Apologies again for another OOC post but as it is a bit quiet locally, some of you may be interested in some of the birds we saw during our trip to Shetland and Fair Isle over the past two weeks. The best of the shots are at
http://andyburnsphotography.zenfolio.com/shetland2015

Overall we saw 102 species from the time we left Dinas to the time we got back with 85 species on Shetland / Fair isle. The highlights were a Corncrake, a Long Eared and Short Eared Owl, a Short Toed Lark, a Moltoni’s Warbler (my second tick now!), Dottrel, a Grey Headed Wagtail, a pair of Ring Necked Ducks and a number of Common Redpoll – 7 new life ticks and 40 odd year ticks. Surprisingly there were no flycatchers (pied or spotted) compared to the same time last year when there were quite a few seen.

The weather has not been so good this year with almost exclusively westerly winds rather than the easterlies that are required to generate the bulk of the migrants that arrive on Fair Isle. We had 3 days on the Island on two of the days the FIBO staff (Fair Isle Bird Observatory) could not do the daily bird census that normally takes place due to rain and high wind.

Despite the poor weather, I can certainly recommend the trip to anyone interested in birding especially the time at FIBO. We’ve booked to go back for another 7 days next May.

Apologies for an ooc post, but it does seem quiet at the moment.

Just a bit north of Glamorgan, I found this beauty today. I thought they just popped their heads up now and again!! A very showy Corncrake.

http://andyburnsphotography.zenfolio.com/portfolio/h46f38de6#h46f38de6

The Egyptian goose is back at Cossie this morning. Strutting its stuff on the boardwalk outside the cafe. Must prefer it here to Ogmore!

Thanks to John for the call re the Iceland Gull. I arrived as it flew off to the reserve but it later returned to the barage area. Some good shots including flight shots at
http://andyburnsphotography.zenfolio.com/icelandgull/h28932f81#h28932f81

A really nice 2nd CY bird. It seemed very mobile so may not hang around too long.

As we were waiting (as Lol said in the previous post) the Bonaparte’s turned up and landed on the boom. Three shots at
http://andyburnsphotography.zenfolio.com/bonapartes/h8522e5a#h8522e5a
including one that shows the comparison to BHG’s showing the size comparison and aslo the much shorter leg length in the Bonapartes.

Quite exciting for a Sunday morning.

The Lesser Scaup was very near to the boardwalk outside the cafe this morning so if anyone is still waiting to get a good picture of it, now’s the time.

For those of you interested, Lol Middleton and myself went up to New Brighton yesterday to see the very tame Laughing Gull that has been on the Marine lake there. Half a dozen shots at
http://andyburnsphotography.zenfolio.com/laughinggull/h141f207f#h141f207f

For those of you who need it as a new one, it looks like it has taken up residence so now is the time to go. Very easy to spot although the description on Larsson’s ‘bible’ on gulls says it is the size of a common gull. It looked far more the size of a BHG to me.

Back to Cossie this morning!

The second winter Med gull with only one leg was on the pontoon just down from the sails. Pics at
http://andyburnsphotography.zenfolio.com/medgull/h3409542b#h3409542b

It seems to have only part of one leg (the other is missing) so it is quite tricky trying to land.

Went back over to Cossie (will Lol Middleton) following John’s call about the lesser scaup (post below) and it was near the bridge on the west lake with a group of 10 tufties. Photos on the south wales birding facebook site.

Well in my defence, we were looking for birds when this thing swam past.

http://andyburnsphotography.zenfolio.com/wildlife/h170f277d#h170f277d

I am assuming it was an otter as it was well over a metre long …but confused over the ‘pink’ nose. Looking at pics on the internet, some otters do have pink noses – but they look very young. This one seemed to be big. Great to see an otter here again (I did see one in the same place last year – under the bridge between east and west lakes).

Also a cracking first winter YLG on the posts in the west lake hunting for frogs.
http://andyburnsphotography.zenfolio.com/p12189958/h367a25ea#h367a25ea

Little Gull in same place as in couple of recent pevious posts. Very easy to see with not many BHG’s around. (Even I spotted it very quickly). Quite active flying and feeding.

Pics at
http://andyburnsphotography.zenfolio.com/littlegull/h114a124f#h114a124f

Very vocal Cettis and a chiff chaff in the bushes on the west side of the river as John posted a couple of days ago.

Little egret seen this morning at Sully Brook. First at Cossie for a few years.
http://andyburnsphotography.zenfolio.com/waders/h26d3797#h26d3797

Also the male Pintail was very near the bridge and a lot easier to photograph.
http://andyburnsphotography.zenfolio.com/waterfowl/h123121ee#h123121ee

Best of the bunch today were two adult Med gulls, one on the east lake and one on the west (head pattern was different on the two birds).
The east lake one came close enough for a good shot
http://andyburnsphotography.zenfolio.com/medgull/h338f3799#h338f3799

(with Lol + Ceri)

Here’s a flight shot of the Glaucous gull

http://andyburnsphotography.zenfolio.com/portfolio/h1e15f571#h1e15f571

and some other standing and flying shots
http://andyburnsphotography.zenfolio.com/p940206869/h31490505#h31490505

The poor bird seemed very tired and spent most of the time lying down.
Great spot John and thanks for letting us know.

Ceri’s Water Rail of yesterday was out and about again this morning. It was in the E lake just off the boardwalk in front of the cafe, feeding around the base of the bushes. No more than 20 ft away and oblivious of me snapping away at it. We’ve seen it here quite a few times but never as bold and never staying long. Today it looked like it was here for the day.

Few pics at http://andyburnsphotography.zenfolio.com/passerines/h3915997e#h3915997e

Also the male pintail was on the west lake.

Grey wagtail in the garden in Dinas Powys.

Highlight of this morning was a male pintail.
http://andyburnsphotography.zenfolio.com/waterfowl/h1e75b45a#h1e75b45a
Now I know Peter is seeing hundreds over at RGW but this is only the second I have seen at Cossie this year (the first was a pair last Jan). This one flew over the east lake and then half an hour later was seen flying over the west lake. I was there a couple of hours but didnt see it on the water at all. It must have flown back to RGW. Maybe he will bring his friends over tomorrow.
Also 3 male shovelers on the west lake and 30 pochards (18 males and I suspect 12 females – but female ducks are a mystery to me!!). All the other usual suspects present except the resident adult YLG which didnt seem to be about today.

Well done for Ceri seeing the Bittern at Cossie this morning. Here is a fleeting glance of it (poor record shot) for the short time it was visible.
http://andyburnsphotography.zenfolio.com/p108650779/h2b846e70#h2b846e70

Let’s hope it comes out a bit more.

Lol Middleton and myself managed to find what looks like a Caspian Gull on the East lake this morning. Photos at

http://andyburnsphotography.zenfolio.com/uid2/h4d196d#h4d196d

It was only when I was sorting the photos out this evening that we realised it wasn’t a first winter YLG but a first winter Caspian.

The guys on UK Gulls seem to support this identification from the photos. Anyone agree?

See you all down there in the morning!!!

Our ‘resident’ Yellow leg gull is back.

For those of you who are interested, this time last year we started to see what looked like a 3rd winter YLG – which we called “P8” (as it was missing a spot on it’s P8 on the left side). It was around the east lake most days until early March, often seen flying off towards Cardiff Bay. ID’ing it was not absolute as it had pink legs and as it was 3rd winter, relying on the primary wing pattern was not the best. Also it’s head wasnt quite the ‘square shape’ you would expect.

One year on and its (she?) is back. Now a 4th winter (ie almost adult) her bill shows the same black pattern although a lot lighter (as good as fingerprints?). Her head is white (much more so than the LBBs and HGs), she has a long primary extension, she has yellow legs and a more square looking head – a fine looking YLG.

There are a few shots on my web site at
http://andyburnsphotography.zenfolio.com/ylg/h3fa92824#h3fa92824
which also has the shots from last year.

If she continues to do what she did last year then she will be around for a couple of hours most mornings before flying off on her daily commute to ???? She will come ashore when bread is thrown so quite easy to get photos of.

Quite a bit of activity on Sully Beach this morning with Lol Middleton.

Lots of pied wagtails and Rock pipits, a meadow pipit, a flock of 40 or so Greenfinch with the odd Linnet and goldfinch thrown in. A kestrel overhead.

On the beach a Grey Plover, reasonable pic at
http://andyburnsphotography.zenfolio.com/waders/h25d528e4#h25d528e4

and couple of shots of the Purple Sandpiper that Lol saw yesterday at
http://andyburnsphotography.zenfolio.com/waders/h25d528e4#h2da6a5b0

The Purp’ was in with the flock of ringed plovers again so it may hang round for another day or two. I’ve not seen one of these at Sully and it was Lol’s first on there for 20 years.

I did get another interesting shot at
http://andyburnsphotography.zenfolio.com/bif/h2bc07951#h2bc07951
which shows how difficult it can be looking at flocks of birds in the air. This is only half the flock and is primarily ringed plovers but with the grey plover, the purple sand and a slightly out of focus turnstone in the shot as well.

Lovely weather today to watch the birds fly past. Lots to see today. Yellowhammer again present (unusual for Lavernock). At least one Siskin. The usual Linnets (1000’s), goldfinches, greenfinches, skylarks, jays, long tailed tits (20+), stonechats (3). Plenty of swallows (20+) still flying through. Couple of Curlew on the beach. Brief appearance from a sparrowhawk, the kestrel and 3 buzzards plus ……a Merlin. I managed a shot off on the Merlin as it made a very rapid flypast out of the sun across the cornfield.

http://andyburnsphotography.zenfolio.com/raptors/h24215614#h24215614

The two curlew sandpipers were still on the river 300 yards south of the house. More pics at

http://andyburnsphotography.zenfolio.com/waders/h113b19aa#h10b9e19e

Lots of Canada’s on the river. 6 Dunlin flying up and down. One wheatear, lots of meadow pipits north of the house. Rock pipits and a grey wagtail under the bridge. A little egret and grey heron on the far bank. A curlew on the island. Lots of stonechats and house sparrows plus a raven overhead.