Hurricane MEGAs and local rarities - Sept 2023

And so it was that in September, one of, if not THE biggest birding weeks in British history came to pass. Hurricanes Nigel and Lee blew over several American birds to South West Wales and Bardsey, including two massive gems at St Govans in the form of the first mainland magnolia warbler and then a few days later a Canada warbler (1^st for UK), black and white warbler, alder flycatcher, bay breasted warbler (Ramsey!). Locally a red eyed vireo was discovered at Sker, and then upstaged the very next day by a cliff swallow. Amazing stuff. Early hurricanes displaced lots of migrating birds, and whilst exciting, for myself at least, it was tinged with a sadness because for every bird that made land, surely many more perished, lost at sea. 

After not having gone to Pembrokeshire, by the following weekend I was itching to see something myself, and after a vain Hail Mary and ultimately fruitless look up Caerphilly Mtn, news broke of a potential magnolia warbler in Baglan Energy Park. I hedged my bets after I saw a Lee Evans tweet about it being a blue tit.. but it was then confirmed, so luckily as it was seen the next day I headed down after finishing early from work. 

There was a fair sized group gathered in the evening sun, and a few familiar faces. I was soon on to it, flitting briefly in the edges. I managed a few record shots, more through point and click than anything, and got much better, but always brief views in the bins. Lovely to see, but not a particularly easy bird. 2^nd mainland bird ever found, and only 4^th for Britain though, now on World, '23, Britain, Wales, Glam lists!! Once in a lifetime, or will climate change make this more likely? On one of the occasions it was me that relocated it. I thought I had seen something fly up and back into brambles very briefly, and then there was the occasional tell-tale rustle. Sure enough, it popped back out.

By the end of the week nothing else major had turned up locally, so I went to see the RND and little gull on Lisvane Res. Both had been there a few days. I had Oscar in tow so couldn’t spent too much time, but managed some alright shots. The RND was dozing by the side, and the little gull kept to the middle for the most part.     

 

Alpine Swift! 20/03/23

The start of spring '23 has brought with it a serious alpine swift influx! They’ve been turning up all over the shop, with 7 reported together over in Ireland. One was widely twitched at Oldbury Power Station in Glos, but when one was reported in Porthcawl at Pwll Y Waun pool and I was tempted out the door on a very rainy Monday lunch time. 

After a bit of a mad dash down, I saw it as soon as got out of the car flying around near the medical centre. It was rainy miserably, but I got my camera out for some shots, and realized the hasty battery charge I did before leaving wasn’t enough to even let me fire off a few shots. I had to try and make do with my phone camera, which would have been ridiculous apart from the fact the swift came quite close at times. I spent the rest of the time wiping rain frantically off my bins to try and soak up the views properly. You can just about see the white in this first picture -

It had to be a quick smash and grab style twitch and I bombed off home to get back in acceptable time. My first British lifer of the year, but also a Glam, Wales and ’23 tick too. Result. Great bird! I was surprised how much of a unit it seemed to be. Seemed a large swift. Could a pallid be possible in the autumn for a 3 swift year??!?

Baikal Teal - 05/02/2022

 The Baikal teal at RSPB Greylake has been present for a little while, and it was an itch I couldn’t quite scratch at first. I had my first go for it on the 29^th Jan, heading back north from Exeter after dropping in Jess and Shirley, throwing down a quick lunch and getting back on the road. That attempt resulted in a very cold, grey, windy stint in front of the screen, eyes watering in the draft. It was nice to add a host of the usual to the year list though, including a flyover snipe, and a great white egret in the background. 

No dice though.

And so it was that the following weekend I couldn’t resist another go, despite seeing on Twitter how so many had dipped it several times in a row. There were also some ‘crippling’ photos of it too… I had the added pressure of Jess and Oscar in the car, so hoped against hope that I’d rock up and bag it. And.. I did just that. 

Jammy!

There were loads at the screen, and a kindly gent let me have a look down his scope for a sec to get on to it, and then even helped me get my bearings. The latter was difficult to do due to having to point my scope at a certain height through a gap in the screen over people’s shoulders and next to someone’s head.

“See the shoveler? There’s another one behind it, and it’s snoozing to the right of that, a teal in front of it.”

With hundreds of ducks in front of me that mightn’t have sounded like the best guidance, but actually it worked a treat. The first shoveler’s white breast reflected the sunlight, and from there it actually worked out. I could see the head stripe quite easily. I watched it for a good while hoping to see it properly, but it snoozed most of the time. I did get a quick head up moment, and then again when it moved to the left, but all very brief. Still, happy with that given the size of the punt trying a second time!

A flyover marsh harrier failed to disturb the roosting ducks, and along with a great amount of golden plovers in the field to the right of the screen and hide, added to the year list. After hearing some of the older birders joking about divorce, I thought it best not to stretch my luck too far, and headed back to the car, the itch scratched. A Cetti's was calling out in the reedbed for the year list, but one for another time. We headed into Glastonbury after that for a wander around and had a nice family explore amongst the crystal shops, wizards and murals.      

Xmas birding - 17/12/2021

A bit of pre-Xmas birding and a day off that actually coincided with decent enough weather saw James and I head off in the morning towards Whiteford. Along the way, we had to give the Pacific Diver a go.  The diver was really near the side of the reservoir, and I regret not having taking pictures at that point. We were soon distracted by the nearby grey phalarope though so had to get some shots of that, as it fed right alongside the edge. We’ll never be able to one up that one I don’t think!  There was also a Slavonian grebe reported on there, but 2/3 wasn’t bad, and time wasn’t on our side.  

With those in the bag we headed to Whiteford where we lunched on the move, picking up the usual kestrel near the cliff face. Didn’t manage to get snow buntings, though they were then reported a week later over on Cefn Sidan, not far as the crow (snow bunting!) flies. 

There were loads of waders, too many oystercatcher to count, and then other specials like eider duck and brent. It was low tide so didn’t get divers or Slavonian grebes.  We did get a really old crisp packet though! Something like '94??? How is it such good nick still?

After a bit of a mission to get back through the dunes, we got to Llanrhidian for the evening roost and soon picked up a quartering ringtail harrier, two kestrels, loads of egrets and some great white’s, but not the male hen harrier we wanted, or an SEO. Still, great day and a good laugh. Was sad to see The Greyhound closed!

16/08/2020 - Goldcliff

 Had an early start and met Nick down at the lagoons in a grey mist. There was plenty around though, with lots of the usual suspects, but also glossy ibis, little stint, and garganey. Amazingly for this time of year this was only my first dunlin, ringed plover and lapwing because of the Covid lockdown! There were also some really nice green woodpeckers showing, and I had a nice close encounter on the way back around to the car. 

 

Blue Winged Teal! - 01/02/2020

It was the day after Jess’s birthday, and whilst Jess was out with her mum, I made the most of the nice weather and spent a day birding. My first stop was Topsham, where I popped by RSPB Goosemoor, and then the hide at Bowling Green Marsh. As I walked up the lane a sparrowhawk came through over the field and startled some of the wildfowl. I managed to pick up the usual suspects for the year list, and a pair of Egyptian geese came in shortly before I was due to leave. It was unusually quiet for waders, and even though it was an hour or so before high tide, I made the decision to leave and chance missing the long-staying LB dowitcher. It later turned out that was the right decision because I don’t think it was seen.

After popping by Clyst End again for a quick pit stop, I headed down to Man Sands to try for the Blue-winged Teal.  It was to be a lifer for me, and one that I didn’t want to pass up considering it’s been there for a few weeks, and from the reports online it was coming into proper plumage. I picked up a buzzard and kestrel on the way down from the car, and that took it up to a three raptor day.  On arrival I realised it was a fair walk down to the pool where the teal has been staying, but I saw my first red admiral of the year.  

On arrival at the far pool I got speaking to a gent who pointed out the area by the reeds where the teal had apparently disappeared into to sleep. I picked up gadwall and tufty as year ticks, and with the teal not on show I went up through the gate along the coastal path to see if I could see the reported female black redstart. I went up and around the white building and saw my first chiffies of the year, and the black redstart bumbled around the rooftop, along with a pied and grey wagtail. Happy with the redstart as a year tick, I moved off to try for the teal, and prepared to dig-in and wait it out. I had my sausage sandwich, which went down nicely, and wrapped up warm. After a time, Lee Evans and a crew of birders turned up. One of them ended up spotting the teal, near the reeds. It was surprisingly difficult to see, and potentially I had failed to spot it, because it was unassumingly grubbing though the vegetation. A great looking bird however! I picked up snipe as another year tick, and with my first lifer of 2020 in the bag I made the walk back up the hill to the carpark.

 

On the way home I picked up Cirl Bunting with my bins from the car at Broadsands, but didn’t hang around as a guy was there with his car right by them, evidently looking to use his car as a hide. Firecrest and Sibe chiffy had been reported in the reedbed area, but with both already on the year list I left for Clyst End, and the remains of a Denley’s curry for lunch.

In terms of other birds so far this year, I went to see the great northern diver at Mwyndy Pool on a  sunny Sunday, and duly peered over the fence to see it. At the time of writing it’s still there, but people are concerned that it doesn’t have enough clearance to take off again. The RSPCA have been called, and hopefully they get out to rescue it.  I also went to pay my annual respects to the hawfinches at Fforest Ganol whilst walking the dog, and two firecrests turned up near the entrance ramp to Bute Park from North Road. They’ve been feeding along the canal feeder stream, and we went over from the office and had great views at times. 

Sept 2019 - Sanderlings

Took some time to photograph a group of sanderlings on my work trip, whilst I stayed alongside Morfa Dyffryn, in an air bnb above the Ty Meirion Gallery.