Oooh, We Went Up to the Heelands of Scotland!

We went up by car and by plane.

We'll all bring ours wives back a present,

So we can go next time again!

We're off to Mull on Friday - trip report to follow soon.

Square Bashing

Spring has sprung, birds are pouring into the country - admittedly few that would set the pulse racing, particularly here in Glamorgan - and the Birders in Boxers are again in the wrong place at the right time: namely, working or enjoying precious time with family when we should be out birding!

Well, that's not strictly true. I've been out quite a bit in the sunshine over the last few days doing some BTO survey work before summer sets in and we can't do the fieldwork because of the wind and rain. I wasn't lucky enough to find anything rare (that would be a first) or even any local scarcities, but a few things did strike me when I was out and about.

I surveyed two Cardiff tetrads for the BTO Atlas: ST17R (Grangetown and Llandough) and ST17U (Mynachdy and Heath). I also did my rural BBS square up near Pontllanfraith - a square I've been covering since 1998. You'd think I'd see a greater variety of birds on my BBS square which, apart from a small village, is bang smack in the middle of the countryside, with nice pockets of woodland? Nope.

There used to be a nice variety of birds in my BBS patch. Over the years I've managed to see 51 different species in that kilometre square. The variety and numbers have been slowly dropping off over the last five years or so - but this year was the worst so far. There was bugger all there. Now, I know everyone's been banging on that we've had a cold winter, (actually, I prefer to think of it as having been a 'normal' winter, like the ones we used to have), and this may have had an impact on the bird numbers locally. The highest point of the square is 300m above sea level after all. But, I have a different theory. The farmer who owns the land in this square decided to have a Spring Clean.

All around me was 'immaculate' countryside. All the hedges were beautifully trimmed (do farmers get grants for topiary now?) and the grass in the surrounding fields had been shaved to an uniform perfection by sheep. I thought for a moment that I'd been magically transported to the Masters Golf Course in Georgia. What was going on? Was the farmer's Mother-in-law coming round for Easter and he'd promised his wife he'd tidy up before she arrived? I don't keep my house as clean and tidy as this. I swear he'd even hoovered around the hedgerows.

So what was there? Highlights were a pair of Siskin, a single Linnet and a fly-over Jay. Says it all really. OK, amongst the Robins, Dunnocks, Chaffinches etc there were a couple of Chiffchaffs, one Blackcap and it was nice to see a few Swallows back flying above the farmyard (which was spick and span of course). But that was pretty much it. The Lapwings, Curlews, Starlings, Bullfinches, Goldcrests, Pied Wagtails and higher numbers of common species have gone.

So jump to ST17R - the tetrad which lies at one end of Grangetown and over the River Ely to Llandough. The heart of this tetrad, in the city of Cardiff, is Grangemoor Park - a tump of land which used to be a rubbish tip but has now been landscaped into . . . well, a lump of rough grassland. Across the river is a small block of woodland and the rest of the tetrad is very urban.

At Grangemoor Park there were 3 singing Skylarks, a Reed Bunting, Kestrel, Meadow Pipits, Linnets, shed loads of Dunnocks, a couple of sparring Common Whitethroat and a fly-by Peregrine. Along the river a pair of Shelduck was a surprise, some Willow Warblers, Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs, a Grey Wagtail and overhead some Swallows. In the small woodland there were both Green and Great Spotted Woodpeckers, Nuthatches, Song Thrushes, a Bullfinch and good numbers of common woodland birds. House Sparrows and Starlings were nesting amongst the houses.

In two hours, in this unpromising, largely urban area, I found a total of 44 species as opposed to the 26 I recorded in the BBS square in rural Gwent. 'House proud' farmers - the guardians of our beautiful countryside.

If At First You Don't Succeed . . .

With sandwiches and flask packed I went out yesterday for my first 'all dayer' of 2009 with one thing on my mind - Ogmore's Iceland Gull. It has a nasty habit of going AWOL for long periods of time and I'd already dipped on it three times.

I was expecting some early spring sunshine but the weather was decidedly grey and cold when I got to Ogmore. I stopped off at the Watermill but couldn't get excited about the Moorhen, Canada and Farmyard Geese which were hanging around there.

Plan A: When I arrived at Portobello Island I bumped into Mike Pointon and Nev Davies who'd just seen the gull fly down river 5 minutes before I'd arrived. Bugger. If only I hadn't stopped at the flippin' Watermill. I drew a blank on the walk down to the rivermouth but there were plenty of other birds around. Four Sand Martin and a pair of Buzzards flew overhead, Meadow Pipits and Dunnocks were singing everywhere, Stonechats were pairing up and on the river there were good numbers (for Ogmore) of Redshank and Oystercatchers, three or four Goosanders, some Gadwall, Teal and Shelduck.

Plan B: I had a theory. This gull must fly east when it naffs off from the estuary. If it flew west one of the birders around the well watched Portchawl area would have found it. I set off along the coastal path towards Southerndown. I gave up a mile or so later having only seen a few Herring Gulls. There was also no sign of the female Black Redstart that had been in the area the previous day. But, on the way I'd picked up my first Wheatear of the year (there were at least seven of them around Ogmore) and the gorse was buzzing with Linnets. Just as I was about to turn around I finally found the local Choughs. On the rocks there were one or two Turnstone, 20+ Purple Sandpipers and, in the 'walled field', a Curlew. A Fulmar bombing its way west was a surprise.

Having re-checked the rivermouth and Portobello Island it was time for Plan C. Newton Beach. But that was almost completely birdless. Bugger. Plan D was to drive all the way to Cosmeston to try for the Iceland Gull that's been seen there occasionally. But, the sun was finally shining, it was a beautiful spring day and did I really want to go to Cosmeston? Did I heck. I'll just try Plan A again.

The welcome sight of a large flock of gulls greeted me at Portobello Island. I lifted up my bins and the very first bird I saw was the Iceland Gull. I love it when a plan comes together! Out came the camera but, as I was about to take one of my legendary photos, the battery went flat. Apologies to those of you who look forward to seeing my awsome pics - you must be gutted. Normal 'wobbly/blurred/is that a bird or a blob on the lens?' service will be resumed as soon as possible.

Birdin' without "Baldrick"

With Wayne "Baldrick" Morris having conceived yet another "cunning plan" for a family visit to Ikea (only a stone throw from the Bonaparte's Gull) for Sat afternoon I met up with Dan and Sat a.m saw us parking up near Cardiff Yacht Club hoping to "double up" with the newly arrived Bonapartes Gull and long staying Lesser Scaup.

A brisk walk across under the flyover soon had us scanning the River Taff from the East bank for this gem of a transatlantic small gull.

Some birders on the other side of the river were on the bird and it didn't take Dan long to pick it up and get us both on it.

It was settled on the water with a large number of Black Headed Gulls and was totally unfazed by the amount of boats back and forth the river.

Also overhead were a party of six newly arrived Sand Martins,but having failed to pick up the Little Gull also on the river we headed back to Cardiff Wetland Reserve to try for the long staying Lesser Scaup.

I'd seen the LS between Xmas and New Year when it first arrived at Cosmeston CP but hadn't seen it in 2009 so it would be a welcome "year tick".

I soon picked it up in the company of several Tufties at the far end of the reserve-"piece of p***" this birdin' !!

With plenty of time on our hands we decided to pop over to Hendre Lake,St Mellons east of Cardiff for the overwintering Bittern which had been showing really well in the small reed beds in recent weeks.

First we decided to pop into Maerdy Lane to see if the Little Owl/s were roosting in their regular tree,they weren't !!

After arriving at Hendre Lake we didn't have to wait too long as the Bittern flew from one side of the lake to the other and gave great although approx 80m distant views as it foraged along the edge of the reed bed opposite the viewing platform.

There can't be too many mornings when you get Bonaparte's Gull,Lesser Scaup and great views of a Bittern all in a couple of hours, and so feeling well pleased with ourselves we headed for home for an afternoon of Six Nations rugby on the tele (ultimately pretty disappointing as Wales were bloody crap against a game but very average Italian side) !!!

Never mind,there's always next week "bring on the Irish" !!!!

Glam boys invade Gloucestershire

A phone call from Kevin Hughes on Saturday evening saw myself,Wayne and Kevin heading up the M4 early Sunday morning in the direction of Cotswold Water Park for a day's "twitching".There were some good birds reported in Glouscestershire so first it was to Pit 68 for 2 early Gargeney reported on Saturday,no sign from the "new" hide of these reclusive ducks but plenty of Teal,Gadwall,Shoveler,Common Shellduck and other common wildfoul.

A pair of Green Sandpipers flew in to give good views if only for a short time.

We decided to leave the hide and take a walk further along the footpath to a gap in the hedge to hopefully get a better view of the far end of the pit,still no bloody Garganey !!

On returning to the hide to check if the birds had shown we found Martin Bevan,Phill Hill and Rob Gaze on the same mission and having the same poor luck !!

A local birder reminded us of the Great Grey Shrike on the outskirts of Cirencester opposite Tescos which had been in residence since December,this was on our route to Stroud on the way to our next port of call which was Frampton -Upon-Severn for an obliging Long Eared Owl.

On our way back to Waterhay car park we bumped into Colin Gittins,Sid and Dave Lewis - 3 more Glamorgan birders on a mission !!

The shrike turned out to be a "car tick" as we saw it perched on a tree in a field alongside the main A419 before pulling into a very convenient lay-by for great views of this normally notoriously difficult to find species.

Onwards then to Frampton where a party of 22 Waxwings had come up on Kevin's pager closely followed by a text from Dan confirming their whereabouts.The birds were feeding on berries at the side of the main road and duly obliged for a couple of photos albeit quite high in the trees.

On then to Splatt Bridge and a stroll down the canal towpath for the Long Eared Owl or Headless Long Eared Owl as it turned out,not a new species-just a bloody crap view of the roosting bird !!

The bird was "buried"low in a dense hawthorne tree and although the breast was clearly visible that was about all !!This was a difficult to see species being "difficult to see" and despite all sorts of contortions we just couldn't get to view the head except for when it carried out some all to brief preening.

You can only take enough of a partial owl so we headed back to the car bumping into Matt Evans and Mark Duttfield along the towpath - were there any birders left in Glamorgan ??!!,well we know Dan was as he couldn't come with us !!

Next stop was Slimbridge for the drake American Wigeon which had settled in for the past couple of weeks,not the best of places to go on a fine sunny Sunday being over-run with families holding bags of bird food and cameras.

The bird was easy to find from the Zeiss Hide although it spent most of it's time asleep as ducks seem to do,usually when you really want to get a good photo !!

Here's what it should have looked like !!

Next stop was the Holden Tower where half a dozen Bean Geese way out on the edge of the estuary provided a year tick,geese numbers were well down with only about 30-40 White Fronts remaining.

Although having dipped on Gargeney we'd "mopped up" our target birds by 2.00pm so decided to have a try at the Forest of Dean for Goshawk and Hawfinch,Goshawk duly obliged at New Fancy Viewpoint with a couple of separate sightings but despite a stroll around Speech House we dipped on Hawfinch and headed for home.

A great day out and although no "lifers" involved a few year ticks and some really good birds.

I think I'm now in double figures for GGS,the LEO was my 4th as was the American Wigeon and although tempted I resisted "ticking" some of the more exotic species at Slimbridge !!!