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 !!!

Iceland Trouble

No - nothing to do the economic problems currently facing our friends in the North. Worse than that. I've been to the Ogmore Estuary three time and I've dipped on the Icelanc Gull every time.

I had company yesterday - Jeff and the Twitchmeister. Iceland Gull would have been a lifer for the TM and he duly scoured the estuary for it. He tried really hard, scoping all the gulls but there was to be no repeat of his earlier success with the Glaucous Gull at the same site. But, as luck would have it, he still scored with a couple of lifers yesterday - a Water Pipit and Goshawk. The latter was having a really hard time from the local Ravens. This takes Gethin's UK life list up to 197 - a party has been promised when he gets to 200.

He's posted his list on BUBO so, if you can be bothered, you can scrutinise it. If you can be bothered you'll see he's got some cracking birds on the list as well as some hummdinging gaps which he hopes to fill during 2009.

Finally, I came across this publication yesterday which might be of interest to one or two members of Birders in Boxers.

Norfolk Lads' Weekend

On Fri 30th Jan Wayne and myself with honorary "Boxers" for the weekend Geri Thomas and Kevin Hughes "in tow" headed for that winter birding mecca Norfolk for a long weekend basing ourselves at the King's Arms in Blakeney.

After meeting up early in Cardiff we were on our way and after an "Olympic" breakast at a Little Thief off the A14 (we know how to live !) we were soon driving through the "flatlands" of Cambridgeshire.

First stop was just outside the village of Coveny where a Rough Legged Buzzard had been seen regularly for a few weeks previously.

This was a "lifer" for both myself and Wayne having never had the luck to connect with one on 7 previous trips to Norfolk.

We bumped into a local birder walking back to his car who gave us good directions having just seen the bird,we got to the given location and the bird flew out of a tree giving excellent flight views before it disappeared behind some trees at the end of a field.

It soon took flight again and again gave cracking views with it's white tail and black terminal band very prominent.

It landed in an old tree where it perched for several minutes and provided an excellent photographic opportunity had I not left my camera in the Jeep,Doh !!!

Not to worry a great start and a "lifer" in the the bag.

Next stop was to check out a main drainage ditch at nearby Pymoor where a pair of Great White Egrets had been recently seen,just as Wayne was saying "keep an eye out boys" the pair appeared out of a ditch alongside the road and although one disappeared from view the other settled in a nearby field giving great views.

Also in the ditch were a couple of Green Sandpipers,"piece of p...s this birdin' "

Next stop was Lakenheath just over the border in Suffolk where a Penduline Tit and a Great Grey Shrike had been "hanging out".

No sign of the GGS although it had been seen that day and disappointingly no news of the PT.

We scanned a main pool and a local birder got us on to a Caspian Gull that he had in his 'scope.

Although the tit hadn't been seen we decided to have a go for it and took the long walk out to the bullrush populated piece of reedbed where it had been spending it's stay.

No luck with the tit but we did get stonking flight views of 2 of the 4 Common Cranes which were on the reserve,no need to call into Stubb Mill for the crane roost then !!

The first day had passed so quickly and we were soon enjoying a good meal and a couple of pints of Wherry in the Kings Arms.

Next day (Sat 31st Jan) we decided to head west and then work our way back to Blakeney.

We called in at the famous Wolverton Triangle for Golden Pheasant but as is often the case the secretive buggars were not showing.Next stop was Hunstanton cliffs for a sea watch where several Velvet Scoters had been mixed in with the large Common Scoter flocks.We were soon on a number of Velvets as well as picking up Fulmars and a few Red Throated Divers. On then to Dersingham Bog where another Great Grey Shrike had taken up winter residence,Alan Rosney,Gareth Jenkins and Mike Wheeler were in Norfolk on the same weekend and as they were already at the bog and on the bird a quick phonecall soon had us joining them.

We quickly got on the shrike and I managed to "digi-scope" a couple of photos,no sign though of the Woodlark that had been seen that morning.

Next stop was Holme for Long Tailed Duck and from a sheltered position in the dunes out of the biting wind we were soon on to several togethor with some of the common wader species.

We checked the fields as we travelled for partridges which seem to be getting scarcer and I managed to "digi-scope" an obliging pair of Egyptian Geese much to the ridicule of my three companions.

We also called into Thornham which has been the most reliable site for Twite in recent years but sadly they are few and far between this year togethor with Shore Lark.

Our final stop was the RSPB reserve at Titchwell which although over-run on a Saturday is still a great place to visit and one of my favourite reserves.

The walk out along the main path to the beach gave us some good birds including Spotted Redshank and Ruff and a pair of Bearded Tits in the nearby reeds attracted much attention.

There were several groups of geese grazing on the marsh on the way out and a scan of the Brents gave us a Black Brant,there were also some quite near Black Tailed Godwits on the scrapes which looked fantatic in the sunlight.

At the beach we picked up a lot of the common waders such as Sanderling,Dunlin,Grey and Ringed Plovers and Turnstones and Wayne called a fly-by Great Skua which I failed to get on as I was too busy "digi-scoping" a very tame pair of Snow Bunting picking through the beach litter.

With dusk approaching we decided to see out the remainder of the day at Titchwell and picked up several Woodcock flying out of the woods onto the fields to feed.

Another dry day greeted us on Sunday (1st Feb) and after the obligatoty "Full English" we were soon at Cley watchting the juvenile Glaucous Gull in a blizzard,too bloody cold to hang around so after an unsuccessful scan of Arnold's Marsh for Water Pipit we headed inland to Leatheringsett in search of the continental Black-Bellied Dipper which has been spending the winter on the River Glaven.

No sooner had we arrived when another birder/photographer rushed up to the Jeep to announce that the bird had arrived in the last 20 seconds !!,luck or what ??

We all got good 'scope views and the bird duly obliged for a couple of not very good photos.

After a quick visit to Cley Spey a report of four Waxwings in Sainsburys car park had us scurrying for North Walsham south of Cromer,the blighters were nowhre to be seen so after a good search we headed for Cromer for another sea watch from a very cold and windy pier.

Lots of Razorbills,Gannets,Kittiwakes and both Red and Black Throated Divers wasn't a bad return and we decided to finish the day at Warham Greens with the harrier roost.

A number of Marsh Harriers passed through adding to the many we had seen already and finally a cracking male Hen Harrier and a "ring-tail" put in an appearance.

Too cold to hang about and with the light fading we moved on to thaw ourselves out in front of the roaring log fire in the Red Lion in Stiffkey with a pint of the best local brew.

Back to the King's Arms for the evening where Alan,Gareth and Mike who were staying at another B+B in the village joined us for a meal and a few pints as they had done on previous evenings.

Our final day (Mon 2nd Feb) was to be cut short by the threat of heavy snow,we woke to a covering of snow and headed west for Choseley Barns in the hope of maybe a Corn Bunting only to be greeted by a distinct lack of birds.

The side roads were getting clogged up with snow so sticking to the main roads we headed for Flitcham and Abbey Farm via Wolverton (again no Golden Pheasant - I've only seen one in 7 visits to Norfolk !!)

We finally connected with Grey Partridge after seeing several Red Legs and a large finch flock held several Brambling.

From the hide a Little Owl in a blizzard did a good impersenation of a Snowy Owl (we won't go there !!!...)

With the threat of heavy snow forecast for South Wales and not wishing to end up standed we headed for home.

A great weekend once again,great company (thanks to Alan,Gareth and Mike as well),good birding,good digs,some of the best beer in the country and a "lifer" thrown in,doesn't get much better.

Roll on May and a summer visit for Orioles and Monties !!