Biker grove?

Hmmm, I wonder what these pictures mean? Let's take the bottom one, OK, it seems to be a graphical representation of a bicycle with a thick red line superimposed on it. Now, given generally accepted international standards in signage practice, I'm thinking the red line might suggest negativity with regard to the bicycle. If I just had to have a wild stab in the dark, I'd guess the message is something like "No bicycles" or "No riding of bicycles". Like I say, it's just a stab in the dark...

... it meant f*ck all to this fat twat mind.

Tonnes of Swallows going east or northeast over Saltmarsh/Farmfield this afternoon/evening; a Hobby had also noticed. In the hedgerows, half a dozen wobbler species and a Spotted Flycatcher kept things ticking over but the only other, even half-decent, species were Wheatear and Yellow Wagtail.

I believe the word is 'puerile'

No ibises,... yet

Shunned the Pembrey ibises, ambled down Saltmarsh and Farmfield Lanes, had a few Mipits going west and saw one or two Tree Pipits,... and that was about it. Lunchtime at Goldcliff Pools produced one juv Curlew Sandpiper, one Spotted Redshank and three Greenshanks (1 adult, 2 juvs) but, despite much positive thinking, no ibises.

I wonder if this sheep (one of Goldcliff's finest, I'm sure you'll agree) will gaze on a Glossy Ibis within the next day or two?

Not great but not bad

Thought today might produce a stonking seawatch off Pendeen, unfortunately, it just proved pretty good, not complaining though. Rough totals of the more noteworthy species included: 9 Sooty, 45 Balearic and shed loads of Manx Shearwaters, 3-4 Sabine's Gulls, 10 Grey Phalarope, 1 Pomarine and plenty of Arctic and Great Skuas, 1 Puffin, 1 Ocean Sunfish and 2 Basking Sharks. Slightly better than the average vigil at Goldcliff Point, but no mega. Did dream up a new way of avoiding the slightly awkward moment when it comes to departing a well-attended seawatch - leap to your feet, clutch all your stuff to your chest and scream "I've gawt blisters on me eye-balls!" before legging it to the car whilst imitating the gait of a Sanderling on a hot tin roof. Absolutely guaranteed to negate the need to go through the usual pleasantries of saying good-bye, and offering repeated apologies, as you step across in front of people's scopes.

As we were passing, it seemed churlish (bordering on the rude) not to drop in on the Baird's Sandpiper at Marazion. It had, apparently, been showing down to a few metres but, by the time we arrrived, it was getting regularly disturbed by the usual trickle of oblivious non-birders pottering along the shoreline in search of something to do with their, otherwise vacuous, lives.

As per the Baird's, we also thought we had better pay our collective respects to the Wilson's Phalarope at Exminster Marshes, a brief stop produced the bird and some excellent loosely-associated bovine action,... sweet.

Shelduck epic

More shelduck fun in the offing. Thanks to Keith Noble in Breconshire, the story rumbles on; Keith sent through a few photos of two birds that were seen at Brechfa Pool and Llangorse Lake in late April and June. Are these the recent Gwent birds?

The bird on the left appears to be a female Cape Shelduck although, my barely controllable hybrid inspired paranoia, does make me worry about one or two features, e.g. the hint of a pale collar. The bird on the right I do wonder about, it looks mostly Australian, however, I can't find any other photos of Australians with pale undertail coverts, whether this is due to immaturity (which might explain the general dullness and lack of collar), or hybridisation, or a combination of factors, I'm not 100% sure but I can't help erring towards hybrid.

I do wonder whether the female might be mostly Cape with a touch of Australian; and the male mostly Australian with a slightly heavier touch of Cape. Could Paradise be involved as well? Or has my paranoia just got the better of me? All comments gratefully received, especially from those who; a. are sat next to HBW volume 1; or b. saw the hybrid pair (and their offspring) that used to breed at QEII Res, Surrey (one bird was a Cape and the other was a hybrid, either Cape x Paradise, or Australian x Paradise); or c. are lucky enough to wander round WWT centres on a regular basis.

Just to add another layer of intrigue, if you go to Birdguides then 'pictures' then select 'Shelduck, Cape' from the species search menu (of which there are 19 piccies) look at the two pictures of three birds taken at Wyver Lane DWT, Derbyshire on 20th August last year. Despite the differences in colour production, that male looks rather odd and slightly familiar. Anyhoo, I'm off to lay down in a darkened room.

All photos supplied by Keith Noble.

PS. Promise this is the last of it - for a possible hybrid Cape x Ruddy click here,... wibble.

Birds/music interface

Blundered onto this forthcoming wireless programme this evening (it's on Radio 4 therefore it is 'wireless' not 'radio'). Why is it that, despite being a combination of two of my favoured interests, I still have doubts over the resulting hybrid? Were they really looking for Montezuma Quail in Shetland? And did Hugh Harrop help them find it? Answers on Saturday presumably!?

PS. Thinking of hybrids, if you are looking for Shelduck hybrid pics click here.

Icelandic godwit

Got the life history through on one of the colour-ringed godwits during the week (bottom right in the photo), it would appear to have migrated a little further south this autumn.

14.07.06 off Road 815 Oxnholl, Horgardalur, Northern Iceland (ringed as an unfledged chick)
16.05.07 Marshside, Southport, Merseyside, NW England
22.05.07 Marshside, Southport, Merseyside, NW England
19.07.07 Marshside, Southport, Merseyside, NW England
04.01.08 Thurstaston Shore, Dee Estuary, Cheshire, NW England
12.01.08 Thurstaston Shore, Dee Estuary, Cheshire, NW England
18.02.08 Heswall Shore, Dee Estuary, Cheshire, NW England
20.02.08 Heswall Shore, Dee Estuary, Cheshire, NW England
07.04.08 Mythop Main Dyke Flood, Fylde, Lancashire, England
27.12.08 Thurstaston Shore, Dee Estuary, Cheshire, NW England
28.12.08 Thurstaston Shore, Dee Estuary, Cheshire, NW England
30.12.08 Thurstaston Shore, Dee Estuary, Cheshire, NW England
03.01.09 Thurstaston Shore, Dee Estuary, Cheshire, NW England
05.01.09 Thurstaston Shore, Dee Estuary, Cheshire, NW England
06.01.09 Thurstaston Shore, Dee Estuary, Cheshire, NW England
17.01.09 Marshside, Southport, Merseyside, NW England
25.07.09 Goldcliff Pools, Newport Wetland Reserve, Gwent, S Wales
31.07.09 Goldcliff Pools and foreshore, Newport Wetland Reserve, Gwent, S Wales
09.08.09 Goldcliff Pools, Newport Wetland Reserve, Gwent, S Wales
14.08.09 Goldcliff Pools, Newport Wetland Reserve, Gwent, S Wales
24.08.09 St. Brides, Gwent, S. Wales

With thanks to Tómas Grétar Gunnarsson for the info.

Poo

Today was shite, Goldcliff Point was shite, Goldcliff Pools was shite (even the grotty Garganey was shite) and Uskmouth was very moist,... and shite.

I'd like to think my positive attitude is an inspiration to you all.

All good, some of it grrrr-eat!

All told, I had a pretty good day today. Started off pre-dawn taking an impromptu shower in a soggy reedbed but, from then on, it was all good. To kick things off, Yellow Wagtail, Gropper and Bearded Tit punctuated the acro haul, two of which looked like this...


Overhead, more Yellow Wags and Tree Pipits trickled westwards (along with an adventurous looking Great Spotted Woodpecker at one point) but, by mid-morning, it was all slowing down a bit so it was time to go shopping. "Shopping!?" Yes, dear reader, shopping. But wait, fear not, this was not aimlessly shoving a trolley around Sainsbury's whilst hoping the girl at the till will be better looking than the fat, monosyllabic, salad crusher you got last time; no, nor the "£100 for a pair of jeans?! That's robbery mate!" type shopping; no, no, this was the Indiana Jonesesque quest for priceless relics of ornithological yore. Did I come away with the Grail, near enough - a flipping excellent four volume set of Bannerman's 'Birds of the Atlantic Islands', allow your eyes to feast...

PS. The gnarly old hands above are not mine, to see my lovely young, sylph-like, 'never-done-a-hard-day's-work-in-their-lives', prehensile, multi-fingered body parts click here.

The petrel pup

Lunchtime's seawatch descended into farce, can't see me taking Jack up Goldcliff Point again. First off, we had to sit up on top by the anchor (I said anchor) as I didn't think the little fella would take to tip-toeing along the sea-wall; then it was nigh impossible to get him to sit still and concentrate; and finally, it turns out he's the biggest stringer since Nambu, Nielsen and Susskind. Every Lesser Black-back was announced as "Skua!" or "Large shearwater!"; the final straw came in the form of, what will probably become known as, 'The Pagodroma incident'. As four of the white doves from the farm circled the point Jack shouts "SNOW PETREL!", grabs my phone and starts ringing out the news, it was the devil's own job to wrestle it off him and, during the melee he nicked my hat and legged it, laughing hysterically. I know he's only two, and I'm sure he'll learn that you can't go ringing out duff gen on somebody else's mobile (especially to RBA, I mean Birdguides will report anything but it would never have got on the pagers anyway), but enough was enough and I decided a walk up to Porton House and back might be less trying. Nothing too exciting leapt out in front of us but we managed 2 Knot, 1 Common Sandpiper, 20 Ringed Plover, 1 Whimbrel, 2 Rock Pipit and a few Wheatear.

Jack, immediately post-Pagodroma,... no Jack, you can't come ringing tomorrow.

NB. Please note, the furry fiend was on a lead throughout and his poo was lovingly collected and binned,... it's a right bugger getting it out from under your fingernails mind, I suppose it does keep your fingers warm though,... whaddya mean you put your hand inside the bag?

PS. Jack says they were 'Lessers' by the way,... stringy git.