Already getting very crowded around the car park and E lake area by mid morning. There were 6 Goldfinch twittering near the still inaccessible dipping pond [boardwalk access still closed off], 6 Linnet in W paddock and another Goldfinch there, a pair of Bullfinch flushed a little beyond the dragonfly pond, a few Swallows around the Medieval Village, 6 Swift over the car park.

Working in Abercynon this morning it was great to see dozens of Sand Martins using as nests the weep holes in the stone retaining wall of Abercynon railway station. Some were no more than 6ft high from the pavement. I’ve seen similar use of weep holes in Pontypridd and Porth, whilst in Pontygwaith their using holes in a wall right next to a busy road.

4 Yellowhammers (heard), several Goldfinches, Linnets, Magpies, Woodpigeons, Collared Doves, 2 Chaffinches, pair of Bullfinches, single Stock Dove, 4 Blackbirds, 3 Wrens, several House Sparrows and Dunnocks, 6 Song Thrushes – 4 individals and 2 together (2 of the individuals obviously feeding young).

24 mistle thrush feeding in field next to garden this evening either side of 8.00pm.  Hadn’t been out to watch the adjacent field for a while due to poor weather but lovely sunny evening tonight at last. Began watching at 7.45 when 2 separate groups of 5 mistle thrush were ground feeding in the field. More and more arrived, all coming from the next fields to the south until by 8.00pm, there were an amazing 24 birds. The behaviour seems common to all of them in sweeping the grassland from south to north, almost in a single flock whilst sub-groups of around 5 birds seem apparent. I will take a look at same time tomorrow.

Also in the same field, 2 spotted flycatchers (amongst trees along boundary fence), single song thrush, blackbird and robin. The field is around 5 acres of rough pasture with marshy areas of reed and grazed by sheep. Seems to have become a hot spot for mistle thrush in an evening.

Quick visit to Llanwonno yesterday eve – just 1 Nightjar heard churring but no flights seen. Midges were vicious!
Cosmeston this morning – 1 juv male Blackcap, 1 juv Common Whitethroat, 2 Chiffchaff, 1 Mistle Thrush, 2 Green Peckers and a few Swallows passing through.
This afternoon in Penarth – House Martins visiting 3 nests on Barclays Bank building.

News just gleaned from a Whatsapp group [and Twitter] just now [17:15]. 10 Cattle Egret going to roost at Cardiff Bay Wetland reserve. It’s on the #glambirds Twitter feed on the right of this page.

Good numbers of Chaffinches in the garden today (Nantgarw). Minimum count of 11. Numbers are building. Good to see as numbers of this this species are definitely declining.

Spotted a little owl on a wall at 5 in the afternoon opposite the three golden cups pub. I suspect it is probably lives in the barn close by. I’m hoping that it doesn’t decide to make use of the abundant cattle water troughs as I have found deceased barn owls who have made use of these troughs on more than one occasion this year (both in the same trough!) nearby another occupied barn in Southerndown. I’ve read that it is quite simple to prevent this from happening by fitting a steel mesh a couple of inches below the surface of the water. I wonder whether it would be possible to ask the relevant farmers in Southerndown if they would allow this to be done for them as it would might prevent a lot of owl deaths in the long-term.

On my way to my favourite birdwatching location by the river thaw in Llandough, I spotted a total of 5 bullfinches jumping in and out of the hedgerows. Shortly after getting off my bike in Llandough, 4 green woodpeckers including two juveniles, flew across a field into a tree right next to me – a welcome surprise after not seeing this species for some time.

After a short walk I saw 3 buzzards in a territorial dispute right above me. They shortly dispersed probably due to the constant mobbing of house martins which were present in great numbers. Remarkably, this wasn’t the only species of raptor I saw today as I also spotted a red kite heading towards Cowbridge.

Before leaving, I heard the resident male kingfisher calling repeatedly nearby. To make up for the fact that the kingfisher didn’t show himself, I saw a pair of spotted flycatchers catching insects which were flying over the river.

Blackcap singing in garden this morning. After a couple of weeks without hearing song, a blackcap was very active this morning before the rain. Two juvenile green woodpeckers and an adult on the lawn.

Since I finished building a large pond in my garden 5 weeks ago I’ve seen an explosion in nature including some fantastic bird life.

After just a couple of days of completion we had song thrushes, a family of magpies, countless dunnocks, blackbirds, a willow warbler, a chiffchaff and many more regularly bathing in the pond. We also had a young heron visit who prompted me to stock the pond (which is well oxygenated) with minnows and sticklebacks. Whilst catching these fish for the pond I had some amazing views of a Daubenton’s bat which provided me with some great photo opportunities.

A couple of weeks ago a pair of Great spotted woodpeckers became regular visitors to the feeders. Since the garden pond is also equipped with a wildlife hide, I’ve been able to watch the woodpeckers and other wildlife from very close range without disturbing them.

Entertaiment this morning was from a Cormorant which had caught, and proceeded to swallow, a HUGE Eel . The closer images of the Cormorant are big crops as can be seen from the one uncropped image where the bird is about the same size as the cental focus point in the viewfinder, even at full 600mm 35 mm equiv zoom. The camera I use these days is a Sony RX10IV, whihc has a 25-600mm 35mm equivalent zoom. A juv Green Woodpecker flew across W paddock. All in all pretty quiet. Managed a nice shot of the underwing of a Gatekeeper. Rain arrived at about 1 p.m.

Crossbill 10 Siskin 20 Goshawk 1 Willow Warbler 1 Chiffchaff 2 blackcap singing plus one juvenile.

Went to Cosmeston early [for me at least – 9 a.m.]. By now it will be rammed. 12:30 y’day the car park was full but still endless streams of cars coming in driving round & round, ignoring the one way signage. Away from E lake it was OK people wise. Saw my first Gatekeeper there today, Green Woodpecker, and a Buzzard sitting on s post near the Medieval Village whihc then did a fly-over, as did a passing Heron.

100+ redshank, 2 oystercatcher, 1 curlew at shore front at high tide with 5 common sandpiper & 1 green sandpiper along river

Last night, there were two broods of 7 and 2 Tufted Ducks on Brynmill Park lake. After a raid by gulls, the 7 became 5! There was a brood of 6 Tufted Ducks on Singleton Park boating lake two weeks, but I can’t see them now, so I think they also may have been predated by gulls.

W. lake – 3 ad Little Grebes, ad GC Grebe + 2 young, 4 Black-headed Gulls, 50 Sand Martin, 4 Swift; W. paddock – 5 Mistle Thrush, 2 Green Woodpecker, 3 Linnet.
Yesterday – 3 Chiffchaff in the snipe paddock, 50 Sand Martin, 10 House Martin, 3 Swift, 1 Common Whitethroat W paddock, 1 Buzzard.

Did my WeBS count this morning. 80 Redshank at the rivermouth at Green Point and another 30 on the riverbank by Lamby Way, 1 Little Egret at the river mouth and 6 Shelduck. 2 Common Sandpipers by Lamby Way, one paddle boarding downstream on some floating debris! About 100 Starling by Rover Way at Green Point [all checked very carefully!].
At the heliport bay just 1 Shelduck and about 300 Black-headed Gulls [nothing unusual with them]. Also Lesser Whitethroat singing briefly there.

WeBS count on a blustery day, but sheltered down in the woods.

Couldn’t make a full count since the permissive path across the lake bridge is still temporarily closed, due to it being too narrow to negotiate safely in these strange times.

Mute Swan (1) it appears that the nest has failed.   Coot(2), Mallard (35)  lots of well- grown juveniles, Moorhen (2),  no Little Grebe again, it appears that they nest elsewhere.

A special treat was a spotted flycatcher, a first for us at this site.

Robin,  Blackbird,  Blackcap singing,  Blue Tit,  Great Tit, Chiff Chaff,  Dunnock, House Sparrow, Swallow, Song Thrush- at least 4

 

 

Shortish walk in blustery conditions this morning. Great Spotted Woodpecker in trees behind the dragonfly pond bench was a new one for quite a while, as was a Stock Dove which flew over. A Green Woodpecker was in the same tree as the Great Spot. In the conservation area two ‘Wood’ birds [-pecker and -pigeon] were keeping each other company [see photo below. There were 3 fly-pver Goldfinches by teh said bench, and over W and E lakes there were c.30 Sand Martins and c.10 House Martins, some of the latter of which were immature birds, being a brownish-black colour.

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