Well, on a day like today it would be a shame not to...........

Myself and fellow "owler" a certain Mr Richard G Smith paid another visit to RGW east of Cardiff today in the best weather of the Christmas holiday and we were not disappointed with the display that the Shorties put on for us !!
We picked the right end of the hunting field and both came away with some images that we were really pleased with...............

Nice to chat with Rob Mitchell, Ray King, Jeff Lack and Bob Hopkins as we were packing our gear away and who had also taken up different vantage points around the field, hope they had the same luck as ourselves.

Grey Phalarope : Sker Pool

Having overdosed recently on Short-eared Owls and with a dry weather forecast for today I turned my attention to the Grey Phalarope found yesterday on Sker Pool.
After a fruitless morning walking up and back to the Bodvoc Stone on Mynydd Margam above Llangynwyd in the hope of connecting with the two Short-eared Owls found yesterday afternoon by Scott Squires (only because SEO would have been a "valley tick") I headed for Sker Pool south of Kenfig NNR hoping that the phalarope would still be there.
As the pool is quite small getting some nice images should not have been difficult, I parked up just off the main road near Pyle & Kenfig golf club and with my dog "Pearl" for company headed down the public footpath towards Sker House.
I had earlier spoken with Simon Murray who after originally posting that the bird had moved from the pool re-reported that it had come back and the first person I bumped into on arrival was Simon's dad Peter, also present were fellow "toggers" Jeff Lack and Bob Hopkins and also birder Rob Jones.
I settled in and proceeded to get some images that I was quite pleased with..........

Just as I was about to pack up and leave it was nice to bump into and chat with "Jake" Gilmore and Judd Hunt and we walked back part of the way together.

You can never have enough Short-eared Owls....

With two weeks off work and a rubbish weather forecast for the lead up to Christmas myself and fellow "togger" Richard Smith headed down to Rumney Great Wharf east of Cardiff again to catch up with the Shorties.
We arrived at 1.30pm to find Rob Mitchell already set up in his bag-hide with one bird already out hunting, we strung my newly purchased camo net to give us some cover and both of us managed to get some images that we were quite pleased with.........

Even more Short-eared Owls.........

With the hope of a first glimmer of sunshine on a weekend for about 6-7 weeks I headed down to Rumney Great Wharf east of Cardiff with the aim of getting some more images of Short-eared Owls in better light than I enjoyed on a dull overcast day during my last visit.
I rocked up at 1.00pm and one Shortie was already out hunting over the rough pasture fields, over the next two and a half hours at least three birds showed and despite a soaking from two heavy showers I managed a few shots that I was quite pleased with........

Hopefully with two weeks off over Christmas the weather will change and we'll get some proper winter weather with frost and blue skies, I can but live in hope.

More Short-eared Owls..........

After it finally stopped raining yesterday I made another visit to Rumney Great Wharf on the east side of Cardiff in the afternoon to photograph the wintering Short-eared Owls, I just can't get enough of these wonderful birds.

I set myself up with my bag-hide for cover and managed to get some okay flight shots albeit the light was absolutely dismal and I had to shoot at a stupidly high ISO all afternoon..........

Birding around Cardiff.......

On Sunday 22.November myself  and fellow "togger" Richard Smith decided to make our first winter visit around the Cardiff area in search of two of our favourite wintering species; Black Redstart and Short-eared Owl.
After picking up Richard late morning we soon rolled up at Penarth Marina and within a couple of minutes we picked up a stunning male Black Redstart on one of the rooftops who was soon joined by a female bird, although reluctant to drop down to a lower level they allowed us both to obtain some reasonable "record" shots......

In all two different males and two different females were seen and hopefully they will hang around through the coming winter months, it was nice to bump into Gareth Pryce as well who was patrolling his "local patch" on bicycle.
Moving on from Penarth we headed for Rumney Great Wharf in search of Shorties and flushed two birds as we made our way out across the saltmarsh to our favoured position near the sea defence boulders.
After about an hour or so the two birds returned to hunt but after perching up for a while on some of the driftwood logs they flew over the seawall to quarter the rough pasture fields between the seawall and the road allowing us to get some nice shots even if the birds were always a little distant....

After a short while we spied some other birders/toggers on the seawall one of which was Paul Denning who joined us for what remained of the afternoon as the light started to fade, one Shortie even perched up on a fence post and let the three of us approach to within about 35m or so .......

The light faded quickly and soon got the better of us and we made our way back to the car stopping for 20 mins or so to chat with Jake, Phil B,Mike P and Judd who were watching the owls from the road.
A very enjoyable day out for us both although the light could have been better, Chatting with the other lads we all reckoned that we had seen at least 6-8 different birds between us which bodes well for some more owl "togging" in the coming months.

This year's holiday.........

Having missed out on a holiday last year I was determined to make an effort this year and Teresa and myself decided on a 13 night "Canaries Cruise" from Southampton from 27.Sept to 10.Oct taking in The Azores, Madeira, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Tenerife and Lisbon before returning to Southampton.
We had done a similar cruise about four years ago and I'd thoroughly enjoyed it as the time at sea had given me plenty of time for seawatching, this particular cruise appealed as it offered six and a half days at sea.
The first couple of days sailing to The Azores gave me plenty of scope for seawatching but being the only passenger out of a total of 2,850 with an interest in seabirds and cetaceans does have it's drawbacks and I probably missed a hundred times more then I saw.......

Plenty of Cory's and lesser numbers of Great Shearwaters and the odd skua but everything was always a little distant from the ship, I did get a few Pom Skuas with one really close but unfortunately couldn't manage any photos.
We had a Whale and Dolphin Watching trip booked at our first stop at Ponta Delgada on the Azores but due to a heavy swell we were given early notice that it had been cancelled, this was a major disappointment as the Azores is one of the best places in the world for whale watching.
A hurried rearrangement got me on a similar trip out of our second stop which was Madeira, this was on a RIB which Teresa would have struggled to cope with so I did the excursion on my own.
It was reasonably calm on the day and we soon came across a nice group of Atlantic Spotted Dolphins which were a cetacean "tick" for me and they came in really close to the inflatable allowing great views and photo opportunities........

The boat trip out of Funchal also gave me the chance of getting closer to some Cory's Shearwaters and Arctic Terns within the port.....

Friend and fellow "togger" Peter Morgan had taken a land holiday on Lanzarote back in August and had enjoyed a great morning out in the company of local bird guide Carmen Ernest Portella picking up some of the local speciality species.
Peter provided her contact details and I e-mailed Carmen prior to our departure and arranged a full day out with Carmen picking me up at the port entrance at just after 8.00am, after a short drive we were soon making our way along the volcanic desert tracks in search of Houbara Bustard, Cream-coloured Courser, Trumpeter Finch and Berthelot's Pipit the first three being "lifers" if I was able to connect !!

Great Grey Shrikes ssp "koenigi" were plentiful as were Trumpeter Finch and Berthelot's Pipits although the only close finch was a juvenile, a couple of Hoopoes were also seen and a small group of Cattle Egrets mingled with a herd of goats.
A couple of groups of Barbary Partridge were seen but we struggled for Houbara Bustards until late in the day when several were seen although always making their way away from us........

If only the rest of the birds were as approachable as Stone Curlew which were really confiding as well as being plentiful if only easy to see when they moved, one field checked late in the day must have held at least 20 birds........

Try as we may we were struggling to see the one bird that I really wanted which was Cream-coloured Courser and we used the last couple of hours of late afternoon trying our hardest, I have to commend Carmen for her endeavour, we drove track after track but to no avail, on this occasion the bird eluded us, still there's always next time on a return trip to Lanzarote and another day out with Carmen.
Our cruise ended with two days at sea on our final leg from our last port of call Lisbon back to Southampton skirting the Bay of Biscay and many of the same seabirds were seen along with good numbers of Common Dolphins and the occasional distant rorqual whale blow.....

A wonderful holiday on a great ship, we met some fabulous people and my day out birding on Lanzarote brought me three "lifers" in Houbara Bustard, Trumpeter Finch and Barbary Partridge, curse those bloody Cream-coloured Coursers !!!