Willow Tits : Llynfi Valley - Return Visit

 I made a return visit to our local Willow Tit site on 29th November 2020 and although they took a little while to turn up I came away again with some images that I was quite pleased with........

......a Great Spotted Woodpecker also put in an appearance landing on a nearby tree giving close if brief views.

Willow Tits : Llynfi Valley

 We had a few Willow Tits wintering last year at the top end of the valley and they have turned up again this Autumn/Winter. I had checked out the area in the summer and had been unsuccessful in finding any, the consensus is that they are winter visitors.

I made a visit two weeks ago and although I managed some photos I wasn't happy with them, I therefore made a return visit this morning from 10.00am-1.00pm and although initially it took me 55 minutes to find one I obtained some photos that I was quite pleased with....

Well, that's a nice little local project sorted for the winter.

Cwmparc Rhondda

I made a visit to Cwmparc at the top of the Rhondda Valley last Sunday morning 19th July 2020 in the hope of finding and photographing a Whinchat.
As soon as I opened my car door in the lay-by on the main Bwlch road I could hear a Grasshopper Warbler 'reeling'.
I looked in the grassy area below the lay-by and the bird was perching up on a a couple of several Foxgloves giving brilliant views..........

Venturing down the track to the rocky area where I've seen Whinchat previously I came across several juvenile Northern Wheatears which perched up obligingly but slightly distant........

No Whinchats on this occasion but hopefully I'll catch up with a couple before they leave our shores.

Common Rosefinch : Jersey Marine, Near Neath

News of a male Common Rosefinch in stunning breeding plumage which was visiting garden feeders in the village of Jersey Marine was put out on social media and I made a visit on the afternoon of Sunday 14th June 2020.
I spoke from the car to two birders who had been watching the bird distantly through a gap in the houses from the main road which wasn't much good for photography so I turned into the street where the house was located and after asking a neighbour I approached the owner of the house next door to the feeders who was very obliging and let me into his back garden.
The feeders were on the boundary with no obstructions and the sun was behind me, perfect !!
I had to wait an hour for the bird to return and managed some nice shots of it on the feeders, there was a nice shrub adjacent but the bird totally ignored my wishes and just wouldn't perch there.
Despite staying another two hours the bird disappointingly didn't return, it was the third that I've seen in the UK and all have been in West Glamorgan, how weird is that !!

Covid-19 Pandemic : Birding Over Lockdown

With a 5 mile radius restriction in operation I restricted my birding and photography efforts to the outskirts of my home town Maesteg in the Llynfi Valley visiting Darren Woods, Cwm Nant Gwyn, Maesteg golf course, Mynydd Bach and the fields below Garnwen, all within a short walk or drive, it's surprising what is on the doorstep........