Birding at RSPB Ham Wall

12 Monday Jun 2017

Tags

birding, birdwatching, Bittern, Black-tailed godwits, Blackcap, British birds, Glossy ibis, Great Crested Grebe, Great white egret, Little egret, Marsh harrier, Mute swan, RSPB Ham Wall, Shapwick Heath

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 sconzani in birds, nature

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

birding, birdwatching, Cygnus olor, Mute swan, swan, swan chasing swan, swan protecting female

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 sconzani in birds, nature

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cardiff, Cardiff Bay, Mute swan, swan landing on water

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.’

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‘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.’

Lovely dovey

18 Wednesday Jan 2017

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature, spring

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

Mute swan, Roath Park, Roath Park Lake, swans mating

Spring was in the air at Roath Park Lake yesterday – or maybe in the water. First, I saw this – you might not believe me when I tell you there are two swans there!

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And breathe!

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And then it was all kissy wissy, smoochy woochy, lovey dovey!

To the death, almost

11 Sunday Dec 2016

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature, parks

≈ 11 Comments

Tags

Cardiff, male swans fighting to the death, Mute swan, Roath Park Lake, swans fighting

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.

The ‘Ugly ducklings’ grow up

01 Monday Aug 2016

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

birding, birdwatching, British birds, cygnet, Hans Christian Andersen, Mute swan, swan, The Ugly Duckling

You know Hans Christian Andersen’s story of ‘The Ugly Duckling’, right? The unlovely little bird, who is bullied and abused by his farmyard companions because he doesn’t look like the other ducklings, grows up to become not just another duck but, instead, a very beautiful swan. It was one of my favourite stories as a child, perhaps because I was bullied at a young age for wearing spectacles – not common when I was a kid – and I hoped, in vain, for a similar transformation.

160801 cygnets (1)

Ever since, I have had a special love of swans, and it has been wonderful as the summer has progressed to watch the little Mute Swan cygnets at Roath Park lake grow into their beauty. Here are just a few of the very many photos in my swan album.

160801 cygnets (4) 160801 cygnets (5)

In nesting news …

23 Saturday Apr 2016

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature, nature photography, spring

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

birding, birdwatching, British birds, chicks, Coot, Great Crested Grebe, Mute swan, nesting, nesting birds

I checked out the nesting neighbourhood again a couple of days ago so here’s the latest family news.

160423 grebe

At the original three-nest site: the Mute swans appear to have abandoned their nest, which was empty – maybe they just weren’t ready for parenthood. The Great crested grebe that had chicks but lost them was still sitting on her second nest, and she was sitting tight again so I still don’t know what she’s sitting on.

The Coots that had three chicks in my last update now have just one chick remaining. The family has left the nest, though are still in the same general area. Both parents are actively feeding the little guy but, sadly, I’m not overly optimistic about its chances as there were a lot of gulls, flying overhead and perched on nearby lamp posts, just looking for the right scavenging opportunity.

160423 coot B

Nearby, at the other Great crested grebe nest, the grebe has been usurped by a Coot. Her partner was about and feeding her but she didn’t stand up so I have no egg update for her.

I recently learnt of another Coot nest, also nearby, and seeing that was the highlight of the afternoon. Six chicks, all well developed and seemingly ravenous, were frantically being fed by both parents. Very cleverly, the parents were keeping them sitting under a lip of concrete at the water’s edge, so they were quite well protected. Let’s hope they continue to thrive.

News from the nesting neighbourhood

10 Sunday Apr 2016

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

birding, birdwatching, British birds, Coot, Great Crested Grebe, Mute swan, nesting birds

160410 nesting neighbours (1)

It might not look like much but this is Cardiff’s Nest Central! The white blob in the upper left of my photo is a Mute swan, happily ensconced on her nest platform and very well hidden from passing pedestrians. In the more open areas at the front, we have a Coot perched on top of her well-engineered pile of twigs and assorted rubbish and, at the right, a Great Crested Grebe, sitting on her rather more modest nest creation.

160410 nesting neighbours (2)

This is the Grebe pair’s second nesting attempt of the season – I was lucky enough to see the four eggs they produced first time around and, apparently, the eggs did hatch but the chicks were lost to a predator/s (possibly a large pike). It’s great to see they’re trying again.

The Coots have been more successful, at least so far, with two healthy looking, very cute chicks. I guess it helps to have a high nesting platform to keep the chicks out the water until they’re larger.

Please note: These photos are taken at a distance, using a long lens, and then cropped. This site is in a public place, with frequent foot traffic, but I still make sure my visits are brief. At this time of year, it is particularly important not to disturb nesting birds, and it is, in fact, a criminal offence to disturb birds on the Schedule 1 list (see link for more information). Please respect the birds.