……if anyone is interested, we have just returned from a 2 week trip up to Shetland including 10 days on Fair Isle – a great place to see migrants who get lost!

Best photos are at

http://andyburnsphotography.zenfolio.com/p802178202/h8c498b35#h8c498b35

and the record shots are at

http://andyburnsphotography.zenfolio.com/p725844471/h8c498dcc#h8c498dcc

Overall I managed 137 ticks there and back with 119 species on Shetland/Fair Isle. Highlights were 7 ‘lifers’, Red Breasted Flycatcher, Rustic Bunting, Red Throated Pipit, Woodcock, Quail, Grasshopper Warbler and Snow Goose – but the weather was great with a lot of sunshine which helped the photography.

 

Apologies for a ‘non sighting’ post but if anyone is getting bored by this windy, wet weather, then here’s something to keep you awake.

Do you want to practice your Bird ID skills? If so see how many birds you can identify at:

http://andyburnsphotography.zenfolio.com/birds

Over the past few years I have photo’d over 210 species of birds in the UK (about half in the Glamorgan area) and if you open each gallery in the ‘right size’ window you can see each pic without the title of the bird. See if you can ID each bird. I suggest you start with the ‘Other Passerines’ gallery – where you will find most species have more than one shot (but not all). Obviously it is not always easy to ID a bird from one photo. This is aimed more at those of you who are on the lower rungs of the Bird ID skills ladder (like me!!!) but there are a couple of birds that may fox even the best amongst us – and one in particular where the ID is wrong (no clues yet).

There is a separate set of galleries that deal with each species of UK Gulls but one shot of each species in the ‘Seabirds’ Gallery.

To open each Gallery, go to the site via the link above and click on the thumbnail and then when that galleries thumbnails open, quickly click the first one (as the species names are there!) to get you to the best viewing option. Resize the window so you cant see the species name (you only need to do this once). Hope this makes sense! Have fun.

Managed to catch up with the Red-flanked Bluetail and get some poor record shots. See

http://andyburnsphotography.zenfolio.com/new/h824eb0e9#h824eb0e9

It was exactly where Alan gave directions to yesterday but perhaps the 200 yards is more like 400! It was then on the bridlepath between 200 and 400 yards from the junction where the map board is. Alan’s map ref was not quite right so use the one above. The bird was picked up coming down to the road to feed and then hopping back in the bushes again. Always low down. A good bet is to just keep a good eye on the road, but lots of people out there today.

The Hybrid Tuftie/Pochard/Other/etc was back on the West Lake this morning but hiding a bit in the reeds.

I got some good shots and these can be compared to the hybrid seen in March 2015 and March 2016 at Cosmeston at

http://andyburnsphotography.zenfolio.com/waterfowl/h40cc0cbf#h40cc0cbf

There are 5 shots covering the 3 years. It looks very similar to the bird in the last 2 years.

No sign of the LTD on the Barrage side side of the bay this morning, but 5 Greater Scaup were very close in so some reasonable shots at

http://andyburnsphotography.zenfolio.com/waterfowl/h78207576#h4085a620

Quite a bit of variation in the plumage at different stages of moulting (male/female/Juv)

Also a 2nd winter Med Gull flew out over the locks and a couple of Black Redstarts (1m/1F) on the house roofs in Penarth Marina.

Well, I got some interesting feedback on yesterday’s Chough!! You may have noticed from yesterday’s posting that it was a ringed bird. I sent off the details to adriennestratford@btinternet.com and recieved the following information from Adrienne this morning.

My goodness – I’m totally blown away.
This bird (Rt: Lime/BTO Lt: Green/Blue “9U”) is a young female, ringed as chick this year, by Tony Cross, on the North coast of Anglesey!!! This is a distance of 219 km, which is almost double the previous maximum we have recorded – it’s only 100 km from Anglesey to the Isle of Man, where a handful of “our” birds have been recorded. She couldn’t have travelled further within Wales if she’d tried. But no prior history I’m afraid – she was ringed on 9th June, seen fledged with her 3 siblings on 2nd July – I wish we knew all the locations she’d passed through en route… and why!
The colour-ringing is all part of a long-running study of choughs in mid + North Wales by Tony Cross + myself, with life histories recorded for many of these birds, shedding light on their movements, social + nesting behaviour, longevity etc. Our young birds often travel quite widely in their first few years, but of 5,000 chicks ringed over 25 years in mid + North Wales, and with 30,000 individual sightings, only nine of these birds have been recorded further than 100 km from their nest of origin. So yours is an amazing record – we’ve never had a Glamorgan record before, even from Ceredigion – the southernmost county of our project area, and only a few records in Pembs and one in Carmarthenshire.

 

Went over to try and find a Chough for my year list follow the few postings here this week. There were at least 3 together to the east of the lifeguard building and one to the west. In the group of 3, one was ringed (9U  – or could have been n6 if you stand on your head!). I’ve posted some shots on my web site at

http://andyburnsphotography.zenfolio.com/raptors/h1a57e502#h1a57e502

Pretty awfull weather though today…..but nothing of interest being blown into shore in the 30 mins I spent looking out to sea.

I will email Adrienne with the ring details (thanks Owain!)

Yellow Browed Warbler still at Cosmeston at 10am. Just west of the Dipping pond as reported by Graham over the past few days. Lots of Goldcrests around.

..with Lol Middleton this morning. Pretty quiet with nothing of note out to sea. Highlights were 2 Adult Peregrines with one juvenille. Bit of practice ‘passing’ going on and then the juvenille spent 30 mins chasing everything in sight but not getting near! Nice to know they have been successful breeding. Also 200-300 Swifts heading south (or maybe the same group of 10-15 going round and round in big circles) and a dozen or so Sand Martins also heading in a southerly direction. Not a great deal in the bushes or at Lavernock church.

….but only just! I’ve posted some record shots of the Broad Billed Sandpiper taken at Goldcliff this morning. Good comparison shots with Dunlin. Taken from the hide on the seafront. The bird was showing quite well for 30 mins or so but was then disappearing for a while.

http://andyburnsphotography.zenfolio.com/waders/h73bf0845#h73bf0845

7 Grey Plovers on the beach just before high water. 3 pics at

http://andyburnsphotography.zenfolio.com/waders/h67e782fd#h67e782fd

Also circa a dozen turnstone,  a few oycs and a couple of curlew. Otherwise very quiet.

As per John’s post, no Grey Phal but the Common Sandpiper was strutting its stuff for some photos.

http://andyburnsphotography.zenfolio.com/waders/h60863db5#h60863db5

The stonechats was a new year tick for me and the Med gull was flying around the Morrisons area. Couple of shots of the Med gull at

http://andyburnsphotography.zenfolio.com/medgull/h6d58b641#h6d58b641

Thanks to Ceri for the heads up on Sully Island. 
Lol Middleton and I went down there late morning but 
most birds had moved to the shore line on Sully. 
Amongst them was a Black Redstart - first I have seen 
down there. It was on the rocks to the west of the 
Captain's Wife but flew off into the caravan park. We are 
used to seeing them at Penarth Marina on a few miles away 
but good to seem them at Sully now.
Some record shots at 
http://andyburnsphotography.zenfolio.com/passerines/h405a675d#h64647a6b
Also some good shots of Rock Pipit that was hanging 
around

http://andyburnsphotography.zenfolio.com/passerines/h405a675d#h6b50d4f7

Here are some rather nice flight shots of the Short Eared Owl from this morning with Lol Middleton and Ceri Jones.

http://andyburnsphotography.zenfolio.com/raptors/h5e20ab85#h5e20ab85

Andy

Bit late, from yesterday.

A Merlin appeared at Lavernock just before noon. Seen from the view point .5Km north of the church. 3 Photographs at

http://andyburnsphotography.zenfolio.com/raptors/h5ce8b37f#h5ce8b37f

Interestingly it is almost one year to the day since I photo’d one there previously – I dont think I have seen one since then. (With Lol Middleton). Sorry Ceri that you missed it – it was about 5 mins after you left.

Andy

A female Marsh Harrier seen over Lavernock point this morning – first spotted by Lol Middleton. It appeared from the north being mobbed by a flock of corvids (incl crows) and moved slowly south out towards Sully Island and beyond when we lost it. It was quite high up and I managed a load of very poor record shots at

http://andyburnsphotography.zenfolio.com/p673293859/h5591c84d#h5591c84d

Not a lot else around other than many swallows and sand martins on the move.

What looked to me at first like a marsh tit landed in a nearby bush (on the cliff path near the ‘sign’). Got a shot off – see

http://andyburnsphotography.zenfolio.com/passerines/h52c9206f#h52c9206f

I was with Lol Middleton but he missed it. 30mins later he picked it up again (or another?) and got a more distant shot. Lol can you post you shot in this thread? Lol was thinking Willow Tit – which has gained a bit of support on the south wales birding facebook site.

It was a very busy morning with lots of willow warblers (at least 20), chiff chaffs, garden warbler, sedge warbler, blackcap, whitethroat, lesser whitethroat, lots of sparrows, linnets, greenfinch, tree pipit, kestrel (first I have seen at Lavernock this year after seeing a pair there in the latter half of last year), dunnocks, great /blue tits, starlings (unusual for Lavernock), swallows, sand martins and a house martin.

The willow warblers were showing very well so managed a few good shots at

http://andyburnsphotography.zenfolio.com/passerines/h52c9206f#h52c920b3

Caught up with the Rose-coloured Starling at Aberavon this morning 10.30 -11.30am with Lol Middleton, Peter Landsdown and Mike Powell.

Shots at

http://andyburnsphotography.zenfolio.com/passerines/h5193bba2#h5193bba2

with a good comparison shot against a common UK Starling.

It was on the roof of a house, 2 down from the Texaco garage on the roundabout on the sea front for an hour or so then flew off inland. There we quite a few different flocks of Starlings (500+ birds). Chatting to the local waste material technicians (bin men!), they said they have been feeding the bird chips at lunchtime (for the last week) near the chip shop on the front, just past the childrens playground opposite the Texaco garage. Well done to Peter for spotting it for us!

Highlight of the morning was 25 (or so) Manx Shearwaters flying up the channel. First for the year at Lavernock. They were in 2’s or 3’s so a fairly steady flow over the 2 hours we were there (with Lol Middleton).

Also a family of blackcaps just fledging. 4 photos at
http://andyburnsphotography.zenfolio.com/passerines/h4a2ff54d#h4a2ff54d
Not the best of days to learn to fly with the 30mph wind coming in off the sea – at least they weren’t being blown off the cliff. Interesting that the ‘babies’ had very short tails (just visible in the photos). That surely can not help in their efforts to fly. I think they all survived!

A Peregrine was also quite active. Shot at
http://andyburnsphotography.zenfolio.com/raptors/h691fde87#h4a2ff5a7