Wheatear Ogmore 9th April

Not the best photos. Looked very bright in the the sunshine, but probably not a Greenland, which I have seen described as larger and darker than the nominate race. Nice bird though! PS It wasn't a rabbit I saw at Portobello!

Choughed

I managed a quick call to Cardiff Bay on Saturday. I finally connected with one little gull, but it was hard work fighting against the wind and reflection of the sun on the water. That was my 150th species for the year. On Sunday I popped down to Ogmore in the hope of seeing the newly resident party of choughs. I managed to meet with Tim on the journey down and we had a quick visit to Watermill. A pheasant, swallows and sand martins and a sparrowhawk were on show. On to Ogmore-by-Sea and a walk out towards Southerndown. We were soon picking up several rock pipits and then our first wheatear of the day. Plenty of linnets were singing and pairing in the gorse. We met Dave Carrington who confirmed the choughs were still present but were unsettled, being disturbed by walkers. We continued east, but there was no sign of our birds. We settled high up on the cliffs and ticked a couple of fulmars and a raven. A male peregrine flew past. Jackdaws were busy collecting nesting material. We ran in to Glyn Roberts, but he had not seen the choughs either. After about half and hour we set off back, and within a few minutes we were walking towards six choughs feeding on the ground not more than 30m in front of us. They were a little bit flighty, but we watched them for about 20 minutes as they moved back and for, stopping to feed. As we left, we probably saw the other two birds join them. On the return to the car, we were struck by a stunning male wheatear. Possibly a Greenland race bird but its hard to be sure. In the gorse the linnets were busy, and then Tim picked out a Dartford warbler. Great! We rounded the morning off with half an hour at Portobello. A curlew, three oystercatchers, two redshanks and decent numbers of shelducks and Canada geese were near the island. A willow warbler briefly sang from the gorse. A couple of pied wagtails caught our attention. One was showing characteristics of white wagtail. As I followed it in the binoculars a merlin glided over the river and out over the dunes of Merthyr Mawr. A peregrine flew overhead again. Just before I left, Tim had the briefest of glimpses of what could have been a grey partridge .... or was it a rabbit?

Lisvane Res 2nd April

Two of the three Black Necked Grebes present, ex Ynys-y-fro, and what I'm sure is a Yellow Legged Gull, which was surprisingly not reported by other birders present.

Forest of Dean Dash

I've been wanting to get to the Forest of Dean for a few weeks now. There's 4 or 5 species that are easier to get there than elsewhere. So an early start, saw me sprinkling seed out at Brierley at 6:45am, as dawn broke. Plenty of birds were twittering about in the tress along with a noisy peacock. After waiting some 45 minutes the birds began to drop down for the seed, notably chaffinches at first and some tits. About twelve bramblings were in the trees and as I scanned these I came across the first of two hawfinches. I soon found the second, and was treated to them coming down to feed with a mixed flock of chaffinches and bramblings a couple of times. A great spotted woodpecker also came down to feed on the seeds. Satisfied I'd seen what I wanted I moved on to New Fancy View. The rain and wind did not bode well, and sure enough there were only a few greenfinches and wood pigeons on show at first. After a while though the weather eased a little and I'm 90% certain I got another hawfinch flying towards Parkend. There were no raptors to be seen and after about an hour I started to think about my next stop. At that time however, I was drawn to two crows making a commotion and I concluded they were mobbing something. I drew my bins up and sure enough there was a raptor at top of a tree doing its best to avoid the crows attention. As I got by 'scope up it took to the air. A nice male goshawk then gave decent views for a couple of minutes as it evaded the crows' attention. I gave little hope of seeing any other goshawks, so I moved on the Nagshead with the hope of getting marsh tit. It was quiet, with not a bird to be seen in the hide. The heavens then opened as I returned to the car. Cannop Ponds was the next stop for Mandarin duck and possibly willow tit. A couple of drake Mandarins were in their usual spot. Along from the picnic area, a couple of cars were parked next to a feeding table and some suet balls. Good numbers of chaffinches, tits and nuthatches were visiting the table so I waited a while. I was soon rewarded with a female great spotted woodpecker at the table and a marsh tit. I decided to get the car and pull up alongside the feeders. This was a good idea, as I was able to get two marsh tits down to about 10 feet. On the way home I stopped off at Ynys-y-fro Reservoirs where the three black-necked grebes are still present and showing signs of summer plumage. Good numbers of sand martins were also passing through. A good day with five more added to the year list, taking me up to 146.

Brambling, Brierley 15th March

One of 15+ Bramblings in the Forest of Dean, whilst waiting for Bignose to appear... Eventually got a Bignose feeding on the ground, just where this Brambling is pictured, started focussing on her, and the camera batteries died....grrrr! Bought some more from the nearby garage, waited another hour, and saw very little, other than a Marsh Tit. 2 Gossies showed reasonably well at New Fancy View earlier, and there were several Mandarin at Cannop Ponds.