I really enjoyed writing up my list here last year so I think I'll start fresh for 2023, I've a feeling the first few months might be quite similar to last year and to be honest I'm more looking forward to expanding on my growing interest in botany and entomology than anything else but I guess it'll mainly be birds before the weather warms up in a few months. Got a few family holidays (skye and florida) and birding trips (naturetrek to romania and a long weekend in mallorca) booked to add some variety but nothing until May.
-
Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.
Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
Owen's wildlife for 2023 (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Owene
- Start date
January 1st
Not really too much dedicated birding today, a visit to Barry Island for my wife's New Year's swim then a family walk around a drizzly (and occasionally hailing) Cosmeston just before it got dark. Missed a few species I'd expect to see. I think they had a more sensible attitude to the conditions than I did but still was very happy to see Marsh Tit which can be very elusive at the site and my first Goosander for the site. They're very common in cardiff bay and the ducks tend to commute between the two sites but I've never had one at cosmeston before.
1 Starling
2 Carrion Crow
3 feral pigeon
4 herring gull
5 black headed gull
6 woodpigeon
7 lesser black backed gull
8 magpie
9 jackdaw
10 blackbird
11 robin
12 coot
13 Moorhen
14 tufted duck
15 mute swan
16 canada goose
17 mallard
18 gadwall
19 pochard
20 goosander
21 cormorant
22 blue tit
23 great tit
24 coal tit
25 marsh tit
26 nuthatch
27 chaffinch
28 fieldfare
29 redwing
30 great crested grebe
31 oystercatcher
1 grey squirrel
2 brown rat
31 birds 2 mammals 0 butterflies 0 herp total 33 lifers 0
Not really too much dedicated birding today, a visit to Barry Island for my wife's New Year's swim then a family walk around a drizzly (and occasionally hailing) Cosmeston just before it got dark. Missed a few species I'd expect to see. I think they had a more sensible attitude to the conditions than I did but still was very happy to see Marsh Tit which can be very elusive at the site and my first Goosander for the site. They're very common in cardiff bay and the ducks tend to commute between the two sites but I've never had one at cosmeston before.
1 Starling
2 Carrion Crow
3 feral pigeon
4 herring gull
5 black headed gull
6 woodpigeon
7 lesser black backed gull
8 magpie
9 jackdaw
10 blackbird
11 robin
12 coot
13 Moorhen
14 tufted duck
15 mute swan
16 canada goose
17 mallard
18 gadwall
19 pochard
20 goosander
21 cormorant
22 blue tit
23 great tit
24 coal tit
25 marsh tit
26 nuthatch
27 chaffinch
28 fieldfare
29 redwing
30 great crested grebe
31 oystercatcher
1 grey squirrel
2 brown rat
31 birds 2 mammals 0 butterflies 0 herp total 33 lifers 0
January 2nd
A lovely morning so I popped out to a few spots around Cardiff Bay. No luck with the wintering black redstarts but quickly found the one scaup in a few hundred tufties and then got to watch the wintering Common Sandpiper working its way around the bayside.
I was chatting to a local birder when he picked up two blackcap so thats another one thats a few months early.
Still no house sparrow or dunnock though.
32 Grey Wagtail
33 Greater Scaup
34 Stonechat
35 blackcap
36 goldfinch
37 Common sandpiper.
Birds 37 Mammals 2 Herp 0 Butterflies 0 Total 39 Lifers 0 Not seen in 2022 0
A lovely morning so I popped out to a few spots around Cardiff Bay. No luck with the wintering black redstarts but quickly found the one scaup in a few hundred tufties and then got to watch the wintering Common Sandpiper working its way around the bayside.
I was chatting to a local birder when he picked up two blackcap so thats another one thats a few months early.
Still no house sparrow or dunnock though.
32 Grey Wagtail
33 Greater Scaup
34 Stonechat
35 blackcap
36 goldfinch
37 Common sandpiper.
Birds 37 Mammals 2 Herp 0 Butterflies 0 Total 39 Lifers 0 Not seen in 2022 0
January 2nd
That time of year when a mcdonalds carpark might deliver Dunnock AND Pied Wagtail and therefore be even better than the best december twitch.
We, along with seemingly everyone else in South Wales went to porthcawl for some wintry beach time. The beach itself was great and delivered a real range of waders, but the second half of the plan, getting some lunch in porthcawl then looking for Purple Sandpipers as the tide peaked proved impossible with people queuing out onto the street from every carpark, chippy and cafe. Combination of the first really sunny day in a while and the final day of the holidays I guess. So no purple sandpipers yet (might try and mop up a few things along that coast on wednesday) but still plenty of additions, Januaries are great for listing,
38 Buzzard
39 Rook
40 Mediterranean gull
41 house sparrow
42 turnstone
43 ringed plover
44 grey plover
45 sanderling
46 rock pipit
47 dunnock
48 pied wagtail
49 Dunlin.
Birds 49 Mammals 2 Herp 0 Butterflies 0 Total 51 lifers 0
That time of year when a mcdonalds carpark might deliver Dunnock AND Pied Wagtail and therefore be even better than the best december twitch.
We, along with seemingly everyone else in South Wales went to porthcawl for some wintry beach time. The beach itself was great and delivered a real range of waders, but the second half of the plan, getting some lunch in porthcawl then looking for Purple Sandpipers as the tide peaked proved impossible with people queuing out onto the street from every carpark, chippy and cafe. Combination of the first really sunny day in a while and the final day of the holidays I guess. So no purple sandpipers yet (might try and mop up a few things along that coast on wednesday) but still plenty of additions, Januaries are great for listing,
38 Buzzard
39 Rook
40 Mediterranean gull
41 house sparrow
42 turnstone
43 ringed plover
44 grey plover
45 sanderling
46 rock pipit
47 dunnock
48 pied wagtail
49 Dunlin.
Birds 49 Mammals 2 Herp 0 Butterflies 0 Total 51 lifers 0
January 4th
My first real day's birding of the year. Started out at Kenfig and an hour or two in the hide alongside the pool. The site has been hosting a Yellow Browed Warbler for a few weeks but despite hearing it briefly (second year in a row with YBW on the heard only list) it didn't show in any of the mixed flocks that worked through the trees by the hide. Did have at least 5 Chiffchaffs together including 2 potential Sibes which seemed a sign of a new reality of winter birding. Plenty of other year ticks too including nice views of a methodically hunting Bittern and very close goldcrests.
Onto LLyn Llech Owain country park, a site I've not visited before but which seemed to have a lot of amazing habitat and to be somewhere to return to in Butterfly and Orchid seasons. The hide and feeding stations had regular Willow Tits, a species that is very hard to find nearer to home and which I haven't seen for a few years. Found one away from the hide as well. Lovely site and thanks to Clark Griswold for recommending it.
Got caught up in an absolute downpour and thought about calling it a day, but decided to head to Llanelli WWT for lunch and to see if the rain stopped. It was on the way home and as a member its free entry so seemed worth a shot. It cleared up enough after lunch to have a look around and got onto a female long tailed duck and a nice Spotted Redshank as well as a bunch of other year ticks. Didn't get Long Tailed Duck last year so already got two species I missed.
50 Grey Heron
51 Long Tailed Tit
52 Goldcrest
53 Wigeon
54 Common Gull
55 Goldeneye
56 Chiffchaff
57 treecreeper
58 Bittern
59 Cetti's warbler
60 Willow Tit +
61 Wren
62 Black tailed Godwit
63 Lapwing
64 shelduck
65 redshank
66 Spotted redshank
67 Long Tailed duck +
68 little grebe
69 shoveller
70 teal
71 bullfinch
72 Great Spotted Woodpecker
Birds 72 Mammals 2 Herp 0 Butterflies 0 Total 74 Lifers 0
My first real day's birding of the year. Started out at Kenfig and an hour or two in the hide alongside the pool. The site has been hosting a Yellow Browed Warbler for a few weeks but despite hearing it briefly (second year in a row with YBW on the heard only list) it didn't show in any of the mixed flocks that worked through the trees by the hide. Did have at least 5 Chiffchaffs together including 2 potential Sibes which seemed a sign of a new reality of winter birding. Plenty of other year ticks too including nice views of a methodically hunting Bittern and very close goldcrests.
Onto LLyn Llech Owain country park, a site I've not visited before but which seemed to have a lot of amazing habitat and to be somewhere to return to in Butterfly and Orchid seasons. The hide and feeding stations had regular Willow Tits, a species that is very hard to find nearer to home and which I haven't seen for a few years. Found one away from the hide as well. Lovely site and thanks to Clark Griswold for recommending it.
Got caught up in an absolute downpour and thought about calling it a day, but decided to head to Llanelli WWT for lunch and to see if the rain stopped. It was on the way home and as a member its free entry so seemed worth a shot. It cleared up enough after lunch to have a look around and got onto a female long tailed duck and a nice Spotted Redshank as well as a bunch of other year ticks. Didn't get Long Tailed Duck last year so already got two species I missed.
50 Grey Heron
51 Long Tailed Tit
52 Goldcrest
53 Wigeon
54 Common Gull
55 Goldeneye
56 Chiffchaff
57 treecreeper
58 Bittern
59 Cetti's warbler
60 Willow Tit +
61 Wren
62 Black tailed Godwit
63 Lapwing
64 shelduck
65 redshank
66 Spotted redshank
67 Long Tailed duck +
68 little grebe
69 shoveller
70 teal
71 bullfinch
72 Great Spotted Woodpecker
Birds 72 Mammals 2 Herp 0 Butterflies 0 Total 74 Lifers 0
Yes they’re lovely little things and the call is very easy 😀
Like many areas they’re really declining around me. There is a site on the edge of the Brecon Beacons but even there you need a cold snap to bring them to seed to have much chance. A handful of birds in a lot of woodland
January 6th
Thought I had a full day parenting today but that turned out to be picking my daughter up from a sleepover and taking her to another friends house for the day so I got some bonus birding time.
Paid a visit to a few sites on the other side of the bay from me to connect with some of the wintering celebrities of our little patch. It seemed like a well trodden path as I ran into three separate local birders doing much the same.
Black Redstarts have wintered in the same patch of wasteground for two years now, its coincided with the ending of us getting wintering ones here in Penarth so possibly the same bird has joined a few others. Also caught up with a whooper swan but didn't have too many commoner birds still no greenfinch or reed bunting.
Potentially had a yellow legged gull as well but I'll let the ID forum decide that, its a species I struggle with.
73 Black Redstart
74 Mistle Thrush
75 Whooper Swan
Birds 75 Mammals 2 Herp 0 Butterflies 0 Total 77 Lifers 0
Thought I had a full day parenting today but that turned out to be picking my daughter up from a sleepover and taking her to another friends house for the day so I got some bonus birding time.
Paid a visit to a few sites on the other side of the bay from me to connect with some of the wintering celebrities of our little patch. It seemed like a well trodden path as I ran into three separate local birders doing much the same.
Black Redstarts have wintered in the same patch of wasteground for two years now, its coincided with the ending of us getting wintering ones here in Penarth so possibly the same bird has joined a few others. Also caught up with a whooper swan but didn't have too many commoner birds still no greenfinch or reed bunting.
Potentially had a yellow legged gull as well but I'll let the ID forum decide that, its a species I struggle with.
73 Black Redstart
74 Mistle Thrush
75 Whooper Swan
Birds 75 Mammals 2 Herp 0 Butterflies 0 Total 77 Lifers 0
January 8th
A day's twitching with Clark (Rich) Griswold and non-Birdforum member Rob started at half six in the morning at Robs and ended about 12 hours later at the same place. In between Rich did a lot of driving in not always nice conditions for which I'm very grateful.
You always hope for an owl from the car or something in these situations but we were in England before we had anything more than a heard only Robin on the trip list. We started out a Barrow Gurney for the very reliable Long Tailed Duck. I'd already seen a female this year but a drake is always good to see even if it was only a year tick for Rob. Next up was Chew Valley Lake for a fairly distant redhead smew that we got good scope views of just before another carloard of birders turned up just as it was flushed out of sight. Time to head properly south.
After a lot of country lanes we ended up at Slapton Lea, a great place that combines a largeish body of freshwater and a nice beach separated only by the road. I'd been there twice before but it was a new site for Rob and Rich and a great place to bird.
We parked and got out of the car only to have the laughing gull circling very low directly over our heads, its grey wings and long beak really obvious. Absolutely brilliant to arrive at a twitch in a great location and have nothing to do beyond enjoy the bird. It soon settled on the sand about 30 feet away from us periodically giving us close flybys. We eventually actually got round to getting the scopes out and soon added a bunch of seabirds to the trip and year list.
The hide at the other end of the beach had a ring necked duck so we paid a quick visit there before heading back north.
We had a bunch of traffic and very hard rain on the journey, stopping occasionally to try and get Rich a fieldfare amongst the redwing flocks we saw and to check out a totally ghostly pale buzzard that we couldn't string into anything else.
We eventually got to Colyford Common where yesterday people had been managing Isabelline Wheatear and Eastern Yellow Wagtail in the same shot. There was a big crowd there, mainly for wagtail as the wheatear has been around for a while but the wheatear was the only one of the star birds to show. And show it did, feeding very actively, preening and positioning itself on various lookout points. It's not as pretty as a Northern Wheatear and I'm sure I'll see loads of them in Romania in the summer but it was a lovely bird to watch and it really made up for a pretty moribund, huddled out of the rain one I ticked at cley a few years back.
The wagtail would have been nice but like the Izzy it was only a year tick, albeit one that might be hard to obtain and I was quite happy with two out of three of the star birds on offer. Excellent company, a decent supporting cast of year ticks and twitching without putting any miles on the car. An excellent day.
77 Smew
78 pheasant
79 Laughing Gull
80 gannet
81 kittiwake
82 shag
83 ring necked duck
84 Great black backed gull
85 Isabelline Wheatear +
86 kestrel
87 peregrine
88 meadow pipit
89 curlew
90 water pipit +
91 Little egret
92 common scoter
3 Roe Deer
Birds 92 Mammals 3 Herp 0 Butterflies 0 Total 95 Lifers 1
A day's twitching with Clark (Rich) Griswold and non-Birdforum member Rob started at half six in the morning at Robs and ended about 12 hours later at the same place. In between Rich did a lot of driving in not always nice conditions for which I'm very grateful.
You always hope for an owl from the car or something in these situations but we were in England before we had anything more than a heard only Robin on the trip list. We started out a Barrow Gurney for the very reliable Long Tailed Duck. I'd already seen a female this year but a drake is always good to see even if it was only a year tick for Rob. Next up was Chew Valley Lake for a fairly distant redhead smew that we got good scope views of just before another carloard of birders turned up just as it was flushed out of sight. Time to head properly south.
After a lot of country lanes we ended up at Slapton Lea, a great place that combines a largeish body of freshwater and a nice beach separated only by the road. I'd been there twice before but it was a new site for Rob and Rich and a great place to bird.
We parked and got out of the car only to have the laughing gull circling very low directly over our heads, its grey wings and long beak really obvious. Absolutely brilliant to arrive at a twitch in a great location and have nothing to do beyond enjoy the bird. It soon settled on the sand about 30 feet away from us periodically giving us close flybys. We eventually actually got round to getting the scopes out and soon added a bunch of seabirds to the trip and year list.
The hide at the other end of the beach had a ring necked duck so we paid a quick visit there before heading back north.
We had a bunch of traffic and very hard rain on the journey, stopping occasionally to try and get Rich a fieldfare amongst the redwing flocks we saw and to check out a totally ghostly pale buzzard that we couldn't string into anything else.
We eventually got to Colyford Common where yesterday people had been managing Isabelline Wheatear and Eastern Yellow Wagtail in the same shot. There was a big crowd there, mainly for wagtail as the wheatear has been around for a while but the wheatear was the only one of the star birds to show. And show it did, feeding very actively, preening and positioning itself on various lookout points. It's not as pretty as a Northern Wheatear and I'm sure I'll see loads of them in Romania in the summer but it was a lovely bird to watch and it really made up for a pretty moribund, huddled out of the rain one I ticked at cley a few years back.
The wagtail would have been nice but like the Izzy it was only a year tick, albeit one that might be hard to obtain and I was quite happy with two out of three of the star birds on offer. Excellent company, a decent supporting cast of year ticks and twitching without putting any miles on the car. An excellent day.
77 Smew
78 pheasant
79 Laughing Gull
80 gannet
81 kittiwake
82 shag
83 ring necked duck
84 Great black backed gull
85 Isabelline Wheatear +
86 kestrel
87 peregrine
88 meadow pipit
89 curlew
90 water pipit +
91 Little egret
92 common scoter
3 Roe Deer
Birds 92 Mammals 3 Herp 0 Butterflies 0 Total 95 Lifers 1
Last edited:
Naturetreks carpathians and Danube trip in august. Probably not the best time, have a feeling it will be very hot, but the only tour I could find anywhere in school holidays.
It uses up most of what’s left of my bird tour inheritance kitty so I’m going to have to plan some stuff for myself from now but it should be a great wildlife experience
Great stuff Owen, both brilliant places, can't wait to hear about the trip. My first visit to the Danube was in August, amazing numbers of birds there! My trip report here if you've got nothing better to do! The only thing I was disappointed to miss out on was Red-necked Grebe in breeding plumage (went back on June and got that) otherwise it was fantastic!
Chris
Chris
December 11th
With my day off tomorrow looking both wet and work filled I decided to stop off at Cardiff bay reserve and when it happened to be briefly rain free as I was passing on the way home from work.
Still very very windy and gloomy so there wasn’t much point in bothering but the first passerine I saw turned out to be a song thrush.
93 song thrush
Birds 93 Mammals 3 Herp 0 Butterflies 0 Total 95 Lifers 1
With my day off tomorrow looking both wet and work filled I decided to stop off at Cardiff bay reserve and when it happened to be briefly rain free as I was passing on the way home from work.
Still very very windy and gloomy so there wasn’t much point in bothering but the first passerine I saw turned out to be a song thrush.
93 song thrush
Birds 93 Mammals 3 Herp 0 Butterflies 0 Total 95 Lifers 1
January 13th
A day off and weather that was just very windy rather than wet so time to make some progress on the list.
First stop was Portishead for Purple Sandpiper, a species I dont manage to catch up with all that often. The gusts made keeping the camera steady hard and had my eyes streaming but watched two of them huddled on a tiny strip of rock below Battery Point.
On to a packed Slimbridge for a quick round up of all it's main species. Huge flocks of Golden Plover and Lapwing going up constantly. very close avocets and snipe. The usual water rail, bewicks and Category C species. White Fronted Geese were harder to come by but I did eventually manage to scope a small group from the top of the estuary tower. I don't really enjoy it when it's that full. there wasn't a seat to be had in any hide but I did manage to just about get scope views through gaps most of the time and the people while many were very friendly.
Nice to get past 100 and it doesn't leave me that many common inland ducks or waders
94 Purple Sandpiper +
95 Golden Plover
96 Pintail
97 Bewicks Swan
98 Snipe
99 Ruff
100 water rail
101 Crane
102 Barnacle goose
103 White fronted goose
104 Avocet
Birds 104 Mammals 3 Herp 0 Butterflies 0 Total 107 Lifers 1
A day off and weather that was just very windy rather than wet so time to make some progress on the list.
First stop was Portishead for Purple Sandpiper, a species I dont manage to catch up with all that often. The gusts made keeping the camera steady hard and had my eyes streaming but watched two of them huddled on a tiny strip of rock below Battery Point.
On to a packed Slimbridge for a quick round up of all it's main species. Huge flocks of Golden Plover and Lapwing going up constantly. very close avocets and snipe. The usual water rail, bewicks and Category C species. White Fronted Geese were harder to come by but I did eventually manage to scope a small group from the top of the estuary tower. I don't really enjoy it when it's that full. there wasn't a seat to be had in any hide but I did manage to just about get scope views through gaps most of the time and the people while many were very friendly.
Nice to get past 100 and it doesn't leave me that many common inland ducks or waders
94 Purple Sandpiper +
95 Golden Plover
96 Pintail
97 Bewicks Swan
98 Snipe
99 Ruff
100 water rail
101 Crane
102 Barnacle goose
103 White fronted goose
104 Avocet
Birds 104 Mammals 3 Herp 0 Butterflies 0 Total 107 Lifers 1
Last edited:
Welsh Peregrine
Well-known member
I’m worried that you’re in December already....
I usually write the previous year for a bit. Never noticed me doing the month before 😀
December 15th
Nice walk along the Ely with the family. Very pleased to see that Grangemoor park was open after a year closed for excavations, hopefully the butterflies haven't been too disrupted.
The best birds were a grey heron and a lovely pair of Goosander but for the year list it was the Collared Dove we saw on the drive over.
105 Collared Dove
Birds 105 Mammals 3 Herp 0 Butterflies 0 Total 108 Lifers 1
Nice walk along the Ely with the family. Very pleased to see that Grangemoor park was open after a year closed for excavations, hopefully the butterflies haven't been too disrupted.
The best birds were a grey heron and a lovely pair of Goosander but for the year list it was the Collared Dove we saw on the drive over.
105 Collared Dove
Birds 105 Mammals 3 Herp 0 Butterflies 0 Total 108 Lifers 1
Last edited:
December 17th
Considering my commute takes in 20 miles of farmland I very rarely get decent birds on it. Occasional red kites and very infrequent barn owls and green woodpecker. Used to be lots of rabbits but none for ages. Plenty of roadkill, including multiple polecats over the last year or so but never much to actually see. Brambling in the services is probably the best in 18 years of working there.
Today managed a sparrowhawk flying low across the road. Hardly a bird I was going to miss but nice to keep things ticking along especially as some forecast snow might stop me heading into the beacons on Thursday
106 sparrowhawk
Birds 106 Mammals 3 Herp 0 Butterflies 0 Total 109 Lifers 1
Considering my commute takes in 20 miles of farmland I very rarely get decent birds on it. Occasional red kites and very infrequent barn owls and green woodpecker. Used to be lots of rabbits but none for ages. Plenty of roadkill, including multiple polecats over the last year or so but never much to actually see. Brambling in the services is probably the best in 18 years of working there.
Today managed a sparrowhawk flying low across the road. Hardly a bird I was going to miss but nice to keep things ticking along especially as some forecast snow might stop me heading into the beacons on Thursday
106 sparrowhawk
Birds 106 Mammals 3 Herp 0 Butterflies 0 Total 109 Lifers 1
