Birders in Boxers

"Day out around Cardiff"

2012-02-13T22:03:00.000Z

With a good forecast last Saturday and a chance of nice light for a change I fancied a day out around Cardiff and started by meeting Cliff "Tiger" Woodhead down at Cardiff Heliport in an attempt to try and connect with the Bonaparte's Gull that has been around for a few weeks but proving elusive.
It certainly proved elusive for us and after a couple of hours we were well into "dipping" mode,a phone call and a text as the "grapevine" got going alerted us to a "Redhead" Smew at Hendre Lake,St Mellons and we were soon getting some great views of the dapper little sawbill.
The light was too harsh if anything "burning out" the white tones but I managed a few reasonable record shots although the bird never came really close enough to get a "crippler".
Alex Bevan was already there and we were soon joined by Steve Hinton and Rob Mitchell who were also hoping to get some good shots.
Cliff had to get to Coed Y Bedw by mid-day and I decided to head for Cardiff Bay and then Cosmeston for the BN Grebe and Lesser Scaup but on passing Sluice Farm couldn't resist having a quick look for a couple of Short-eared Owls.
RGW was pretty quiet although I did see one owl in flight and accidentily "flushed" another as I walked across to the foreshore to get the sun behind me.
I noticed another photographer who turned out to be Cate Barrow who had put on a great presentation back in January for the GWPC and who proved to be great company for the afternoon,we both managed a few shots of SEOs although they were not as active as they had been on my last visit in early December 2011.
One of the owls was favouring the fields on the road side of the wharf and perching up on trees and I managed a couple of record shots in the growing gloom albeit pushing the ISO to 1000 although the camera seemed to cope quite well.
I didn't make Cardiff Bay or Cossie but then again it gives me a couple of targets for the coming weekends.

Norfolk Trip List, Winter 2012

2012-02-10T16:30:00.000Z

Here's our combined trip list for this year's annual trek to Norfolk.

We dipped Rough-legged Buzzard and Great Grey Shrike, and didn't go for Ross' Goose, and of course the Western Sandpiper had buggered off before we arrived. Our regular annual ticks of Twite and Whooper Swan are missing and Purple Sandpipers don't really over-winter in Norfolk, do they?

We did less seawatching this year, which may explain the absence of Gannet, Razorbill and Black-throated and Great Northern Divers. A Red-necked Grebe turned up the day we left. Golden Pheasant was invisible once again.

Mute Swan - Fen Drayton, Cambridgeshire
Taiga Bean Goose - Buckenham Marshes, Norfolk
Pink-footed Goose - Holkham Freshmarsh, Norfolk
European White-fronted Goose - Buckenham Marshes, Norfolk
Lesser White-fronted Goose - Buckenham Marshes, Norfolk
Greylag Goose - Buckenham Marshes, Norfolk
Canada Goose - Buckenham Marshes, Norfolk
Dark-bellied Brent Goose - Cley-next-the-Sea, Norfolk
Egyptian Goose - Strumphaw, Norfolk
Shelduck - Cley-next-the-Sea, Norfolk
Wigeon - Fen Drayton, Cambridgeshire
Gadwall - Fen Drayton, Cambridgeshire
Teal - Fen Drayton, Cambridgeshire
Mallard - Fen Drayton, Cambridgeshire
Pintail - Cley-next-the-Sea, Norfolk
Shoveler - Fen Drayton, Cambridgeshire
Pochard - Fen Drayton, Cambridgeshire
Tufted Duck - Fen Drayton, Cambridgeshire
Eider - Cley-next-the-Sea, Norfolk
Long-tailed Duck - Titchwell, Norfolk
Common Scoter - Holkham Gap, Norfolk
Velvet Scoter - Titchwell, Norfolk
Goldeneye - Fen Drayton, Cambridgeshire
Smew - Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk
Red-breasted Merganser - Titchwell, Norfolk
Red-legged Partridge - Fen Drayton, Cambridgeshire
Grey Partridge - Titchwell, Norfolk
Pheasant - Fen Drayton, Cambridgeshire
Red-throated Diver - Cley-next-the-Sea, Norfolk
Little Grebe - Cley-next-the-Sea, Norfolk
Great Crested Grebe - Cosmeston Lakes CP, Glamorgan
Slavonian Grebe - Titchwell, Norfolk
Fulmar - Hunstanton, Norfolk
Cormorant - Fen Drayton, Cambridgeshire
Bittern - Fen Drayton, Cambridgeshire
Little Egret - Cley-next-the-Sea, Norfolk
Grey Heron - Fen Drayton, Cambridgeshire
Marsh Harrier - Stubb Mill, Norfolk
Hen Harrier - Buckenham Marshes, Norfolk
Sparrowhawk - Holkham, Norfolk
Buzzard - Strumphaw, Norfolk
Kestrel - Fen Drayton, Cambridgeshire
Peregrine - Thornham, Norfolk
Water Rail - Fen Drayton, Cambridgeshire
Moorhen - Fen Drayton, Cambridgeshire
Coot - Fen Drayton, Cambridgeshire
Crane - Stubb Mill, Norfolk
Guillemot - Cley-next-the-Sea, Norfolk
Oystercatcher - Cley-next-the-Sea, Norfolk
Avocet - Cley-next-the-Sea, Norfolk
Ringed Plover - Cley-next-the-Sea, Norfolk
Golden Plover - Fen Drayton, Cambridgeshire
Grey Plover - Cley-next-the-Sea, Norfolk
Lapwing - Fen Drayton, Cambridgeshire
Knot - Cley-next-the-Sea, Norfolk
Sanderling - Titchwell, Norfolk
Dunlin - Cley-next-the-Sea, Norfolk
Ruff - Buckenham Marshes, Norfolk
Jack Snipe - Titchwell, Norfolk
Snipe - Thornham, Norfolk
Woodcock - Hickling, Norfolk
Black-tailed Godwit - Cley-next-the-Sea, Norfolk
Bar-tailed Godwit - Titchwell, Norfolk
Curlew - Cley-next-the-Sea, Norfolk
Spotted Redshank - Thornham, Norfolk
Redshank - Cley-next-the-Sea, Norfolk
Turnstone - Hunstanton, Norfolk
Black-headed Gull - Fen Drayton, Cambridgeshire
Common Gull - Fen Drayton, Cambridgeshire
Lesser Black-backed Gull - Fen Drayton, Cambridgeshire
Herring Gull - Cley-next-the-Sea, Norfolk
Great Black-backed Gull - Cley-next-the-Sea, Norfolk
Feral Pigeon - Buckenham Marshes, Norfolk
Stock Dove - Fen Drayton, Cambridgeshire
Woodpigeon - Fen Drayton, Cambridgeshire
Collared Dove - Strumpshaw, Norfolk
Barn Owl - Holme, Norfolk
Little Owl - Flitcham, Norfolk
Tawny Owl - Hickling, Norfolk
Short-eared Owl - Holme, Norfolk
Kingfisher - Thornham, Norfolk
Green Woodpecker - Fen Drayton, Cambridgeshire
Great Spotted Woodpecker - Lynford Arboretum, Norfolk
Skylark - Burnnham Overy Staithe, Norfolk
Shore Lark - Holkham Gap, Norfolk
Meadow Pipit - Burnham Overy Staithe, Norfolk
Pied Wagtail - Thornham, Norfolk
Wren - Strumpshaw, Norfolk
Dunnock - Buckenham Marshes, Norfolk
Robin - Fen Drayton, Cambirdgeshire
Blackbird - Fen Drayton, Cambirdgeshire
Fieldfare - Fen Drayton, Cambirdgeshire
Song Thrush - Fen Drayton, Cambirdgeshire
Redwing - Fen Drayton, Cambirdgeshire
Mistle Thrush - Lynford Arboretum, Norfolk
Bearded Tit - Cley-next-the-Sea, Norfolk
Long-tailed Tit - Lynford Arboretum, Norfolk
Blue Tit - Lynford Arboretum, Norfolk
Great Tit - Lynford Arboretum, Norfolk
Coal Tit - Lynford Arboretum, Norfolk
Treecreeper - Lynford Arboretum, Norfolk
Nuthatch - Lynford Arboretum, Norfolk
Jay - Lynford Arboretum, Norfolk
Magpie - Fen Drayton, Cambridgeshire
Jackdaw - Fen Drayton, Cambridgeshire
Rook - Fen Drayton, Cambridgeshire
Carrion Crow - Fen Drayton, Cambridgeshire
Starling - Fen Drayton, Cambridgeshire
House Sparrow - Strumphaw, Norfolk
Tree Sparrow - Flitcham, Norfolk
Brambling - Flitcham, Norfolk
Chaffinch - Lynford Arboretum, Norfolk
Greenfinch - Titchwell, Norfolk
Goldfinch - Lynford Arboretum, Norfolk
Siskin - Lynford Arboretum, Norfolk
Linnet - Thornham, Norfolk
Lesser Redpoll - Titchwell, Norfolk
Arctic Redpoll - Titchwell, Norfolk
Common Crossbill - Lynford Arboretum, Norfolk
Hawfinch - Lynford Arboretum, Norfolk
Bullfinch - Lynford Arboretum, Norfolk
Reed Bunting - Cley-next-the-Sea, Norfolk
Lapland Bunting - Burnham Overy Staithe, Norfolk
Snow Bunting - Holkham Gap, Norfolk
Yellowhammer - Choseley, Norfolk
Corn Bunting - Choseley, Norfolk

In addition, to these birds we also saw Roe Deer; Chinese Water Deer; Grey Squirrrel; Rabbit; Brown Hare; Weasel and Stoat.

....look out "I'm going large"

2012-01-31T21:20:00.002Z

....it's still there.....!!

2012-01-28T20:25:00.005Z

The 2ndW Iceland Gull was sat on the roof of the converted chapel at Pen Y Bryn when I drove past at 10.00am this morning but apparently had disappeared by 10.30am.

A text from Dave Rich informed me that it had returned late this afternoon so myself and Peter "Pedro" Morgan called back there from Parc Slip where we had spent some time.

Bit of a difference in the quality of the light from a "blue sky" morning to a slightly overcast afternoon !

"Another White Winger"

2012-01-22T19:46:00.012Z

Few shots of the Iceland Gull which was the only bird in the field alongside the chapel as I drove past mid-morning on the way to Kenfig.

I txtd Mark Hipkin who put the word out and was soon joined by Port Talbot birders Dave Sharps and Phil Routliffe,Kevin turned up a little later as he had the same idea as me of going to Kenfig and we all enjoyed superb views of the "white-winged" beauty which had been found by fellow "Maestegi" last Tuesday.

A phonecall to Dan soon had him and "The Twitchmeister" on the road and Geth quickly added another "lifer" to his growing list.

Alan Blackley and Paul Tabor joined us as did Graeme Powell and the bird continued to give excellent views as it "wormed" continuously feeding well.

The group dis-banded and we all headed our separate ways,Dan,Geth and myself headed to Kenfig in search of the Target Pool in the dunes hoping for Jack Snipe and we soon caught up with Kevin who was already there.

We found the pool but unfortunately no Jack Snipe,in fact there was very little to be seen at all,which means another visit another day,perhaps at first light on one of the next weekends.

"Quiet weekend"

2012-01-15T20:25:00.014Z

Having seen most of the good local birds recently myself and Peter met up down at Aberavon Beach on Saturday morning to have a look for the 1stW Iceland Gull found by fellow "Maestegi" Colin Gittins last Tuesday which showed up until Friday but was nowhere to be seen yesterday,bloomin' typical ! We retreated up to the town centre in the hope of catching up with the Goosanders wintering on the River Afan,the male showed briefly but the two females that I had photographed on a previous visit were conspicuous by their absence. We called it a day at 11.00am as I had family business to attend to. With no paticular plans for Sunday I decided to stay local and a browse around Dunraven failed to uncover a Black Redstart although a Common Kestrel hunting over the embankment at the side of the main track gave good if brief views.

On getting back to the car park a Stonechat doing a good impression of a Black Redstart flitted around on the roof of the gatehouse.

I decided to finish off at Ogmore-by-Sea and clambered about on the rocks for an hour where a small group of Turnstones with a single Purple Sandpiper gave good views in nice light despite the attendance of several fishermen and loads of "numpties" with their kids and dogs.

A brief visit to Portobello whilst passing failed to unearth any "white wings" in the gull flocks although one of a small group of three Common Redshanks posed well and enabled me to get a few shots.

I briefly scanned an empty Watermill flood from the car before heading off home to settle down in front of the tele for a couple of hours to watch Swansea win an absolute thriller against Arsenal,"come on you Swans,come on you Swans" !! What a result !!!........

Wipit, Diver & Shrike

2012-01-15T09:00:00.004Z

Not a dodgy firm of solicitors, but the three star birds from a morning out at Llwyn-onn Reservoir and Garwnant.

Mike Hogan and a group of Carmarthenshire (the land of milk and honey) photographers were already on the Water Pipit when I arrived at Llwyn-onn, and, as I travelled round towards Garwnant, I renewed my aquaintance with the Great Northern Diver which was busy (cray)fishing on the millpond surface of the reservoir. Easy peasy.

Not qute as easy was the Great Grey Shrike. I went first to the 'southern clearfell', but there were some guys there planting saplings. I didn't bother hanging around and headed straight to the 'northern clearfell'. I waited there for and hour and a half and drew a blank, only managing to see a shedload of Crossbill and half a dozen Bullfinch.

Back to the 'southern clearfell' and, despite the blokes still busy planting the saplings nearby, there was the Great Grey Shrike - distant at first before it briefly landed on a tree nearby.

Slocombe - eat your heart out!

"Return Visits"

2012-01-08T20:54:00.011Z

Although I'd paid a visit to the various locations previously Peter Morgan and myself headed to the north of the county today as Willow Tit and GN Diver were both "lifers" for Peter and it was a chance for both of us to take a few photos. Two Willow Tits showed after a little while at Nelson Bog with one coming to the food which we put down on the rail of the bridge over the stream by the railway crossing. The light was once again absolutely awful but I managed a few "record" shots,I know I go on about it but a little sun makes a huge difference,it brings photos to life.

Next stop was Llwynn-Onn Reservoir for the juv Great Northern Diver which we got on fairly quickly as it headed up to the north end of the water.

We legged it to the hide and it duly obliged by swimming past the only disappointment being that it chose the far channel and not the nearest channel in front of the reedy island,if it had we'd have got some crackin' shots in the only 20mins of good light in the day. We did witness the diver having a real tussle with a crayfish which seem to be it's favoured prey and I managed to get a shot of the bird and it's meal before it got devoured. We then headed across to Garwnant hoping to catch up with Great Grey Shrike,we checked the clearfell south of the visitor centre without success although there were good numbers of Crossbills around with some Siskins and Redpoll mixed in with the flocks.

We then headed up to the other clearfell that the bird has been frequenting north of the visitor centre and this time got lucky although the shrike always kept it's distance at the far end of the clearing,we waited a while in the hope it would fly to one of the closer "perching" poles but as the light faded we gave up and headed for home.

Llangors Lake:Winter visit

2012-01-08T20:41:00.006Z

Teresa and myself paid a visit up to Llangors yesterday to check out the caravan and I took the opportunity of doing a bit of birdin' hoping to catch up with the two Whooper Swans and Great White Egret that has been around for a few weeks. The Whoopers were on the severely flooded meadow to the rear of the sailing club but despite a visit over to Llangasty I didn't connect with the GWE.

Before leaving I scanned across the lake from between the reeds to check out how the replacement hide is coming along,looks well posh with a thatched roof in progress as the finishing touch,will try it out in the spring.

Great Northern Diver:Llwyn 0n Resv'r

2012-01-06T21:14:00.015Z

"Few" images from a visit to Llwyn On Reservoir north of Merthyr Tydfil today in company with fellow "togger" Richard "Smudger" Smith, our target species being the juvenile Great Northern Diver found by Mike Hogan a couple of weeks ago. It gave us the runaround for a while but we finally pinned it down.

Following our success at the reservoir we then paid a visit to Garwnant Forest and managed to see but not photograph the wintering Great Grey Shrike (too far away and heavy drizzle) and last thing called into Nelson Bog where we saw Willow Tit but being quite elusive I didn't manage a photo worthy of posting.

A good excuse to visit this fantastic little nature reserve again.

"Gower Glaucous"

2012-01-02T20:06:00.011Z

I couldn't resist giving Oxwich Bay a visit this week what with all of the seabird activity reported during the last couple of weeks and yesterday gave old friend Neil Davies a call at his home in Blackpill. As my visit coincided with high tide we checked the Blackpill roost before setting off for Oxwich,there were large numbers of waders present with Godwits,Dunlin,Knot,Ringed Plover,Curlew and Oystercatchers roosting with plenty of gulls as well. Unfortunately within a few minutes of arriving a couple of youngsters flushed the whole lot and they disappeared to settle further down the beach. It was nice to bump into Alistair Flanagan again and chat briefly.

We soon arrived at Oxwich and the number of seabirds present was an incredible spectacle with 100s of Kittiwakes,30-40 Gannets,1000s of gulls,some Razorbills and Guillemots and plenty of Shags and Cormorants.

We didn't manage to locate any divers and didn't even bother looking for the Glaucous Gull found by Barry earlier in the day due to the continual disturbance caused by the visiting "numpties" and their kids and dogs.

A couple of heavy showers put a damper on things but I still managed a few photos in terrible light and even got a couple of 5 Grey Seals we counted that were hunting off the rocks opposite the church.

A quick visit to the "new" hide before the weather finally got the better of us enabled me to get a shot of one of several Common Snipe on the island opposite the hide although none showed themselves particularly well.

With a slightly better forecast for today I fancied trying to get the Glaucous Gull and after meeting up with Peter Morgan at Sarn we arrived at Oxwich just after first light and strode out along the beach in the direction of Nicholaston Pill.

Luckily Chris Brewer was already on the bird and we both enjoyed good views courtesy of Chris's 'scope before an earlybird "numptie" managed to flush the large flock which resettled after a short time.

I managed to relocate the Glaucous in my bins and the three of us managed some "record" shots before an almighty hailstone shower sent us racing for the shelter of the bridge over the pill.

The huge gull flock was flushed several more times and being unable to relocate the bird we headed back down to the opposite end of the beach to watch the feeding action again bumping into Paul Tabor who was with Keith and Scott Squires.

Eventually the heavy showers got the better of us and we decided to finish off the day by visiting the feeding station at Newton Farm nr Scurlage in the hope of connecting with a Tree Sparrow,a single bird having been seen a couple of times in recent weeks.

After an extremely muddy trudge across fields and several stiles we arrived at the derilict farm and didn't have to wait too long before a single bird appeared at the feeders.

I managed a few record shots and during a short period of good light managed to get one that I was quite pleased with considering we were at a safe distance from the feeders.

With more rain threatening we headed for home,me pleased just to get out and see some good birds and take some photographs and Peter with two more "lifers" to add to his growing list.

"Cosie turns up trumps"

2011-12-29T19:24:00.010Z

With the weather over the Xmas holiday being a little indifferent to say the least I was determined to get out with the camera yesterday and take advantage of the sunshine forecast and some good light for a change. I started the day down at Pontyclun having a good look at a couple of stretches of the River Ely for Goosander (but without any luck) with the intention of moving on to Gileston for the Little Gulls and finishing off the day at Cosmeston C.P for the recently arrived Whooper Swan. As I got back to my car a phone call in response to my txt from Peter "Pedro" Morgan arranged for us to meet up at Junc 34 of the M4 followed shortly by a "grapevine" txt that a Lesser Scaup had been found by John Wilson on his local patch at Cosmeston C.P. A change of itinary was agreed and we headed for Cosie first wanting to catch up with the rare scaup. The Whooper Swan wasn't exactly difficult to find coming to bread with the resident Mute Swans on the East Lake in front of the boardwalk the main difficulty being to get it in the camera on open water isolated from it's mates !! A couple of the regular "toggers" had beaten us to it and Steve Hinton and Alex Bevan,in company with visiting Russ Eynon were already snapping away as was Paul Denning. We were advised that the Lesser Scaup which had spent most of it's time out in the middle of the East Lake had flown over to the West Lake but a scan of the remaining Tuftie flock soon picked up the Greater Scaup across the lake from the boardwalk.

We moved around to the other side and although we couldn't get as close as we would have wanted we both managed a few shots of the smart drake.

We weren't getting it all our own way with the weather and despite some well overdue sunshine we got caught in the open with some heavy blustery showers.

Martin"Billy Whizz" Thomas caught up with us and we headed over to the West Lake hoping we could find the "Lesser",a quick scan with the bins picked up the scaup and Martin confirmed it through his 'scope,the target bird was with the Tufties in the reedy bays on the far side of the lake opposite the bridge.

Martin had to dash so myself and Peter moved around to the back of the lake where we had the sun behind us and the scaup showed well at about 30m from us in really good light.

Getting some decent photos (sorry I mean "images") had taken longer than anticipated and we didn't make it to Gileston which is another trip/another day over the holiday period and hopefully we'll have some similar luck.

"Town Centre Birding"

2011-12-27T20:58:00.006Z

Although the light was crap all day with a blanket of grey cloud cover I took a stroll along the riverwalk from Aberafan Town Centre down past McDonalds and back in the hope of catching up with the Goosanders that Terry Tovey has been reporting on the GBC sightings page. I've seen them in previous winters when I've been out with Teresa but never with a camera in my hand and sure enough they were on the river (Afan) opposite Tesco. There were also three different pairs of Dippers on territory with one male in full song.

Nadolig llawen!

2011-12-24T15:40:00.008Z

There haven't been any photos of owls on this (or any other Glamorgan) blog for all of . . . oh, I don't know - two weeks? And so, I was delighted when these two appeared on our Christmas tree this week.

This is just a record shot of course and the light was terrible

I was slowly moving in to take that killer image when another photographer appeared out of the blue, stomped right up to them and flushed them!

Gone!

They haven't been seen since. Clearly two different species. Any thoughts on ID? :o)

We wish all birders from Glamorgan and beyond, as well as all (careful!) photographers, a very Merry Christmas and top birding in 2012 !

Nadolig llawen!

Geth and Dan

First "White Wing" of the winter.

2011-12-18T18:46:00.015Z

I dashed down to Ogmore on Saturday morning in the hope the the adult Iceland Gull found earlier in the week by Dean Bolt would still be around,if it was and I could get some pics it would be a "photo tick" for me. The bird had been proving elusive but I was lucky and found it within a couple of minutes loafing with the mixed gull flock on Portobello Island,I managed a few quick shots before losing the bird again as the nervous flock took to the air as they seemed to do every five minutes.

Dave Pritchard approached and having arrived a little earlier then me he had been watching the gull from a little closer on the river bank,we moved cautiously back down to where Dave had been watching and the flock went up again with the Iceland heading down river.

We set off in pursuit and soon came across "The Wader" and Alex Bevan who armed with their long lenses were also hoping to get some photographs.

Steve picked up the bird in flight as it headed back up the river and it settled on the water allowing some more shots.

It took off again and as I was luckily already focused on the bird was able to get some flight shots that I was quite pleased with.

Rob Gaze,Martin Bell and Mike Hogan arrived and we chatted for a few minutes as I headed back to the car leaving Steve and Alex "snapping away".

Just before getting to the car Martin "Billy Wizz" Thomas and his son the ever eager Teifion arrived and were well pleased to be informed that the bird was showing well as Teifion dashed off in pursuit of what was probably another lifer for him.

Mission accomplished I headed for home and out with Teresa for a Xmas shopping weekend and a night away winning loads of "brownie points" which will hopefully get me out with the camera several times over the Xmas holiday.

All I need now is some dry,crisp,cold,sunny weather with loads of blue skies,not too much to ask Santa for is it ?

Kestrel:Southerndown

2011-12-18T18:35:00.005Z

Popped down to Dunraven again on Sat a.m 10.Dec with a couple of hours to spare hoping to get a few pics of the Black Redstart in better light. Unfortunately the light wasn't any better despite a good forecast and the redstart didn't show either although it was seen by others in the afternoon !! As I drove past the gravel car park at the top of the hill I noticed a Kestrel perched upon the Heritage Coast sign from where it flew on to a nearby electricity pole allowing me to get a couple of shots,just a pity the sun didn't break through and give the shots a little bit of "warmth".

Black Redstart:Dunraven,Southerndown

2011-12-04T20:09:00.008Z

Popped down to Southerdown first thing this morning before the bad weather came in hoping to catch up with the Black Redstart that had been seen around the Heritage Centre during the last week.It only took me about 5 minutes to catch up with the bird although it was very mobile flitting between the roof of the Heritage Centre and the trees surrounding the thatched cottage opposite.

It also relocated down to the lodge house at the car park a couple of times but always came back.

I didn't have a lot of time as I'd promised Teresa I'd finish off some decorating that I'd started during the week and was on my way home by 11.00am as the light was getting worse by the minute.

I'll probably give it another go on a brighter day and with a little patience and a bit of luck could greatly improve on the "record" shots achieved today.

The above photograph is of a different bird which was much paler than the grey male and is probably a juvenile,it only put in a brief appearance so there are probably a few birds in the area.

Waun Y Gilfach feeding station,Llangynwyd

2011-12-04T19:52:00.010Z

Myself and Colin Richards ventured up to Mynydd Margam yesterday morning in the hope of catching up with the Great Grey Shrike found by Gwyn Randall and the Port Talbot lads last weekend,no such luck I'm afraid although we searched several clear fells for a few hours.

We did get good numbers of Lesser Redpoll,Common Crossbills and a few Common Buzzards.

I didn't get much chance to point the camera at anything so called in at the feeding station at Waun Y Gilfach on the way home and managed a few close ups of our more common woodland birds.

I must spend a little more time time there as Jay,G S Woodpecker and Nuthatch all visit and I'm hopeful that one of the "rarer" tits also visit.

RGW:Return Visit

2011-11-27T18:34:00.010Z

Paid another visit to Rumney Great Wharf at first light this morning in the hope that the highest tide for some time just after 8.00a.m would push some of the SEOs up on to the rough grass area.

I was really hoping that one or two would perch up so that I could get some "static" shots,some birds duly obliged,how lucky was that ?? !!

There were about 15 SEOs around and I "flushed" 6 from one narrow reen (not intentionally I must add).

I luv it when a plan comes together !!

I would have loved to have stayed all day but with a family christenning to attend in the afternoon I had to be satisfied with a couple of early hours.

Nice to bump into "Cardiff Clive" and to meet Trevor Fletcher and put a face to the name.

I taught him all he knows

2011-11-21T20:31:00.008Z

I notice that the Birders in Boxers 'Imagemeister' has been invited to present a talk on Feb 8th entitled 'My First Digital Year' at the prestigious Glamorgan Wildlife Photographic Club . . . .

Meeting will be held at 7.30pm at The Reading Room, Bonvilston (near Cowbridge), opposite shop on A48. Everyone most welcome. Members £1, Non-members £3. Tea, coffee and biscuits provided.

Better still, Jeff has promised to buy a pint in the Aubrey Arms, Bonvilston for everybody who attends the meeting.

Nice one Jeff!

And now for something completely different . . .

2011-11-20T19:23:00.003Z

I've been a bit worried about the standard of the photography on this blog of late. So I thought it was about time I posted an image more befitting the quality we have come to expect over the years . . . . .

Slavonian Grebe at Lisvane Reservoir

What you mean you can't see it?! It to the right behind the Tuftie. Originally found by Rob Thomas, Geth and I picked it up during our WeBS count this afternoon. Sadly for us, it stayed right at the back of the reservoir the whole time we were there. This was disgiscoped at 8x through a 30x 'scope! Oh, and did I forget to mention that the light was absolutely dreadful?

To be serious though, since it's closure to the general public and, more importantly, dogs, it was clear that the wildfowl on Lisvane Reservoir were much more 'relaxed' today than I've ever seen them before. 'Relaxed' may not the most ornithological term you'll hear, but now that these birds have a bit of peace and quiet many of them had hauled out of the water and resting up on the banksides, they were more evenly spread out over the water and a Grey Heron was quietly fishing just 20metres up from the car park - something it wouldn't have been able to do just a few weeks ago.

I say 'closed to the public', the Lisvane end car park is now open again for business and you can birdwatch from there. But the access restrictions around both reservoirs continue to be enforced in order to protect the SSSIs.

SEOs:RGW,Cardiff

2011-11-19T21:13:00.013Z

Spent some time at Rumney Great Wharf today with fellow "toggers" "Smudger" and "Pedro",we put up 2 SEOs as we walked across to the rocks from Sluice Farm at about 11.00am.

Another 2 started to hunt at mid-day and probably 5 different birds hunted on and off until we left at about 4.00pm.

The light on a drab,grey day was truly awful with me shooting at 800ISO or higher in order to get a good shutter speed.I did experiment though with a slow shutter speed just before we left and got a couple of reasonable "motion blur" pics which I was quite pleased with.

With the number of SEOs at the wharf at present I'm just hoping for a really nice sunny day on a weekend which with a bit of luck could yield some spectacular results.

"Another cunning plan"

2011-11-13T21:35:00.013Z

Teresa knows me only too well when I suggest I take her for a few hours shopping to Cribbs Causeway in Bristol rather than Culverhouse Cross,"Short eared Owls is it " she replies and one duly obliged flying at just after 2.00pm in glorious light with another joining it just as the light faded at about 4.oopm.

I was a little nervous shooting into the sunlight as the first bird passed and headed towards the new Severn crossing but overexposed a couple of notches and was pleased to get a couple of nice "backlit" shots.

Think I'll try Rumney Great Wharf weather permitting next weekend where there were maybe six present today,bit of a hike though compared to "armchair" birding at Aust Warth.

Isabelline Wheatear:Wernffrwd,Gower

2011-11-06T20:18:00.012Z

With both Dan and Wayne away at a BTO gig in Norfolk for the weekend something good was bound to turn up and it did !!! A text from Mark Hipkin at about 3.15pm yesterday gave news that an Isabelline Wheatear no less had been found "on the mound" at Wernffrwd on north Gower,unbelievable - a local MEGA !! I later found out that the bird had been found by Rob Taylor,nice one Rob,brilliant find.

Too late to do anything about it yesterday so I just hoped that it would still be there today and another text from Mark at 6.50am this morning confirmed that it was still there,woohoo !!

I'd got up early in anticipation and by 7.00 o'clock I was out of the house and on my way,I arrived at about 7.45am and the sun was just coming up over the wood behind the marsh,not such a long walk this time as was the case for the American sandpipers earlier in the Autumn and within minutes I was on the bird,what a little gem !!

Mark was there as were,Dave Pritchard,Peter and Simon Murray,Bev,Phil Hill and Rob Gaze and a couple of other birders I didn't know.

I managed to get the camera on the bird although it didn't come quite as close as I would have hoped,still I managed to get a few reasonable record shots.

Alex,Mike,Phil and Judd rolled up as did "Tiger" a few minutes later and some birders from the Midlands also arrived all enjoying great views,the "Maestegi" also rolled up and Barry,Wendell and Brian Thomas joined us with the sun shining down on a beautiful day.

I had other stuff to do at home and decided to call it a day at about 10.30am,although I could have easily spent the whole day there trying to that "one special shot".

Just as I was getting in the Jeep "The Wader" arrived and I'm sure that he will have got that one shot that I wished I'd had time to get.

Still,can't complain it's not every week that you get the chance to photograph a "MEGA" within a 45min drive.

"A jewel from the East down West"

2011-10-31T20:00:00.010Z

I'd been keeping an eye on the two rarities within reasonable driving distance since they turned up during the week with a view to "twitching" at least one of them but as Saturday dawned the Pied Wheatear which had shown so well at Oldbury on Severn was nowhere to be seen and by late morning when the forecast rain arrived the Isabelline Shrike at Porth Clais in Pembrokeshire hadn't been found either !!

I therefore spent a peaceful chilled out Saturday at the caravan with Teresa and enjoyed a cracking pub lunch at a local pub in the village.

The forecast was somewhat drier for Sunday and with no news of the rarities I decided to visit nearby Garwnant and have a look for the Great Grey Shrike that had turned up earlier in the week and was frequenting one of the clear fells.

Just as I got in the Jeep my phone bleeped to the sound of a text from Mark Hipkin informing me that the Isabelline Shrike down west had been refound at 8.30am,what to do ?

Do I head down west for a lifer and the opportunity of some quality photographs or do I spend hours in the local forestry searching for a typically elusive Great Grey Shrike.

I reckonned I had time to do both and after obtaining some good directions from both Martin Thomas and Rob Mitchell found the clear fell.

As I feared the GGS was nowhere to be seen although there were plenty of other birds around.

A GS Woodpecker perched on one of the lone "tree posts" on which I hoped to see the shrike and several Jays flew over with lots of Crossbills also flying across the treetops calling as they passed.

After a while a pale grey large raptor flew across the common on the edge of the clear fell and as it banked it's black wing tips gave it away as a crackin' male Hen Harrier,my first of the winter.

Unfortunately it flew through rather quickly and I couldn't get the camera on it,another long winged raptor a little further away a few minutes later gave itself up as a rather disappointing Red Kite.

15-20 minutes passed and as I scanned the area for the shrike another Hen Harrier appeared,this time a "Ringtail" which hung around for a minute or two quartering and crossing over the edge of the clear fell.

This gave me a little bit of time to get the camera on the bird and although a little distant I was pleased to get some hurried but reasonable record shots.

The "Ringtail" soon moved on after a mobbing from a couple of crows and after an exciting half hour or so things went quiet again and with noon approaching and no sign of the shrike I decided to move on and go for the other shrike a little further west.

I eventually managed to get a mobile signal and Peter "Pedro" Morgan was well up for the twitch,1.00pm at the Harvester car park at Junc 43 0n the M4 was the arrangement and soon we were en-route to the west tip of Pembrokeshire.

We made good time and were soon walking up the hill from the car park at Porth Clais to where the bird had relocated meeting Mike Powell on the way.

The shrike was in a weedy field and had been showing to about 30m mostly in the hedgerow as it hunted for flies and bees,as we approached the gate to the field and chatted to the other birders most of whom were familier faces the bird dropped on to some weeds not 18-20' directly in front of us,result !!!

Myself,Peter and Alex Bevan who was already there let fly with the cameras for a couple of minutes as the bird performed beautifully until it disappeared back to the hedgerow.

We couldn't believe our luck and the closeness of the bird more than made up for the dreadful light (we "toggers" will always find something to complain about !!)

This had to be the "quickest" twitch I've even been on as the bird performed almost to order and the overnight disappearance of the Pied Wheatear was soon forgotten.

The light quickly began to fade,something we are going to have to get used to over the coming months and it was two very happy "toggers" who headed back east.

Severn Up

2011-10-29T17:27:00.014+01:00

I had a day off on Friday, October 28th and, since the current Mrs Jenkins-Jones and beloved daughter Gwenni were away in London for the weekend, Geth and I hatched a couple of birding plans:

Plan A: Get up early, bird our patch on the Radyr Floodplain and find ourselves a 'mega'.

Plan B: Get up early, bird our patch on the Radyr Floodplain, find bugger all and then go and twitch somebody else's 'mega'.

Plan B it was! (Highlight on the patch: 3 Reed Buntings). Why we bothered to formulate Plan A I'll never know. A little over an hour after leaving home we were at Oldbury-on-Severn and watching this little beauty:

A very impressive roof nut with a female Pied Wheatear to its left.

It may not have been the most beautiful bird in world but I really enjoyed watching this little beauty. I must have fallen for its personality as it hawked insects on top of the Oldbury Sailing Club roof. I don't know what Darryl Spittle was doing birding this particular spot on the English side of the River Severn instead of his beloved Gwent, but I'm very grateful to him for finding this beauty.

Onwards and upwards. With our luck obviously in, Geth and I headed back west (paying £5.70 for the privilege of returning to our homeland) to do a bit of birding around The Forest of Dean. Without a doubt, one of Gethin's bogey birds is Hawfinch. He's had untickable glimpses of them at Fforest Ganol and dipped on one at The Forest of Dean by a matter of a few seconds. His luck was about to change. Within moments of getting out of the car he'd found one . . . but thanks to my inability to get on to the bird, and his efforts to help me, he again only managed a brief and untickable view.

Some heated words were exchanged, the mood was tense - you could cut the atmosphere with a knife. A stressful 20 mins passed and then . . . thank God! . . . two Hawfinch popped up on top of a tree and the Twitchmeister finally had his tick. The relief washed over us - me in particular!

Cannop Ponds, The Forest of Dean

We stopped off briefly at Cannop Ponds on our way home where there were 50+ Mandarin Duck, a nice selection of waterfowl but had no joy with Willow Tit.

To celebrate our success (and because Mrs JJ and Gwenni were away) the day was rounded off at Queen Street Pizza Hut where we hatched our birding plan for the next day:

Plan A: Get up early, bird our patch on Radyr Floodplain and find ourselves a 'mega'.

Plan B: Get up early, bird our patch on Radyr Floodplain, find bugger all and then go and twitch somebody else's 'mega'!

Cetti's Warbler:RGW,Cardiff

2011-10-22T19:30:00.008+01:00

Arranged to meet up with Clive Ellis at first light this a.m to have a look for owls along Rumney Great Wharf,unfortunately despite a good walk over a few hours we didn't get lucky but I managed to get a few "images" of an unusually obliging Cetti's Warbler on the way back in quite nice light.

Snow Bunting:Newton,Porthcawl.

2011-10-16T19:06:00.007+01:00

Myself and Teresa enjoyed a relaxing peaceful weekend up at the caravan and the only birding I did was to call in at Llangasty Point on Llangors Lake on our way back from a visit to Crickhowell on Saturday afternoon. Unfortunately despite scanning for an hour or so there was nothing of any real interest although wildfowl numbers are building,suffice to say the camera didn't see the light of day. I'd noticed the report and some nice photos of the Snow Bunting at Newton Burrows on Friday and Saturday and hoped that it may stay around so that I could catch up with it on the way home. It hadn't been reported today but I took a chance that it would still be there and whilst walking across to the location a couple of birders coming towards me confirmed that the bird was still there..........result !! I found the bird quite quickly as it flew from almost under my feet but only a short distance where it settled and continued to feed. It was quite confiding and I managed to get a few "images" that I was quite pleased with,doubtless this one is the first of several that will probably visit us over the coming months as the weather gets colder.

A Pizza the Action II

2011-10-08T12:01:00.004+01:00

We Boxer Boys certainly know how to celebrate in style. Being well known connoisseurs of fine dining we managed to pull a few strings and get a much sought after table at the 3 Michelin Star McArthur Glenn Pizza Hut to note the occasion of Gethin's entry into the UK 250 Club.

Gethin (a.k.a. The Twitchmeister) was presented with a 'Diploma in Birding' by the Birders in Boxers Board of Ornithological Excellence (BBBOE). A particlularly noteworthy occasion as Gethin is the first recipient of this diploma - none of the other Boxer Boys being anywhere near reaching the standard of ornithological excellence.

The evening was attended by Gethin (the Guest of Honour) and Messrs Jeff Slocombe (BBBOE's Chief List Statistician) and Wayne Morris (Secretary to the Board). Gethin's father was also present to pay for the meal.

The Guest of Honour enjoyed a Tuna and Sweetcorn Thin Italian; Jeff (because he's 'hard') had a super hot Flamin' Inferno; Wayne a Veggie Supreme and Dan had his usual double jalapeno peppers and pineapple. All washed down with some vintage Pepsi.

A telegram received from a 'Mr L Evans from Bucks' rubbishing Gethin's list was ceremonially burned. We look forward to holding a similar event in the very near future to celebrate the Twitchmeister's entry into the UK300 Club.

Flashback to June 2009 when we celebrated The Twitchmeister's entry into the UK200 Club.

Mediterranean weather-mediterranean bird !!

2011-10-02T20:44:00.005+01:00

Called in to the Watermill on the way home from the caravan after a barren weekend in that birding wilderness of Breconshire,thankfully the bird was still there enjoying the fine weather over the weekend.

Tried to sneak up on it using the hedegrow halfway down the field but it wasn't having any and took to the air a couple of times but always came back to the flood where it seemed quite settled.

Little bit too distant to get some really good shots and it was still there when I left at 17.40 hrs.

Recent Photos

2011-10-01T12:20:00.008+01:00

Just a couple of humble photographic offerings to back up the posts already made by Jeff and Wayne below. I'd like to make the obligatory opening disclaimer made by all photographers who post their images on any website in the world: "at no time was I happy with the light conditions when these images were taken"!!

Not a creature from Doctor Who - it's a very wet Twitchmeister at Llanrhidian Marsh.

The weather finally beats Wayne. He's clearly had enough despite not nailing the White-rump. But, he makes himself feel better by gripping off the Twitchmeister about the Kenfig Pool White-rump Sand the boy birder dipped on by a mere 5 minutes back in 2007 when he was only 8 years old. (Please note Jeff being 'hard' and not wearing his hood up despite the crap weather).

The next day, Wayne (no doubt feeling guilty for being so mean to Gethin) offered us a lift to St Brides/West Usk Beach, where we duly found the American Golden Plover.

I wasn't particularly happy with this image . . . .

But it turned out not bad after I'd photoshopped it a bit.

A cracking bird and a lifer for us all. Thanks to Darryl Spittle for finding it.

Birthday Boy !

2011-09-29T21:54:00.002+01:00

I turned 50 something again today and thought I'd post a photo of the birthday cake my very clever daughter Adele baked me.

Another soaking for the "Boxer" boys !!

2011-09-29T21:30:00.013+01:00

I think Wayne has said it all in his earlier post,whilst the weather stayed dry for the walk through the woods,along the causeway and out on to the saltmarsh true to form it started to rain as soon as we were able to get on the birds which initially were quite difficult to find. I haven't birded in such miserable conditions for a long time and daren't have got the camera out of it's bag until a lull of no more than 2 mins allowed me to get a few shots of the Buff breasted Sandpiper. I can't say that I'm particularly happy with the photos which will just go down as "record" shots. I did manage some good views of the Pectoral Sandpiper and the briefest of views of the White rumped through Rob Taylor's 'scope (cheers,nice one Rob !!) but the conditions were totally against photography. I seem to recall a similar morning up on Garreg Lwyd in the Black Mountains whilst looking for Dotterel several years ago which gave birth to the name of this blog and I'm sure that this won't be the last occasion either ! I'll just have to make sure that I use the new waterproof lens/camera cover that I invested in this week next time.

Grafham Water

2011-09-29T21:10:00.011+01:00

I'd noticed on Birdguides the adult Sabines Gull and juvenile Grey Phalarope that had turned up at Grafham Water which is only 5 mins or so off the A14 not far from Huntingdon and an easy diversion. We called in on the way up to Norfolk but the weather was so wet that we didn't even get out of the car. I hoped all week that the two would stay around and that I could get them on our way back and both birds duly obliged. An added bonus was that they were both together near the dam wall only a 5 min walk from the car park and visitor centre. I left Teresa having a cuppa and soon found the birds which showed down to 6' !! The weather was too sunny and I had to dial in varying degrees of exposure compensation and the choppy water near the shore made the phalarope something of a challenge to photograph,still I was pleased with some of the photos that I managed to get.

Norfolk-Sept 2011

2011-09-29T20:33:00.028+01:00

Having decided not to go abroad on holiday this year myself and Teresa enjoyed a week in a cottage at Cley. The weather was generally kind with very little rain although most days were quite windy which tended to keep the Beardies down in the reedbeds at both Titchwell and Cley and being south-westerly and not north-easterly was totally in the wrong direction. Rarities were very thin on the ground and September was probably the worst in many years for the county. I got out with the camera every day and did catch up with some nice birds,a feeding Sandwich Tern at Cley,Bearded Tit at Cley,Yellow Wagtail at Cley,Barn Swallow feeding late brood young at Cley,nice group of 7 Curlew Sandpipers at Cley,Common Sandpiper at Cley,Marsh Harrier coming in to roost and Barn Owl both near Burnham windmill. I also managed to get my first pics of Yellow legged Gull which in company with a Lesser black backed Gull provided a nice plummage comparison.

Weekend Wader Round-up

2011-09-27T09:40:00.004+01:00

The TM notched up his 250 this summer, but he’s not one to rest on his laurels! And so it was, with a bunch of Nearctic waders settling in Glamorgan of all places, the Boxers headed west on Saturday for a mixed collection of ticks - Life, Wales and Glamorgan.

Naturally, it p*&%ed down for most of the morning, but nevertheless with some effort and perseverance we managed to connect with the Buff-breasted Sandpiper and one of the Pectoral Sandpipers. A Little Stint and Curlew Sandpiper were added to the morning’s crop of wader treats.

Alas, despite a couple of possible glimpses we weren’t able to clinch the White-rumped Sandpiper. Will this be the TMs bogey bird for years to come? He’s missed two in Glamorgan now.

With Saturday’s news that the Gwent American Golden Plover had stayed for a second day, Sunday jobs were completed in record time, and a last minute trip for high-tide was possible. The TM and his Dad took little persuasion that West Usk Beach was a better place to be than the Scrub! We arrived at the Lighthouse Pub and set off east to see a trickle of satisfied birders returning. It was showing well, but had retreated a little as the tide encroached.

We arrived to find our CR in situ, who obliged with great scope views of the moulting adult. Tunnocks all round! The leggy plover remained until we left, and we ticked Curlew Sandpiper and Sanderling amongst the Dunlin and Ringed Plover flock.

A satisfying weekend, and the TM marches onwards to 300!

(Images of varying quality may be inserted by Randy Grouse and JJ Imaging).

Oh Dear!

2011-09-17T22:07:00.004+01:00

Have a look at this. It's the trailer for the new 'The Big Year' movie (based on the book by Mark Obmascik of the same name). You'd never say it it anything at all to do with birding!! And what the hell has Steve Martin done to his face?!? (By the way, when you click on it you will go go a pre-trailer trailer for a completely different film . . . only last about 15secs)

250 for The Twitchmeister

2011-09-11T15:53:00.007+01:00

Geth (aka The Twitchmeister) reached a birding milestone today. An Arctic Skua flying past Porthcawl during a seawatch this morning was his 250th UK tick.

Unfortunately for all present at the seawatch this particular Arctic Skua was nowhere near as close to us as the one which Jeff saw yesterday at Ogmore (see images in blog below).

Also unfortunate for all present was the fact that they had chosen to seawatch in Glamorgan.

I can honestly say that there were more birders seawatching (Jeff Slocombe, Martin Bell, Martin Bevan, Phil Hill, Colin Gittins, Peter Morgan, Paul Tabor, Geth and me) than there were birds actually seen out at sea. But of course, seawatching at the Public Shelter in Porthcawl has one thing that Porthgwarra or Strumble Head don't offer - the background whiff of sewage from Welsh Water's Irongate Pumping Station.

Nevertheless, a historic day for the boy birder no matter what the surroundings.

Arctic Skua:Ogmore Estuary

2011-09-10T20:53:00.011+01:00

Myself and Peter Morgan popped down to Ogmore late morning today in the hope of catching up with the recently found Little Stint in better light than I had managed to photograph it on Thursday evening. We walked the riverbank down river from Portbello Island but the stint was nowhere to be seen,a migrating Wheatear posed at a distance but was flighty and some loafing Cormorants provided a nice photo opportunity. We decided to have a look a little further up river and after crossing under the bridge to the sewage works we picked up a nice Little Egret in flight which provided a brief photo opportunity.

As we got back to Portobello House and the car to make our way home the 200-300 roosting gulls all took flight in mad panic and in amongst them causing havoc was a juvenile Arctic Skua !!

Peter managed a few shots but I couldn't get on the bird with my camera before the skua and gulls all disappeared down river towards the rivermouth.

We jumped in my Jeep and followed picking up the skua from the west end of the main car park overlooking the rivermouth,it was still terrorizing the gulls and was chasing a Black-headed Gull in particular.

We dashed down the slipway and both managed some record shots of this superb unexpected bird.What a bonus after a very quiet couple of hours when the only other two birds of note were a pair of Common Sandpipers,just goes to show how unpredictable birding can be.

Little Stint:River Ogmore

2011-09-10T20:24:00.013+01:00

Having spent a few evening's in last week because of the poor weather I took advantage of a break in the drizzle Thursday evening to pop down to Ogmore after work in the hope that the recently found juvenile Little Stint would still be around. It took me about five minutes to find the bird which was where it had been previously located about 200m down river from Portobello House in company with a single Dunlin and single Ringed Plover. The light wasn't great so I had to bump up the ISO a little and despite some on and off drizzle I managed a few half decent shots of each bird,the stint was a little cracker !!

Sea Trust Pelagic:Fri 2.Sept 20011

2011-09-03T20:58:00.014+01:00

To end my week off on a further nautical note Teresa and myself booked on one of the Sea Trust's cetacean survey pelagics out of Neyland Marina and after an early start we were soon meeting up with Cliff Benson and the other participants at the marina cafe.

We set off on time and were soon "steaming" down the haven towards open water which once encountered was "lumpy" to say the least and it must have been borderline that we actually sailed.

A Manx Shearwater way up the haven was a bit of a surprise and as we headed our in the general direction of Lundy we picked up plenty of Gannets,Fulmers and Manx Shearwaters.

Cetaceans were a little thin on the ground but after a couple of hours we encountered several small pods of Common Dolphins coming in to "bow-ride" with the twin-hulled Celtic Wildcat,some so close you could hear them "blowing".

The sea state remained more than a little choppy and after doing a "loop" we stopped near Grassholm where the swell made me feel more than a little unwell and for the first time ever out on a small boat I threw up for a couple of minutes,that seemed to do the trick and as we headed back towards Neyland I felt a lot better.

I'm sure I saw Wayne's image in the water as I heaved over the side saying "that'll teach you to take the p..s out of me",harking back to a similar pelagic a number of years ago when he was ill for almost the entire trip !!

There were still thousands of Gannets on and around the island and the smell didn't exactly do me any favours in my delicate state !!

As it was fairly quiet and the sea state was still quite rough we arrived back at Neyland about an hour earlier than scheduled which was fine by me,I've enjoyed better times out in a small boat but won't let this one put me off,I'll be back for some more next year and will hopefully catch up with and enjoy a close encounter with those elusive Fin Whales.

Bay of Biscay:"Pont Aven" Ferry Aug/Sept 2011

2011-09-03T17:42:00.021+01:00

After the cancellation of the Cornwall Pelagic out of St Ives on Saturday 27.August with Kevin and Dan I enjoyed the long August Bank Holiday weekend up at the caravan with Teresa before on Tuesday morning heading down from Llangors to Richard Smith's house in Llantrisant for Sue to drop us both at Cardiff Central station to join up with 10 other participants on the Brittany Ferries "Pont Aven" from Portsmouth-Santander-Plymouth in the hope of encountering plenty of quality sea birds and cetaceans.The scheduled train to Portsmouth Harbour was on time but points problems at Bristol meant a 1 hour delay with Great Western deciding to terminate the journey at Fareham,which was really good of them,it's no wonder that the rail system in this country gets such bad press !!

Some quick thinking by the lads had 3 pre-booked taxis waiting for us at Fareham station and we were whisked quickly to the ferry with about 15 mins to spare,we quickly dumped our gear in our cabin and then had a couple of hours up on deck sea-watching as we made our way out into the English Channel picking up some Common Terns and Gannets.

I was sharing a 4 berth cabin with Richard,John Wilson and Alan Rosney and after a brisk wash and brush up we joined the others in the A La Carte restaurant for a sumptuous evening meal and a few drinks.

Wednesday morning saw us rise early if not bright for a full day's seawatching in the lower half of the Bay of Biscay before arriving at Santander at 6.00pm.

Myself and John jumped the gun and it was still dark as we arrived up on Deck 6 (Promenade Deck) which we had sussed out the evening before,we were soon joined by Richard and Alan and Joex Roex and Steve Howcroft soon arrived as did Cliff "Tiger" Woodhead,Alan Hughes,Nigel Fairney,Steve Hinton,Nigel Addecott and Nigel's nephew Tom.

We enjoyed a fantastic day picking up huge numbers of both Cory's and Great Shearwaters,10 Little Shearwaters,with Manx,Balearic and Sooty Shearwaters in good numbers.

50+ Sabine's Gulls were also seen as were Storm Petrels,Gannets,Fulmers and an assortment of gulls and terns,we also picked up both Arctic and Great Skuas and a couple which may have been Pomarine or Long Tailed but distance ruled out exact identificationWe started to enter the deeper canyon areas of the Bay of Biscay and after a slow start we picked up cetaceans in good numbers and at regular intervals,a lone Sperm Whale blew and gave brief if distant views and we also had good numbers of Fin Whales which blew and gave good views and the opportunity of a couple of photographs.Pilot Whales were also encountered as were Striped Dolphins and a couple of Cuvier's Beaked Whales surfaced only for myself,Richard,John and Alan to miss the encounter having slipped off for a coffee and a late light breakfast,sod's law as they were only a 100m or so out from the ship !!

We sailed on and passed raft after raft of Great Shearwaters which also held Manxies,Sootys and some Little Shearwaters,what a bonus !! A number of passarines also passed the ship and a Turtle Dove landed on one of the upper decks after flying past us a couple of times,a couple of Pipit sp were seen and we were told by some other birders that a Sedge Warbler had also sought the sanctuary of the ship on it's jouney south.

We soon reached Santander and had to leave the ship and "enjoy" Spain for a couple of hours which we did sat outside a bar in one of the squares opposite the cathedral.

On the way back myself,Richard and "Tiger" caught up with Joex,Steve,John and Alan who had added Wood Warbler,Spotted and Pied Flycatcher,Chiffchaff and a possible Bonelli's Warbler plus a couple of local Peregrines to the trip list in a small but very busy lacal park.

We had put in a good 12 hour shift and all retired to our cabins well pleased with our efforts although some of us were more than a miffed at "dipping" on the Cuvier's !!

After a nice evening meal in the not so expensive self service restaurant and a quick drink we enjoyed a reasonably early night looking forward to what the upper part of the bay would bring in the morning.

I struggled to get up as early as I had hoped and missed part of the first hour when wave after wave of dolphins came into the ship,a conservative estimate was 1500,I still saw quite a few and managed some pics of Common Dolphins and whilst watching a pod dashing in we spotted a few Minke Whales "rolling" just behind them.

The upper half of the bay I am told is never as good as the deeper lower half and we encountered some quiet periods which unfortunately are inevitable at some point.

The trip soon came to an end as we reached Plymouth at 4.00pm on Thursday afternoon,unfortunately our pre-booked train to Cardiff didn't leave until 6.25pm,yet again a good excuse to go to a local pub for a pint and compile the "trip list".

We made good time to Cardiff and Sue was bang on time to pick us up at the station,after dropping off Alan at Nantgarw and picking up my car I was soon on my way home having enjoyed a fantastic few days.

The company was great,the price negotiated by "Slaphead" fantastic,a ferry as good as most cruise ships I've been on,fabulous food and drink,great weather and sea state and brilliant sea-birds and cetaceans.

I can't wait until next year and with the lads planning a possible "mini-cruise" Plymouth-Santander-Plymouth combined with a couple of days land birding in the Picos de Europa what a prospect !!

The Morning After the Morning Before

2011-08-29T18:47:00.006+01:00

Having said I'd get up "first thing" in my previous posting I suppose I'd better prove that I did!

Well I did, and I'm really glad I did. It wasn't quite as busy as the previous morning, and we didn't have the excitement of adding any new species to the patch life list, but it was worth getting up to see the numbers of Chiffchaff going through Radyr Floodplain (The Scrub). We counted at least 35 of them, and that was a conservative estimate. Also making up the numbers were a dozen Blackcap and 4 Whitethroats. And then Geth turned up trumps by digging out a Lesser Whitethroat - only our second ever for The Scrub. Of interest to Geth and me only were some fly-over Rooks (a patch year tick).

And finally, on our way home we went through 'The Top Scrub' (not that it is in anyway 'top' in a birding sense - it's normally rubbish. It's not even particularly 'scrubby' either). It's official name is the Glamorgan Canal LNR Top Meadow and to our surprise, in addition to the ever present Magpies, Jackdaws, Greenfinch and dog walkers, it also had 3 Tree Pipits.

Ah, the joys of migration.

A 'Fall' on the Patch

2011-08-27T21:06:00.008+01:00

In terms of notable UK 'falls' of birds this one would probably be better described as a very small 'stumble'. It wouldn't register more than 0.001 on the Ornithological Richter Scale, but in terms of Gethin's and my patch (Radyr Floodplain/Forest Farm/Glamorgan Canal nr Whitchurch, Cardiff) today was positively historic . . . and I nearly missed out on it by being a lazy bugger.

Geth had clocked that it was going to be cloudy and wet overnight and clearing in the morning. He recognised the birding potential of such weather and was out first thing. I on the other hand chose to stay in bed . . . . again. (See previous posting).

An hour later, I was just stepping into the shower when there was an almighty noise downstairs created by Gethin appearing to try and smash the front door down (he'd forgotten his key again). "WHINCHAT! TREE PIPIT! REDSTARTS! LOADS OF WARBLERS!" he blurted breathlessly. The shower was fogotten and, having remembered to throw on some clothes, we were on our way.

As soon as we entered 'The Scrub' (aka Radyr Flood Plain) I got onto a male Redstart and Geth got onto a fem/imm. We didn't bother looking at them for any length of time - we've seen quite a few there on migration - because up on top of a small hawthorn was a Whinchat, and then there was another, and then another! 3 flippin' Whinchat! High fives . . . a new patch tick.

In no time at all, a pipit flew overhead and onto the top of a bush. Meadow Pipit. Damn! A scarcity on the patch, we'd have been happy enough to see a Mipit normally - but not today. We traipsed round The Scrub picking up the odd Chiffchaff, Blackcap and Whitethroat but the numbers of warblers Geth had had an hour earlier had already cleared out.

And then there it was, another pipit. Straight ahead of us. And this time it was a Tree Pipit - yet another new patch tick. Top banana!

The Tree Pipit takes our combined patch list up to 89. Geth is on 88 (he's seen Canada Goose, Lapwing, Sedge Warbler, Pied Flycatcher and Stonechat and I haven't) and I'm on 84 (I've seen Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and he hasn't).

Why am I four species behind him? Because I'm a lazy bugger and he's seen all those extra species while I've been lying in bed.

I'll be out with him first thing tomorrow morning though.

Twitchmeister's Triple Tick Trip

2011-08-22T20:36:00.027+01:00

It's August and so the Jenkins-Joneses must be down on their annual summer holidays in beautiful Pembrokeshire. (Every year, I'd like to go to Norfolk on our holidays, but the current Mrs Jenkins-Jones prefers Pembrokeshire. And so every year we compromise - the secret of a successful marriage - and we end up in Pembrokeshire).

Now, if you're a birder, early August isn't usually the bestest time to visit Pembrokeshire. (Norfolk is much better in August, Mrs JJ take note). The islands are quiet because most of the seabirds have finished nesting, wader passage hasn't really kicked off and it's usually just a little bit too soon to expect some nice rarities. The height of our birding ambition every year is to get the Fishguard Harbour Black Guillemots onto Gethin's life list. And so it was again this year. But of course, they also naff off in early August too so we've dipped on them every year.

But, our 2011 holiday was to prove much more fruitful . . . .

We set off for St Davids on the 9th. Unbeknown to the Twitchmeister, before leaving the house I'd clocked that there was a Melodious Warbler lurking down at Martin's Haven. Like any self-respecting birding father, I didn't tell him. On arriving at Havefordwest, I pulled over and checked my phone - the harmonious Hippo was still showing - I still didn't breathe a word. Two minutes before we arrived at the National Trust car park in Martin's Haven I told him to get hold of his Collins and familiarise himself with Melodious Warbler. "Why?" he said "Cos you're going to be looking at one within the next few minutes" I said. Cue: pandamonium.

We duly arrived at the spot where the bird had been seen. Cue usual opening question, trying to sound as calm as possible - "Is it showing boys?" Reply: "Nope". Trying to hide my disappointment "Oh that's a shame". I wandered off to inform Mrs JJ that we may be some time when up went the shout "There it is!" By the time I got there it had disappeared again. Geth had seen it (briefly) and I hadn't. Cue: a serious bout of gripping off his father. It's a good thing for the lad that two minutes later the bird showed brilliantly otherwise he'd have had a tripod wrapped round his neck. Lifer for both of us.

The self-congratulatory couple at Martin's Haven.

This holiday was already proving better than any of our other Pembrokeshire family holidays . . . and it hadn't even started yet.

We arrived at St Davids in a cold, stiff south westerly wind. Mrs JJ wasn't happy. But, Geth and I were. Strumble Head here we come!

7.30 the following morning (I know, I know, we should have been there at least an hour earlier but it was the first full day of our holiday and Mrs JJ didn't want to be woken up too early . . . so we compromised) we were sitting on our deckchairs on Strumble. Cue usual opening question: "Anything showing, boys?" Reply: "Nope, very quiet". Trying to hide my disappointment "Oh, what a shame".

Now, anybody who's ever been seawatching in Glamorgan will be familiar with 'quiet days', and a 'quiet seawatching day' in Glamorgan isn't the same as a 'quiet seawatching day' on Strumble. There were thousands of birds out there! Dozens of Kittiwakes streamed past, as did scores of Manx Shearwaters, auks, gulls and Gannets galore. And then best of all three Bonxies close in and two Sooty Shearwaters further out. Two more lifers for the Twitchmeister (#248 & #249) and a Wales tick for me (the Sooties).

"Wot no Balearics?" The Twitchmeister enjoying a "quiet day" on Strumble.

We left north Pembs the following Saturday (having enjoyed every night the spectacle of thousands Manxies flying past St Davids Head on the way back to their burrows) and headed off to our second destination - Saundersfoot. Here, the quality of birding dropped to the usual Jenkins-Jones family holiday standard. Although Geth, on one of his early morning forays into a nearby wood (I'd stayed in bed), found a Marsh Tit. He tried gripping me off again but it didn't work this time.

The Twitchmeister sketched in Tenby - complete with bins

The twpsyn has since cut his hair so the picture doesn't look anything like him anymore.

In birding terms the holiday may have started with a bang and ended in a whimper but I'm not complaining. I'll be happy to compromise and return to Pembrokeshire again in 2012.

And in case you'r wondering . . . yes, we dipped on the Black Guillemots at Fishguard again.

The last few weeks...............

2011-07-24T20:28:00.031+01:00

Selection of images taken over the course of the last few weeks at Ogmore,Llangors,WWT Penclacwydd,Skomer Island and "The Wader's" private location in the Vale.

Little Owls with the new lens.

2011-07-02T21:57:00.011+01:00

After buying my "new" secondhand Canon f4 IS 500mm last weekend I thought I'd put it to the test this morning by trying to photograph some local Little Owls,and after a 4.00am start here are some of the results........

Brecon Birding~Whitsun 2011

2011-06-03T21:03:00.010+01:00

Had the week off work for Whitsun so myself and Teresa spent some time up at the caravan,managed to get out a few times with the camera.............

Black and White-size is everything !!

2011-05-22T17:18:00.009+01:00

Who'd have thought that after the Whiskered Tern episode in Sept 2010 that something similar could have happened again today especially after setting out just to try and photograph summer migrants in a local wood !!

I set out this morning to visit Cwm Nant Gwyn best accessed from the track over Mynydd Ty Talwyn and soon bumped into Paul Tabor who was scanning the nearby fields and mentioned that he also was intending visiting the wood to check nestboxes.

We walked down to the wood together and I gave Paul a hand checking the boxes for an hour most of which held Blue or Great Tits with clutches of between 8-10 nestlings.

Paul then decided to move on and I decided to stay on for an hour or so in the hope of finding and photographing something more interesting.

I had just taken my camera out of it's bag when I heard Paul calling loudly from the field adjacent the wood and pointing skywards,I hurried up the slope to join him to find that he was on what he first thought was a distant Common Crane circling over the hill.

He quickly got me on to the bird and I banged away with the camera trying to get some record shots,the bird was about 1/4 mile away and then appeared to drop and land over the crest of the hill.

I reviewed the photos on the LCD screen on my camera and confirmed that I thought the bird was a stork and plumped for White Stork as one had been in the area only a few weeks ago.

I'd left my camera bag and monopod in the wood so had to backtrack to retrieve them whilst Paul pushed on ahead,within no time at all we had phoned various fellow birders and the "grapevine" had gone into overdrive.

We drove over to where we thought the bird had landed and soon bumped into Martyn Hnatiuk who had made a mad dash from a seawatching morning in Porthcawl,Simon Murray arrived and after both had looked at the photographs confirmed the bird to be a Black Stork.

The four of us searched the surrounding area and Paul "Sid" Parsons soon arrived and we all then headed for Parc Slip NR which we all agreed would be a good place for the stork to land with all it's wet areas.

Despite a good search the bird could not be relocated and whilst walking back to the car we bumped into Barry Stewart,Paul Roberts,Mike Thomas,Steve Hinton and Alex Bevan who had also been scanning the area.

Martyn and "Sid" checked some of the wetter fields in the area and then we all headed for home with the three remaining Maesteg lads revisiting MTT in the hope that the stork would be seen again close to where it had disappeared from sight.

What a bizzare morning-I'd set out in the hope of photographing a small black and white summer visitor to our oak woods and ended up with record photos of a wopping big black and white bird which is just that little bit rarer !!

Tawny Owl:Llynfi Valley

2011-05-15T20:44:00.007+01:00

Had a stroll through a couple of local woods last Thursday evening after work and came across a Tawny Owl.

First one that I've had a chance to photograph,taken well past 8.00pm in a murky canopy covered wood with ISO pushed to 3200 and shutter speed hovering around 1/20-1/30th sec,the technology of modern digital cameras is absolutely incredible.

Not the greatest but ok record shots.

BNG-Llanilid "Return visit"

2011-05-08T20:35:00.019+01:00

When visiting Llanilid after work last week the conditions were overcast and the light very poor,seeing the weather brightening up this morning after the overnight rain I decided to pay another visit in an attempt to get some better photgraphs.

Black-necked Grebe:Llanilid

2011-05-04T22:24:00.006+01:00

When the belated news broke of a summer plumaged Black-necked Grebe on one of the pools at Llanilid I knew that this was one bird that I wanted to attempt to photograph.

I managed to get down to the site after work this evening and Peter "Pedro" Morgan was already on the bird and clicking away with his camera.

The pool isn't very large but the bird prefered to keep it's distance sticking mainly to the middle of the water and only occasionally drifting a little closer to shore.

The weather was overcast and the light was very poor so I had to push the ISO a tad but I was pleased to get some reasonable record shots of this spectacular small grebe.

I've only seen a handful of Black-necked Grebes and all have been in winter plumage so as well as getting a few pics I got a "plumage tick" as well,happy days !!

Return of the Dotterel:Cefn Cadlan

2011-05-03T21:21:00.015+01:00

After the disappointment of not finding any Dotterel on Sat a.m I was well pleased when news broke on Sun a.m that Martin Bevan and Phil Hill had found a pair in the same location as the birds that were found by Graham Smith in 2010.

Teresa had borrowed the Jeep to visit a local car boot sale in the morning so I birded locally and decided to go for the birds in the afternoon.

I just missed Peter Morgan who had just "ticked" another lifer but met up with Rob Mitchell who was already on the pair and clicking away with his Nikon and "Bigma".

The birds were very confiding and approached within 4-5m and although the wind had now reached hurricane like proportions I managed to get a few nice shots.

Both myself and Rob enjoyed chatting with visiting birder/photographer Dave Barnes from Worcester whose name I picked up from the images he had posted on Birdguides,Dave was shooting with a Canon 500mm f4 on a 1D body,the stuff dreams are made of,one day,one day...............

Whilst the three of us were firing away Dave and Mrs Palmer from Cardiff also turned up and we were able to get them on to the birds straight away.

What a nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon,why aren't all birds so co-operative ??..........

Craig Cerrig Gleisad

2011-05-03T20:20:00.003+01:00

On Sat 30.April myself and fellow enthusiastic bird photographer Peter "Pedro" Morgan decided to hook up with the GBC field trip to CCG and arranged with John Wilson to meet up with the rest of the paricipants at 09.45 at the reserve.

Firstly though we agreed to meet to meet each other on the road below Cefn Cadlan and walk up to the limestone pavement in search of Dotterel hoping that perhaps last year's two passage birds would make a timely return.

It was cold and cloudy at 07.00 but Peter was in buoyant mood after "ticking" the White Stork at Aberdullais en-route,by the time we had reached the ridge though we could feel the keenness of a stiff easterly breeze.

We searched for about an hour but to no avail,little did we know that Martin Bevan and Phil Hill would find a pair the next morning !! (Guess that makes us crap birders ???-were the birds there and we missed them or did they arrive later,who knows !)

We soon arrived at CCG and despite a good scan of the crag failed to connect with a Ring Ouzel although a dapper male Redstart had us stalking it along the edge of the fenced wood.

We met up with John and his fellow field trippers and after a short while John picked out two Ring Ouzels about 3/4 of the way up the left hand side of the crag which had been spooked by a passing Raven.

We enjoyed some brief 'scope views courtesy of John and Alan Rosney and Peter decided he would like to get some pics of what was a "lifer" for him,I didn't argue and so the two of us made the lung bursting trudge up the crag.

We connected with a single RO but the bird was quite wary of our presence and we ended up shooting into and across the sunlight which was far from ideal,the bird was feeding on the close cropped sheep pasture beyond the reserve and for the record we didn't pursue it onto the crag and attempt to find it's nesting location,we both got some record shots and moved on.

Whilst the others connected with Whinchat in our absence we "dipped" although we had good views of one of the resident Peregrines and a passing Red Kite.

After a well earned picnic lunch we visited the small wood across the A470 from the reserve where we soon came across the first of 5 male Pied Flycatchers which we found along the footpath,although they were all quite flighty I did manage a few reasonable record shots.

Whilst lagging behind taking photographs we missed a couple of female Redstarts that the rest picked up,such is life.

The remainder of the trip decided to call into Llwyn-on Reservoir/Garwnant on the way home so after saying our goodbyes I headed back to Llangors and Peter for home both well pleased with our excellent if "knackering" day out.

Warblers or "The Wedding" - no contest !!

2011-05-03T19:46:00.011+01:00

Teresa and myself took advantage of the the second long weekend in a row by spending four nights up at caravan in Llangors and while she watched the royal wedding I made an early start and paid a visit to Park Wood in Talgarth in search of Wood Warbler.

I had noted from the Brecknock Birds sightings page that Wood Warblers had been seen recently at the wood and so decided to pay my first visit in the hope of a new "photographic tick".

The first bird I heard singing when I got out of the car was Wood Warbler and I soon found the bird alongside the footpath through the wood,this bird and another of a total of five that I found duly obliged for some photographs although pinning them down was not easy as they continually flitted around in the canopy.

This is a large wood of mainly broadleaved trees with some conifers in places and is certainly a site that I will visit again,there were large numbers of Willow Warblers and Chiffchaff present along with our resident woodland birds but try as I might I couldn't find a Pied Flycatcher although the habitat looks perfect.

Reed Warblers:Llangors Lake

2011-04-25T20:36:00.009+01:00

Teresa and myself have started using the caravan again since the season started a few weeks ago,I managed an hour down at the lake on Saturday evening and managed to get a few reasonable shots of Reed Warbler although the light was fading and I had to crank the ISO up more than I would have liked.

"Gropper" in the bag.

2011-04-19T21:07:00.006+01:00

I fancied a couple of hours out this evening after work and was going to pop down to Darren Woods to have a look for a Wood Warbler but after having a chat with Paul "Sid" Parsons decided instead to have a look around the fields behind Maesteg Cemetery.

"Sid" assured me that the fields were a reliable site for Grasshopper Warbler and I wasn't dissapointed with four different birds "reeling" and two seen,one of which posed quite nicely for the camera.

Nice one "Sid" !!

Woodchat Shrike:Llangennith,Gower

2011-04-16T22:01:00.005+01:00

Although I'm well into double figures for Great Grey Shrikes in the UK my list of the "summer" shrikes is quite pitiful in comparison with only one Red Backed Shrike and two previous Woodchat Shrikes so I was keen to catch up with this bird and hopeful of getting a few "snaps".

I'd been keeping my fingers crossed all week that it would stay 'til the weekend and the bird duly obliged.

I phoned Peter "Pedro" Morgan from Bridgend who was equally keen and after meeting him at Sarn Junc 36 on the M4 we were soon heading west to the Gower.

We duly arrived at Hillend Caravan Park in Llangennith and after parking up were soon strolling across the dunes in search of the shrike.

We scanned some of the scrub but with no luck and I then spied the friendly face through my bins of Phil Hill with Mrs Hill coming towards us and Phil soon put us on to the bird which was a little further along the track,we'd been looking in the wrong place-no change there then !!

The bird was quite conspicuous with it's chestnut cap and black and white plummage and whilst it perched up prominently on the top of brambles and bushes it never allowed an approach closer than 25-30m before it took flight.

We snapped away with our cameras and I managed to get a few reasonable record shots.

We stayed for about 1 1/2 hrs always trying to get that little bit closer for that "crippler" of a shot but realising that the bird wasn't going to allow a closer approach and with evening closing in and the light getting poorer with more cloud cover we headed for home.

We couldn't really complain,a third "Woodie" for me (all in Glamorgan) and a UK "lifer" for Peter,quite a good afternoon all in all.

Spring has sprung

2011-03-28T21:29:00.009+01:00

After a morning finishing off some DIY and doing a bit in the garden Teresa and myself popped down to Cardiff Bay in the afternoon for a couple of hours.

Whilst Teresa relaxing in the car doing a bit of "people watching" I strolled across the barrage as far as the sails hoping that I may catch up with the Bonaparte's Gull.

The light was very hazy (that's my excuse anyway) and I failed to connect with the gull but on the way back to the car I heard a Chiffchaff calling in the only tree on the barrage,a scruffy old willow sprouting out of the rocks by the end of the lock gates.

The bird was quite confiding and I managed a few nice record shots of what was probably a very new arrival.

'T' is for . . .

2011-03-28T16:16:00.005+01:00

. . . Triple Teal Tick.

Geth and I had a T-riffic day out last Saturday when we managed to see the Blue-winged Teal at Sandy Water Park, and both Green-winged and Eurasian Teal at Peterstone.

'T' is also for . . .

'Tick' - the Blue and Green-winged were lifers for Gethin and were Welsh ticks for me.
'Twitchmeister'
'Tunnocks'
'Try again' . . .

Ever so slightly better than my first attempt (see below)!

Sandy Water Park,Llanelli

2011-03-26T22:37:00.014Z

I'd been keeping an eye on sightings of the recently found Blue-winged Teal all week hoping that it would stay until the weekend so that I could get some good "images" of what would be a "lifer" for me.

After touching base with Dan on Friday evening we met up early this morning at Sarn Junc 36 on the M4 and myself,Dan and "The Twitchmeister" were soon heading west,the weather early on was quite cloudy but as we drove into Llanelli it started to brighten up.

We parked up in the small car park at the side of the lake and young Gethin was first to get on to the bird which was on the opposite side of the water in front of The Sandpiper pub.

It showed quite well and I was able to get some reasonable record shots,not quite up to Dan's standard but I was quite satisfied with the results.

There were lots of gulls around as well and a bright Kingfisher dashed across the lake a couple of times glinting in the sunlight,amongst the gulls was a juvenile Little Gull which was found about the same time as the BWT and seems to come and go between the lake and the nearby beach.

Although it never came in really close I was able to get to few record shots.

Soon it was time to leave but not before devouring a traditional Tunnocks wafer to celebrate another lifer for myself and Geth.

West is Best

2011-03-24T11:37:00.005Z

Tuesday saw Wayne and me heading west and crossing over the Afon Llwchwr back to the heaven that is my home county of Carmarthenshire. We were there to pay homage to another westener - the Blue-winged Teal at Sandy Water Park, Llanelli. (Well, relative to Glamorgan, he's a westener whether he came from North America or Penclacwydd).

Even though I say so myself, I think I've excelled myself this time

The teal was picked up as soon as we arrived. It continuously swam up and down the northern bank, never staying still, and occasionally flying 20 or 30 metres. That's my excuse anyway. The Little Gull was still present too.

Mission accomplished we went on to Penclacwydd. The Garganey that had been around for a couple of days had departed, so we had to settle for Black-tailed Godwit, Redshank, Greenshank and a couple of Lapwing. Highlight of the visit though was a Short-eared Owl flying high over the marsh being pursued by a Crow. I've never see an owl so high up. Apparently, it returned after we left and was seen in more typical behaviour, quartering the marsh in front of the British Steel Hide.

A posting on BirdGuides of a Glaucous Gull seen at Sandy Water Park had us legging it back to our original destination. It wasn't there but it was good to bump into a gathering of familiar faces from Glamorgan who had just arrived - Mark Dutfield, Marlay John, Alan Rosney, John Wilson and Matt Evans.

We called in at Kenfig on our way home. It was still rather quiet there but hopefully, in a week or two, it'll be buzzing with newly arrived migrants. Roll on.

Change-over time

2011-03-06T22:23:00.008Z

Not done a lot lately as I've been busy doing other stuff and what little I've done has been local.

With news of a Wheatear in the last few days at St Brides I took a break from some DIYing and after visiting B+Q in Bridgend with Teresa this afternoon we popped down to Ogmore By Sea to see if I could locate and photograph a new arrival.

Whilst a very patient Teresa relaxed in the car I had a look around for an hour but to no avail,too many "grockles" and dogs about.

I decided to cut my losses and had a look for the regular Purple Sandpipers on the rocks opposite the gate before they depart north again to their breeding grounds.

In a low nice late afternoon light I managed a few reasonable record shots :-

Hopefully I'll catch up with a few new arrivals in the next few weeks.

The Patch

2011-03-06T13:05:00.003Z

Just in case anyone is interested (probably not I know!), here's a Google Map of Gethin (and my!) patch.

View Gethin's Patch in a larger map

Hugh'd Have Believed It?

2011-03-04T10:58:00.009Z

Gethin is green with envy. The Boy Birder has discovered that he is not the Whitchurch (Glamorgan) Canal Nature Reserve's Top Lister - and not by a long way.

While flicking through my old copies of the Young Ornithologist's Club's Bird Life magazines (yes, I've still got them, beginning from the Jul-Aug 1977 issue right up to Nov/Dec 1985), the Twitchmeister came across an article entitled 'On My Patch' in the Jan/Feb 1985 magazine. The patch in question was the Whitchurch Canal Nature reserve no less! The piece was penned by Shetland Wildlife impressario, photographer extraordinaire and one time local birding luminary, Hugh Harrop.

Geth was very happy with his respectable patch list of 84 - but he isn't any longer. Much to his chagrin, Hugh's patch list was a mighty 94! There wasn't much detail in the article about what species Hugh had seen on the reserve but it did include Little Owl (which isn't recorded there anymore) and Gethin howled with pain when he read that it also included Red-backed Shrike.

The clinching sentence in the article about the patch was that Hugh "visits it four days a week". That's dedication. The Twitchmeister visits it no more than twice a week (but more often in school holidays), and so he's going to have to up his game to beat Hugh's total. A challenge, he tells me, he's willing to accept. How will he get on? Watch this space!

Birdin' in the Docks and the Bay (with apologies to Otis Redding)

2011-02-22T19:11:00.009Z

I left my home in Whitchurch

Headed for the Cardiff Bay. 'Cos I've had nothing to bird for

And look like nothing's gonna come my way.

So I'm just gonna sit in the docks and the Bay

Watchin' the tide (fail to) roll away

Ooh, I'm sitting in the docks and the Bay wasting time.

Black Redstart was our target bird today, down around Cardiff Bay Barrage/Penarth Head. We dipped. Still, Geth and I had a decent few hours' birding - starting in Hamadryad Park and then walking all the way over to Penarth Head, before walking back and jumping in the car to have a look at the Bay from Prospect Place.

The River Taff at Hamadryad had plenty of Coot, fewer Mute Swans than of late, a sprinkling of Little Grebes and Tufted Duck and 3 Pochard. At Cardiff Bay Wetland Reserve we added 10 Teal, some G C Grebes, Reed Bunting, Water Rail, Gadwall, Kestrel and it was great to hear 2 Cetti's Warblers.

There was nothing much on the Barrage itself but things picked up at Prospect Place where we picked up 9 Lesser Redpoll and, pick of the bunch, a Slavonian Grebe - most probably the one that's been hanging around Atlantic Wharf recently. It spent most of its time asleep, but it finally woke up and allowed me to take this 'image' of it.

In the Pink

2011-02-21T16:46:00.006Z

It's half term, the current Mrs Jenkins-Jones and beloved daughter are away for a few days leaving us boys at home - let's get some birding in! Well, that was the plan for Gethin and me but a). I didn't fancy a trip to Chipping Norton, b). I didn't fancy a trip to a landfill site near Rainham, c). there's nowt else about and d). the weather is awful. Luckily, the Pink-footed Geese appeared to be still hanging around Kenfig NNR - so that's where we headed off to yesterday.

No sooner had we arrived in the car park than the Pink-feet flew over our heads down towards the Pool. It's strange that, after witnessing the breathtaking spectacle of thousands of Pink-feet in Norfolk less than a month ago, I was equally as chuffed to see just 14 of these geese here in my adopted home county - such is their scarcity in Glamorgan.

It was nice to bump into Martin Bell in the car park. He'd just returned from a birding trip to The Gambia with Rob Gaze, Phil Hill, Mike Hogan and Martin Bevan. A cracking week's birding by all accounts. To read their trip report click here.

When we arrived at the Pool the geese were right in the middle of the water. Nevertheless, I still got this 'stonking' photo of some of them . . . .

It was good to see good numbers of the more usual wildfowl on the water: Gadwall, Shoveler, Tufted Duck, Pochard, Goldeneye etc. We had to work hard though to find just one pair of Mallard. Sadly, there were no fly-by Bitterns.

A quick yomp down to Sker Point/Kenfig Sands didn't yield as much as we'd hoped for. Only a lone Purple Sandpiper and 4 Turnstone at the very far end of Sker Point, and around a dozen Curlew and some Oycs on the beach. Newton Beach, our next stop, only added one new wader - a Grey Plover. The Ogmore Estuary was similarly quiet and we dipped again on the local Little Owls. Roll on the Spring.

Still, it's not all bad. Geth and I are having a night in tonight with some take-away pizzas, a beer or two for me, full control of the TV remote control and some birding DVDs we received for Christmas. Don't you love it when 'the cat's away'?

R.I.P. the Dipmobile

2011-02-11T20:01:00.007Z

It is with great sadness that we have to announce the break up of a wonderful relationship here in Birders in Boxers - Wayne's 'Dipmobile' is no longer with us. Gone into the hands of a non-birder who will never ever rev it up at the crack of dawn to travel hundreds of miles for a spectacular dip.

The one and only - the original 'Dipmobile'

A faithful friend, Wayne's trusty steed never let us down. (It's a shame the same can't be said for the birds we chased in it). Many a happy hour was spent in its comfy seats on our way to twitch the latest mega. Many more unhappy hours were spent in it on our way home from dipping on the latest mega.

R.I.P. Dipmobile - we'll miss you. But hang on . . . what's this?

Yes, Wayne has upgraded to an MPV Ford Galaxy. A 7 seater motor no less, and two of the seats can be folded down to make room for our 'scopes, tripods, flasks and sarnies - not forgetting Jeff's cameras and long lenses. More legroom for the boys on those long journeys. We'll probably continue dipping, but at least now we can dip in comfort.

"The Dipmobile is Dead - Long Live the Dipmobile!"

Norfolk 2011 - Birding, Boozing and Bloody Cold!

2011-02-09T19:12:00.035Z

Somehow managing to squeeze all our luggage, 'scopes, tripods and Tunnock's caramel wafers into the boot of the car, Kev (driver), Wayne (navigator), Geri (entertainment) and I (erm, making up the numbers) left Cardiff for our annual Norfolk jolly on Saturday, Jan 29th.

'Plan A' was to call in first at Buckenham Marshes/Cantley to bag the Lesser White-fronted Goose. Unfortunately, the goose must have got wind of our plans and promptly naffed off a couple of days before we arrived. Never mind, this area is always a great place to start a trip to Norfolk.

The wilderness of Buckenham Marshes

We called in at Strumpshaw Fen on the way and picked up Marsh Tit and Brambling on the reserve centre feeders. At Buckenham there were shedloads of Eurasian Wigeon on the marshes and, on the River Yare, a Red-necked Grebe. We walked along the river, each of us getting taller with each step as the clay stuck to our boots, and soon enough we were watching around 60 Taiga Bean Geese. My best ever views of them - even though it took me five minutes longer than everybody else to get them in my 'scope.

Bean and Greylag Geese

By the time we got back to the car Geri, Wayne and I were covered in clay. Kev on the other hand was spotless. That's what 30 years in the Royal Navy teaches you.

No time to hang around. Our next stop was the Horsey area to go curb-crawling for some leggy beauties - Cranes. Three pairs of sharp eyes, and mine, were not enough to find any 'on the deck', but we did pick up our first Hen Harrier of the trip which was flying alongside a Marsh Harrier; hundreds of Golden Plover and the first of many Barn Owls. On to Stubb Mill, we were greeted by other birders who were waiting for the Cranes to come in to roost. One birder 'greeted' us by telling us to get out of his way. Seeing as we were not in his way, the trip almost began with Kevin putting him 'on the deck'. As tempers cooled we enjoyed watching a kamikaze Peregrine causing panic as it nose-dived a 'flock' of c.35 Marsh Harriers; a male Merlin and finally, 3 Common Cranes.

Within an hour we arrived at our digs for the trip - The Kings Arms at Blakeney - where we were given a warm welcome (and a free round of drinks) by landlord, and Welshman in exile, Nick Davies. Within no time we were tucking into some excellent food and beer in the company of fellow Glamorgan birders Alan Rosney, Mike Wheeler and Gareth Jenkins who were staying nearby.

Day 2 began with a trip to the East Bank at Cley. The long-staying American Wigeon was found without too much trouble before we added Spoonbill, Ruff, Knot, Redshank, Grey Plover, Dunlin, Curlew, Black and Bar-tailed Godwit on Arnold's Marsh. Moving on to the beach 3 Shorelark were picking their way along the shingle. We didn't expect to see much during a brief sea-watch because, for once, there wasn't a great deal of wind. But, nonetheless we did manage to find a few Red-throated Divers and Slavonian Grebes.

Seawatching at Cley - can you ID Glamorgan birders from behind?

Despite the calm, sunny, conditions we dipped on Bearded Tits in the reeds and headed off for Weybourne where we were soon looking at some Lapland Buntings. Once we managed to get Geri back in the car (is there anywhere you can take him where he doesn't bump into somebody he knows?), we tanked east up the A149 to Holme. Within no time at all we'd found our target bird - Long-tailed Duck - and had also added Snow Bunting and Sanderling to our trip list. Everything was going smoothly . . . too smoothly. It was about time something didn't go to plan.

And so it did, when we assembled with a gang of other birders at Thornham to wait for the Northern Harrier. We waited and waited as dusk began to fall and the temperature dropped like a stone. Finding a small covey of Grey Partridges didn't do much to lift our spirits - especially since we'd been well and truly gripped off by Alan, Mike and Gareth in the pub the night before, all of whom had cracking views of the harrier during the day. And then finally, it appeared. Or did it? A ringtail harrier was flying a couple of miles west of us in the direction of Titchwell. Completely untickable. Should we make a dash over to Titchwell? Surely we'd have better views of it over there? We hummed and haahed and dithered, and when we finally got to Titchwell we were informed that the Harrier had flown over the path five minutes before we arrived. *@!&#{*!. Watching Marsh Harriers and 3 Bitterns coming into roost was not much consolation. Neither was watching half a dozen Woodcock leaving for their night's feeding either.

Day 3 saw us heading west again. A quick stop at Burnham Overy and our luck was back in when we immediately got on to 2 Rough-legged Buzzards who performed beautifully.

RLB - Jeff Slocombe eat your heart out!

Calling in briefly at Choseley it was great to see some Corn Buntings and Yellowhammers still clinging on in the area and, on our drive back to the main road, a lone Waxwing sat up on the top of a tree. Further west we arrived at Flitcham Abbey Farm where it was nice to see the return of some good numbers of Tree Sparrow. From the hide the local Little Owl obliged us as usual. But, despite another patient bout of curb-crawling around Wolferton Triangle the local Golden Pheasants were less obliging.

Next stop Titchwell and its brand new Star Ship Enterprise (Parrinder) Hide - "It's a hide Jim, but not as we know it!"

The new Parrinder Hide at Titchwell

Hardly your traditional hide but it offered welcome shelter from the cold as we watched Spotted Redshank, Avocet (a lone bird and our only one of the trip), Twite and Skylark amongst other commoner wildfowl and waders. There was a huge flock of gulls on the freshwater scrape - and amongst them were a couple of Med Gulls. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention - on our way out to the hide Wayne found the Northern Harrier again! It performed beautifully, really showing off its orangey underparts in the sunshine and, even to my untrained eye, having a subtley different jizz to a Hen Harrier.

We left the warmth of the hide for another quick seawatch. There were hundreds of Common Scoter offshore but we couldn't turn any of them into a Velvet. We did however find a few more R-t Divers, some Eider and a couple of R-B Mergansers.

Next on the agenda - a dodgy (?) goose at Burnham Deepdale. But, before we got to that one we found another. Wayne (he deserves a medal - he was on fire on this trip), picked out a lone Barnacle Goose in a field amongst hundreds of Pink-footed Geese - while travelling at 60mph in the car! On arrival at Burnham Deepdale Wayne (again!) found our target bird about a mile away amongst thousands of Pink-feet - a Ross's Goose. But, before we could get our 'scopes on to it the whole flock - c.10,000 birds took off. *@#!. But no, hang on, they were heading our way! Before long we didn't need our 'scopes as the Ross's Goose circled directly above us. The whole flock landed in a field nearby before shortly being spooked and taking off in one huge mass. The sound they made was breathtaking - like a large train approaching. Wayne, captured some of it on his phone.

Spot the Ross's Goose. (Who needs a long lens?!)

To cap a perfect day, as daylight almost completely disappeared, we just about managed to make out two Smew on Wells Boating Lake in the gloom.

A trip to celebrate - and celebrate we did - until 3am accompanied by our host Nick and a certain amount of Nelson's Revenge, Port and Cherry Brandies!

And that was it - Norfolk 2011. On our way home we called in at Welney where we got Whooper Swan, another Long-tailed Duck and another duck whose name can't be mentioned cos it's got a price on its head. The Trip List of 136 was our highest ever winter trip list total in Norfolk - and we never managed to get to Holkham Hall to look for woodland birds. We'll do it all over again next year.

Hurry . . . while stocks last!

2011-01-21T15:24:00.004Z

Hot off the press - the Co-op is currently selling Tunnock's Caramel Wafers (Birders in Boxers confectionary of choice) at the bargain price of £1 a packet - that's down an incredible 49p.

As you can see I have taken advantage of this generous offer

and completed all my packing for next weekend's trip to Norfolk.

A Year on the 'Patch'

2011-01-14T13:12:00.041Z

Back in late 2009, Geth took on his new 'patch'. Somewhere he could occasionally go birding without his Dad - can you really blame him? Unfortunately for him, he couldn't get rid of his Dad that easily, because I took a liking to his patch too, and often accompanied him - well, I did if he wasn't getting up at the crack of dawn.

This patch is a pretty hefty one. It consists of all of the Forest Farm / Glamorgan Canal Nature Reserve and the land bordering it; the River Taff all the way up from Whitchurch to Tongwynlais and, on the other side of the river, the Taff's 'flood plain' to the east of Radyr. To cover the whole lot thoroughly takes about 5 hours. Geth has visited the patch almost once a week since he began - and many of those visits have been for the full 5hrs!

The Glamorgan Canal

There's a nice variety of habitats within the area we cover so we also see a nice variety of birds but, to add a little spice to each visit, Geth - ever the lister - likes to daylist every visit. His current record is 52, set during the cold weather last December. And apparently he missed a few easy birds that day so he's confident he can better that total! As a natural progression from daylisting, we decided that during 2010 we'd yearlist the patch. I have to confess that Geth put in a lot more effort than I did - but this is how we got on.

The undoubted highlight of the first winter period was the Bittern that turned up at Forest Farm. It turned up late in 2009 and hung around for a couple of months. A 1st for the site I think? Photographers came from all over Glamorgan to photograph it, spending many hours in the hides waiting for it to show. Amongst them a certain Andy Rouse, to whom Geth nonchanatly asked "How much does your camera cost?" "Oh, about £15 thousand", he cooly replied. If only Birders in Boxers own 2010 Glamorgan Photographer of the Year - Jeff 'Randy Grouse' Slocombe - had bought his camera and big lens by then. His would have given Mr Rouse a run for his money! The photo below is by Richard G Smith:

A Little Egret hung around for a few days but the only other highlight during this period was a pair of Teal - a female on the canal and a male in front of one of the hides. A very scarce bird on the reserve, these had undoubtedly appeared here as a result of cold weather displacement. Up to 6 Teal were again seen at the end of the year during the very cold December - but these were all seen on the R Taff.

The rest of winter was pretty quiet - all the woodland birds you'd expect really - as well as up to 6 Common Snipe, up to 6 Water Rail and several Reed Buntings from the hides. There were as many as 14 Goosander on the river and fly-over Lapwings and Skylarks were nice additions to the list. But we were disappointed not to find a Brambling, which are almost annual at Forest Farm.

But things soon picked up again in early spring when Geth 'discovered' the Radyr Flood Plain - on the other side of the Taff. I'd always fancied the look of this area but didn't know how to get there! But the Boy Birder wasn't going to let that stop him and found a way in! It's a nice piece of habitat - rough grassland, plenty of scrubby bits, loads of brambles, two cricket pitches, a nice long hedge and a mature tree-lined river bank.

A nice scrubby bit of the 'Radyr Flood Plain'

For the local bird recording purposes I call this area the 'Radyr Flood Plain', but Geth soon christened it 'The Scrub', and it was to prove a cracking area for birds throughout the year.

With summer migrants piling in we soon found Garden Warblers, Common Whitethroats, Willow Warblers and Chifchaffs. Reed Warblers bred in Forest Farm and Geth gripped me off by finding (surprisingly) the only Sedge Warbler of the year. Passage Common Sandpipers joined the Dipper, Kingfishers and Grey Wagtails on the river, while overhead there were good numbers of hirundines and Swifts. We were delighted when a female Kestrel hung around The Scrub for a few weeks but, even though a male Kestrel put in the odd appearance, they didn't breed.

The cricket pitch - good for Pied Wags, Mistle Thrushes and passage Wheatears.

We then had to wait until the autumn to get our list moving again - and it was The Scrub that turned up trumps. Several passage Wheatears hung around the closely cropped cricket pitch and in the bushes nearby we dug out a couple of Common Redstarts. Meadow Pipits and Linnets began to arrive but the best was yet to come. On one of his solo visits, Geth found a Pied Flycatcher in trees along the riverbank below Tongwynlais - and he hasn't let me forget it!

Radyr Weir - good for Dipper, Common Sand, Grey Heron and migrating Salmon.

November came and we were beginning to run out of species we thought we might get. A late night visit, creeping around the houses near the Canal, finally added Tawny Owl to our list. And then December and it's freezing weather arrived. Geth went down to the patch more regularly, leaving seed and fruit out for the birds. His good deeds were rewarded when he finally found a male Brambling at Forest Farm and a Stonechat at The Scrub.

Desperate birds allowed close approach during the cold weather

We were well aware that such awful weather could bring in a few unexpected birds so between Christmas and the New Year we were down there almost every day. And on the 27th we got lucky. In one 5 minute spell we added Wigeon, Tufted Duck and Coot to our list - all undoubtedly brought in by the weather and all seen on the R Taff above Radyr Weir. The Wigeon and Tuftie were new for our patch life list too.

No amount of snow was going to stop Geth from birding!

And those were our last three patch ticks of 2010. We ended the year on 84. Our patch life list is now 86 (in addition to the 84 we saw in 2010, I've seen Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and Lesser Redpoll there in the past - and I'm not counting the Wood Duck!).

What did we miss/what might we see in the future? Well, as I write there have been records of Marsh Tit and Shag (!) from the Glamorgan Canal during 2011. The Marsh Tit record is a welcome return. Historically the bird was recorded occasionally at the site but one hasn't been seen there for many years. (Yes, we have been looking for it but we've dipped so far). The Shag would be an incredible record to say the least. But, it comes from a credible source who has submitted a description to the County Recorder. Watch this space! But, if it's accepted it could only ever be considered a 'one off' record.

More realistically we were disappointed not to see Lesser Whitethroat or Spotted Flycatcher in 2010. Surely we should see one of these come the spring/summer? The Scrub should provide us with one or two other migrants too: a Grasshopper Warbler, a passage Whinchat, Tree Pipit or Cuckoo perhaps? Even a Yellow-browed Warbler! (God know I tried hard enough to find one there last year). Historically there have been records of both Firecrest and Jack Snipe at the Canal.

And of course, there's the Taff. A Green Sandpiper was recorded a mile or two up river last autumn, and I've heard that a Goldeneye has been seen on the Taff at Llandaff this winter. We could get lucky with some other wildfowl. We've had Canada Goose on the river so what about a Greylag Goose next? I can't believe we're getting excited over possibly seeing a dodgy Greylag! And talking of dodgy, I'll finish off with . . . .

One bird on the Canal that we didn't tick in 2010!!

Staying local

2011-01-09T21:02:00.009Z

Would have loved to have gone down to Dawlish today with Geri,Kevin and Mike Hogan but with other stuff to do in the afternoon I thought I'd stay local with a morning stroll down to the sewage works where during the winter a pair of Goosander can sometimes be found on the adjacent River Llynfi,a nice photographic challenge.

There were lots of woodland birds around and a scavenging tit flock of Blue,Great and Long Tailed carried nothing more interesting with them.

A couple of Ravens and Common Buzzards passed overhead but there were no Goosanders to be found today although four different very vocal Dippers and a couple of Grey Wagtails were nice to see.

As I walked back to the car I managed to get some shots of an unusually photogenic Treecreeper on the edge of the damp woodland adjacent the access track.

These birds can be devilishly difficult to photograph so I was pleased to get some reasonable images in quite good light.

I re-parked the car at the Tylers Arms and strolled up through Darren Woods in the hope of a possible LS Woodpecker,no such luck today but lots of other woodland birds including a nice Nuthatch pecking seven bells out of an acorn it had wedged in a groove in the branch of an Oak tree.

Black Mountains Kite Feeding Station,Llandduesant

2011-01-08T23:57:00.014Z

Myself and Teresa needed to ckeck on the caravan up at Llangors after our "arctic" December and with the camera gear in the back of the Jeep we called into Llandduesant on the way home for the afternoon feed which throughout the winter period takes place at 2.00pm.

There were approx 60 kites and 6 Common Buzzards present with the usual crows and it was also nice to bump into and chat with John Roberts of the Welsh Kite Trust who was carrying out a count and noting wing tags.

The old pub has been renovated and turned into a really nice visitor centre/shop and cafe and we both enjoyed a crackin' cup of hot chocolate before making our way home.

Forest of Dean + Slimbridge:Sun 2.January 2011

2011-01-08T23:24:00.014Z

With Kevin and Geri heading for Portland and in Wayne's absence Peter "Pedro" Morgan joined myself,Dan and "The Twitchmeister" for a day out in Gloucestershire with the main target species being Hawfinch in the Forest of Dean and the 1st winter female Lesser Scaup which had been at Slimbridge for just over a week.

Our first port of call Parkend church failed to produce any Hawfinches and a visit to Cannop Ponds saw us dip for the first time ever on Mandarin Duck which appeared to have relocated due to the "big freeze".

Our next stop at Speech House did eventually produce a couple of single sightings of Hawfinch and Peter ticked off a "lifer",my only view was of the rear of the bird as it flew away from it's perch at the top of a tree.

Birding was hard work and we moved on to Slimbridge which was as usual over-run by "Joe Public" and after much confusion over captive birds we did eventually locate the female Lesser Scaup which performed well for the camera in horrible light and snow.

A quick visit to the Rushie Pen also enabled me to get a couple of photos of Bewick's Swan albeit annoyingly through glass.

I also managed to get some "stock" photos of close up common species whilst the other lads went off to successfully locate the redhead Smew on the South Pool.

The light for photography had been abysmal all day much to mine and Peter's annoyance and with snow coming down for much of the time at Slimbridge we headed for Aust Warth with the light fading in the vain hope of catching up with a hunting Short-eared Owl.

Conditions were hopeless and after about 45 mins and no sign of a SEO we had back over the Severn to Wales.

Both birding and the weather had been hard work but I think we had all enjoyed our day out.

Waun Y Gilfach Feeding Station,Llangynwyd

2011-01-02T20:16:00.014Z

After an uneventful morning searching for the Great Grey Shrike north of the old Baverstocks Hotel on the Heads of the Valleys road and a fruitless call in to Eglwys Nunydd Reservoir I parked up for an hour by the feeding station at Waun Y Gilfach plantation just outside Llangynwyd on my way home and in dreadful light conditions managed to get a few nice shots of some common woodland birds coming to the feeders without even leaving the car !!

Certainly brightened up an otherwise dreary day especially when a party of Long Tailed Tits dropped in whilst doing a feeding circuit.

Season's Greetings

2010-12-30T11:42:00.003Z

Season's Greetings and wishing all our readers a great birding 2011 from Jeff,Dan,Wayne,Tim,Kevin and "The Twitchmeister".

Snowman by "The Twitchmeister":Image by Dan.

The Big Freeze

2010-12-26T20:56:00.008Z

Had a few hours out on my own today with the camera calling into Parc Slip,Kenfig Pool and Eglwys Nunydd Reservoir before heading for home.

Robin on reeds:Parc Slip NR

Water Rail through the reeds:Parc Slip NR

Greater Scaup:Eglwys Nunydd

Goldeneye:Eglwys Nunydd

Birds in the Garden

2010-12-20T19:23:00.004Z

It's a little difficult to get nice crisp shots through the kitchen window when its chucking it down with snow, but here's proof that I get birds in my garden. Goldfinch on Purple Loosestrife

Llanishen "Berryfest"

2010-12-19T20:02:00.007Z

After taking Teresa to M&S at Culverhouse Cross I couldn't resist the temptation of calling over to Llanishen and caught up with 50-60 Waxwings and literally hundreds of Redwings in Fishguard Road this afternoon,almost got my head knocked off as well by a marauding Sparrowhawk !!

Ogmore Estuary

2010-12-18T20:56:00.009Z

After a bit of a lay-in this morning and with the main road down the valley just about passable in places after the heavy snow I headed out at mid-day down to Ogmore-By-Sea,I phoned Peter Morgan on the way down and met him at Broadlands in Bridgend where he was having a stroll around looking for Waxwings.

We soon arrived at a snowy Ogmore and the river was teeming with birds all trying to find some food in the harsh conditions.

Common Teal were plentiful and the usual group of Goldeneye were also around,plenty of gulls and a few waders including Ringed Plover,Dunlin,Lapwing (there were several hundred down river),Snipe and Redshank.There was also a female Goosander further down river,one of several that have been wintering for the past couple of months.

We moved on towards Southerndown parking at West Farm and walked across towards the car park in the hope of finding the topically named Snow Bunting that had recently been reported from there.

Plenty of Meadow Pipits,Skylarks,winter thrushes and in the distance over the fields a good size flock of Lapwings and another of Curlew with a lone Grey Heron passing through.

A fly through Peregrine was a fine sight but try as we did we couldn't locate the Snow Bunting.

With the light starting to fade I dropped Peter in Bridgend and got home in time to see the Ospreys put one over on Munster in their Heineken Cup pool match with an awesome scrummaging display !!

Bittern by the bug !!

2010-12-11T21:05:00.021Z

I must admit that I can't wait for the weekends to come around to get out with the camera and today after bumping into each other down at Kenfig last Sunday myself and fellow bird photographer Peter Morgan from Bridgend joined forces for a day out with the cameras.

We met up at Kenfig at first light on a mission to firstly photograph the Bitterns that have been putting on a good performance in the reed channels in front of the South pool hide.

We didn't have to wait for long as the first Bittern put in an appearance after about 10 minutes.

We watched and fired off shots until the first bird had disappeared into the reeds when from our left another bird arrived and started performing equally well on the iced over water.

As the second bird stolled up the middle channel it was met with the first bird coming out of the reeds and a bit of a spat occurred with one of the birds not fancying the aggro and flying off !!

Not long after the second bird flew off and within a short time yet another bird popped out of the reedbed to give superb views,unfortunately the weather wasn't performing as well as the Bitterns and with plenty of cloud cover the light was poor to say the least.

The third bird disappeared and the action quietenned down considerably and so we decided to push on and head for Monknash to see if we could relocate and photograph the Glossy Ibis.

We dropped off Peter's car in Bridgend and called in on the way to Ogmore By Sea only to find a high tide and not an awful lot of interest,we called in to a couple of locations hoping for Little Owl but were out of luck.

Next stop was Dunraven where we hoped we may come across a Black Redstart but the only bird of note was an obliging Kestrel perched on a fence post at the side of the road down to the car park.

We pushed on to Monknash and bumped into Paul Denning who confirmed he hadn't come across the Ibis,we soon found the stream it had been feeding in and walked the length of three fields but to no avail.

We came across a Green Sandpiper,Water Rail,a fly over Little Egret and a couple of Grey Wagtails plus a selection of the more common birds.

We bumped into another birder who had walked the entire length of the stream as far as the beach and he confirmed that the Ibis was no longer around.

We moved on to have a look for possible Black Redstart and Snow Bunting at Nash Point but a pleasant walk over past the lighthouse and back failed to locate either species.

With the light starting to fade we made a fruitless visit to the rocks adjacent the car park at Ogmore in the hope of Purple Sandpiper but both they and the usual Turnstones had by the look of it popped over to feed on Tusker Rocks.

A final call in to Portobello Island gave good views of plenty of Teal,lots of gulls,a Goosander and a nice group of twenty or so Goldeneye on the river.

With the light fading we called it a day and after dropping Peter off at his home in Bridgend I "headed for the hills",we had both enjoyed a good day out,it could have turned out better if the Ibis had still been around as well as our other target birds,with the benefit of hindsight we may have been better off going for the now large number of Waxwings in and around Cardiff,but that's birding for you !!