Tickfest for the Twitchmeister

Having bagged the Glaucous Gull at Ogmore Rivermouth yesterday it seemed like a good idea to get back out birding as soon as possible while it appearead, for once, that we had a bit of luck on our side. It was time to honour my Christmas promise to Geth that I'd take him to Slimbridge in the New Year. He'd been itching to go there for a while having learnt how many glaring ommissions in his list he could fill with one well timed visit. And despite the fact that Slimbridge on a fine Sunday is a bit like Queen Street, Cardiff during a home international we had a cracking day.

First stop, Rushy Pen and lifer #1 for the boy . . . . .

Bewick's Swan - hundreds of them all over the place. Told you it was going to be easy, son! Next stop, Holden Tower, and within seconds lifer #2 for JJ jnr.

What a top photograph. One of the six Tundra Bean Geese out on the Dumbles. Five minutes later lifer # 3 for the Little Lister: two Spotted Redshanks amongst the hundreds of waders on The Tack Piece. I had to help squeeze Geth out of the hide 'cos his smile was so wide. And it was about to become wider . . . from the new Kingfisher Hide (nice hide if a bit cheesey - from the outside it looks like you're entering a Kingfisher nest hole. Hmm. But at least it's got a rubber floor which stops you'r 'scope from vibrating every time somebody walks in) we saw about 400 Eurasian White-fronted Geese. Lifer #4.

After lunch in the Centre restaurant (tasty if a little expensive) it was back to the Tack Piece. The Twitchmeister grabbed the scope off me and settled down to sift through the 2000 or so waders (mostly Lapwing) and hundreds of ducks in search of lifer # 5. He duly found it, a male Ruff. Moments later he didn't seem very bothered about 'scoping a possible argentatus Herring Gull (Geth: "Can I tick it?" Me: "No". Geth: "Can we go for the Bittern now?").

So, off we went to the Zeiss Hide where we duly dipped on the Bittern. Naturally. But, even the Twitchmeister wasn't too down-hearted. He'd had five lifers in a day. (I've warned him that pretty soon he's going to run out of 'easy ticks', but he doesn't seem perturbed at all. "We'll just have to twitch more" he says). We'd also filled our boots with breathtaking views of thousands of waders and wildfowl - all seen in stunning winter sunlight. But, the day wasn't over. Following a tip off, we went back to the Holden Tower where we found another one of these . . .

. . . you wait years to see one and then you see two in a couple of days. Piece of . . . cake this birding!

On a White-wing and a Prayer

I'd dipped on the Iceland Gull earlier on in the week at a 'quiet' Ogmore-by-Sea and so I didn't hold much hope of finding the Glaucous Gull there today in the middle of a beach full of weekend trippers. Even so I was surprised at the sheer number of people (and dogs) there this afternoon - it was packed. The world and his wife were there (erm, including my wife) and the only gulls visible were distant and to the west on Newton Beach.

I checked them out with the 'scope but didn't manage to pick out anything resembling a Glauc. I looked up to see Richard Smith coming towards me. He hadn't seen it either. While we were chatting I hadn't noticed that the young Twitchmeister had commandeered my 'scope and was grilling the beach for himself. A couple of moments later he called out: "What's this Dad? Is it the Glaucous?" This is what he was looking at . . . . . The Boy Birder had done it again. Glaucous Gull in the bag - a lifer for the Little Lister and a county tick for me. (Ahem. It must have flown in 'cos it wasn't there when I looked!). It showed very well, if a little distantly, for around 10 minutes before it was pushed off the beach by the incoming tide. It flew off towards the east. In the meantime Richard had found a Med Gull standing just behind it.

We headed off east along the coastal path to try and re-locate the Glaucous and also in an attempt to find a Chough. We found neither and spent most of our time dodging the dog poo which was liberally scattered along the path. Ogmore-by-Sea must be vying with Kenfig NNR as the Dog Crap Capital of Glamorgan.

Later, a planned visit to the River Ogmore around Portobello Island had to be cancelled because the 'car park' had been taken over by an enormous film crew, lorries and portable cabins. They were even periodically closing the road. What were they filming? 'The Bridge on the River Ogmore'? My bet is an episode of 'Doctor Who'. (Can you imagine the joys of birding if you had a Tardis?). Flippin' media types!!

Bwlch Nant-yr-Arian

On Sat 3rd January Teresa and myself made our Xmas visit to an aunt and uncle of mine living near Llangranog not far from Newquay.

Keeping an eye out for Red Kites from the car as we travelled we spotted one over the road whilst going through the village of Pencader.

We usually see a couple on the approach to Carmarthen but not on this occasion.

After a quick cuppa the four of us set off on a pre-arranged visit to the Red Kite feeding station run by the Forestry Commission at Bwlch Nant-yr-Arian just off the A44 about 10miles due west of Aberystwyth.

We couldn't have picked a better day with a clear blue sky and fantastic visibility and picked up a further 3 kites as well as several Common Buzzards at various intervals over the main road as we approached Aberystwyth.

Unfortunately we slightly mis-judged the distance involved and what with getting stuck behind milk tankers and tractors etc didn't arrive until 2.15pm whereas the kite feeding began at 2.00pm sharp.

I'd wanted to try and photograph the kites swooping down for the scraps of meat but unfortunately we were too late to witness that spectacule,there were however still something like 150+ kites in flight over the centre which in brilliant sunshine gave fantastic views.

I'd been to the feeding stations at Gigrin Farm and Llandeusant on previous occasions but had not visited Bwlch Nant-yr-Arian before and the setting is absolutely amazing,the Forestry Commission have obviously "latched on " to the green tourism money spinner that the Red Kite has become in Mid Wales (nothing wrong with that) and have created a marvellous visitor centre complete with shop,cafe,toilets and loads of parking.

They don't charge "per head" as other feeding stations do and a charge of £1.50 per car for allday parking is fantastic value for money,mind you I think they more than make up their money in the cafe judging by the number of people tucking in.

I didn't bother with the 'scope as trying to digi-scope kites on the wing is like trying to knit fog,instead I took along my Fuji f8000 "bridge" camera which with it's 18x zoom gives the equivalent of a 400mm lense on an SLR,ok not the picture quality of a digital SLR but pretty acceptable all the same and a good compromise for the price.

There were kites everywhere as well as Common Buzzards and several Ravens and Carrion Crows.

The setting is spectacular to say the least with the kites being fed on one side of the small lake whilst the assembled spectators watch from the opposite bank.

I spent about 45 mins taking photos and then we wandered back to the visitor centre to thaw out in the comfort of the cafe before having a look at the common woodland species back and fore the hanging feeders prior to leaving.

Ok,we missed the actual feed but that didn't detract from a great day out in a wonderful location and gives us an excuse not that one is needed to visit again.

Lift Off!

Albeit a slow one.

Waking up in Tenby on January 1st isn't the ideal way of starting your Glamorgan Year List, but this morning found me claiming my first dip of the year in VC41 at a very cold and misty Cardiff Bay. The long-staying Slav Grebe appears to have naffed off.

With nothing much else down there I drove to Cosmeston where I managed to re-locate the Lesser Scaup and, after a long wait, the Bearded Tit. I haven't totted up my list yet but I would imagine that it is already halfway to my dire 2008 total.

If the Beardie had showed quickly I would have gone on to Sully to look for the Waxwing that have been reported there. I ran out of time but as I stepped through the front door I had a phone call to say that they'd been found there again. (SJH/ND?).

Songs that spring to mind: Two Out of Three Ain't Bad/Things Can Only Get Better.