Aug Bank Hols Birding 2018 - 25-28th Aug

A long awaited bank holiday break arrived, and due to the fact that Jess and Olive had gone down to Devon on the train the day before, I had an opportunity to get some numbers for the 200 Challenge.

My first stop was Newport Wetlands for bearded tit. When I arrived at the pontoon bridge I simultaneously accidentally spooked a kingfisher and a grey heron. It was a warm still morning, and as I listened out for the tell tale ping of beardies, several things began to happen at once. One of the little grebes dived and surfaced close to the pontoon, allowing for some snaps. A peregrine flew over head from out over the estuary. A sedge warbler popped up near me, but I daren't move for fear of spooking the little grebe. And then, most surprisingly a water rail appeared in the reed edge near the other end of the bridge - my first of the year and a difficult one for the time of year. This was a weird one, because I had been thinking about water rail on my journey down in the car..

Shortly after I saw a male beardie very briefly after a couple of false starts with reed and sedge warblers. John Lawton arrived behind me and we chatted for a bit while a cetti’s was busy skulking behind us on the bridge. Fromthe pontoon I made the short loop down to the other screen across that channel around just in case there was something like a wryneck around, or the beardies were down that end, but no such luck (though I heard a few 'pings', so with two ticks in the bag I went for an adventure breakfast at Maccy’s.

Whilst shovelling down a Sausage and Egg Mcmuffin I clocked that a juv. black tern was at Durleigh reservoir which could have been an option on the way south. However first stop was Ham Wall where I picked up glossy ibis from the first platform. Traffic was bad on the way down and even though I mistakenly ended up heading to Bridgewater i figured it wasn’t worth the risk to see if the tern was still there. That was also a mistake as it was in fact reported there later that day. Welazed in the garden in the afternoon, and Jess's mum pointed out a butterfly she didn't recognise, and to my surprise, it was a silver-washed fritillary!

Managed to get quite close to this red admiral with my phone cam!

The next day I headed down to Bowling Green Marsh to try for the curlew sandpiper at high tide. Upon arrival the usual local birders spilled out of the hide and duly told us that the curlew sand was in, and also a wood sandpiper (typical after my specific Goldcliff trip!). After some searching through the waders on the point, I could see the curlew sandpiper. A nudge bigger than the surrounding dunlin and given away by the orangey moult on its breast and belly. Also a greyish back with notably different patterning from some angles. There was no sign of the wood sandpiper however.

Shoddy record shot at distance!

After a while the wood sandpiper reappeared and flew across to the left of the hide and allowed for some digiscope shots, not being quite close enough for my 300mm. Then it was off down to Thurlestone beach for some time with the fam. Four ticks over two days was great going, taking me up 194 (193 with the now deemed sketchy night heron at Shrewsbury).

Stonker

Bank Holiday Monday morning saw me agreeing to try a trip to the Gower for the male woodchat shrike. Nick picked me up at 6.20, and we set off. We found the place after a quick wrong turn, and arrived on the common in the morning mist. We could see some guys heading down to the area, quite obviously on something already. Sure enough, it was the woodchat shrike - and only my second, the first having been from the saltmarsh at Kenfig several years ago now! Stunning bird. Nick picked up another tick  in the form of a dartford warbler which I spotted near the cars after a heads-up from Andy and the other birders.

A great weekend, and it leaves me within spitting distance of completing the 200 year challenge!

YLG - 09/08/2017

Well.. this was a bit of a head-scratcher. Easy in theory, but not so much in the field. Saw it mentioned on the Glam forum last week, and after a couple of forays, once with the dog, and once in the rain, it was third time lucky in Dafydd Williams Park after some appreciated help on Twitter -

Now up to 187.. Not quite the home stretch yet!

Wood Sandpiper - Goldcliff - 23/07/2017

Given that I was still tired after last week's stag, I wasn't really game for an early start - but with the weather inclement after around 10am, and a wood sandpiper at Goldcliff I made the effort and got up at 7am. On arrival I popped my head in at the first hide, but with not much on offer I headed down to the new screen and was very quickly on to the wood sand, tucked down in the bottom left from the screen.

Digiscoping is getting much easier with this new phone, and I'm getting better results.

After the sandpiper dropped out of view I  got speaking to the fella who came in, and he was doing a WEBS count. I had a good scan around for knot, but there were hundreds of dunlin, a few godwit, common sandpiper, and a little ringed plover with a chick. I decided to head off for yellow wagtail, and along the way bumped into Darryl where we saw 3 redstart in the hedge. At the hide the weather took a turn for the worse and the rain came in, but I managed to find two yellow wags, one male and one female present. I headed off as the rain came in quite hard, but it was worth the trip.

Get the bunting out.. Leighterton - 22/07/2018

After a bit of a birding drought (not including a world-list booted eagle in Marbella), I managed to get a lifer in the bag today at Leighterton after Nick did some research online into recent sightings. Tara, Jon, Nick and I headed down after a later start than intended due to my new Galaxy S8!! We spotted a yellowhammer before we got out of the car so we knew we were well and truly in bunting country. There were loads of birds around, including juvi green woodpecker, whitethroat, and lots of hirundines.

After a short walk down the public footpath across a field (keeping an eye out for little owl all the while) Tara cottoned onto a singing corn bunting which I hadn't quite fully realised was what I was hearing in the hedge ahead of us.

Shortly after watching it out on the wall singing, I managed to scope a second -

With no sound of the reported quail, and the weather turning against us, we headed home via Wentlooge, also dipping on little owl there unfortunately - so that one's turning into a difficult one this year!

North Wales birding - 5&6th July 2017

An early start from Guto's allowed me chance to go and visit Cemlyn lagoons to see the tern colony.. I was hoping to see arctic terns, but no such luck. After some confusion, I managed to find out that they've had a catastrophic failure this year and I only saw two sarnie terns in total. They think an otter has been going in and the colony has failed. I was thrown by a juvenile redshank though! A nice learning experience, and another top place to have visited. One to try again in the future.

Before my meeting at SS, I popped to Holyhead harbour hoping to see black guillimot, and I failed there too after a promising start. The gilly I spotted in the harbour turned out to be common, and it was just as well I managed to clinch the confirmation. There were also some commic terns, but couldn't clinch those either.

At SS, I saw the colony for the first time. However on the way home I couldn't resistgoing via Ynys-las for the king (queen!) eider. After parking at the side of the road by a boat club I followed a muddy backlane down to the beach and saltmarsh area. I followed a path that soon disappeared on the slippery salt marsh, and my shoes took a battering. However I spied someone with a scope, and made my way over to him. The eider was feeding out in the channel near a great crested grebe, and I had great views of her feeding for a while before the tide started coming in and I had to hit the road again. I also had a close encounter with some dunlin, nervously feeding in a narrow channel nearby.

The day the birds stayed at arms length, Craig Cerrig - 02/07/2017

Whinchat 

 

Skomer - 17/07/2017