Happy New Year Lads

I had Walk up Bryn Du this afternoon and the best I could find was a flock of 50 Lesser Redpoll and 6 Common Crossbills and 2 woodcock and the Match stick lichen is looking brilliant at the moment..

Gloves off for the final day of the year

The final fling on Auld Years Day saw a stake out of the clear fell at Garwnant along the Cwm Cadlan road for the Great Grey Shrike reported a couple of days previously but not seen since. A quick look over the spillway produced a pied and a Grey Wagtail, but no Water Pipit (is it still around?) before arriving at the clear fell at just after 8:30 this morning. I walked round the edge of the clear fell area with little to show for my troubled so perched up in the top left corner, giving me clear views over most of the likely area.
 Another birder parked up not long before 10am, had a quick look and looked to be settling down for a long wait. I was just thinking of breaking open the coffee when I spied a new "white" blob appear at the edge of the clearing. A quick view in the scope confirmed it was the GGS. I looked for the other birder, but he was no where in sight, so I got the news out via the Whatsup group.
I managed to watch the Shrike for about 20-25 mins as it worked its way along the lower edge of the clearing, with the other birder re-appearing - he'd taken a walk up the road to the cattle grid.

With the Shrike firmly in the bag, it was off to a secret locality in RCT to look for the rare Willow Gloves Hypocreopsis lichenoides fungi, found by Mark Evans last winter. The drive from Garwnant over Cwn Cadlan saw more Fieldfare and Redwings than I had seen previously this winter - good to know they are around.

Making my way to Mark's secret spot (Thanks for the grid ref) I quickly found the Willow trees and it was quickly evident that they were infected with the Willow Glue Hymenochaete tabacina fungus, upon which Willow Gloves feeds.

 Despite several Willows being infected with Willow Glue, I couldn't locate the Willow Gloves, despite changing angles, looking this way and that into several Willows. After an hour of searching I decide to break for coffee and sandwich before restarting the search. Refreshed I quickly located what looked to be the remains of an old Willow Gloves fruiting body, then a second, a third.. eventually locating at least 6 of what appear to be the remains of old fruiting bodies.

 Eventually, a fresh fruiting body materialised in front of my eyes,

then a second

and then a third, all with a minute

They were much smaller than I was expecting, and I don't think any of these three are the fruiting bodies Mark had photographed earlier this month.

With the Gloves finally found I could then look for a second fungi that relies upon Willow Glue - Fringed Cup Encoelia fimbriata.  I had already suspected I'd seen this tiny fungi as I had noted in places a lot of pale lumps extruding from the twigs. A closer look with the hand lens showed these were Fringed Cups, some just emerging, some fully mature and others past their "best before" date.

A great way to end the year, and I finish with my bird year list on a paltry 219, but my Pan Species UK life list standing at 2603 species.



    

Purple Patch

Today my daughter Kathryn and me headed to Porthcawl and Sker point. We started out today has always at Salt Lake car park and there were good number of gulls, they were mostly Herring and Black Headed gulls and a single Lesser Black Backed Gull. I took a loaf and a half of bread with me for them and as hard as I searched I could not find any rung birds apart from a single Black Headed Gull with a alum ring and I don’t why they do it as you cannot read the ring. I forgot to pack my rocket net and Kathryn had the job of throwing the bread, I said will you keep a couple of slices for later and she said mmmmmmm. Next thing she said I only got one slice left and I thought bugger and yes Mike you do rub off on people. So next stop was a drive west to Victoria Avenue, armed with my single slice of bread I started throwing it out and like clockwork there were five Med Gulls with the Black Headed Gulls.  I picked up this one with a white ring straight away, I was lucky has he was the closest gull there. The bread soon went and with that another Med turned up with a ring, it looked white too but I no more bread left and it soon flew off. Well I thought  as I am here I will have a look for Purple Sandpipers, I saw movement on the rocks and the very first bird I checked was a Purple Sandpiper. I thought is this a fluke or what and as I scanned there were more and more, in fact there were nineteen in total also there were only four Turnstone.

Next stop was Rest Bay and a walk to Sker Point. It started really quiet with only a couple of dozen Common Gulls on the football pitch also four Oystercatchers. Has I got closer to Pink Bay I could see loads of Oystercatchers on the rocks, I started my count from there to Sker and this is what I had, 108 Oystercatchers, 49 Turnstones, 1 Purple Sandpiper, 200 Golden Plover, 16 Curlew, 1Ringed Plover, 1 Redshank, 1 Shag, 1 Great Crested Grebe flying up channel and a distant duck on the sea which I thought first was maybe an Eider but the more I looked at it I think it was a female Common Scoter.  I wished I had taken my scope. To finish we picked two bags of rubbish off the beach and we also saw a couple picking litter too, if only there were more people like this. We passed about 40 to 50 people walking and if they all did the five minute beach clean it would make hell of a difference. Last thing there seemed to be what looked like a dead blue jellyfish on the beach, you could make the stingers out. Also Ray or Skate egg cases everywhere also cuttlefish. It was great to spend a couple of hours with Kathryn and Munch.  Also on the way home we had a Small Tortoiseshell butterfly flying over the bridge at Briton ferry.

 I have put the ring up date in the comment part below.

Pentrebach gull

Interesting adult gull using roof tops of Pentrebach retail park at the moment, has certain attributes of caspian, as can be seen, but refusing to show wing tip pattern so unable to confirm. If you are passing can you check it out. Bird very distant in poor light then heavily cropped, difficult to approach.

Jack's Back

It has taken me almost a twelve months to see Jack Snipe and I was starting to think I lost my chance.  Today I did my Willow Tit survey in Hirwaun and I thought I would give Hirwaun ponds a go as it used to be a regular spot for them. Well I got there for first light and I could not get over how over grown it was, I found it hard work getting in to the site but once in I checked the place where I have had them in the past but I kept coming up blank. I give it a couple of plays on my Ipod for Willow Tit but I had no joy. I have had them in the past in the boggy bit which was fairly deep and I almost lost my wellies a couple of times. Well just has I was thinking it may have been a bad Idea I flushed a Woodcock, they always seem to catch you off your guard and it almost give me a heart attack. Just has I was leaving I thought I would give one more patch a last go and I don’t know if anybody else noticed this but when Jack Snipe take off you can hear their wings hitting the floor and you know its a jack before you see it, their silent. I was starting to think I was the only person not going to see one in 2018 but great to get a result. I did my  Willow Tit survey but no joy again. I was surprised to see 18 Fieldfare, I don’t know if it’s me but winter thrushes seem to be in short supply, I have only seen one Redwing over Christmas. Last thing there is a good crop of berries on the Industrial  Estate and it looks good for any Waxwings that might turn up.

I also found this slime mold when I was doing the survey, I am trying to find out which one it is, it looks a bit like Dogsick Slime mold.

Upper Boat

Nice to get out for an hour this morning although i now need new boots as mine leaked like a sieve,i would ask Mike and Phil for advice but their track record with footwear leaves a lot to be desired. Birding highlights -  Dipper(3) Heron(4) Goosander(3) 1m 2f,Little Grebe,Grey Wagtail,Mistle Thrush,L.t.tit(10-12), Buzzard and Kestrel. Apparently sales of Mr.Hogans christmas calendar are now in double figures although personally i think December's centrespread shows Fartu much.

New Bird for Rhaslas

MERRY CHRISTMAS lads and to all our blog viewers, also have a great new year and I look forward to birding with you in the New Year. Lets hope it's a cracker. This new bird was found by Mike after two crates of Spitfire, if we don't laugh we would go off our heads pmsl.

Quiet Sunday

I visited the lake on Friday afternoon  and there was no sign of the Great White Egret so I thought I had given it the kiss of death after I told Phil the egret could be good for a year tick for 2019. I took some seed for the swans, as I was  feeding them I counted them casually and I thought how are there 17. On counting them several times more I found there were indeed 17 and this is the highest count so far. I noticed the one with the yellow ring was back and she had a mate. I sent the details to the BTO  again and I hope this time they can find her has I would love to know where she is from.

Rewind back to Sunday morning and I was going to my daughter’s house to paint and I needed a chill out hour so I took some more food down for the swans but they were back to 15 and the one with the ring had gone again. I noticed one of the swans had got a lump on her face, at first glance she looks fine but then she turns around and you can see it, so I am beginning  to wonder if maybe there is a fish hook in there. It seems every time I go over there I am picking up fish line, these anglers are dirty sods.

This is list of what I had this morning 5 Goosander, the two drakes were fighting like hell and you would think three female would be enough to kill any Drake. 16 Little Grebe, 4 Cormorant, 25 Mallard, 36 Coot, 11 Moorhen, 15 Mute Swan, 2 Common Snipe, 1 Grey Heron and just has I was  about to  leave the Great White Egret came in. It came from up the valley and landed in the reed bed so  it could be roosting in the lower Tir Founder Fields. It's great to think it's been here for two weeks has far as we know.

This afternoon after painting I thought I will pop up Cwm Cadlan for hour and see if I can find a Jack Snipe but has I got to Hirwaun you could see the fog over the quarry so there was no point going up.  I had Munch with me and he needed a walk and was giving me stinking looks so I went up Craig Llyn instead and yes still fog. Bird wise it was dead, best birds were three Lesser Redpoll feeding along the forestry road. I walked across the dam and Munch jumped in the reservoir when I was not looking, he came straight back out, I think the water was a tad cold. The best thing I found was this Stags Horn Club Moss  which is new for me and it just shows it doesn't matter how many times you do the same walk there always new stuff to be found and thank you Mark for ID.

Last webs of the year

After the thought of working Sunday, getting up to do my Webs count, it was emptying down, the rain and wind was hitting the window, I thought I need another coffee and for a second I thought I am turning into one of these fine weather birders and that has never been me. So I went straight to Abercwmboi Lake to get my last webs of the year done and has I got  there I noticed there was a white bird in the distant. At a glance I thought that swan has got a long neck and it was only when I picked my bins up I thought with a neck like that it has to be Great White Egret. The Grey Heron with it kept chasing it off and it was getting a bit closer each time. I phoned Phil and I expected to hear him say we are down Porthcawl and there are birds everywhere but I was surprised to hear he was home. He said he was putting his willies on and was coming up for the Egret straight away. I know they are  getting more common but still a big one for the valleys. It was like the Great Spotted Cuckoo all over again, the egret took off a couple of times and I was thinking how I am going tell him it's flew off. When he finally turned up he told me he had walked through the stream and filled his willies in the process, boy was I relieved when he got there and it was still present. The egret seemed  to be quite settled so we carried on doing my webs. It was great the 15 Mute Swans were still on the lake we also had two flocks of Little Grebes (16 in total) fly in, it takes some getting use to seeing them in a flock. There were 36 Coot, 16 Moorhen, 25 Mallard and my first Tufted Duck of the winter. To finish  there were two Greylag Geese and two Cormorant and it was all done for another year .

 I went back at one pm in between showers and I photographed the swans. The Egret popped out in the back of the reeds and carried on feeding so I went back to the swans and just I turned around the egret took off and flew right over me and boy was I glad he did not white wash me as he went over. As I stood there I could still see the egret feeding to my left when I also heard a Water Rail calling, it's been a long time since I heard one here last.

Day Trip to the coast

Mr Bell, Phil and myself decided on Saturday night the conditions for a sea watch could be
ok on Sunday, the wind was not really right for Porthcawl being a west south west and
not south west which is the best plus the high tide was in the afternoon. But what the hell its always nice to get out and just have a go. We got there nice and early, set up and straight away we got a couple of hundred Black Headed Gulls going though and about a dozen Med Gulls. Common Gulls as well but apart from two Common Scoters going down channel it was dead and the main highlight was a massive flock of Starlings going over, there must have been two thousand birds in the flock and a brilliant sight to see. But we did last longer than normal well over 5 minutes in fact which is our record.

Right Plan B was Kenfig Pool and Sker. We had a quick check for Little Owl at Sker Farm but had no joy and then headed down to the sea and on passing Sker pool there was a single Redshank on the shore but it took one look at us and was gone. As I still need Jack Snipe for the year I had a walk around the back of the pool, it did look good for snipe but sadly not today. As I stood there I looked down and saw what I thought was a dog toy first but was a pinky coloured fish and on looking closer could see it was real. I called the boys over to have a look, it's eyes looked clear and it was still in good condition and looked fresh. We thought it could be a John Dory and had most likely been dropped by a gull has we are not that close to the sea for it to get here under its own steam. So the boys decided we should, meaning me should take it to the centre for Dave Carrington the warden to have a look at it. We met Tate Lloyd there and his family and Tate said its a Boarfish. I had never heard of one and fair play he was spot on. It's a deep water fish and they get blown in with stormy weather. On checking it is found in welsh waters and in the south west. We also did Kenfig pool and got the Slavonian Grebe within minutes also at the pool was another Redshank and a very smart drake Goldeneye and for a change quite a number of ducks, they were mostly Tufted, Pochard, Gadwall and a nice flock of Teal. Also there was reasonable numbers of Common Gull.

I found this Frog around the back or is it a Toad mmm of the pool and it looks like a Heron or egret as had it . When we go sea watching this is how I like it and blowing a gale and yes old photo.