December 28. 30+ Siskins feeding in the alder trees.

Yesterday afternoon, Clydach vale C.P. a single kingfisher showing well in the winter sunshine. 2 female and a male Reed Bunting feeding amongst the chaffinches. A couple of little grebe amongst the usual assortment of waterfowl.

This afternoon, Barry sidings C.P. Trehafod, single Kingfisher flying low and fast from lake towards river. Also Male Goosander flying upstream, and a Dipper below the bridge in Porth.

New year’s day dog walk. A good selection of wildfowl – 120 Tufties, 16 Pochard [7 E lake 9 W lake], 3 Shoveler (2m 1f) on E lake, a pair of Wigeon and a hiding drake Teal on W lake, plus Mallard, Mute Swan and Canadas. Other watefowl were Coot, Moorhen, 3 Little Grebe, 2 GC Grebe, 1 Cormorant, Water Rail heard in the snipe paddock. Gulls – 1 Common Gull on W lake posts, plus LBBG, HG and Black-headed Gull. A smattering of common birds including a Green Woodpecker made the total in just a 45 min walk, 32 species.

Single Siskin in Sanatorium Park yesterday and a small group of eight this morning.

There were 120 Tufted Ducks [100 on E lake and 20 on W lake], 12 Pochard [3 on E lake 9 on W lake] and 1 drake Wigeon well hidden in the edge of the W lake ‘island’.

Highlights [such as they are] at Cosmeston this morning: best was an adult Common Gull initally on W lake then in the SW corner of E lake. There have been very few this winter. A couple of drake Pochard were hiding in the reed edges on W lake and about 20 Fieldfare were in trees near the small pond in the dip by the N corner of W lake, and feeding on the ground to the right thru the gate. Couple of Mistle Thrushes with them too.

From yesterday there was a remarkable record [and photo] of a Red-breasted Merganser well inland on the lower lake at Clydach Vale CP. They are scarce enough in E Glam [maybe 1 record a year, if that]. Possibly due to storm Bella.

On a calm but cold day: about 90-100 Tufted Duck on E lake with a lone drake Pochard. Great and Little Grebes present, but very quiet on land birds. The very wet ground means that worms are accessible so I logged 10+ Blackbirds feeding on the ground around our route. By Sully Brook by the Lower Dovecote field there was a single Redwing with the Blackbirds, and a small flock of Long-tailed Tits were foraging in low vegetation at ground level. There was a Nuthatch and a Coal Tit feeding by the kissing gate that leads off Mile Road by Sully Brook.

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Walked the Bay Trail as our exercise today. From the Ice Rink boardwalk there was a female Scaup in amongst the Tufties. I didn’t scrutinise closely enough to see if the fem Ring-necked Duck was present – they were all asleep. The Bay water level has been allowed to fall so there was a stony shore there, with 2 Grey Wagtails. On the R. Taff by Hamadryad park a Long-tailed Duck with a few Tufties was a nice surprise – it’s probably the one seen by others before Christmas round by Prospect Place. Also 2 drake and 2 ‘redhead’ Goosander on the R. Taff there.

8-Goosanders,4m and 3f near the ice rink and 1m on Channel View ramp.14h00-15h00

There was no sign of yesterday afternoon’s Gt Northern Diver so that had presumably left at first light. The Long-tailed Duck was apparently viewable from the Prospect Place area but I couldn’t locate it with just binoculars, from the barrage. It was very quiet on the barrage side. I noted a pair of Goosander in the R. Ely by John Bachelor Way level with the inner marina of Penarth Marina. 2 Ravens flew low along the barrage as we were returning to try & beat the incoming rain.

Late news re Cardiff Bay from Twitter. 2 Caspian Gulls were in the gull roost [at least one has been regular for a while now], and also late this afternoon a Long-tailed Duck and a Great Northern Diver, seen from near the Ice Rink.

I finally caught up with the Marsh Tit in Cogan Wood this morning, having failed on every other visit this year. It was taking seed someone had put on a stump on the RHS at the bottom of the slope down from the south entrance to the wood. Just outside the north entrance to the wood, a Greenfinch was bathing in a puddle on the very muddy path there. I took a load of shots [8 posted on Facebook] but I’ve put a selection here. Also noted Green Woodpecker near the dragonfly pond, and Redwing in that area.

For the third visit in a few days, the male Sparrowhawk was again in a tree in the snipe paddock. It seems to have taken up residence there and I’m guessing it’s using the ‘rides’ that have been cut through the vegetation there, as hunting alleys. A Green Woodpecker was also in that vicinity, but otherwise it was pretty quiet. A few pix of the Sparrowhawk below, plus one of the ‘rides’ as an example. In case folk are not familiar I’ve incuded an image of an annotated map which I produced and a larger version of which can be found on the ‘Cosmeston’ page of my blog https://greybirder.wordpress.com/.

Sparrowhawk was present again this morning in the ‘snipe paddock’ and allowed for a better photo. It had its back to me but I made a not too loud ‘ticking’ noise and it turned its head. Thx to the binocular toting person near W lake, who alerted me to its presence. There were 9 Mistle Thrush feeding in the middle of W paddock, with a single Redwing. Fieldfare were present but mostly in tree tops along the mile road and also in trees adjacent to the golf course in E. paddock. Didn’t really check out the wildfowl although there were a lot of drake Tufties on W lake.

28-Little Egrets flew from the island roost at first light.

The only Goosanders seen between Llandaff and the City Centre were a M-F pair downstream of the Millennium Footbridge. A Chiffchaff was seen calling near the (closed) Bute Park café.

At the Pontcanna Stables, there was noisy work being done on the road and therefore much disturbance of any birds that were in the area. I managed to count 15 Redwing there. Likely more on a quieter day.

A Great Spotted Woodpecker was drumming repeatedly near the river.

At least 110 Carrion Crows were coming to bread on Pontcanna Fields.

Pretty much the usual common suspects apart from the above. Very few Long-tailed Tits were seen compared to the numbers usually seen at this time of year, and the only concentration of gulls was c35 BHG above Llandaff Weir.

Pair of Bullfinches, 2 pairs Yellowhammer, single Little Egret flying over, single Fieldfare, single female Reed Bunting, single female Stonechat.