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Tag Archives: Meadow pipit

Grazing

18 Monday Jan 2021

Posted by sconzani in birds, winter

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Tags

birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cardiff Bay birds, Cardiff Bay Wetland Reserve, Meadow pipit, Pied wagtail, Stonechat

Cardiff Bay Wetland Reserve is not just about wetlands; there’s also a large swathe of grass where, during spring and summer, Bee orchids thrive (when the council operatives don’t cut them!) and where wildflowers bloom in abundance (ditto!). At the moment many hungry small birds can be seen in this area (when they’re not disturbed by dogs that should be on their leads in a nature reserve), searching for much needed insects and seeds. During my recent walks along the adjacent footpath, I’ve enjoyed seeing a pair of Meadow pipits, a male Stonechat, and several Pied wagtails grazing contentedly together.

210118 meadow pipit (1)
210118 meadow pipit (2)

210118 stonechat

210118 pied wagtail (1)
210118 pied wagtail (2)

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A Meadow pipit ablutes

17 Saturday Nov 2018

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

bird preening, birding, birdwatching, British birds, Meadow pipit, Meadow pipit preening, pipit ablutions, pipit cleaning

 

181117 meadow pipit (5)

It was while watching this delightful little Meadow pipit at its bath and preening session a couple of weeks ago that I noticed another small bird dotting around on the grass nearby.

181117 meadow pipit (1)
181117 meadow pipit (2)

That bird turned out to be my mega find, a Lapland bunting. But, in all honesty, this little Meadow pipit was just as lovely and, as I was being very quiet and moving very slowly forward, and it was taking great pains over its toilette, it let me get quite close.

181117 meadow pipit (3)
181117 meadow pipit (4)

Meadow pipits have such pretty markings and, at this time of year, when they’ve recently completed their moult, their colouring is rich and warm. I thought this little sweetie deserved its moment in the spotlight as much as the vagrant bunting.

181117 meadow pipit (6)

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Birding at St David’s Vale

26 Saturday May 2018

Posted by sconzani in birds, insects, nature

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Tags

birding, birdwatching, British birds, Broad-bodied Chaser, Cockchafer, Common heath moth, Glamorgan Bird Club, Meadow pipit, Skylark, Small heath butterfly, St David's Vale, Stonechat, Tree pipit, Whinchat, Willow warbler

I might also have called this blog post ‘One hundred and eighty!’. Let me explain …

180525 St Davids Vale (1)

Last Wednesday I joined fourteen other members of the Glamorgan Bird Club for a day’s birding in the stunning scenery of St David’s Vale, near Abergavenny. We walked part of an ancient hollow way …

180525 St Davids Vale (4)180525 St Davids Vale (6)

Beneath mighty oaks in an equally ancient woodland carpeted with bluebells …

180525 St Davids Vale (2)180525 St Davids Vale (3)

And then, as the sun broke through the low cloud that had earlier floated across the border from England, we climbed up on to the broad open moorland, with panoramic views all around and the impressive peak of Sugarloaf looming to our right.

180525 St Davids Vale (5)

Most of the birds mocked my photographic skills and no-so-long lens as they perched on distant tree tops and bushes but I was delighted to hear and then see my very first Wood warbler, and then, on the moorland, several beautiful Whinchats. And those two sightings brought my year list to – yes, you guessed it – one hundred and eighty!

180525 b willow warbler
180525 b stonechat
180525 b whinchat
180525 b tree pipit
180525 b meadow pipit
180525 b skylark

Our keen amateur naturalists also spotted a Small heath butterfly and two Common heath moths (this is the male; the female landed on my trouser leg so another birder got that picture), and a Broad-bodied chaser dragonfly. And we were entertained by the bumbling flights of several Cockchafers (I’ll cover those in a future post.)

Small heath butterfly
Small heath butterfly
Common heath moth
Common heath moth
Broad-bodied chaser
Broad-bodied chaser

Cockchafer

My bird list for the today was: Mistlethrush, Robin, Goldfinch, Blackbird, Great tit, Carrion crow, Meadow pipit, Willow warbler, Swallow, Woodpigeon, Blue tit, Blackcap, Skylark, Buzzard, Chaffinch, Garden warbler, Long-tailed tit, Wood warbler, Stonechat, Raven, Tree pipit, Linnet, Whinchat, Wren, Cuckoo, House sparrow, Pied wagtail, Dunnock, Magpie and Jackdaw. It was a perfectly wonderful day!

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March at Cosmeston

29 Thursday Mar 2018

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

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

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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Gwas y gog

21 Tuesday Feb 2017

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

'servant of the cuckoo', Anthus pratensis, birding, birdwatching, British birds, Butty lark, Cardiff Bay, Cuckoo's sandie, Cuckoo's titling, Gwas y gog, Meadow pipit, pipit

While sitting watching some water birds at Cardiff Bay the other day, I heard the familiar call of a wagtail and turned to see two Pied wagtails bobbing about on the gravel path behind me but then was delighted to also see that they had a friend with them, a lovely little Meadow pipit (Anthus pratensis). I had seen a pair of Meadow pipits nearby the previous week but not been able to get close enough for good photos. This time I was in luck, probably because I was sitting down so there was no movement to catch its eye. I was able to slowly pivot round far enough to catch a few shots of the bird foraging for insects in the short grass.

170221-meadow-pipit-1

The Meadow pipit looks a bit like a song thrush but is smaller, about the same size as the wagtails this one was feeding near. Once very common, their numbers have been in decline over the last 40 years so they have now been added to the amber list, reflecting an increasing level of concern for their conservation. They tend to nest in moorland and heathland, habitats that have declined significantly in extent in recent years, which is likely to be the most significant factor in their decline.

170221-meadow-pipit-2

The Meadow pipit has long been associated with the Cuckoo, which often lays its eggs in the nests of these little pipits, and the association is reflected in the Meadow pipit’s many common names. In Hampshire it’s known as the Butty lark – Butty meaning friend or companion; in Durham it’s the Cuckoo’s sandie and the Cuckoo’s titling; and in the Welsh language it’s Gwas y gog which translates as ‘servant of the cuckoo’.

170221-meadow-pipit-3

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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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