Tag Archives: Mute swan

Nests

09 Monday Apr 2018

Posted by in birds, nature, spring

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , ,

Just like their makers, nests come in all shapes and sizes, and they’re made of all sorts of materials: twigs and branches, feathers, moss, paper and plastic, mud. They can be seen high in trees and on buildings, hidden secretively away in hedges and behind reeds, or plonked in a hole in a concrete platoon, as I saw some Coots do recently in Cardiff. Some are messy and loosely constructed, others are cosy and snug, still others are miniature works of art.

180409 buzzard

This is prime bird-nesting season so it’s quite likely you’ll see nests when you’re out walking. Please stay well away and do not disturb parents, eggs or babies. In Britain (and I’m sure in most countries) it is, in fact, an offence under The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 to ‘intentionally take, damage, destroy the nest of any wild bird while it is in use or being built’ and to ‘intentionally take or destroy  the egg of any wild bird’. (You can read more details here.) And, rest assured, my photos were all taken with a long lens, well away from the birds, so as not to disturb them.

Birding at Rhaslas Pond

05 Tuesday Dec 2017

Posted by in autumn, birds, nature

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , ,

Following on from yesterday’s blog about our Glamorgan Bird Club outing to Parc Cwm Darran, we also ventured a little further north to Rhaslas Pond. I presume the pond is artificial as it has a grassed-over dam running along the north side and concrete to the south. And, as it has a large black drainage tube running into it, I further presume that is, or was, a reservoir or drainage pond for the huge ugly blight on the nearby landscape that is the Dowlais opencast coal mine.

171205 Rhaslas Pond (7)

171205 Rhaslas Pond (4)

Despite its industrial connections, the pond is very well frequented by both local and passage-migrating birds, and it provides a crucial breeding site for endangered birds like Lapwing and Curlew, amongst many others. As soon as we arrived, we saw birds – a friendly little Stonechat was dotting around in the long grass, a Pied wagtail was ‘chissicking’ merrily along the old roadway, and I saw my first-ever Fieldfares grazing on the grass nearby.

On the pond itself, there were lots of Wigeon, Tufted ducks, Mallards, Great crested grebes, my first-ever Goldeneyes, Lesser Black-backed and Herring Gulls, Goosander and a single Mute swan. We also saw Red kites flying overhead.

171205 Rhaslas Pond (5)171205 Rhaslas Pond (6)

Though this was another stunning location and the birds were sublime, there was a bitterly cold wind blowing so we didn’t linger too long. There are plans afoot to destroy this pond and the surrounding landscape to excavate another huge opencast mine. Let’s hope local authorities realise the madness of allowing such a mine and, rather than destroy the pond and surrounding land, recognise its environmental value and turn it into a local nature reserve for all to enjoy.

171205 Rhaslas Pond (3)

On a grey Bay day

04 Saturday Nov 2017

Posted by in birds, nature, walks

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

171104 1 Cardiff Bay fog

Thick fog hung over Cardiff Bay as I set out on a round-the-bay circuit yesterday morning and, though the fog thinned as the day went on, the day remained grey. Still, never let it be said that grey is boring. Birds there were aplenty (and wildflowers, too … but that’s for tomorrow’s post).

This cormorant was enjoying a successful spot of fishing in the old Penarth dock area, though it was slim pickings for the three Little grebes around the corner in the River Ely.

All around the Bay, on almost every man-made structure and clump of rocks near the water, Pied wagtails bobbed, wagged and ‘chisicked’.

Coots were even more numerous, and an occasional Moorhen prospected along the shoreline.

171104 5 Cormorant171104 5 Flock of Canada geese

As I was watching this Cormorant drying its wings, our peace and tranquillity was interrupted by the loud honking of a large skein of Canada Geese flying in from the west.

Where concrete and buildings dominate the shoreline and there’s a notable absence of trees, the birds have adapted and perch on tree-like things.

I saw perhaps half a dozen Great crested grebes around the Bay: I always admire how long they can stay underwater when fishing. Mute swans were more numerous. They are birds of such contrasts, looking anything but decorous when flaunting their glorious white bottoms as they feed, yet the picture of elegance when preening.

171104 8 Black-headed gull (3)

The most abundant came at the end of my walk. It was standing room only for the Black-headed gulls on the Barrage.

Bird babies

10 Monday Jul 2017

Posted by in birds, nature

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , ,

While it was a pleasure to see the Little egrets at Roath Park on Thursday, it was the other birds that brought me the most joy, especially because there were so many babies to be seen.

170710 bird babies (2)

Cygnets, cootlets, ducklings, all at various stages of development, could be seen swimming, being fed by their parents and learning to feed themselves, and just sitting dozing in the warm sunshine.

170710 bird babies (1)170710 bird babies (3)

Even the base of the Scott memorial lighthouse has become a nursery for a family of seven little coots.

170710 bird babies (4)170710 bird babies (5)

I defy anyone to look at these and not smile!

170710 bird babies (6)

Birding at RSPB Ham Wall

12 Monday Jun 2017

Posted by in birds, nature

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Yesterday was an absolutely fabulous birding day, an outing with my friends from the Glamorgan Bird Club to the RSPB’s Ham Wall Nature Reserve near Glastonbury in Somerset. We also ventured briefly into the neighbouring National Nature Reserve of Shapwick Heath but I reckon you’d need a week at least to explore both places thoroughly and at all times of the day.

170612 RSPB Ham Wall

Most of the birds were rather distant so you’ll have to excuse my poor photos but I was able to see the birds clearly as many of the bird club members have good ’scopes and were happy to share. Some birding highlights were:

* three species of Egret: Cattle, Little and lots of Great whites.

170612 Little egret & Glossy ibis

* my first sightings of a Glossy ibis (seen here with a Little egret) and a Red-footed falcon

* more Bitterns than you could point a lens at and several beautiful Marsh harriers, gliding seemingly effortlessly over the reed beds. These two birds came into conflict at one point (fuzzy photo above right), with the Bittern presumably trying to defend its young against harrier predation.

170612 Baby Mute swans

* lots of babies, including those of Great crested and Little grebes, Mute swan, Tufted duck, Coot and Blackcap.

170612 Black-tailed godwits

* the Black-tailed godwits flying over the waters at Shapwick Heath.

On the way home, with the help of my car mates, I came up with an as-yet-unconfirmed list of 57 species seen on the day, and that was only the birds – more on the other creatures in tomorrow’s blog.

The chase is on!

11 Tuesday Apr 2017

Posted by in birds, nature

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , , ,

170411 Swan chases swan (1)

Mute swans (Cygnus olor) sure do get stroppy at this time of year. I guess it’s all about establishing and protecting their relationships with their female companions but sometimes they do get a bit carried away. This angry bird must’ve chased the interloper almost 500 metres before it was satisfied the other bird was far enough away from its lady friend and returned to her.

170411 Swan chases swan (2)170411 Swan chases swan (3)170411 Swan chases swan (4)170411 Swan chases swan (5)170411 Swan chases swan (6)

Permission to land

20 Monday Feb 2017

Posted by in birds, nature

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , , ,

170220-swan-landing-1

‘Cardiff Bay approach, Swan 1702, level two hundred.”
‘Swan 1702, Cardiff Bay approach, descend and maintain one hundred.’

170220-swan-landing-2

‘Down to one hundred, Swan 1702.’
‘Swan 1702, Cardiff Bay Tower, cleared to land.’
‘Swan 1702, roger, cleared to land.’

170220-swan-landing-3

‘Cardiff Bay Ground (er, Water), Swan 1702, off runway 28T at alpha five.’
‘Swan 1702, roger, alpha five.’

170220-swan-landing-4

‘Swan 1702, swim straight ahead to gate bravo five.’
‘Straight ahead to bravo five, roger, Swan 1702.’

To the death, almost

11 Sunday Dec 2016

Posted by in birds, nature, parks

≈ 11 Comments

Tags

, , , ,

I saw something last Friday afternoon that I hope never to see again – two male swans fighting, almost to the death.

161211-fighting-swans-1

I had just finished feeding seed to the water birds and pigeons when the battle commenced. I presume the second male had made a move towards the mate of the first, rather than it being a dispute over territory. This happened on Roath Park Lake in Cardiff, where the swans seem to move freely all around the lake and only get truly territorial in the mating season, which this was not.

161211-fighting-swans-2

These males were vicious, flapping their broad strong wings at each other, using their necks to wrestle and push, biting each other’s wing feathers. At first I was intrigued and took quite a lot of photos but, as the fight continued and neither swan was prepared to give way, I became concerned.

161211-fighting-swans-3

The female and this year’s two cygnets also grew more and more agitated. Both the female and one of the cygnets chased away other swans that came close, and the female tried to intervene but just got battered by the flapping wings of the males.

161211-fighting-swans-4

After twenty minutes or so, it was obvious both swans were getting weary but one, the interloper, was definitely weakening more. The dominant male tried to climb onto the back of the weaker bird, to push it under the water, and grabbed its neck, holding its head under the water to drown it.

161211-fighting-swans-5

By this stage a small crowd of people had gathered and we were all rather shocked and becoming increasingly horrified by what was happening. Luckily, the swans were very close to the edge of the lake where there is a concrete pavement and one rather brave man managed to grab the neck of the dominant swan and held on until the other male could get some air and recover enough to swim away. If it hadn’t been for his actions, the weaker swan would definitely have drowned. I know this is a natural occurrence, this is how Nature operates, but it was still really shocking to see such violence play out in what is usually such a calm and peaceful setting.