Griswold's Birding Year 2015 (1 Viewer)

[ClarkWGriswold]

Beautiful afternoon with the children this afternoon at Rams Grove, Gower. The hoped for Chough did not show but at least a couple of Peregrine were present along with Gannets, Kestrels, Whitethroats, Yellowhammers etc. The little SX50 is a great aid to distant ID's and helped with #178.

178. Manx Shearwaters

The view below also had some birds in it. Again, ID's were easy to nail with the SX50 though the pics won't win any prizes3 The birds were on the far cliff in the distance.

 

[ClarkWGriswold]

Went down to Penclawydd with my youngest, brother and niece (who are over from Melbourne) this afternoon. A few Med Gulls were dotted around but the highlight (big thanks to Laurie) was a LRP. This is the first time I've seen this species at this location.

179. Little Ringed Plover

 

[ClarkWGriswold]

Had a day out to Ludlow with the family today. Lovely little place with some very decent looking places to eat. Picked up a tasty looking smoked Chorizo in the market and a bottle of Aussie red from Bentleys Wine Merchants. The drive up is fantastic. The border countryside is beautiful. Many people had the same idea with heaps of MG's, Sprites, Lotus and the odd Caterham around as well. Unexpectedly picked up #180 when it ran across the road in front of the car!

180! Red Legged Partridge

In the process of trying to talk the OH into heading back up to Scotland for October half-term. Would be good to dip on Cresties twice in the same year:-O

 

[ClarkWGriswold]

Had a good day out with a mate on Saturday at Hams Wall. Didn't add anything new to the year list but topped 50 species for the day including great views of Marsh Harriers and GWE's.

Today I headed down to Penclacwydd inbetween showers. Good to catch with some members of the Carmarthenshire Bird Club. Always good company. A high tide in front of the British Steel Hide brought in 600+ Blackwits, double figures of Greenshanks, Common Sandpiper, double figures of Whimbrel and a Spoonbill.

181. Spoonbill

Then went to Aberavon to look for the Rosy Coloured Starling. Phil, a birder from Pontypridd had seen it an hour earlier at the Steel Works/East end of the beach but neither of us could locate it again. Might try again after work on Friday.

 

[ClarkWGriswold]

Cracking day out today. Left Neath at 6 with a mate and headed up to Borth. Heaps of Manxies were passing relatively close by and the dunes held several Common Whitethroats and flocks of Linnets. Next it was time for some sustenance and an ok breakfast followed in Borth itself.

From here we headed to Ynys Hir - a great little reserve. A Treecreeper was the first bird we saw and the feeders were full of Siskins, Greenfinches, Chaffies etc. Wandering around the reserve gave good views of Spotted Flycatchers, Willow Warblers, Reed Buntings, Common Buzzards, Red Kites, Goosander and in the heat haze a solitary Snow Goose. I think this was part of a feral population at Ynys Hir.

182. Snow Goose

After Ynys Hir it was off to the Dyfi Osprey project. £3 to get in seemed like good value to me. The new hide gave very good views of Glesney. Also gave a good opportunity to compare my Hawke scope against a Nikon ED 60 scope. I've looked through the same model Nikon before and liked it but in a straight comparison I thought the Hawke view was noticeably superior.

Reed Buntings, Siskins and Lesser Redpolls were also on the feeders at the reserve.

183. Osprey
184. Lesser Redpoll

Came home via Tregaron. A cracking burger with Perl Las was had at Y Talbot before taking the mountain road back to Llandovery and then home. Several Ravens, Common Buzzards, Red Kites, Wheatears, Mistle Thrushes etc. were seen on this great drive.

Will add some photos later should Talk Talk ever get round to fixing my broadband connection.

Rich

 

[ClarkWGriswold]

Internet connection finally seems to be working. Spotted Fly and Osprey from Ynysyhir/ Dyfi Estuary.

 

[ClarkWGriswold]

Just came back from a week's camping holiday in the Champagne area of France. Took my bins just in case

Birding wasn't great in all honesty, though I only managed an hour here and there. Many of the birds were extremely skittish. A small copse I checked out a couple of times had spent cartridges on the floor which may have been part of the reason?

A bike ride with my brother gave the best views of a pair of Honey Buzzards I've ever had - easy to differentiate from CB's when views are that good:t:. Other birds included Marsh/Willow Tits, Green/ Great Spotted Woodpeckers (disappointingly a very large woodpecker that flew out of the copse was silhouetted - are there Black's here?), GWE, Purple Heron (prob), Black Redstarts, Spotted Flys, Turtle Dove, Kingfisher, Lapwings, Common Sandpiper, Kestrels and Common Buzzards.

Mammals seen were Hares, Rabbits, Roe Deer and my brother had a family of Wild Boar run in front of his car when driving back from EuroDisney. (We all agreed never to return here during the school holidays. The queues were horrendous, there were wasps everywhere and the crowds were ridiculous. The light show/ fireworks were amazing but did not start until 11 pm - not great when you have a 4 and 8 year old with you)

 

[ClarkWGriswold]

Just popped down to the Fendrod in Swansea. It's been a long time since I've seen a Black Tern in the UK so this one was a welcome sight. Thx to Sociablebirders etc. on Twitter for posting the sighting.

Went to Rhossili yesterday. I'm sure I heard a Chough but it was too distant by the time I got the bins on it. I've never seen the place so busy so will have to return outside of the school hols.

185 Black Tern

Rich

 

[ClarkWGriswold]

Had a good day today with the family at Slimbridge. They enjoyed looking for the Lego animals/ birds and I had 5 mins in the hides.

At the Zeiss hide there were Avocets, Kestrel, Greenshanks, Knot, possible juv Curlew Sandpiper but due to heat haze I wouldn't tick it, Ruff, Ringed Plovers etc.

Over at the Rushy Hide had a pleasant conversation with a birder/ photographer from Ross on Wye. Again there were Ruff, great view of a Common Crane along with several Green Sandpipers.

On the way to the Holden Tower got talking to a member of the Worcestershire birding group. Good to meet you Rich. Between us we managed a Marsh Harrier (pointed out by another birder), Peregrine, more Common Cranes and a Little Egret. Then the weather turned so it was off to find the family.

186. Green Sandpiper

 

[ClarkWGriswold]

Had a good morning out with a mate this morning at Rhossili. Arrived at approx. 7:00 a.m. and immediately got on to a pair of Chough. Unfortunately Kev had to answer a call of nature and missed out on a lifer:-O

Must admit it was far too cold for shorts and a t-shirt. Autumn is definitely here! Also present were heaps of Pied Wagtails, Ravens, a Peregrine, Linnets, Kestrel, Mippits etc. etc.

I also lost a bet and had to stump up for breakfast at Carriad in Penclawdd. (Good bacon but the laverbread was strangely tasteless). I maintain this buoy looks like a Grey Seal. From a distance it certainly had me fooled. Close up however revealed it was not. Looking at the pics again though I'm still not convinced:-O.

187. Chough

 

[ClarkWGriswold]

Had a look for the Grey Phalarope that had been seen on The Gower this morning. Kept up my 100% record of dipping this year:-C.

Did have a nice view of a Wheatear and Stonechat though which was some compensation. On a personal note my back is still hurting like a bugger. As I mentioned on another thread, I had no idea a piano weighed so much:eek!:

 

[ClarkWGriswold]

Had a decent morning out with Kev and Jess (Staffie cross) this morning. Headed down to Sker point. Couldn't locate the Little Owl on the barn at Sker House but will try again later in the year. Heaps of Stonechats, Linnets, a few Wheatears, Skylarks and at least a couple of Kestrels around.

On the shore was a nice flock of Sanderlings, some fine looking Golden Plovers, heaps of Turnstones and a pair of Grey Plovers. That equals last years total with a couple of months to go. Will be looking at changing my own rules next year though which will knock a couple off the list - need to combine Rock Dove and Feral Pigeon and knock off any obvious escapes (the Bar Headed Goose needs to come off:-C)

188. Grey Plover

There was also a single Common Scoter out in the bay. Below is a photo of Kev spoiling a photo of Jess:-O and the view East to Port Toilet.

 

[ClarkWGriswold]

Nothing new to add today. Went with the old man to Penclacwydd. On the way I was behind a stunning early 60's (?) Mercedes 190 SL. Unfortunately the only snap I could get was when were stopped at the lights.

At Penclacwydd itself a good selection of birds were present but not the hoped for Curlew Sandpiper. Birds seen included Ruff, Knot, Spotshank, Redshank, Blackwit, Greenshank, Dunlin, Kingfisher and a hunting Peregrine. The resident fox was also having an easy day at the back of the British Steel Hide.

 

[ClarkWGriswold]

Today was one of those days where a little solitude was required. Not bothered about the year list today so going for the Little Stint at Goldcliff, or seeing if the Cattle Egret was still at Penclacwydd was out of the question.

Having dropped the children off at school I headed to Mynydd Ddu. Dotterel had been reported earlier in the week but I had no idea if they were still around. The short slog up the mountain proved I need to work on my fitness:-O. Up on top very little was around to be honest - the odd Meadow Pipit and a distant Buzzard. It was fairly breezy as well. As the main point of the day was peace and quiet this was not an issue. Heading down a different route great views were had of a few Ravens and a Red Kite. Then on the peak opposite a Raven was harrying another BOP. It was too far away for me to positively ID but it certainly had a Harrier vibe to it.

A little further down the mountain and I decided to scan the ridge again to see if I could pick up the BOP again. No luck unfortunately but what I did notice were 3:eek!: Merlin all after the same quarry in the foreground. Having only ever seen 2 Merlin before this was a great experience. Not quite so sure the prey felt the same way thougho. I assume these were young birds???

I don't know if the Dotterel had definitely moved on as it's a large search area. Will try again in Spring.

 

[ClarkWGriswold]

The plan was to return home after heading up the mountain but given the weather was so nice, and the roads were fantastic driving roads with very little traffic, I decided to head over to Usk Reservoir.

Below is a shot of the heavily trafficked roads of Carmarthenshire.

 

[ClarkWGriswold]

At Usk the water levels were low. On the way there several more Red Kites and Common Buzzards were seen. With it still being relatively windy, and quite a few people fishing from the banks, I decided the follow the single track road that loops down from the dam. As it turned out this was a good decision. Not only was it calmer, but a year tick was added in the form of a Willow Tit. This little cracker flew right over my head and had the decency to call as it did so:t:. Would have had to go down as a Marshillow Tit otherwise. A lovely little bird to take me past last year's total.

189. Willow Tit

 

[ClarkWGriswold]

Good morning down in Penclacwydd this morning. Water Rail, Spotted Redshank, Greenshank and Kingfisher outside the Michael Powell Hide.

From the British Steel Hide the high tide brought in a heap of waders and also a pair of Peregrine. One of which took a Blackwit right in front of the hide. Can't remember seeing do many Dunlin which made looking for the single Curlew Sandpiper all the more difficult :-O. Got on it in the end though thanks to one of the other birders. My contribution was picking out the single Barwit in amongst all the Blackwits. Also present were Curlew, Knot, Greenshanks, Teal, Little Egrets etc.

190. Bar Tailed Godwit
191. Curlew Sandpiper

 

[ClarkWGriswold]

Headed down to Kenfig and Sker Point this morning with a couple of mates. Noticed YBW mentioned on Twitter. Great to have the Collins Birds App on my phone as I was able to familiarise myself with their call whilst there. A birder who I think arrived just before us had already got onto them being MUCH more familiar with the species. Thanks for helping us get onto them:t:. Great to have a lifer in the bag before heading out to Sker:king:.

192. Yellow Browed Warbler Lifer# 8 B B B

 

[ClarkWGriswold]

193. Ring Necked Duck Lifer #9 B B B

A second trip to Cardiff Bay quickly gave lifer number 9 of the year:t:

 

[ClarkWGriswold]

Decided to head to Severn Beach today to see if the storm would produce any Petrels which would be lifers for myself and my mate. As it happened our "seawatch" only produced Grey Heron, Turnstones and some BHG's.

Was advised by some local birders at Burger Van Bay? that Pilning Wetlands were a 20 minute walk away so we decided to give there a try. Thanks for the advice gents:t: Sure enough the Glossy Ibis that's been there a week or so had the decency to be right out in the open. Looking between the sentry boxes also gave our other target bird - Water PipitB . This took some finding in amongst the heaps of Meadow Pipits but we got there in the end. Toyed with stopping at Forest Farm on the way home to look for Kingfishers but the weather was so dreadful we came straight back.

194. Glossy Ibis
195. Water Pipit Lifer #10 B B B