Lamby Lake Hirundines! - 28/04/2012

Slightly, shall we say 'worse for wear' after last night's work outing, Jess and I took a little walk around Lamby Lake in the afternoon to stretch our legs. A cormorant sat boldly at the small car park side jetty as we arrived and sheepishly allowed his photograph to be taken -

There were a lot more Swallows and Sand Martins hawking the water compared to last weekend, with about 20-30 present at any one time over the lake. They went about feeding without too much concern to our presence, and several flew within a few feet of us as we stood and watched them for a while. It was a hard job to get them in flight, and the low lighting conditions didn't do much to help.

These were all taken from the wooden walkway on the east side of the lake, and I'm determined to go back on a sunny morning to get some better shots with more favourable lighting conditions.

These shots have been quite heavily cropped and were mostly shot in the 150-200 region. I think it might be possible to get better shots with my 70-300mm next time. I'll also have to try and find out where the Sand Martin's are nesting!

Just as I was about to call time on photographing the Martins and Swallows, a male Mallard crashed onto the lake, about ten feet away -

A strange Mallard hybrid was happily swimming around the lake, as were two pairs of Tufted Duck, but last weekend's Great Crested Grebes were no where to be seen. A suspected Willow Warbler sang in the tress on the north side as we walked around the lake, and a suspected Reed Warbler was kicking up a fuss in the reeds on the South West side. A male Reed Bunting skittishly flew to cover near the car-park and the usual starlings near the benches were busy gorging on worms. With the weather unseasonably cold and gloomy, a quick flask of tea in the car warmed us up again.

April Showers - 22/04/2012

Having worked at the RHS show yesterday and knowing the weather would be unlikely to give me much chance to get out and about this weekend, I got up early and went down the wharf. I chanced the Little Owl house with no luck but then I glimpsed what I think was a Mink scrambling madly into some thick rushes when I came to the small footbridge field down from Sluice Farm. After seeing a Weasel in Bute Park at the Holiday Inn entrance playing the Daff flower beds on Friday afternoon after popping over to the stand from the office, and now this encounter, I'm feeling somewhat disappointed to have not managed any mammal shots of late! It was also immediately apparent on arrival that the Swallows are arriving in force, with several darting about the fields and perching on the phone lines -

The Reed Warblers have arrived back too, and they certainly were making their presence known, but no guest appearances for the camera!

Linnet

It was high tide on the wharf, but minus a scope I wasn't able to spot much besides the normal RGW avi-fauna, Curlews, Shelducks, Kestrels, Mallards etc. There was a suspected Whimbrel, but too far off for positive ID. I was a little bit surprised to see a Short Eared Owl hunting the fields near Sluice Farm from the sea wall, meaning they're still about! With RGW not throwing up much out of the ordinary, and some threatening clouds coming in my direction I headed back home, but decided to stop off for a quick circuit of Lamby Lake en route. It was nice to see a pair of Great Crested Grebes on there among the usual, and Coots busy nest making, before the rain finally came and I called it a day.

Bowling Green Marsh and Yarak, Exeter - 15/04/2012

Titw Tomos Las

With our trip to Yarak booked for the afternoon I went down to The Bowling Green Marsh for a quick trip to see what was about. Plenty of Chiffchaffs, and lots of the usual frisky Dunnocks in the lane. It was low tide, so a quick stop in at the hide only gave up a few typical species. I stood for a few minutes watching some Bluetits at the gate near the observation point, and managed to get this particularly nice shot -

Two Redshank on the estuary was all that I could see after the Little Egret bowed out when I appeared. On the way back I kept my eyes peeled for Willow Warblers, and caught the back end of what I think was one as it flew off. I also managed to see some Summer migrants in the form of some suspected Sand Martins in small groups flying over.

A quick stop at The Bridge Inn gave up a Little Egret and Common Sandpiper feeding on the muddy sides. There were also groups of these Grey Mullet in the shallows of river which I noticed from the new footbridge -

After lunch Jess and I made our way to Yarak Bird Of Prey Centre in Cullompton and had a great time, seeing lots of and different species.We saw our first Swallows of the year from the car on the way back home to boot! 

Goshawk

Feruginous Hawk

White-Faced Scops Owl - Not a good day for this mouse!

Long-eared Owl

Darts Farm, Exeter - 14/04/2012

A quick visit to Darts Farm's new wetland area and screen hide gave a couple of chances for some nice shots this morning, with good numbers of Goldfinch and Reed Bunting in the area.

A couple of Curlews flew by calling as they went, but also present were several Canada Geese, a pair of Teal, several pairs of Mallards, flock of 13 Woodpigeons, and plenty of Gulls. A buzzard soared over briefly, and a Green Woodpecker yaffled in the distance near the wooded area on the hill. A Spoonbill has been sighted there recently, a first for the site.

Suspected Blackcap glimpsed briefly in the garden, a Goldcrest as we ate pizza for lunch, and plenty of these little guys! All washed down with a bottle of Somerset's finest Golden Seahawk.

Here comes the BOOM!! - 10/03/2012

Unable to get out snapping this weekend because of the terrible bank holiday weather, I thought I would post up some Bittern at Forest Farm NR last month. These shots were taken of a very obliging individual from the Llyn y Gamlas hide on a sunny Saturday afternoon.

Good Friday, Good Birding - 06/04/2012

The sun was shining somewhat unexpectedly this morning so I decided to quickly nip down to Rumney Great Wharf (RGW) to see what was about. As I approached the bend just up from Mardy Road in the car I'm sure a Merlin was tearing through the fields to my left, but unable to pull over on such a busy road I'll have to consign that one to the maybe pile. After an unsuccessful lookout for the Little Owl near the Corporate Park (it obviously wasn't basking weather!!) a little trek through the farm fields revealed plenty of Goldfinch and Chiffchaff singing happily, but with the weather no where near as nice as we had it last week it was decidedly quieter all round. I was however plagued by a song which I did not recognize, but after glimpsing my suspect through the branches I had already guessed what the menace songster was before confirming it on the RSPB website at home - Wren (Song). I'm going to really have to try and really make an effort to learn all the common bird songs !!

These Goldfinch were busy nibbling at some willow tree blossom-

No stunning Chiffchaff shots today, so this one from last week will fill in, as well as some butterfly shots in the same area as the today's Goldfinches from last week -

Comma Butterfly

Small Tortoiseshell Butterfly

Peacock Butterfly

The pair of Wheatear were still on the rocks, and they ventured slightly closer to me as I covertly sat watching them eating my lunch. They're like busy sentinels, constantly on the lookout from vantage points like meerkats.

After finishing my sarnies I accidentally flushed what appeared to be a Snipe, perhaps Jack based on it's size, but before I could get a solid ID it had flown away further down the salt marsh. I'll have to be extra careful near the salt marsh pools just over the embankment in the future. There were also about 4 Linnet going about their business nearby, and one not fully ID'd Pipit.

A Heron was fishing the reen near Sluice Farm as I turned the car around, and a kestrel hovered in the field opposite the wind turbine. There were no Little Owls in their tree either but a few vociferous Mallards kicked up a fuss at my presence, and the pair of Blue Tit were still going in and out of their tiny tree branch hole, obviously nesting. 

Someone has called in Hoopoe on Glam birders website in the Wentlooge area this evening!