17 Monday Oct 2022
Posted in birds
Three Little egrets standing on a wall
Three Little egrets standing on a wall
And if one Little egret should suddenly fly away
There’d be two Little egrets – that would still make my day!
Apologies for the poor rhyme. I still find it amazing to see such exotic-looking birds in a local Welsh setting but their numbers are certainly increasing. These were on the banks of Llanishen Reservoir in north Cardiff last Thursday.
16 Thursday Sep 2021
I don’t walk around Cardiff Bay often during the summer months as I dislike the crowds and the clutter of event equipment, choke on the smell of the herbicides the Council uses to kill off the real wildflowers to create artificial ‘wildflower meadows’, and fear for the safety of the birds when blasted by jetboating thrill seekers. Fortunately, the coming of the cooler weather brings some relief from much of that human activity and so I begin again to explore the Bay.
And, on my very first walk along the Barrage in some time, I got lucky: a Little egret was standing in amongst the crowd of gulls on one of the floating platforms by the locks. At one point the gulls chased off the intruder but, after a short circuit of the Barrage, it and they returned to the platforms. Little egrets are relatively common birds in Britain now but are not seen often in Cardiff Bay, so this was a very welcome 2021 patch tick for me.
01 Tuesday Oct 2019
Tags
birding, birdwatching, British birds, Great white egret, Grey heron, Little egret, RSPB Lodmoor, RSPB Radipole
On the way to Portland last Friday our birding group stopped off at the RSPB’s Lodmoor Nature Reserve on the outskirts of Weymouth. It’s a wonderful environment for birds, with small lakes and large reedbeds, open saltmarshes and hedge-enclosed pathways, and it always turns up a good variety of birds.
Now, I’ve only been in Britain four years so I don’t remember the ‘old days’ when twitchers would race across the country to see a Little egret or a Great white egret, but even I can see how much these birds have increased in number in a very short time.
At Lodmoor, there were several Little egrets (above) – I didn’t count the ones I did see, and I’m sure there were several lurking amongst the reeds that I couldn’t see and, amazingly, there were six (!) Great white egrets (below), for a time all congregated in one spot. Now, that was a sight to see.
I was also impressed by the large numbers of Grey herons, especially those at nearby RSPB Radipole, all lined up along the edge of the reeds, sheltering from the strong westerly winds.
22 Wednesday May 2019
Posted in 365DaysWildin2019, birds, insects, nature, trees
Tags
#365DaysWild, Glamorgan Bird Club, Grey heron, Little egret, Magor Marsh, Mistletoe, Sedge warbler
It was a cracking blue-sky day for our Glamorgan Bird Club trip to the Gwent Wildlife Trust’s Magor Marsh Reserve today, and what a fabulous place it is! A natural area of fenland, divided by the lush waterways of ancient reens, home to large areas of reed bed and magnificent wildflower meadows, interspersed with small wooded areas.
The bird list today was not extensive but I think it was the first time any of us had seen Little egrets nesting in Britain, and one of those was easy to see from the bird hide, and it was sharing its tree with a nesting Grey heron.
Plus the reserve was alive with Redgies – Reed and Sedge warblers – and you know how much I love those little birds. One Sedgie even hopped out for a few photos.
And, because Bird Club outings are about more than just birds, when the bird life was a bit sparse we simply turned our attention to all the other interesting flora and fauna that surrounded us.
Like a tree adorned with huge bundles of Mistletoe, and another, probably a Blackthorn, with what looked like galls affecting its fruit.
And all the damselflies and beetles, bees and butterflies (though not as many butterflies as I was hoping for – I’m blaming the coolish wind). All in all, it was a pleasure to explore this lovely reserve and another most excellent field trip.
16 Thursday May 2019
Little, Great white and Cattle egrets all made it on to our birding lists during our Kent adventure. We had just one Great white, at RSPB Dungeness, and four Cattle egrets, also at Dungeness.
The Little egrets were much more common and widespread, with birds being seen at Oare Marshes, Restharrow Scrape near Sandwich, Rye Harbour in East Sussex, Pegwell Bay and Cliffe Pools.
04 Monday Feb 2019
Posted in 365DaysWildin2019, birds, nature, seaside, winter
After the rain and low cloud cleared late morning, I headed to the seaside for the afternoon, to Barry, a short train ride west along the south Wales coast. Despite the chilly wind blowing in off the sea, the day was glorious and I walked around the Knap, the Old Harbour, the beach at Barry Island and then along the old docks to catch the train home. The tide was out so it was a good time to check the now-silted-up Old Harbour for birds and I was delighted to spot this Little egret puddling about in one of the channels, trying to stir up something for its lunch. Such an elegant bird.
14 Monday Jan 2019
Tags
birding, birtdwatching, Brent geese, British birds, Curlew, Dunlin, Glamorgan Bird Club, horses, Little egret, Llanrhidian Marsh, Oystercatchers, saltmarsh, Shelduck, Whiteford Point
Yesterday was our first Glamorgan Bird Club field trip for 2019, and what a magnificent day it was!
I hadn’t been to this part of the Gower peninsula before – our walk was through the National Trust property at Whiteford Point – and the scenery, like that all over the Gower, was stunning.
With forestry, saltmarsh and coast line, the environment is very diverse, which means there’s a wonderful variety of flora and fauna to be seen, not just birds – though the bird life certainly didn’t disappoint. And there were many handsome ponies nibbling on the saltmarsh.
As well as most of the smaller, more common birds – blackbirds, robins, singing Song thrushes, calling Bullfinches, a big mixed flock of Chaffinches, Linnets and Reed buntings – we also disturbed both Common snipe and Jack snipe that were lurking in the reed beds next to the path. The Jack snipe was a lifer for me, though views were brief as the birds shot up suddenly and unexpectedly, flew a short way, then disappeared back into the reeds.
Once we reached the beach, we saw a wide range of waders and sea birds. Here a flock of Dunlin flies past Brent geese grazing along the shoreline.
More skittish Dunlin flying along the shore, this time above the heads of feeding Shelducks.
It was wonderful to see such good numbers of Curlew, here with even larger numbers of the ubiquitous Oystercatchers. We also enjoyed sightings of some less common birds – a Great northern diver quite close to the shore; a Slavonian grebe further off and diving frequently so not easy to keep track of; a Red-breasted merganser a distant speck through the ’scopes.
My favourites were undoubtedly the Eider ducks. I fell in love with them when I first heard their call on our birding trip to Northumberland last year.
Eventually, we made the long trek back to the cars and moved on to nearby Llanrhidian Marsh, to await the dusk, hopeful of harriers and perhaps an owl or two. More ponies were running free on the marsh – they looked unloved and uncared for, their manes very long and tatty, but, as we waited, a man arrived and fed them some meal from a bucket. They were very handsome and quite inquisitive.
The marsh seemed alive with Little egrets, and we had good sightings of several Great whites – another year first for me. Some of our group saw a Hen harrier, and a couple of Red kites came in gliding low, hunting for their supper, but no owls appeared and the harrier did not return.
Still, as the sun went down, we were treated to this stunning sunset, and we returned home tired but happy after a most excellent day’s birding in a superb setting.
Here’s my trip list: Blackbird, Black-headed Gull, Black-tailed Godwit, Blue Tit, Brent Goose, Bullfinch, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Collared Dove, Buzzard, Eider, Redshank, Snipe, Cormorant, Dunlin, Dunnock, Curlew, Teal, Wigeon, Golden Plover, Stonechat, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Great Black-backed Gull, Great Crested Grebe, Great White Egret, Great Northern Diver, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit, Green Woodpecker, Greenshank, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jack Snipe, Jackdaw, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Linnet, Little Egret, Long-tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Lapwing, Pintail, Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Raven, Red Kite, Red-breasted Merganser, Reed Bunting, Robin, Sanderling, Shelduck, Slavonian Grebe, Song Thrush, Starling, Treecreeper, Woodpigeon, Wren.
My birding friend and I saw Greenshank at Penclawdd when we stopped for a quick scan on the way to Whiteford Point so my total for the day was 61 and, as other birders saw a few birds I didn’t, the club’s total was 70. Those extras were, most notably, that Hen harrier but also Common gull, Green sandpiper, Jay, Merlin, Redwing, Rook, Stock dove and Turnstone.
02 Friday Nov 2018
Tags
birding, birdwatching, British birds, Green sandpiper, Little egret, RSPB Arne, RSPB Lytchett Fields, Spoonbill, trip list
Sunday at Portland Obs dawned cold and windy – again – so, at around 9am, we set off on a meandering route back to south Wales. First stop was a reserve new to all of us, RSPB Lytchett Fields. In fact, it’s just plain new, having only been open to the public since 2013. Sitting on the northern edge of Poole Harbour, the fields contain a series of large and small pools, reed beds, wet grassland and sacrificial crops that are ideal for waders and over-wintering finches.
Teal seemed to be the dominant species during our visit but we also saw two Green sandpipers, Dunlins, Redshanks, Black-tailed godwits and a Common gull, as well as both Peregrine and Sparrowhawk out hunting. This reserve will only get better and is well worth a visit.
From Lytchett Fields, it was a short drive to RSPB Arne, an enormous area of woodland and scrub on the western shores of Poole Harbour. Thanks to our knowledgeable team, at Arne I learnt to spot the difference between the holes made in trees by Great spotted and Lesser spotted woodpeckers – not surprisingly, the Great spotted’s hole (on the left) is, well, greater and the Lesser spotted’s (on the right) is smaller – but seeing them side by side was a really useful comparison.
Our target species at Arne was the Dartford warbler but we couldn’t find the little blighters anywhere. However, the flock of 42 Spoonbills more than made up for them, and we also spotted Brent geese, Avocets, Wigeon, Curlew, lots of Little egrets, and one Grey plover, amongst other things (be sure to check tomorrow’s blog post for those).
By mid afternoon we were back at the car park, a little footsore and weary, ready to start making our way homeward. Thanks to Alan, our organiser and team leader, and our wonderful group of birders/friends, and, of course, to all the fabulous birds we saw, it had been yet another excellent Glamorgan Bird Club trip – I do love them!
Here’s my list for the full 3 days, a total of 83 species: Mute Swan, Canada Goose, Brent Goose, Shelduck, Wigeon, Teal, Mallard, Pochard, Tufted Duck, Pheasant, Little Grebe, Spoonbill, Grey Heron, Little Egret, Gannet, Cormorant, Marsh Harrier, Sparrowhawk, Common Buzzard, Kestrel, Peregrine, Moorhen, Coot, Oystercatcher, Avocet, Ringed Plover, Golden Plover, Grey Plover, Lapwing, Knot, Dunlin, Ruff, Common Snipe, Black-tailed Godwit, Curlew, Green Sandpiper, Greenshank, Lesser Yellowlegs, Common Redshank, Black-headed Gull, Mediterranean Gull, Common Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Herring Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Turnstone, Feral Pigeon, Stock Dove, Woodpigeon, Collared Dove, Short-eared Owl, Magpie, Jay, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Skylark, Cetti’s Warbler, Long-tailed Tit, Common Chiffchaff, Goldcrest, Wren, Nuthatch, Starling, Blackbird , Fieldfare, Song Thrush, Redwing, Robin, Stonechat, Dunnock, House Sparrow, Pied Wagtail, Meadow Pipit, Rock Pipit, Chaffinch, Brambling, Goldfinch, Linnet, Bullfinch, Corn Bunting, and, on the way home but still east of the M5, a Grey partridge flew up in front of the car.
The team total was 99, as the following birds were also seen or heard by members of our group: Pintail, Common Scoter, Water Rail, Great Crested Grebe, Shag, Bar-tailed Godwit, Sandwich Tern, Little Owl, Green Woodpecker, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Swallow, Rook, Raven, Coal Tit, Blackcap and Treecreeper.
31 Wednesday Oct 2018
Tags
birding, birdwatching, Black-tailed godwit, British birds, Greenshank, Lapwing, Lesser yellowlegs, Little egret, Lodmoor, RSPB Lodmoor, Ruff, Snipe, Teal
Oh to have somewhere like RSPB Lodmoor as my local birding patch! Its 76 hectares of wetlands and grasslands, saltmarsh and reed beds are home to a huge variety of birds and often attract passing rarities, plus it’s a lovely place to walk and all within a mile of Weymouth town centre.
This was our second stop on the way to Portland last Friday. Our target bird was the Lesser yellowlegs – amazingly, a Lesser yellowlegs was also at Lodmoor when we went to Portland in 2017 – but there were many other lovely birds to be seen, and, as I was able to get reasonably good photos, some of these birds will be getting their own blog posts in the coming days. So, here are some tasters of what you can expect to see at this outstanding reserve.
Most of my photos of the Black-tailed godwits are like this first one – heads down, bottoms up – but I did manage to get some head shots.
Just a few years ago Little egrets would have been a rare sight in Britain but not any more. They’re now well settled, breeding and frequently seen.
I love the colours in the Lapwings’ plumage. They look plain black and white from a distance but are, in fact, adorned in rich sumptuous greens. Such elegant birds.
We saw several Snipe poking about in the mud for food.
After the Canada geese, probably the second most abundant species of bird we saw was Teal, many of which were sheltering from the freezing wind behind clumps of reeds. If you look carefully, you can just see a Ruff in the centre near the reeds.
The star of the Lodmoor show, the Lesser yellowlegs, seen here behind a Black-tailed godwit and to the left of 2 lovely Greenshanks. All three of these birds will be getting their own blog posts.
18 Tuesday Sep 2018
Tags
birding, Birding at Goldcliff, birdwatching, British birds, Curlew, Curlew sandpiper, Goldcliff lagoons, Hobby, Little egret, Pied wagtail, Yellow wagtail
On my way to Goldcliff, I told Tim and Alan, our leader for the day, that I wanted to see a Curlew sandpiper, a Little stint, a Hobby and a Marsh harrier, as they would all be year ticks for me to add to my 2018 birding list. Amazingly, I saw three of those four – only the Marsh harrier failed to appear – and I still managed to add four new birds to my list as we also had a fly-over of four Pintails.
Our small but enthusiastic group of eight started the day at Goldcliff, where the lagoon water levels are still very low after summer’s drought conditions – in fact, the fresh water pool is just a sea of cracked mud, awaiting some decent rainfall to refill it. It was a couple of hours before high tide and the birding started very slowly as small flocks of waders began to fly in from feeding out in the channel.
A Curlew probed the mud for small molluscs, and one of several Little egrets flitted from place to place.
Then the cattle started heading our way, shepherding along with them a veritable herd of Yellow and Pied wagtails.
How entertaining these little birds are as they flit lightly up and down, snapping up the insects stirred up by the cows’ feet.
The wagtails seem incredibly brave as they strut between the cattle’s relatively enormous legs and dice with death within an inch of a cow’s be-whiskered face, yet the cattle ignore them, probably happy to have their very own and very active insect catchers.
The high tide was crashing against the sea wall when we eventually made our way to the furthest hide and we sheltered there, checking out Wheatears, water birds and waders, while a couple of heavy rain showers blew through. By that time, more and more flocks were landing in the pool in front of the first hide so back we stomped to turn the ’scopes and bins on those birds.
Almost as soon as we returned, a friendly local birder put us on to some of the more special birds, and they were my year ticks, the Curlew sandpipers, the Little stint and that stunning bird of the prey, the Hobby.
No sooner had I said I’d like to see the Hobby fly that up in to the air it went, flew a swift circuit of the pool and landed back near where it had started. Magical!
Eventually, we left Goldcliff’s lovely lagoons and headed along the road to the RSPB’s Newport Wetlands reserve at Uskmouth. After a welcome drink, we had a wander down to the lighthouse at the sea wall, adding a few more birds to our day’s tally as we went. One of our Tims (we had two Tims on this trip) was very lucky to see a Bearded tit in flight and our other Tim spotted a couple of Porpoises just off the coast, which was a delightful way to round off a most excellent day.
My total list for the day was 59 species: Mute Swan, Canada Goose, Shelduck, Eurasian Wigeon, Gadwall, Eurasian Teal, Mallard, Northern Pintail, Little Grebe, Grey Heron, Little Egret, Cormorant, Sparrowhawk, Kestrel, Hobby, Moorhen, Coot, Oystercatcher, Ringed Plover, European Golden Plover, Northern Lapwing, Little Stint, Curlew Sandpiper, Dunlin, Eurasian Curlew, Greenshank, Black-headed Gull, Mediterranean Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Herring Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Feral Pigeon, Woodpigeon, Collared Dove, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Magpie, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Raven, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Swallow, House Martin, Long-tailed Tit, Common Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Starling, Robin, Northern Wheatear, House Sparrow, Yellow Wagtail, Pied Wagtail, Meadow Pipit, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Linnet, Reed Bunting, and Wren. And there were 3 species I didn’t spot (Stock Dove, Sand Martin, Skylark) so the trip list was a whopping 62 for the day.
earthstar 
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