"A visit to Ospreylia"........

You wait years for one........ and then three turn up at once !!
It's the start of our fifth season at the caravan in Llangors and despite putting in the hours I'd yet to see my first passage Osprey in the area,I just could not have predicted what was about to happen last Sunday 8th April.
I'd arranged to meet Wayne at the layby at Craig Cerrig Gleisad at 8.00am to have a look for Ring Ouzels and whilst driving up through Libanus at 07.55 Wayne phoned to say he thought he'd seen an Osprey overhead near Llwyn-on Reservoir and that he was stopping to check it out.
I suggested that he also check Cantref Reservoir on his way through and I would drive on and check the Beacons Reservoir.

I pulled into the layby,scanned the pines on the far side of the water and to my amazement immediately picked up the bright white breast of a perched Osprey !
Assuming it was the bird Wayne had seen I tried to phone him but "no mobile reception",I quickly got the camera out of the Jeep and fired off a few record shots of the perched bird.
The minutes ticked by and then an hour had passed,by then I had guessed that Wayne must have also found an Osprey and we had both been frantically trying to contact eachother,I wasn't going to leave the bird as I hoped for a flight shot,Wayne finally arrived at 09.20.

He advised that he had got the word out quickly of his initial sighting,Rob Mitchell had dashed up from Cardiff and they had both seen an Osprey take a fish and then disappear out of sight behind larches on the west side of the reservoir to enjoy it's meal.

I replied "different bird to that one perched over there then" pointing out my find !!
Wayne's face was a picture and as we couldn't contact Rob by phone Wayne dashed back to Cantref to tell him the news and they both soon returned,the bird had just taken to the air and we all enjoyed good views and myself and Rob rattled off some shots as the bird headed north-east to disappear from view towards Pen Y Fan.

We waited a while but the bird did not return and so we decided to head down to Cantref hoping that Wayne and Rob's Osprey had put in another appearance,we waited at the layby for about an hour and suddenly the bird appeared from nowhere to perch in the trees opposite.

We moved down to the shore and after a while the bird took to the air again to move a couple of hundred yards down towards the dam,Wayne said his goodbyes at 12.45 and Rob and myself moved along the shoreline to get opposite the perched up bird.

Rob scanned with his bins and to his amazement exclaimed that there was another Osprey perched not 30' from the bird we had followed,one was terrific but two was incredible !!

We watched both with cameras poised and after a while one of the birds made a dive and connected with a large Rainbow Trout,it really struggled to get up out of the water with the fish and being what seemed only 15-20' from the shore eventually dragged the fish ashore and proceeded to tuck in.

After a few minutes the other bird plunged from it's perch and a major squabble took place with the original bird eventually managing to hang on to it's prize.

It did however take it's "eye off the ball" and the other bird quickly nipped in to take the fish and fly off over the hill behind us in a north-easterly direction,it didn't return.

The other bird returned to it's perch in the pines and after a while made another dive,this time missing it's intended victim and proceeded to fly off north-westerly at a brisk pace.
We decided to call it a day and after walking back up the shore to the layby where we were parked glanced back with our bins to see that the bird had doubled back behind us and returned to it's original perch.

We weren't going to give it another go and said our goodbyes after reflecting on what had been one of those incredible days that only happens all too infrequently,I didn't get to see any Ring Ouzels after all,still there's always next time...............

Another Year on the Patch

Written by Gethin . . .

As you might already know, back in late 2009 my father and I took on our new Patch - a place to go birding without having to use the car and also to relax and escape from the women of the house. (DJJ: I honestly didn't write that!).

We wrote a report in January 2011 about our first year on the patch and here, better late than never, is the report about how we got on last year.

The Patch, in north West Cardiff, consists of all of the Forest Farm / Glamorgan Canal Nature Reserve and the land bordering it; the River Taff all the way up from Whitchurch to Tongwynlais and, on the other side of the river, the Taff's 'flood plain' to the east of Radyr.

The Radyr Flood Plain aka 'The Scrub'

Our first ever Year List for the Patch, in 2010, was 84 and we decided to try and break it in 2011 - but this time we would try a bit harder. I put in a lot of after school visits, especially in the autumn. This is how we got on . . .

First Winter

December 2010's big freeze brought in some 'scarce' birds for the patch and most of them hung around into January. Birds like Tufted Duck, Coot and Teal were all picked up without much effort on the River Taff. We caught up with a couple of Common Gulls, a Peregrine, small numbers of Goosander and a pair of Mute Swans. Sadly, some other good birds that had been seen in late December didn't hang around. The male Wigeon had gone, there were no fly-over Lapwings and the Bramblings had disappeared too. But, things were about to improve as Spring crept in.

Spring

As April arrived the list of birds began to grow as migrants started to arrive. An afterschool visit proved worth it when I found a Lesser Redpoll, and a couple of Common Redstarts in The Scrub joined the tally. But, the highlight, also at The Scrub was a Lesser Whitethroat rattling away. It wasn't heard again over the next few weeks so we don't think it hung around to breed.

Common Whitethroats were back in good numbers at The Scrub by mid-April and a Sedge Warbler - scarce here, and another bird that doesn't hang around to breed - was seen from one of the Forest Farm hides. As were a couple of pairs of Reed Warbler - which do breed. A Wheatear on April 20th was, surprisingly, the only one of the year.

The view from the 'doorless hide at Forest Farm.

The Summer

We didn't manage to add any Patch Year Ticks in the Summer, but we did manage to get confirmed breeding evidence for quite a few birds: Willow Warbler, Whitethroats, Dipper, Grey Wagtail and Bullfinch were the best ones. Nothing special appeared until . . .

The Autumn

The irruption of autumn migrants began on 27th August when I found 3 Whinchats in The Scrub, along with 2 Redstarts and a Tree Pipit. (DJJ: Over the next couple of weeks we saw several different Whinchats and Tree Pipits). The next day the second Lesser Whitethroat of the year turned up and then on the 30th a Spotted Flycatcher was found in the middle of dozens of Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps. On the 31st I found the year's only Common Sandpiper on the river.

We finally got Linnet and Garden Warbler on 3rd September and Dad at last got his Sedge Warbler patch tick on the 4th (DJJ: finally stopping Gethin's constant gripping off) but a Grasshopper Warbler on the same day was a patch tick for both of us.

My how the Boy Birder has grown - see how much here

The next good bird was a really unexpected surprise . . . I flushed a female Pheasant on The Scrub! It didn't look in very good condition but it hung around for about ten days giving Dad a chance to catch up with it too. Not a bird to get excited about normally but, being a first for the Patch, we were more than happy to see it.

We finally broke last year's Year List record when a Crossbill flew over on October 16th. According to the Glamorgan Bird Club Database, this was the fist record for the patch since the 1990s - before I was born! We were doing high-fives when we also found a Stonechat on the same day.

The final patch tick of the year (number 87) was a Goshawk which flew over distantly on 29th Oct. From there on, we were praying for cold weather to bring in more birds, bit it never came.

So what did we miss in 2011 that we saw in 2010? The really bad one was Tawny Owl. We went looking for one several times and we can't believe we didn't hear one calling. It was one bird we were sure we were going to get. The other species we dipped on from 2010 were Wigeon, Bittern, Lapwing, Brambling and Pied Flycatcher. But, I have to admit I was lucky to get Pied Fly the previous year.

New patch ticks for both of us in 2011: Lesser Whitethroat, Whinchat, Treep Pipit, Spotted Flycatcher, Grasshopper Warbler, Pheasant, Crossbill and Goshawk.

For me: Lesser Redpoll.

For Dad: Sedge Warbler and Stonechat.

Our new Complete Patch List Total now stands at: 96

And our predictions for the future? Well, Red Kite and Marsh Tit have both been reported from the Patch lately. A passage Wood Warbler or Cuckoo would be good, as well as wintering Woodcock, Jack Snipe and Firecrest. Dad wants a Yellow-browed, but the bird I want most of all is a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker.

We've already had two new patch ticks in 2012, but you'll have to wait until 2013 to find out what they are!!

"First weekend up at the caravan"

The caravan season started this weekend so Teresa and myself paid our first official visit although we travelled up to Llangors on Saturday and only stayed the one night,too much to sort out on arrival to travel on Friday.
My aim for today was to catch up with the long staying Great White Egret although my intended early start was thwarted with the lake shrouded in mist until about 9.30am.
I settled myself close to it's regular feeding area and the bird flew in after an hour's wait although it stationed itself behind a tree out of view for a lengthy period.
I wanted some good ground shots which proved difficult as I was facing into the sun and couldn't get around to the north side of the bird where there was little cover anyway without spooking it,I did manage a few reasonable record shots though.
Whilst watching the egret I noticed a pair of Treecreepers nest building in a crevice in a nearby tree and managed one nice shot that I was quite pleased with,I'll revisit them in the coming weeks.
I walked back through the fields to the Jeep and popped down to the lakeside for 15mins and whilst there were lots of people around a couple of male Reed Buntings feeding on the shore near the crannog took little notice and posed quite nicely for me.
Can't wait for the spring migrants to arrive although there were Ciffchaffs and Cetti's Warblers singing everywhere,hope the GWE sticks around as well as I'm determined to "nail it".

No LEO but..........

After the euphoria of Saturday and another glorious Grand Slam I decided to have a bit of a lay-in yesterday and then gave "Smudger" a call at 11.00am.Armed with our cameras and long lenses we sauntered on down to the Cardiff foreshore hoping we could refind the recently discovered Long-eared Owl but despite a good search of the area we failed to find the proverbial "needle in a haystack".
We moved on down to RGW where we saw at least 12 Short-eared Owls some of which were reasonably confiding and we both managed a few "keepers".
On our way down to the water treatment works we made a brief diversion down Mardy Lane where one of the local Little Owls made an appearance from the hole in the usual tree in the field.
We dipped on the Bonaparte's Gull (yet again !!) and after another fruitless look for the LEO late p.m we called it a day.

"Top bird and top new hide"

Teresa and myself paid a visit to Llangors on Sunday to check out the caravan before the season starts in a couple of weeks and I took the opportunity of trying to find and photograph the Great White Egret that's been kicking around the lake since last November.
I also wanted to have a look at the replacement hide officially opened by HRH Charlie a couple of weeks ago following it's construction over the winter.
I found the egret feeding in what remains of the winter flood in amongst the willow scrub near the southmost shooting hide but it quickly took to the air and I only managed a few initial flight shots,the bird came back down but in an inaccessible area out of sight.
I then walked around to the new hide for my first visit and I have to say I was mightily impressed,ok given the expense they have gone to in elevating it and constructing the huge access ramp they could have made the actual hide a bit bigger,having said that the views over the reed beds and the lake are impressive.
It's a massive improvement over the original hide and and the elevated views show just how extensive the reedbeds are on the southern side of the lake.
Although quite busy the only serious birdwatcher in the hide was Mark Waldron and it was nice to chat and to put a face to his name that I'm familier with from the Brecknock Birds website.
I saw the egret in flight from the hide land in the same area where I had seen it feeding earlier and made my way back around to the south-west corner where I refound it and managed a couple of record shots before it once again took flight to disappear over the trees out of sight.
I'm hoping the bird stays around for a while and I can catch up with it again and get some better shots,a fly-by fishing Osprey on passage in front of the hide would be nice as well,not too much to ask is it ?
P.S
Apologies for the quality of the pics of the hide,taken with my mobile.