Valleys wetlands

With the weather being pretty bad yesterday with high winds I thought maybe something may have been blown up the valley. Its always nice to do a bit of local birding and you never now what may turn up. I went to Abercwmboi Lake first and it was good to see reasonable numbers of  birds with 32 Coot, 12 Moorhen, 7 Mute swan and low numbers of ducks with only 3 Mallard and this drake Wigeon which I did not see on the first lap but found it on the way back.

 The things on the wire same to be working but it is still nervous times when the swans take off.

Next up was Tir Founder Fields but it was dead part from 1 Water Rail, a single Mute Swan and a female Goosanser on the River Cynon, it seems to be going down hill fast.

Green Elf Cup

I popped in to Cwm Nant-y-gwyddel, this afternoon and as well as these two unidentified slime moulds, I saw that the Green Elf Cup is looking good. The purple jelly thing was on Wych Elm. I've seen it on Wych Elm elsewhere.

Earlier, up at Bryn Pica tip access road, I found a group of thirteen Round-leaved Wintergreen.

Euro Disney take two

After my wife and daughter had told me I was going back to Disneyland again I thought yes it could be better this time of year it being October as the last time I was there was June. This was my first time to go though the channel tunnel, the trip though the tunnel was really quick and in just under half hour and we were through and the birding could start I thought. Unfortunately it was dead, there were miles and miles of farm fields with mostly crops were being grown. The small list of birds included Jackdaw  / Carrion Crow /   Magpie / Wood Pigeon / Collard Dove / Feral Pigeon / Black Headed Gull / Herring Gull / Lesser Black Backed Gull / Big numbers of Starling / Long Tailed Tit / Common Buzzard and a nice surprise was at least half a dozen Common Kestrels which felt like the olds days again when they were common. Once we arrived at Disney and got to our room it looked really good as it was in woodland and I could hear stuff singing from the wood and I was looking forward to my walk the next morning.  Well I was up at 6am and ready to go until I looked outside and it was still dark, it did not get light until just after 8 which was too late for me to go has we were going to be in the  park by 8.30. So day one was quiet and has I did  not have binoculars on me in the park so all birds were seen or heard only on the second day. I had a walk and I was out for hour and half and it was nice to have a break from the park. This a list of what I saw in three days in the park and the hotel grounds a Blue Tit / Great Tit / Coal Tit / Long Tailed Tit and another  surpise was I heard a bird  calling in the park which I thought I know this bird its a Crested Tit and on day two I had great views in the hotel grounds / Robin / Dunnock / Wren were heard only / Wood Pigeon / Collared Dove / Feral Pigeon / Blackbird / Song Thrush / Mistle Thrush / Redwing going over high / Pied / White Wagtail / Grey Wagtail / Goldcrest / Firecrest / 1  juv Green Woodpecker / Goldfinch / Chaffinch / 3 Chiffchaff / 1 pair Blackcap / House Sparrow / Starling and also of note was a bird singing high above the Tower of  Terror which I think it was Black Redstart.

In the Frontierland part of Disney there was a lake and  a paddle steamer go around it and I saw about a dozen Coot / 6 Moorhen  / Mallard / Canada Goose / 4 Little Grebe / 1 Kingfisher / 1 Cormorant / Black Headed Gull was the only gull seen on site / 1 Grey Heron. A big surprise was there were no birds of prey were  seen on site. Also strange was I saw no mammals in the grounds or in the park. I did see three species  of Butterflies which were Red Admiral / Small White and Speckled Wood, I also saw two species of Dragonfly which were Common Darter and Migrant Hawker.

 The Lake At Frontierland

 Paddle Steamer that takes you around lake on lake.

 Good numbers of Canada Geese

The lake near the hotel was very quiet and only had Mallard and Black Headed Gulls. There must be good water in Euro Disney as this is the biggest Fly Agaric I have seen .

Better Late Than Never

A few photos of the last two weekends out with Martin Bevan. Rock Thrush on the Blorenge and Little Owl at Sker. Both distant shots and in the case of the thrush taken in a gale force wind.

Vis mig'ing and the Rock Thrush

This weekend was meant to be about athletes racing in Germany, so unusually I don't pack any bin's, or camera. Big Error. All day Friday and Saturday i watch small flock after small flock of passerines pass over heading in South Westerly direction. Of those I managed to ID, they were mainly Chaffinch, Skylark and Meadow Pipit, with smaller numbers of Yellowhammer, Greenfinch, Hawfinch, Blue Tit, and Crested Lark. With bin's I'm sure I would have identified more species. The village we stayed in held at least 6 Black Redstart (prob a lot more) just round the hotel. Driving back to Berlin, a skien of Common Crane flew over.

Interestingly, all the crows around where we stayed, SW of Lipzig, were Carrion, whilst in Berlin they were Hooded.

The trip, however, got off to a fraught start as soon as I picked up the hire care, Mr Hill phoned to inform me of the Rock Thrush found in Gwent..... So it was with hope on my return to the UK that the bird would still be on site - A text from Phil on my landing confirmed its presence today and by 15:45, the Rock Thrush was on the list - my 7th GB tick of the year. Although looking into the sun I managed a few digiscope pics - the best of which is below.

Rhaslas

Working just outside Senghenydd this a.m. and for some unknown reason decided to drive home the scenic route. First record of whooper at Rhaslas, still carrying yellow stain.