RGW:Return Visit

Paid another visit to Rumney Great Wharf at first light this morning in the hope that the highest tide for some time just after 8.00a.m would push some of the SEOs up on to the rough grass area.

I was really hoping that one or two would perch up so that I could get some "static" shots,some birds duly obliged,how lucky was that ?? !!

There were about 15 SEOs around and I "flushed" 6 from one narrow reen (not intentionally I must add).

I luv it when a plan comes together !!

I would have loved to have stayed all day but with a family christenning to attend in the afternoon I had to be satisfied with a couple of early hours.

Nice to bump into "Cardiff Clive" and to meet Trevor Fletcher and put a face to the name.

I taught him all he knows

I notice that the Birders in Boxers 'Imagemeister' has been invited to present a talk on Feb 8th entitled 'My First Digital Year' at the prestigious Glamorgan Wildlife Photographic Club . . . .

Meeting will be held at 7.30pm at The Reading Room, Bonvilston (near Cowbridge), opposite shop on A48. Everyone most welcome. Members £1, Non-members £3. Tea, coffee and biscuits provided.

Better still, Jeff has promised to buy a pint in the Aubrey Arms, Bonvilston for everybody who attends the meeting.

Nice one Jeff!

And now for something completely different . . .

I've been a bit worried about the standard of the photography on this blog of late. So I thought it was about time I posted an image more befitting the quality we have come to expect over the years . . . . .

Slavonian Grebe at Lisvane Reservoir

What you mean you can't see it?! It to the right behind the Tuftie. Originally found by Rob Thomas, Geth and I picked it up during our WeBS count this afternoon. Sadly for us, it stayed right at the back of the reservoir the whole time we were there. This was disgiscoped at 8x through a 30x 'scope! Oh, and did I forget to mention that the light was absolutely dreadful?

To be serious though, since it's closure to the general public and, more importantly, dogs, it was clear that the wildfowl on Lisvane Reservoir were much more 'relaxed' today than I've ever seen them before. 'Relaxed' may not the most ornithological term you'll hear, but now that these birds have a bit of peace and quiet many of them had hauled out of the water and resting up on the banksides, they were more evenly spread out over the water and a Grey Heron was quietly fishing just 20metres up from the car park - something it wouldn't have been able to do just a few weeks ago.

I say 'closed to the public', the Lisvane end car park is now open again for business and you can birdwatch from there. But the access restrictions around both reservoirs continue to be enforced in order to protect the SSSIs.

SEOs:RGW,Cardiff

Spent some time at Rumney Great Wharf today with fellow "toggers" "Smudger" and "Pedro",we put up 2 SEOs as we walked across to the rocks from Sluice Farm at about 11.00am.

Another 2 started to hunt at mid-day and probably 5 different birds hunted on and off until we left at about 4.00pm.

The light on a drab,grey day was truly awful with me shooting at 800ISO or higher in order to get a good shutter speed.I did experiment though with a slow shutter speed just before we left and got a couple of reasonable "motion blur" pics which I was quite pleased with.

With the number of SEOs at the wharf at present I'm just hoping for a really nice sunny day on a weekend which with a bit of luck could yield some spectacular results.

"Another cunning plan"

Teresa knows me only too well when I suggest I take her for a few hours shopping to Cribbs Causeway in Bristol rather than Culverhouse Cross,"Short eared Owls is it " she replies and one duly obliged flying at just after 2.00pm in glorious light with another joining it just as the light faded at about 4.oopm.

I was a little nervous shooting into the sunlight as the first bird passed and headed towards the new Severn crossing but overexposed a couple of notches and was pleased to get a couple of nice "backlit" shots.

Think I'll try Rumney Great Wharf weather permitting next weekend where there were maybe six present today,bit of a hike though compared to "armchair" birding at Aust Warth.

Isabelline Wheatear:Wernffrwd,Gower

With both Dan and Wayne away at a BTO gig in Norfolk for the weekend something good was bound to turn up and it did !!! A text from Mark Hipkin at about 3.15pm yesterday gave news that an Isabelline Wheatear no less had been found "on the mound" at Wernffrwd on north Gower,unbelievable - a local MEGA !! I later found out that the bird had been found by Rob Taylor,nice one Rob,brilliant find.

Too late to do anything about it yesterday so I just hoped that it would still be there today and another text from Mark at 6.50am this morning confirmed that it was still there,woohoo !!

I'd got up early in anticipation and by 7.00 o'clock I was out of the house and on my way,I arrived at about 7.45am and the sun was just coming up over the wood behind the marsh,not such a long walk this time as was the case for the American sandpipers earlier in the Autumn and within minutes I was on the bird,what a little gem !!

Mark was there as were,Dave Pritchard,Peter and Simon Murray,Bev,Phil Hill and Rob Gaze and a couple of other birders I didn't know.

I managed to get the camera on the bird although it didn't come quite as close as I would have hoped,still I managed to get a few reasonable record shots.

Alex,Mike,Phil and Judd rolled up as did "Tiger" a few minutes later and some birders from the Midlands also arrived all enjoying great views,the "Maestegi" also rolled up and Barry,Wendell and Brian Thomas joined us with the sun shining down on a beautiful day.

I had other stuff to do at home and decided to call it a day at about 10.30am,although I could have easily spent the whole day there trying to that "one special shot".

Just as I was getting in the Jeep "The Wader" arrived and I'm sure that he will have got that one shot that I wished I'd had time to get.

Still,can't complain it's not every week that you get the chance to photograph a "MEGA" within a 45min drive.