Bittern by the bug !!

I must admit that I can't wait for the weekends to come around to get out with the camera and today after bumping into each other down at Kenfig last Sunday myself and fellow bird photographer Peter Morgan from Bridgend joined forces for a day out with the cameras.

We met up at Kenfig at first light on a mission to firstly photograph the Bitterns that have been putting on a good performance in the reed channels in front of the South pool hide.

We didn't have to wait for long as the first Bittern put in an appearance after about 10 minutes.

We watched and fired off shots until the first bird had disappeared into the reeds when from our left another bird arrived and started performing equally well on the iced over water.

As the second bird stolled up the middle channel it was met with the first bird coming out of the reeds and a bit of a spat occurred with one of the birds not fancying the aggro and flying off !!

Not long after the second bird flew off and within a short time yet another bird popped out of the reedbed to give superb views,unfortunately the weather wasn't performing as well as the Bitterns and with plenty of cloud cover the light was poor to say the least.

The third bird disappeared and the action quietenned down considerably and so we decided to push on and head for Monknash to see if we could relocate and photograph the Glossy Ibis.

We dropped off Peter's car in Bridgend and called in on the way to Ogmore By Sea only to find a high tide and not an awful lot of interest,we called in to a couple of locations hoping for Little Owl but were out of luck.

Next stop was Dunraven where we hoped we may come across a Black Redstart but the only bird of note was an obliging Kestrel perched on a fence post at the side of the road down to the car park.

We pushed on to Monknash and bumped into Paul Denning who confirmed he hadn't come across the Ibis,we soon found the stream it had been feeding in and walked the length of three fields but to no avail.

We came across a Green Sandpiper,Water Rail,a fly over Little Egret and a couple of Grey Wagtails plus a selection of the more common birds.

We bumped into another birder who had walked the entire length of the stream as far as the beach and he confirmed that the Ibis was no longer around.

We moved on to have a look for possible Black Redstart and Snow Bunting at Nash Point but a pleasant walk over past the lighthouse and back failed to locate either species.

With the light starting to fade we made a fruitless visit to the rocks adjacent the car park at Ogmore in the hope of Purple Sandpiper but both they and the usual Turnstones had by the look of it popped over to feed on Tusker Rocks.

A final call in to Portobello Island gave good views of plenty of Teal,lots of gulls,a Goosander and a nice group of twenty or so Goldeneye on the river.

With the light fading we called it a day and after dropping Peter off at his home in Bridgend I "headed for the hills",we had both enjoyed a good day out,it could have turned out better if the Ibis had still been around as well as our other target birds,with the benefit of hindsight we may have been better off going for the now large number of Waxwings in and around Cardiff,but that's birding for you !!

It's cold out there.......!!

With Dan working this a.m and both Wayne and Kev struggling to get out of their iced up streets in the Rhondda I went it alone (again !!) and headed first thing for the Heath area of Cardiff where a flock of two dozen plus Waxwings had been seen yesterday.

There haven't been the vast numbers (yet !!) that were seen in 2004/2005 but they are steadily inceasing as the invasion spreads south and west and my mission this weekend was to try and photograph these very photogenic and approachable birds.

I found my way to St Ina Road in the Heath area of Cardiff and pulled up at the same time as an arriving John Wilson.

We were soon joined by Gary Welsby and Maurice Chown and whilst we did a circuit of the neighbouring streets Phil Bristow joined us.

At the end of St Isan Road a male Sparrowhawk perched obligingly on a chimney scanning the area for prey and I managed a half decent shot.

As we walked on Mike Powell arrived and informed us that Phil had seen a few Waxwings fly over into St Dennis Road which we quickly found,the birds were perching in a Eucalyptus tree in the rear garden of a house in St Isan Road and we soon discovered that the birds were visiting a white berried Rowan Tree in the front garden of 13,St Isan Road.

Although the tree was on the shady side of the street so the light wasn't brilliant the birds offered themselves up for some reasonable record images.

The light wasn't going to improve and following a phone call from Richard Smith who had managed to get some "crippling" images of Bittern at Kenfig Pool I decided to give the Lesser Scaup at Cardiff Bay a miss and head west for Kenfig.

I arrived at the south pool hide at about 1.15pm to be greeted by both Richard and Peter Morgan and within minutes a flyover Bittern appeared,unfortunately I was still setting up my gear and missed it.

Shortly after a different Bittern appeared in one of the frozen channels and walked gingerly across the ice from one patch of reed to another allowing a somewhat distant and heavily cropped record shot.

After a little flurry of activity things quietenned down for an hour or so until another Bittern made a flyover and this time I managed to get on to the bird for a couple of reasonable record shots.

Unfortunately the bird was flying away instead of coming towards the hide !!

The three of us then decided as the light was fading we would finish the day by having a look over in the dunes for a Short-Eared Owl but on this occasion we were out of luck.

With the sun setting and the temperature starting to fall even further we decided to call it a day and head for home.

I'd thoroughly enjoyed my day out,I'd got some reasonable pics of Waxwings and a few record shots of Bittern which I would like another go at, if the weather stays cold I may make another visit next weekend.

Glossy Ibis at Dunraven.

Couldn't get there yesterday when it was found by Paul Roberts but managed to call in mid-morning today to find the bird feeding well in the small stream to the right hand side of the road.

Crackin' bird and my first in Glamorgan after seeing others at Topsham several years ago,Burry Port in 2009 and on the Severn Estuary in 2007 (can't remember the name of the place but it was a tad colder today than it was then !!)

Nice to bump into Cliff Woodhead,Glyn Roberts,John Wilson and Colin Gittins as well.

Ducks and more ducks

An early morning text from Mark Hipkin alerted me to a male Mandarin Duck on the small lake at Margam Park and a female Common Scoter on Eglwys Nunydd reservoir and as I'd already decided to take a stroll up on to Mynydd Margam to have a look for a wintering Great Grey Shrike I thought that I would call in and try and photograph the ducks on my way home.

I called in at my daughter's and picked up "Harry" her King Charles Cavalier spaniel who I knew would enjoy the walk and soon we were both up on Mynydd Margam looking across the vast vista towards Bridgend and Porthcawl with Kenfig Pool in the distance.

There were plenty of Goldcrests,Siskins,a few Lesser Redpoll and good numbers of the more common birds on the walk up and on the summit with a couple of parties of Common Crossbill also flying over.

Alas the felled area which has hosted a GG Shrike in recent years is now covered with 3-4m high conifers and despite a good search there was not a shrike to be found.

There are several new felled areas on the mountain which may be more appealing to a GG Shrike so a bit of legwork is going to be the order of the day on my next visit.

I made my way back down to Hafod Farm and then on to Margam Park where the male Mandarin certainly brightened up an otherwise gloomy day and although favouring the far side of the lake I managed to get a few shots.

I next popped across to Eglwys Nunydd and bumped into George Morgan who confirmed that he had been unable to find the Common Scoter and after reading some later postings on the GBC sightings page it sounded like it had relocated to Kenfig Pool.

I had a scan but also was unable to find the bird and with wildfowl numbers building steadily for the winter I soon picked up the flock of two dozen plus Goldeneye which although remaining a little distant were easy to photograph in the still conditions. I headed for home mid afternoon cutting up over Mynydd Ty Talwyn and Llangynwyd where winter thrushes seemed to be everywhere including good numbers of Fieldfare and Redwing feeding on the glut of hawthorn berries and just got home in time to watch the Blues get hammered by Ulster,yet another depressing game after the debacle of Friday night !! What I was really hoping for this weekend was brilliant sunshine and an influx of photogenic Waxwings into Glamorgan,not to be I'm afraid,but then there's always next weekend.................

Lost

Where's Wally?