"What a tern up!!"

After weeks of planning our weekend away in either Norfolk or Cornwall (location dependent on wind direction) finally fell through with Kevin preferring to stay put and spend Saturday decorating (is he mad !!).

And so it was that on what was to prove a memorable and momentous day in the history of "Birders in Boxers" (ie Sat 26.Sept 2010) that myself,Dan and Wayne met up at Sarn on Junc 36 of the M4 to head west in search of a rarity !!

After Paul "Sid" Parsons' incredible find of a Bobolink at Eglwys Nunydd Reservoir,Port Talbot earlier in the week we left Sarn with Dan at the wheel heading for Mewslade/Rhosilli on the Gower totally convinced that it was our "tern" to come up with the goods.

First call was the West Cross Inn near Mumbles where the previous Thursday local birder and photographer Jeremy Inglis had found an adult Turtle Dove,quite a rarity in these parts.

Despite a thorough search the bird eluded us and so we pushed on to Mewslade,the weather was fantastic and the bushes and trees were alive with small birds,plenty of Chiffchaffs,Blackcap,Garden Warbler,Stonechat,Gold and Greenfinches in the Nitten Field and although Dan bagged a Winchat nothing rarer was found,photo opportunities were thin on the ground although a Dunnock obliged rather distantly on a bramble.

Without even one of the local Choughs in sight we decided to call it a day at Mewslade and after a quick chat with Barry Stewart (what a part he was to play later !) who was clearing rides in and around the Nitten Field we decided to head back to Swansea for the Turtle Dove via a brief stop at Millwood near Penrice where we quickly picked up Treecreeper and Nuthatch but on this occasion no Marsh Tits.

We picked up Martyn Hnatiuk's posting of another Turtle Dove (juvenile)at Blackpill and were quickly on it as the tired looking bird sat in a tree at the rear of the filling station.

The pale looking bird was very obliging and I managed to get some nice record shots of what for Wayne and myself was a Glamorgan "tick".

An elderly couple out walking alerted us that the adult bird was now showing at the rear of the West Cross Inn and off we marched to get the bird,Jeremy was already there with his "paparazzi" size lens and camera in hand and the bird performed beautifully as it walked along the top of the wall at the rear of the pub enabling me to get in close for some nice shots.

Jeremy was unaware of the juv Turtle Dove and so he joined us as we walked back up to Blackpill and Dan's car,the bird had vacated it's tree perch and was relocated on the grassy sand area behind the beach and both Jeremy and myself managed several more shots of the confiding little dove.

We said our farewells and headed next to Eglwys Nunydd Reservoir in Port Talbot on our way to Kenfig NNR where a second Lapland Bunting in a week had been found,this one by Dean Bolt,nice one Dean !!

We were hoping that the Grey Phalarope that Wayne had missed out on previously was still at the reservoir and the brief visit would give me another opportunity to photograph one of several Black Terns that had been there for most of September.

We searched the margins for the phalarope but to no avail and then decided to move to the East end of the reservoir for a "controlled walkthrough" of the grass area where the now famous Bobolink had been found but managed to "flush" bugger all.

A loan tern flitted over the water ducking and diving as terns do and my immediate reaction was "great stuff,a lingering Black Tern giving me a final chance of a good photo",we all got on the bird,Dan and Wayne with bins and me through the camera.

Although distant at first the tern dashed in quite close to about 25m and I fired a burst of a dozen or so shots before it disappeared back out to the middle of the water.

I zoomed in on the images on the LCD to find to my surprize and delight that as well as some "duffers" I'd managed to get a few half decent shots.

Having assumed it was a Black Tern I was more concerned with how sharp the images were rather than scrutinising the bird as all my previous efforts were all of distant birds in difficult light.

We moved on and were soon trudging our way down to Sker from the reserve centre at Kenfig where a couple of birders were already on the bunting,one of these was Chris Jones from Bristol who was firing away with a superb Canon EOS 1D Mk 1V and 500mm f4 telephoto lens combination and as Wayne said "makes your's look small " in reference to my "Bigma".

The bunting was approachable to a couple of metres and I managed some nice images although the bird did disappear into the longer grass and out of sight at times.

We all enjoyed great views of the Lapland Bunting,I'd waited 4-5 years for my second in Glamorgan after the Werfa bird and then two turn up in a week which I manage to photograph.

We were all pretty knackered by now,at least I was,and after picking up our cars at Sarn headed for home content at what had been a good day's birding,no rarities (or so we thought) but then again nothing different from the norm,we never find rarities,do we ???

After a hasty meal I "chimped" through the images on the LCD on the camera dumping all the "crap" before downloading,processing and posting a selection on our now famous (or is that infamous) South Wales Birding blogsite,

Time had passed quickly and it was now about 10.00pm,just in time to catch "Match of the Day" or so I thought and no sooner had I posted the tern photos when my mobile rang.

It was Paul "Sid" Parsons telling me that he was pretty sure that what I had posted as a juv Black Tern (didn't give it a second thought)was in fact a much more desirable juvenile Whiskered Tern !!

He was phoning around several other birders including Martyn Hnatiuk for second opinions when Martyn called to say that he also thought it was Whiskered which was quickly backed up by Barry Stewart who confirmed he was 100% certain !!

"Bugger me",we go out to find a rarity and when we do we don't even realise it !!,just a good job I poked my camera at the thing and the more "elite" birders out there quickly picked up on my mistake.

After the furore about the distribution of information about the Bobolink I quickly put an explanation on the GBC sightings page and went off to bed hoping and praying that the bird would still be there in the morning,all hell then appeared to break loose as the "grapevine" went into overload !!

A phonecall to Martyn at 7.30am confirmed that the tern was still there,what a sense of relief and I quickly put the news out on GBC and SWB which was promptly picked up by Birdguides and lots of birders got to see the bird.

I'd promised Teresa that we'd spend some time in the garden on Sunday morning and then go down to Mumbles later for some food,and she didn't object to a quick detour into Eggy Nun for me to have a go at getting some more photos and I soon bumped into George Morgan,Paul Tabor,Alex Bevan,Steve Hinton,Rob Mitchell and Alan Hughes with the photographic contingent trying their best to get that one "crippler" of an image.

I got several "blurries" but not the "crippler" I desired and we never made it to Mumbles settling instead for fish and chips at Franco's on Aberavon seafront where a Common Gull,adult and 1W Med Gulls and Saderlings gave me a last photographic opportunity of the weekend.

What a weekend and huge thanks to "Sid",Martyn and Barry for the "loan" of their ID skills,I've learned that I'm far too casual and light-hearted about my birding and am probably concentrating too much on the quality of the image rather than the bird that I'm looking at/photographing and will certainly attempt to be far more critical in future.

Does one good "tern" deserve another ?????...............................

A belter of a Bunting.

Up at the caravan for the weekend I was halfway between Llangasty car park and the hide at Llangors Lake having just picked up a couple of nice Marsh Tits when a text from Dan alerted me to a Lapland Bunting found on the haul road near Sker on the GBC bird walk from the reserve centre at KNNR.

According to reports the bird was pretty settled and with me trying to build up a good species image library this was too good a photogrphic opportunity to miss,let's go for it.

I phoned Dan and was soon on the road down to Cardiff,Dan,Sophie,Geth and myself piled into Dan's car and we were soon on our way to Kenfig.

We were greeted in the car park by Phil Hill and Rob Gaze who had arrived at the same time and so we all walked down through the dunes together passing Peter Morgan and another birder on the way who both confirmed that the bird was still there.

We arrived at the location and for a good 20 mins the bird was nowhere to be seen,myself and the young "Twitchmeister" headed west along the haul road whilst the rest searched in the vicinity of the original location.

We were a few 100ms down the haul road and with the "Twitchmeister" getting more and more aggitated, "I hate searching and dipping" he moaned,a phone call from Phil confirmed the bird had been refound.

We hurried back with the "Twitchmeister" breaking into a trot (I don't do running anymore !!) and were soon on the bird,the light was excellent and I managed to get a good selection of shots as the bunting scuttled between the grass and the track.

We "filled our boots" with some great views and before leaving put down some marker stones for Matt Evans and Mark Duttfield who were at nearby Eglwys trying in vain to find the Grey Phalarope which had gone walkabout.

We met with them on the way back to the car park and wished them luck,a phonecall a little later in the afternoon confirmed that they had been successful.

A bit of a mad dash but a crackin' little bird to see and photograph,only my second in Glamorgan after the Werfa bird,a Glamorgan tick for Dan and a "lifer" for the young "Twitchmeister" taking his British life list he tells me to 240,"happy days" and Tunnocks all round !

Grey Phalarope:Eglwys Nunnydd

On the evening of Mon 13.Sept a Grey Phalarope was found by George Morgan which if it stayed the following day would be a great photo opportunity,unfortunately the forecast for Tuesday was a total washout and so it proved until late in the day.

It stopped raining in Maesteg at about 17.00 and upon leaving work the skies were brightenning from the west,would I have enough time to get over to Eglwys and was the bird even there,it hadn't been reported during the day ? (that's another story and we won't go there !!)

The light wasn't too bad as I arrived but it was a little on the windy side with a stiff westerley breeze,I "kerb-crawled" in the Jeep as close to the barrier as I could but couldn't see the bird where it had been previously reported from and so I drove down as far as the locked gate and scanned down towards the jetties,still no sign.

Rob Taylor arrived shortly after I did and whilst I scanned down past the jetties he decided to double back and recheck.

There were some terns over the water and I picked out some Blacks and Commons and just as I passed the jetties walking back one surprized me by landing on the concrete apron of the reservoir.

I used the barrier for cover and managed a few shots,the bird appeared settled and so I thought I'd push my luck and leg it over the barrier,I was amazed how confiding the bird was and it let me approach to about 12' enabling me to get some lovely shots before taking to the air.

I thought initially that it was a Common Tern but it turned out to be an Arctic Tern,must be more critical with my ID in future (we won't go there either !!)

I was well pleased with the performance of the tern and drove back up to the first bay where the phalarope had re-appeared and Rob was happily snapping away with his big Canon 500mm.

The bird was picking it's way along the concrete apron and I managed a few shots from the road,with these birds having a reputation for being so tame I thought I'd give it a go legging it over the barrier again and down on to the concrete apron.

The tiny bird was not in the least bothered and both myself and Rob were able to get plenty of good shots,at one time it came within 3' of me and for a lot of the time it was too close to focus !!

The bird picked it's way along the shore until it came to a family of Mute Swans when it turned and took to the water enabling us to get a couple of "swim" shots.

What a way to end a totally miserable day,one of the best hour and a quarter's birding I've had and I'm certainly glad I made the effort.

East and West

Having decided to have a weekend off from the caravan and won a stack of "brownie points" by taking Teresa to Cardiff shopping on Saturday I took the opportunity of meeting up with Rob Mitchell on Sunday who agreed to show me around the Cardiff foreshore area.

Rob and myself share the same interest in bird photography and having both bought digital SLRs in 2009 are "feeling our way" in this wonderful hobby.

Rob's a Nikon man and I'm a Canon man but we both use the same "Bigma" (Sigma 150-500mm zoom) lens(we have one each,we don't share !!)

I met Rob up at the Cefn Cadlan Dotterel twitch back in May and we agreed to get togethor when we could both make it.

We couldn't have picked a nicer day with clear blue skies and warm sunshine,we met up at Lamby Lake and then headed down Cors Crychan Reen towards the foreshore.

As we approached the foreshore Rob recognised Clive Ellis walking the sea wall and Clive joined us to walk west of the "Black Pipe" towards the small "beach" area where Rob had recently managed some great shots of LRP and White Wagtail.

There were a few wagtails flitting about but our attention was drawn to a cracking pair of Bar-Tailed Godwits wading in the shallow surf.

They were quite confiding and with care we managed to approach quite close and were both able to get some nice "images".

On our way to the beach area a pair of GS Woodpeckers had crossed our path and the small patch of trees behind the beach held several Robins,tits and a couple of Chiffchaffs.

A Stonechat perched up on neaby brambles in the sunshine enabling me to get a quick shot.

Clive decided to leave us to it and we walked a little further west towards the Rhymney Estuary but the high tide had pushed all the waders on to the shore on the other side of the estuary so everything was really distant with few good photo opportunities.

We headed back and as we walked along the path at the side of the reen we bumped into John Wilson who had been carrying out his WeBS count and chatted for a few minutes,a little further along and we heard the call of a pair of local Common Buzzards overhead as they circled the fields and nearby tip.

We got back to the car and after a quick circuit of Lamby Lake Rob headed for home,I'd really enjoyed visiting an area that I'd never birded previously and both Rob and myself had managed to get a couple of decent "snaps".

I decided to stay out for the day and headed west to Eglwys Nunnydd reservoir to try to photograph the Black Terns and Common Tern that had been reported from there in the morning.

After a fruitless call in to KNNR on the way I arrived at Eglwys and bumped into Gary Welsbey who confirmed that the birds were still around,I also met Peter and Simon Murray as I walked to the east end of the water before chatting with George Morgan who was just leaving.

The birds were favouring the middle of the reservoir and so I walked around to the far side to get the sun behind me only for the birds to move further away and closer to the side I had just walked from !! Sods law !!

I managed to get a few shots of the Common Tern as it ducked and dived over the water.

The Black Terns seemed to be favouring the opposite side of the reservoir (aaargh...!!) so I walked back around and although I'd be shooting almost into the sun I hoped I'd get some half decent record shots.

The light was soon starting to fade and I was getting hungry (as you do !),time to head for the hills.I'd had a great day out,Rob was great company and I'd seen and managed to photograph some really good birds.

Things can only get better

With Mrs JJ back at work, teenage daughter Gwenni preferring to be . . . well, a teenager - happy enough enjoying some peace and quiet 'home alone' without her little brother, it was time for Geth and me to get out and do some birding after the summer lull.

On Aug 27th Geth went out early to his 'patch' around the Glamorgan Canal/Forest Farm and struck lucky with a Pied Flycatcher in a tree beside the River Taff just below Tongwynlais. A new 'patch tick' and no. 72 for his patch year list. I was duly gripped off good and proper for not getting out of bed at the crack of dawn to go with him.

Cashing in on what appeared to be the beginning of a streak of good luck we decided to go to Whiteford Point, Gower on the last day of August. The Point had turned up some really good Glamorgan birds two days previously, including a Lapland Bunting, Ruff, Wood and Curlew Sandpiper. Our hopes were high and thing started very well when, at 7am, we got on to an Osprey on a post at Wernffrwd.

Photography at its best - another classic for the Birders in Boxers Gallery

20 minutes later we were heading out towards Whiteford. The trees and bushes were alive with small birds flitting around and calling: Blackcaps, Whitethroats, Chiffchaffs, all four common Tits, Treecreepers, Nutchatches, Goldfinches, Linnets, Bullfinches and Siskin, while Tree Pipits 'spihz'd' overhead.

That was the easy bit. Over the next two hours until high tide we scoped every inch of beach, saltmarsh and mudflat. Having spent many a winter's day out at the Point enduring strong, freezing cold winds and horizontal rain, it made a very pleasant change to be out there in such good weather. It was beautiful out there.

Whiteford Point in all its scenic splendour. Note the lack of any birds.

But, let's be honest, the weather was too good for anything decent to turn up/hang about. There were shedloads of Oystercatchers around but we had to work hard for everything else. We ended the day with 3 Knot, 1 Grey Plover, 2 Whimbrel, 4 Sanderling and around 30 Dunlin and 40 Ringed Plovers. Geth got onto some Terns on the other side of the Burry Inlet but the sheer distance and heat haze prevented us from positively ID'ing them. A couple of Pintail and Wigeon amongst the channels on the saltmarsh were also an early indication that autumn is upon us.

The Twitchmeister trying his level best to pick out a 'goody'.

By the way, if you're heading out to Whiteford before long and planning to eat your sarnies in the hide, think again. It's Pooville U.S.A. in there. Some Swallows have nested inside and pebble-dashed all the walls, seats and shelves. Now I know small birds crap a lot but this lot appeared to have been suffering from dyssentry.

The Swallow latrine at Whiteford.

We called it a day at 2pm and headed home. Logging on to the computer on our return we were gutted to find out that we'd driven past 3 Ruff at Kenfig Pool on our journey back to Cardiff.

Family commitments prevented an early start the following day, but we made it to Kenfig by 9.25am only to be told that the single Ruff that had remained from the previous day had been flushed 10 minutes earlier by a dog walker. Nevertheless, we scoured the East Pool Shore only to draw a blank. Snarling at every dog walker on the way back to the car we headed towards the Ogmore Estuary. We were greeted there by scores of fishermen and horse riders who'd flushed everything apart from the Canada Geese. The Boy Birder was in a BAD mood and I wasn't much better.

Next stop, back east: Llanishen and Lisvane Reservoirs. Llanishen has been drained and the exposed mud will surely attract something decent before too long. We did manage to find 5 Greenshank and 3 Ringed Plovers, but nothing more exciting than that. The birding is hardly enjoyable there as you have to spend you're whole time peering through the slats in a six foot metal fence which are all just that bit narrower than your 'scope.

With time on our hands we decided to go Goldcliff. Our arrival coincided with that of the farmer and his tractor who appeared to be spraying weedkiller around the perimeter fence on the sea-wall side and flushing everything in sight!!! What the . . . .?!

As Geth so succinctedly put it: "Flipping Farmers, Fishermen and Fences!" I could add another couple of "F's" to that list, but I'd better not.