Llandefaelog Wood,Brecon

On one of our recent weekends up the caravan and whilst visiting the local tourist information office in Brecon I picked up a cracking guide to their 19 nature reserves published by the Brecknock Wildlife Trust. The guide is excellent and provides good directions,grid references,trail maps and details of all the flora and fauna you could with luck expect to see. Although now late in the breeding season I thought on Sunday morning 14th June that I'd give Llandefaelog Wood just a few miles north west of Brecon a go in search of Pied Flycatcher and I wasn't to be disappointed. The wood is a little gem,barely a couple of hundred metres long by about 70m wide with an excellent circular trail. The guide states that several nestboxes have been put up and after just a few minutes I came across my first one,nobody at home but upon inspection it had been used this season. I soon came across another box and after a wait of a few minutes a male Pied Flycatcher soon dived into the box to feed young. As soon as it departed one of the youngsters appeared in the hole soon to be fed by the female.

Shortly after the female had left the youngster decided to "fledge" and flew from the box which was about 30m from me to land on the ground only 3-4m away,I don't think it was expecting to be greeted by a big hairy birder and decided to seek the sanctuary of a tree a little further away.

Bit like an episode of the recent "Springwatch".

The male Pied Fly then returned with a mouthfull of food and seemed totally bewildered by the disappearance of the youngster.

I watched for a little while as both parent birds visited the box and between visits witnessed the bizzare sight of a Spotted Flycatcher perching on the lid of the box !!

A couple of juvenile Redstarts as I left the wood "mopped up" the woodland species I'd expected to encounter and this is certainly a place that I'll re-visit next spring.

The wood is well managed and there were also groups of bat boxes at high level on some of the trees,not sure what bats would use these - any guesses ?

Hats of to the Brecknock Wildlife Trust for an excellent guide -now where am I off to on my next visit to Brecon.

Two Ton Twitchmeister

No, the Boy Birder hasn't suddenly put on a lot of weight. In May he finally scorched through the 200 UK Lifer mark with a sudden blitz of ticks (admittedly mainly of the tart variety). It was like watching Usain Bolt at the Beijing Olympics.

He finally broke through the barrier with a visit to Rudry Common - target species Tree Pipit, Garden Warbler and Cuckoo. Although the Common resembled a military scorched earth zone (see below) one of the first birds we heard on getting out of the car was a Tree Pipit and within a minute we'd found it (#199). There were quite a few pairs around, which was good to see. But, for the first time ever I think, I didn't hear a Cuckoo calling at Rudry Common. We needed to find a Garden Warbler more than ever. Mister Lister beside me was edgy and irritable as, over the next three quarters of an hour, the only warblers we heard singing were Blackcap, Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff. And then, suddenly, we heard it - a Garden Warbler singing deep in a thicket. But, it wouldn't show itself. I believe if I'd wired up the Twitchmeister to the National Grid he could have supplied enough energy to light Caerphilly for a month. We decided to leg it around the other side of the thicket and try our luck there. A good decision - out it popped and continued to sing its little heart out (#200). Thank God for that - I think he would have punched me if we'd failed! Of course, two minutes later we found another one.

Then, during May half-term holidays we went on a family trip to Mid-Wales. We stayed at the Youth Hostel at Borth just north of Aberystwyth where we were able to seatwatch in the comfort of our bedroom. We had streams of Manx Shearwater, plenty of Gannets and Gulls, 3 or 4 Sandwich Terns, a Guillemot, Ringed Plover and Dunlin. A male Common Scoter which sat on the sea really close in for a while was a bit of a surprise and proved to be #201 for Gethin.

We paid two all day visits to the Ynys Hir RSPB reserve near Machynlleth. It was idyllic. The weather was fantastic and we managed to see good numbers of Wood Warbler and Pied Flycatchers, and also one or two Redstarts and Spotted Flycatchers. When a Cuckoo called briefly in the distance the Little Lister was off like a shot in search of it - but to no avail. He really began to have a hang up about Cuckoo, convinced he'd never see one - particularly having heard that it's now on the UK Red List.

We went to sit in a hide overlooking one of the reedbeds (above). Reed Warblers and Buntings were calling and then suddenly a shout: "Dad - Hobby!" And he was right. It was above us for no more than thirty seconds but in that time we saw it catch a dragonfly before it flew off. How he so confidently called a bird he'd never see before I shall never know. (#202).

Gethin and his big sister Gwenni shortly after seeing the Hobby.

The was nothing much to see around the estuary other than a plague of Canada Geese (I think that's the collective noun for them) and some nesting Lapwing. I did find a few of these caterpillars on a tree though. Anybody know what they are?

We then moved on to stay at King's Youth Hostel near Dolgellau. Nestled in a wooded valley Gethin went out for a walk while we unpacked. He came back to say that he'd found a Garden Warbler, a Wood Warbler, pairs of both Redstart and Spotted Flycatcher and nesting Grey Wagtails and House Martin. He'd also heard but not seen another Cuckoo. Ouch.

But, his luck finally turned. While out walking just below the Cader Idris massif (that's not it on the left - believe me there a big mountain on the right just out of shot) a Cuckoo (#203) flew over our heads and landed briefly on a tree on an island (below). The relief! Not so much for Gethin but for the rest of us - life without having a Cuckoo on his list was as unbearable for us at it was for him! Of course, that evening, we had crippling views of another within (Cuckoo) spitting distance of the hostel.

We returned home with four more days of the holidays still left. So, to round things off nicely, Gethin and I visited Goldcliff where he scored with a brace of Spoonbill (#204) and an evening visit to Llanwonno where we clocked some Nightjars - at least 5 churrers, and flight views of two birds (#205). A cracking two or three weeks were the Boy Birder really came of age.

Somerset LB

Yesterday, a trip to the West Country was of mixed success. No little terns were viewed at the 'colony' at Ferrybridge, Chesil Beach. The site is heavily fenced off, but it seems some folk have been trespassing, though kestrels may also be playing a part in the colony's failings. 40 birds were around at the start of the season. Only one or two now.

A planned visit to Martin Down and Sixpenny Handley, in the hope of turtle dove and corn bunting, was put off as news of a little bittern at Walton Heath near Ham Wall came through. Within an hour we were there. Great views of hunting hobbies, bitterns in flight and black terns were enjoyed, along within dozens of dragonflies and damselflies. Unfortunately, the little bittern did not show during our stay. As the afternoon drifted on we decided to cut our losses and make the short trip over to Collard Hill.

It was a good call. Despite being a little early in the season, we arrived to the news that 4 large blues had been seen a few hours earlier. A thorough search of the spot resulted in both a male and female large blue happily sunning together. A fresh marbled white and plenty of painted ladies concluded the visit.

Mull 2009, Days 3 & 4: Owling in an 'Owling Wind

Day 3 started with a visit to Loch Frisa, home to a pair of White-tailed-Telly Star-Eagles - the ornithological equivalent of 'Richard & Judy'. OK, it's not the coolest place to go and see WTEs but, after last year's eagle dipathon in Speyside/Gruinard Bay, we weren't taking any chances and had already booked our visit to the loch where WTEs are guaranteed. (01680 300640 - Adults £4, children (16 and under) £2, family (2 adults and 2 children) £10).

As the Forestry Commission Ranger was regaling all the visitors (at length) about the history of these two birds, the only people actually looking out of the hide were the 4 of us and so we were the first to see a WTE flying in to the (hidden) nest. Within a couple of minutes it, or its partner, perched up on top of a tree where it remained for about 20 minutes. Yes, the hide was nice and warm, but the large glass window prevented you from focussing properly on the bird. (Ring any bells?). So out we piled into the freezing cold wind to view it properly while dozens of Sand Martins and Siskins flew overhead.

We were the first to move off - our next destination was a return visit to Loch na Keal. There was no sign of the 'Cagey Birder No 2' but within 10 minutes we'd found the WTE nest - in a tree about a mile away on the hillside. To be honest, it was so far away, the views were crap, but a moment or two later a large shadow fell over us. Looking skywards Wayne was the first to call "Eagle!" It flew over us heading towards the nest, banking a few hundred metres away from it to get a better landing angle - it was like watching a Boeing 747 turning in to land at Rhoose Airport!

Over the next few hours we re-traced the Day 2 route, only in reverse. We saw another couple of Golden Eagles as we travelled south on the B8035. A summer plumaged Great Northern Diver was at the western end of Loch Na Keal. We stopped again north of Loch Scridain where we had the best views of the trip of a WTE soaring above our head (see Jeff's photos/video clips below).

With the afternoon wearing on we had only one target remaining for the trip - Short-eared Owls. On the basis of information gleaned from Mick from 'Mull Wildlife Tours' we stopped off at Glen More and lazily scanned the area around the 'Three Lochs' from the comfort of the car (it was flippin' windy and very cold).

The Three Lochs (Glen More): Loch Airde Glais, Loch Sguabain and Lochs an Eilein. (Photo: Wayne).

By the time we'd left the Glen we'd seen 5 Short-eared Owls and another on our journey back to Craignure.

Short-eared Owl at Glen More (Phot: Jeff).

In order to make sure that we didn't become too cocky about our success we called in at Grasspoint again on our way home to score another 'Big O' at this site.

The evening was spent being entertained by a superb band 'Vortex' at the Craignure Inn. Their set included everything from Lionel Richie (Jeff's favourite) to Snow Patrol. Highly recommended if you're looking for some wedding night entertainment and you can afford their air-fare from Scotland. The evening was topped off nicely by the attention of a pair of amorous Australians (female) and Jeff's minor altercation with one of the local lads. (You can take the man out of Maesteg . . . . etc). It was lucky that this youngster's girlfriend was there to drag him away or it we could have had another Ricky Hatton/Manny Pacquiao missmatch on our hands.

Despite the late night/beer consumed we were up early on Day 4. We needen't have bothered - it was blowing a gale and pouring with rain. Despite a trip to Tobermory (where we dipped on Iceland Gull and the Les Routiers fish & chip van was closed) and a dash to Dervaig for waders (there were none) the only two additions to our trip list were 2 Sedge Warblers and a Reed Bunting. But, on the the ferry to Oban, as we began our journey home, we did add Manx Shearwater and some Black Guillemots. 8 hours later we touched down at Bristol Airport with a bag each of Duty Free perfume and/or chocolate "so that we can go next time again!".

Our trip list total was only 80. If you want to do Scotland and have more variety of birds I would suggest a trip to Speyside, but you'll be struggling there to have such fantastic views of both species of Eagle as we had on Mull - and you can forget about Corncrake. Our list on Mull would have been much higher if we'd made the effort to search the high moors and pools for Red Grouse and Red-throated Diver, the tops for Ptarmigan and the woods for the woodland birds - but to be honest we didn't make that effort. We went to Mull for Eagles and Corncrake, Harriers and Owls, magificent scenery and some good craic - and we had 'em all!

Mull 2009 : White Tailed Eagles

What can I add that Dan hasn't already said,great location,wonderful birds,brilliant company,awesome scenery,good digs,food and beer,our annual early May trip just gets better and better-I know I'll add a couple of video clips.

Whilst we were blessed with mainly dry and sunny weather (well apart from the last day!) it was always very windy so photography (ie digi-scoping) was always difficult as the birds were inevitably quite distant and the scope had to be set to the highest mag on the zoom.

I keep forgetting that most digital cameras have video mode and although not of the highest quality quite adequate for a record clip most of the time and particularly useful when it's windy.

I'd seen my first WT Eagle on Mull in 2005 when myself and Teresa visited at Easter that year and was totally knocked out by my first sighting of one in flight coming in off the sea at Lochbuie,it was one of 3 that I saw on that morning.

My next encounter with these incredible raptors was in Norway in 2006 when we went on an Orca Watching Day Trip for Teresa's 50th birthday,don't mention bloody Orcas as we "dipped" dramatically on them,that's nature I suppose,it's not like visiting a zoo and nothing is guaranteed !!

However,the WT Eagle encounters that day somewhat made up for the Orca disappointment and although I didn't keep a tally we must have seen between 50-60 individuals,they were everywhere!!

The first bird we saw when getting off the plane at the remote airport high in the arctic circle was a WTE and there were at least a dozen sat in the conifers bordering the small harbour that our whalewatching boat sailed from !!

I was therefore really looking forward to another encounter with these "flying barn doors" and we were not to be disappointed with pairs at Loch Frisa (of Springwatch fame),Loch na Keal and Loch Scridain.

One of a nesting pair perched openly on a distant conifer before taking to the air :-

Moments later after changing over at the nest the other bird took to the air flying across the valley and circling right over our vantage point on the edge of the "main" road giving incredible flight views (apologies for the shaky image it was very windy as well as trying to film a moving bird !!) :-

We enjoyed one of those magical 10 minutes or so that you get in birding from time to time (too infrequently unfortunately!!) when the bird you are lucky enough to be watching "does everything it says on the tin" and that was one of those special moments,although Corncrake on Iona was a long awaited "lifer" this all too brief encounter with this wonderful raptor was the highlight of the trip for me.