"Round round get round, I get around, yeah"

First seen at Rhaslas on November 5th, today at Parc Bryn Bach, via Caerphilly Castle Moat and Aberdare Park. Nice bird and an indicator of canada geese movement along the Heads of the Valley area over the autumn/winter period. No white winged gulls present, just usual water species with few passerines noted.

Llwyn-onn 6th & 7th; Water pipit (spillway) and willow tit (opposite Garwnant entrance with Kevin). Group of 6 crossbills (distant) noted feeding on Larch at Garwnant on the 7th, possible breeding ?

My first couple of mornings out this year, nice to be back.

Needed to Escape

After everything on stop for the last couple of days and not being able to get the car out it was great to escape the valleys for a couple hours. So Phil, Martin and myself headed down to Cardiff Bay to look for the recently sighted Black Redstart at the Marina. I was amazed how much more snow there was down in Cardiff. At the Marina there was no sign of the Black Red but we had big numbers of Fieldfare flying over heading west and smaller numbers of  Redwing. On the bay there was very  small numbers of small gulls. On the shoreline there was three Redshank and a hand full of Grey Wagtail and a single Rock Pipit.

Next  stop was Cossie for Yellow legged Gull and Iceland Gull and after a lap of cossie we found the second winter Yellow Legged Gull and it was great to conpare it with a second winter Herring  Gull. The only downside was it was too far for a photo but our first year tick of the day. When we stood waiting for the gulls to come in I was checking the swans rings and all were CO with a number on a blue ring but I noticed one with a Green ring and WT9 so I thought is it worth putting  the record in. I took a shot of the swan and I thought I may as well and I was quietly surprised by the news. It was rung in the Wildlife Centre West Hatch near Taunton in Somerset and it was admitted on 18 September 2014. It had came from Penpole Creek, Fowey in Cornwall. It had swallowed a fishing hook and line and was a youngster from 2013 and after rehabilitation was released on 30 January 2015 on the river at Porchy in Somerset and from there flew the channel and turned up at Cosmeston in June. It was only recorded once more in November 2015 and once more in October 2016 and my record now. Just shows it's right under everyones nose and no one had reported it.

Back to birding, when we got back to the car Martin heard Crossbill and we looked up and had 4 birds moving east and seconds later flew back west. We had a quick chat with Steve Howcroft and he told us that the Glaucous Gull near Wentloog had been seen on the Wednesday and he also told us that there was a barn owl in the owl tree. We checked the tree and there sitting in the hole was a cracking Barn Owl and our second year tick. We checked the fields for Gulls but only finding very small numbers and still more winter thrushs and starlings. We then stopped at the sluice farm and had a walk along the salt marsh but all we saw was all the common stuff. We were hoping for Jack Snipe and Water Pipit but we got the tide wrong, the best we found was 2 Common Snipe, a couple of Meadow Pipits and a single Stonechat. On the walk back we found a single Fieldfare and we could see that it was a casualty from the cold snap, it could fly and may recover in time if not found by the local foxes.

On the way home we had a quick check of Lamby lake but we found it very quiet and had very low numbers of Gulls again. Out of desperation we called back at Cossie for take two but still no joy with the Iceland Gull. We did have another Yellow Legged Gull and this time an adult.

Back in Aberdare there was still some Redwing about and they seemed to be find food a lot easier now .

After trying for weeks to get a photo of this Blackbird at the top of my street it was nice it finally played ball. Last of all I found another casualty of the weather, this Meadow Pipit on the path and so close to surviving the cold snap, always sad to see.

More hard weather refugees

Further signs of birds being moved by the current snowy weather this moring. A walk up round Parc Taf Bargoed and CCF brought 2 more Woodcock (though 1 was probably the bird I photographed yesterday as it was less than 100m from were yesterdays bird had roosted). More of a surprise were 2 Snipe at PTB - my first at this site. The first came out of a flash in woodland, calling and showing the white trailing edge well. The second came up from the side of the upper lake, flew off high without a sound and did not appear to have a white trailing edge to the wing. I had seen it before it flew and it was def a Snipe, rather than Jack or Great and looked to richly coloured to be Wilson's.

6 Teal was a site record for me as was 8 Goosanders. One of the Muscovy Ducks looks to have gone - Fox (or a locals dog) victim or succumbed to the recent sub zero temps?

A big surprise was a fine male Brambling feeding at one of the properties that overlooks the settling beds - a year tick pulled back on Messrs Bevan and Hill.

New Birds for the Garden

Yesterday morning my daughter said the Starlings are back, they had not been in the garden for over a twelve month. I said great and within the hour I had had 7 starlings on my feeders. Well as the day went on I thought I was seeing things, it went up to 9 and by night fall there was just over thirty and I was pretty happy. At first light today thirty came in and then it was like a sight from Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds, they kept coming and were all over my bushes also next doors garden wall and shed, over head phone lines and there must have between 250 to 300 birds. They ate everything, had a bath and then flew off. I went back up with more food and water but only about 70 came back and as fast has I put food out it was gone. I also had a nice surprise when I had a single Redwing and two Fieldfare. In my front garden I had two Song Thrush in the flower beds.
Also I went to Tesco and when I was walking back with my daughters we found three Redwing and a Mistle Thrush feeding on ivy berries in a garden in the street below so I ran back for my camera. Also on the top of my street there were three Bullfinch feeding under a conifer right by the main road.

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The month (year) of the Woodcock

For some reason I seem to have seen far more Woodcock in the first two months of this year than I can remember ever seeing. March, at only 2 days old added further sightings of the species.

The only bird I saw on my walk to the station yesterday morning was a single Woodcock flying round, looking for a roosting spot, just north of the Abercynon road depot.

This morning, a walk up to Pont - y- Gwaith and back produced a single fly by Woodcock, disturbed from its day roost by something unknown - It wasn't me as it flew towards the round me.

Almost home and crossing the footbridge over the Taff, a bout 200m from home, and I stopped to watch a few Redwing. I noticed something smaller so focused on it - surprisingly a meadow pipit forgaging in the wood next to the river.Watching the Pipit, it flew to a small flush, where a number of Redwing and Blackbirds were feeding. Working through those I picked up the unmistakable profile of a Woodcock. On the deck, in daylight - something that seems to have eluded me for years. A quick walk home, pick up the scope and back. Dam, it had moved. but it didn't take long to refind.

The only other bird of note from this mornings walk was a juv female Gos.

Tick and run

Phil, Martin Bevan and myself took a jaunt down to the south coast on Sunday, the big draw being the adult Ross's Gull hanging around the Weymouth area. A quick stop at Radipole, just after 7am,  brought little joy so it was over to Lodmoor. After parking up and making our way over to the scrapes we soon found groups of loafing gulls. After quickly checking through the first group and finding nothing of interest we quickly moved on to the second group. Almost the first bird I looked at was the Ross's Gull and quickly got the other two onto it. Not long after I phoned it into the bird services around a dozen birders had appeared and enjoyed great looks at this diminutive high Arctic specices before if took off and headed out to sea.
On the walk back to the car we met a couple of birders who on asking if it was still showing were disappointed to learn it had flown as both had dipped it several times the day before. One had traveled back to Essex the previous evening - some 200mls each way. We hope he caught up with the Gull later that day as we are all to familiar with the journey home after a long distance dip.
Next up was the long-staying Stilt Sandpiper, currently residing at Stanpit Marsh just outside Bournemouth. By 9:30 we were on site and working through the waders feeding at the waters edge. Whether it was something to do with the rugby the day before but my birding finding radar cut through the flock like Huw Jones thru the English defence and quickly located the Sandpiper. Moving closer we enjoyed much better views that our first, some years back in Gloucestershire.
Where next? a quick conference saw us head to Morden Bog to look for what was fast becoming a bogey bird for us these days - a Great Grey Shrike. Some 10 minutes after parking up, I spot the Shrike and although we never got close it was nice to nail the species this winter.
Our luck had to change at some point, and it did as we visited Arne for raptors and Dartford Warb's. Whether it was down to the cold wind, or just second half fatigue, the warbers didn't show and the only raptor was a Kestrel by the car park. A couple of Spoonbills provided some compensation but initially fleeting views of a few Sika Deer followed by a closer encounter with several does, some with last years fawns, were the highlight.
Rather strangely, we had managed to park legally at several places in Dorset without incurring any parking charges, probably a first for all of us!
We then started the long trip home, with plans to stop off at Marshfield for Corn Bunting and Partridge. As we were bypassing Bath, we were suddenly confronted with a toll gate. Phil's Satnav hadn't mentioned anything about a toll road. Fortunately it was just 80p and we were quickly on our way again. It looked like this was a toll bridge that had been in existence for a long time, possibly hundereds of years.
Arriving at Marshfield, we were hardly out of the car when I found the first pair of Red-legged Partridge and these were quickly followed by the first of over 100 Corn Buntings. Yellowhammer took a lot more work than last year at this site but one was eventually found.
All that was left was the traditional dip of the Short-eared Owls at Awst and we duly complied.

Dorset last Sunday

The two Martin's and myself had planned to go to the Forest of Dean to try and not dip Great Grey Shrike again this year and have a good search for Lesser Spotted Woodpecker.

However in the early hours of Sunday morning we were on the road to Dorset, the lure of the Ross's Gull being too much for us. We arrived at Weymouth just after first light and went straight to Radipole. There were some gulls there but nothing of note so we went over to Lodmoor. We parked at the far end of the reserve and had a nice walk in freezing conditions (I had five layers of clothes on) over to the scrapes. We could see a nice group of gulls as we approached but unfortunately they took off and came down further on. On reaching these Mr Bell quickly found the Ross's and we were treated to some great views of our third Ross's Gull. We phoned the news in and within minutes there were birders everywhere. The bird flew around a few times, landed closer but then flew off about 15 minutes later.

We decided to walk back where close to the entrance we met another birder who asked us if the bird was still there. We gave him the bad news and he told us he had dipped the bird yesterday and had drove back again today from Essex, 400 miles round trip each day!!. We sincerely hope that he picked the bird up at Radipole later on that day.

Plan B was to go to Standpit Marsh to try for the Stilt Sandpiper. This was another 40 miles away but well worth the effort as not long after we got there Mr Bell found the bird and our second British Stilt Sandpiper was in the bag. Mr Bell and myself had not been to this site before but we were well impressed.

There was a Great Grey Shrike on the way back at Morden Bog so we thought we would try for that. Parking was a big issue here. I was waiting for someone to pull out of a space on the side of the road but someone drove up and went straight in the space. I was not amused at all but had to drive a few hundred yards up the road where luckily we managed to get in a small space near a gate. This proved fortuitous has we only went a couple of hundred yards into the reserve through the gate and Mr Bell yet again found the Shrike straight away. Big relief has this was unusually for us turning into a bogey bird.

Next on the list was Arne which was only a few miles away, another new reserve for Mr Bell and myself. Dartford Warbler was the target here but our luck changed and none were seen, probably due to the strong wind. We did however pick up Sika Deer a new species for me.

We decided to split the journey home up by going to Marshfield in Gloucestershire to look for some farmland birds. This proved to be a good idea has we picked up Corn Bunting, Yellowhammers and Red-Legged Partridges.

From there it was to Aust for our usual dip of the Short Eared Owls on our way home.

Mr Bevan and myself had 5 year ticks and Mr Bell six so a very good day all round.