Definitely a Dunlin

27 Thursday Sep 2018

Tags

birding, birdwatching, British birds, bundie, Calidris alpina, Dunlin, Kenfig National Nature Reserve, peewee, pickerel, sandmouse, sea lark, Sker Rocks

Here’s another beautiful wader from my recent bird club walk at Kenfig National Nature Reserve.

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The Dunlin (Calidris alpina) is probably the British wader most people have seen – even if they didn’t realise what it was. With 9,600 breeding pairs and 350,000 Dunlin over-wintering in Britain, it’s certainly the most common.

And because it’s so common, it’s been given a huge number of common names by the folks that live in different parts of these isles. Some of my favourites are: sand mouse (Westmorland), peewee (Northamptonshire), pickerel (Scotland), bundie (Orkney), and sea lark, from several different locations.

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Glorious Golden plovers

23 Sunday Sep 2018

Posted by sconzani in autumn, birds, nature

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

birding, birds as lost souls, birdwatching, British birds, cry of the Golden plover, evocative bird cries, Golden plover, Pluvialis apricaria, Sker Rocks

As well as the Sanderlings I blogged about yesterday, the other stand-out birds from last Saturday’s birding walk were these Golden plovers (Pluvialis apricaria) though, in stark contrast to the Sanderlings, they did not move, at all, not one inch, in the 15 minutes or so I was watching them. And, as you can see in my second photo, they were keeping a close eye on me so I couldn’t move around much either in case that scared them off.

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As a result my photos are all very similar and, just to be clear, I have had to lighten these images a lot so you can see the plumage details (it was mostly a very dull day). Still, I hope you can tell how magnificent the plumage of these birds is. These yellow and black markings are their summer colours, which change in winter to a more stark combination of white and beige.

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These birds are British residents, breeding in the high moorland areas of Scotland, northern England and Wales, and then, in the autumn, moving to lowland areas, to fields and sometimes coastal sites, where they can often be seen feeding and flying in large flocks during the winter months.

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I didn’t hear so much as a peep out of the Golden plovers I saw at Sker but I really want to hear their call now that I’ve read this in my copy of Stefan Buczacki’s Fauna Britannica:

The Cheshire name ‘sheep’s guide’ arises from the belief that it gives warning to sheep of impending danger by its plaintive call. In Aberdeenshire, its cry is said to be giving friendly advice to the ploughman: ‘Plough weel, shave weel, harrow weel.’ In other areas, such as North Wales, it is the Golden Plover rather than the Lapwing, Curlew or other waders that has been linked with the legend of the Seven Whistlers (seven birds, flying together by night, whose cries forebode disaster). In common with other birds with plaintive calls, Golden Plovers have also sometimes been regarded as lost souls.

Scurrying Sanderlings

22 Saturday Sep 2018

Posted by sconzani in autumn, birds, nature

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

autumn migration, bird migration, birding, birdwatching, British birds, Calidris alba, migrating birds, Sanderling, Sker Rocks

Watching these busy little birds scurrying back and forth along the beach at Sker last Saturday was the highlight of my day.

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I had walked away a little from the group of birders I was with as I wanted to try to get better photographs of the waders moving along the water’s edge, and I’m so glad I did, as the birds weren’t as bothered about one person standing very still and silent as they would’ve been about 25 chattering people moving about, and so came up reasonably close to me.

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Small flocks of Sanderlings (Calidris alba), and other small waders, were flying back and forth from the rocks to the sandy beach to feed, poking their heads right up to their eyes in the soft sand to probe for their preferred food of small crustaceans and molluscs.

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According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, the name Sanderling is a combination of the fairly obvious ‘sand’ and ‘erling’, which probably comes from the Old English yrthling, meaning ploughman (from yrth earth and erian to plough). That certainly makes sense when you see these little birds in action.

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Sanderlings are passage migrants that move through Britain in spring and autumn on their way to and from their breeding grounds in the High Arctic and their over-wintering sites in southern Europe and Africa.

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The birds’ plumage changes for the breeding season, becoming much darker, with shades of reddish-brown on the head, neck and back, and you can still see hints of that on some of the birds in my photos. Also, many of my birds seem to be juveniles, with quite chequered markings on their backs and very clean white under-parts.

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One fascinating factoid I discovered when reading up about these birds is that they have only three toes on each foot, with no hind toe to provide balance, and this is the reason for their scurrying motion. If you want to see Sanderlings in action, I uploaded a very short video to youtube.

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Birding at Kenfig

17 Monday Sep 2018

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature, walks

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

birding, birdwatching, British birds, Glamorgan Bird Club, Golden plover, Kenfig beach, Kenfig National Nature Reserve, Ringed plover, Sanderling, Shag, Sker Rocks, starling, Stonechat

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Last Saturday was the monthly Glamorgan Bird Club walk at Kenfig National Nature Reserve on the south Wales coast and this time, as the high tide time worked in perfectly, our large group of 28 enthusiasts headed down the eastern side of the reserve towards Sker.

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With so many eyes on the look out as we walked through scrub and across parts of the golf course, we soon had a respectable total of small birds but the highlights came as we got closer to the sea. Near Sker House, a small Starling murmuration swirled about in ever-changing formations before pausing to rest on overhead wires.

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Then, we were entertained by a small party of Stonechats, dotting in and out of the vegetation surrounding a wire fence.

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Moving on, we had distant views of Curlews and godwits in a field. At first we thought the godwits were Black-tailed but, on closer examination and with the help of reserve ranger Dave’s local knowledge, they were identified as Bar-tailed godwits, not particularly common hereabouts.

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The best part of the day for me was at Sker Rocks, where we enjoyed really close views of several wader species. Small flocks of Sanderlings flitted back and forth from the rocks to the beach and, at times, were less than 20 feet away, scurrying hurriedly along the sand, poking about for food. A single Ringed plover sat alone by the water’s edge for a time, and then was replaced by four beautifully marked Golden plovers. (I got some reasonable photos of the Sanderlings and Golden plovers so will post separate blogs on them.)

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As we headed back inland, one of our younger birders, Tate, spotted a Shag fishing very close to the rocks – not a bird that’s seen much locally so a nice sighting.

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And some of us headed down to Kenfig Pool for a quick look but there wasn’t anything of note, and fishermen sitting much closer to the bird hide than they’re supposed to meant that wasn’t worth visiting.

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It was an excellent day’s birding and my species total was a very respectable 48: Mute Swan, Greylag Goose, Canada Goose, Mallard, Grey Heron, Shag, Sparrowhawk, Kestrel, Coot, Oystercatcher, Ringed Plover, European Golden Plover, Sanderling, Dunlin, Bar-tailed Godwit, Eurasian Curlew, Turnstone, Black-headed Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Herring Gull, Feral Pigeon, Woodpigeon, Collared Dove, Magpie, Jay, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Blue Tit, Skylark, Swallow, House Martin, Cetti’s Warbler, Wren, Starling, Blackbird, Song Thrush, Robin, European Stonechat, Dunnock, House Sparrow, Yellow Wagtail, Pied Wagtail, Meadow Pipit, Rock Pipit, Goldfinch, Linnet, Bullfinch, and Reed Bunting.
Also seen/heard but not by me: Sand Martin, Common Buzzard, Tufted Duck, Raven, Common Chiffchaff, Northern Wheatear, and Water Rail (this last one was a shame, as it would’ve been a year tick for me, but them’s the birding breaks!).