Blackpill : Waders

Had a little jaunt with Mrs S down to Mumbles yesterday evening and called in at Blackpill for the high tide, not many waders only a small group of Sanderling with a single Dunlin and a Ringed Plover, what there were though were in summer plumage, absolutely stunning, fish and chips at Dick Barton's after, awesome !!...............

Wood Warbler : Battle Hill Wood,Brecon

I spent a few hours on Sunday trying to capture a few images of Wood Warbler,the wood is a small area of deciduous mixed habitat on the fringe of a conifer plantation and only a 100m walk from the entrance gate and parking area.
There were at least three birds present and it was no easy task, but I was reasonably pleased with the some of the results.........

As I approached the entrance gate near the parking area on my retuern I came across three fledgling Robins being tended by the parents birds,how they manage to fly with such underdeveloped wings and lack of tail is a mystery......

Woodchat Shrike : Gileston

A magnificent male Woodchat Shrike was found late afternoon on Monday by local St Athan birder Rob Francis which I hoped would stick around yesterday and give me the chance of getting a few photographs.
The bird duly obliged and was seen and reported on and off all day and so after a quick change and pickup of my camera gear I made a mad dash for Gileston arriving at about 6.25pm.
As I got my gear out of the Jeep Wayne Strong was arriving back at his car and reported that the bird was still there and showing well,I also bumped into Mike and Emma Cram and son James who had also made a visit and were ready to leave.
As I walked across to the horse field which the bird was favoring I soon came across Alun Hughes and Graham Smith who were watching from outside the field.
The bird was showing really well and favoured a large bramble area in the middle of the field with occasional flights across to the fence and back.
Myself and Alun ventured into the field and I managed to get reasonably close and obtained a few shots that I was quite pleased with.............

As the evening sun lowered the light was getting really good but at 7.15pm the bird flew off strongly west away from the field and out of sight,it hasn't been seen at all today so I guess that I may have been the last birder to see it.
As I walked back to the car the area was alive with Stonechats,Linnets and Common Whitethroats and a splendid male Stonechat posed nicely for me.

This was the fourth Woodchat Shrike I've seen in the UK and all have been in Glamorgan,two in East and two in West,absolutely stunning little birds.

Spring roundup.......

A few images of the more common residents and migrants from the last couple of weekends.....

1. Robin : Llangynwyd
2. Wren : Llangynwyd
3.Barn Swallow : Llangynwyd
4. Grey Heron : Llangors Lake
5. Chiffchaff : Llangasty,Brecon
6. Willow Warbler : Llangasty,Brecon
7. Great Crested Grebes : Llangors Lake
8. Goldcrest : Llangasty Churchyard
9. Blackcap : Battle Hill,Brecon
10. Treecreeper : Battle Hill,Brecon
11. Northern Wheatear : Battle Hill,Brecon

Spring's arrived...........

Last Saturday saw Teresa and myself entertaining friends Neil and Gail up at the caravan with the lads enjoying a pleasant hike up to the top of Sugar Loaf (a mountain "tick" for me) followed by a thoroughly enjoyable evening at Theater Brycheiniog in Brecon being royally entertained by world famous mountaineer Andy Kirkpatrick who had recently returned from climbing "El Cap" in Yosemite National Park with Alex Jones of BBC's "The One Show" in aid of Sport Relief.
Sunday dawned a beautiful Spring day and I arranged to meet friend and fellow "togger" Steve Wilce up at Cantref Reservoir for a spot of Osprey passage watching,I've seen five different birds there in the last two years but we had no such luck on this occasion.
We decided to cut our losses at about 11.30am and moved on to Craig Cerrig Gleisiad in the hope of catching up with a newly arrived Ring Ouzel.
It was reasonably quiet and we made our way about halfway along the main track,we scanned the scrub and cliff area for about 10 mins and finally heard the distinct "clucking" call of a Ring Ouzel but try as we might we couldn't get on to it.
We decided to call it a day and after walking about 80m back towards the top gate we again heard the call but this time lower down and it appeared as if the bird had waited for us to move on before dropping down to the base of the cliff.
We swiftly moved back up to our original position and I picked up a male bird in the top of a hawthorn and as we approached it dropped down amongst the rocks out of sight allowing us to make a closer approach.

The bird seemed quite settled feeding in the area moving between ground feeding and the hawthorn trees without coming really close and I managed a few "record" shots.
We settled down out of the sun in the shade of the cliff and the bird eventually moved down closer and gave itself up for a few better shots which I was quite pleased with...............

I thought that I had heard another bird calling and the bird that I had photographed flew past us and perched up in a tree near the small stream where it remained for a minute before flying out with another male bird in tow disappearing over the grassy humps and out of sight !!
We hadn't seen the other bird at all but then again we had been concentrating on the bird in the photographs.
After a stop for a bacon roll in one of the laybys on the A470 we headed for Llangors Lake and after a fruitless scan for the two Great White Egrets from Llangasty we called it a day.
After a slow start the morning developed into a "real good un",here's hoping that the rest of Spring is equally productive.