank looking very unhappy, perhaps still recovering from our second bout of snow this Spring, last weekend’s ‘Mini-beast from the East’, plus 3 Turnstones and 2 Grey wags.

180331 21 unhappy Redshank

24 March I was really heading across the Barrage in search of a Wheatear (more on that here) but figured I’d detour along the embankment path on my way, and I’m so glad I did as there were 10 Turnstones – a large number! – and a solitary Redshank bimbling along the shoreline.

180331 22 turnstones

28 March Fourteen (14!) Turnstones on the embankment during this day’s walk (the most I’ve ever seen on one visit), plus 2 Redshanks and a solitary Pied wagtail. What a way to end my monthly walks along this bay-side path!

180331 23 redshank

November on the Ely embankment

30 Thursday Nov 2017

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cardiff Bay, Coot, Ely embankment, Lesser black-backed gull, Linnet, long-tailed tit, Redshank, River Ely, Rock pipit, Turnstone

171130 9th Ely embankment

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.

171130 25th Long-tailed tit 171130 25th Flying coots

October on the Ely embankment

31 Tuesday Oct 2017

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

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cardiff Bay, Ely embankment, Great Crested Grebe, Linnet, little grebe, Pied wagtail, Redshank, River Ely, Rock pipit, Turnstone, Wheatear

At least once a week I take a turn along the embankment where the River Ely flows out into Cardiff Bay as it makes a nice circular walk from my home on the cliff-top above in Penarth. (It’s good exercise too, as what goes down there must walk back up!) I always record what I see – usually birds – so thought I would share my sightings in an end-of-monthly post.

A variety of birds make their home in this stretch of water, which they share with a yachting marina and associated water traffic coming and going. There are almost always Turnstones in varying quantities (from one to nine), Mallards, Mute swans, one or two Great Crested Grebes (including their progeny this year), a proliferation of Coots, the occasional Cormorant fishing, usually a couple of Grey wagtails and a couple of Pieds. Gulls fly overhead and there are plenty of hirundines, in the season.

2 October: A Wheatear, an unusual visitor, almost certainly on a migration stopover, was dotting about on the embankment stones; a Pied wagtail was doing its morning stretches, and a Rock pipit was browsing for titbits.

171031f Little grebe

16 October: This was the day before ex-hurricane Ophelia made her presence felt, the day of the jaundiced yellow sky and the rusty red sun, which you can see reflected in my photo of the four Little grebes that were sheltering from the incoming weather. A juvenile Grey wagtail was dotting along the embankment, calling incessantly for its parent; and a Great crested grebe was enjoying a very successful fishing session, coming up with fish in two successive dives.

171031h Linnet

22 October: The day after Storm Brian I walked the embankment to see if any unusual birds had been blown in. The usual suspects were present, except that, most unusually, there wasn’t a single Turnstone. A solitary Linnet flitted back and forth from pavement to stones, and three rather exhausted-looking Redshanks dozed warily along the water line. One of these was colour-ringed and might possibly be the bird I saw back in March but I couldn’t see its rings well enough to be sure.

171031i Redshank

Bay birds

21 Monday Aug 2017

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cardiff Bay, Cardiff Bay wetlands, Great Crested Grebe, House martin, Linnet, Moorhen, Pied wagtail, swan, Turnstone

I had a super walk around Cardiff Bay yesterday …

170821a Linnets

A family of four Linnets were feeding on the Ely embankment. The seeds of Herb Robert seemed to be their food of choice.

170821b Linnets

This is one of six Turnstones foraging along the shoreline. I love their breeding plumage, which is now just beginning to change back to their less colourful winter plumage.

170821c Turnstone

These House martin chicks were poking their heads out of a nest on a house at the end of Penarth Marina.

170821d House martins

A close-up of one of a family of six immature Swans by the Barrage.

170821e Swan

And a little further long, this juvenile Pied wagtail was slipping and sliding along the wires at the shoreline.

170821f Pied wagtail

At Cardiff Bay wetlands, I followed a flock of tits and friends, and snapped this lovely bird. It might be a warbler or it might be a Chiffchaff – I couldn’t be sure as I didn’t hear its song and it wouldn’t show me its legs!

170821g Warbler or Chiffchaff

This young Moorhen was sticking close to the reeds while its parent was engaged in nest reconstruction, which seems just a little late in the year.

170821h Moorhen

And back over the other side of the Bay, by Ferry Court, this is one of three immature Great crested grebes that were swimming around amongst the Coots, Tufted ducks and Swans.

170821i Great crested grebe