Water levels going up

An afternoon peering out of the hides at an increasingly soggy Goldcliff produced hardly anything of note.  The tide came in, produced precisely one summer-plumaged Knot, one Ringed Plover, two Curlew and two Dunlin, and then went out again.  Eight Whimbrel had flown east earlier and a fair few House Martin did their best to entertain, but it was, to all intents and purposes, a total waste of six and a half hours of my life that, unless someone gets off their arse and invents time travel, I shall never get back.

The moistest of Shelducks.

A flying visit to the forest

A midweek dusk and dawn in the New Forest.  Drumming Snipe, churring Nightjar, bubbling Curlew, yadda, yadda, yadda,...

The post-survey breakfast included homemade honey soaked toast.  With a slight lean to the right, I could see the bees from the breakfast table.

Dawn's misty crack

Weekend catch-up

Managed to carefully avoid the best bird of the weekend, Friday night's Temminck's Stint flitted in and out between my three visits to Goldcliff.  Did manage a few migrants, the weekend's combined totals including: Spoonbill, two Ruff, a fair few Whimbrel, two Yellow Wagtail, two or three Wheatear (one of which was a knackered bird, broken wing, claret on the belly; looked as though it had been got by a predator), Grey Plover, two Curlew Sandpiper and three Greenshank. 

Two of the re-introduced Cranes flopped over too.  FYI, when clocking the colour rings on these birds you are looking for three rings on each leg.  All UK birds should be ringed black-blue-black on the left, so it might be best to concentrate on the right leg initially, the rings on which should allow individual identification.  Apparently, birds wandering in South Wales recently have included: 'Tamsin', 'Chocolo', 'Lofty' and 'Gibble'.  If you're struggling to read the rings, perhaps just shout the names out and wait for the bird to turn its head,... bound to work.

That was the weekend that was

Calidrids at the point, there's a Sanderling in there,... there's also a pale-headed wintry Dunlin,... fill yer boots!

Compared to Saturday and Sunday, it transpired that Friday was a bad choice for a seawatch.  One each of Fulmar, Sanderling and Barwit, and a dose of Whimbrel stopped us from throwing ourselves into the drink but did little to increase the heart rate.  Nothing particularly noteworthy at the pools either, although, an hour or two counting newly hatched nippers and a potter round nest monitoring, did mean I'd gained muddy bins and a vague whiff of saline goo before I made it home.

Popped in on a breezy Ynys-y-fro on Sunday.  Bit of a hirundine/swiftfest,... and then it was home for a cuppa and homemade stodgy chocolate brownie-type things. 

International horrified hellish rage day

Started the day with a garden tick at 04:35; a Cuckoo, somewhere on the opposite side of the valley, its voice stirring the motionless air just enough to reach across the intervening gloom.

The International Dawn Chorus Day walk primarily produced 20 pairs of bleary eyes and, hopefully, 20 lightly massaged brains betwixt 20 pairs of birdsong soothed ears.  On the bird front, it turned up most of the usual haul (we somehow dipped Lesser Whitethroat) plus Grasshopper Warbler, Hobby and Marsh Harrier. 

Then it was off down Saltmarsh Lane where some ear-catching and slightly out of place 'chirrips' signalled the end of a long wait for Tree Sparrow within the boundaries of the reserve.  A bit of a patch mega and, given the tiny local breeding population isn't showing any signs of increasing, likely to remain so for the foreseeable.  There was very little else down the lane though so, before fatigue and rapidly falling blood-sugar levels took me down for the day, I headed for two cereal bars and Goldcliff.  Despite the fact that a Crane lumbered over westward, the two male Garganey were about the best of the pools.  A few years ago the Crane would have been worthy of red-letters and much celebratory swearing but is now, thanks to the 'The Great [sic] Crane PRoject', reduced to being written off as the semi-feral escape that it probably was.  Of course, due to the fact that this bird went over at no insignificant altitude, and photos failed to rule in or out the presence of colour rings, we will never know if we chucked away the second, albeit highly unlikely, patch mega of the day.  The true status of Crane in the UK is now utterly buggered due to our collective inability to capture the public's interest with naturally occurring wetland wildlife and, instead, opting for an ornithological distraction technique aimed at the lowest common denominator.  To paraphrase Frankie Boyle, it's the equivalent of some guy from the WWT, RSPB, or wherever going "Look at the big shiny shiny bird",... "No need to make the effort to appreciate what's already here",... "Look at the big shiny shiny bird."

Muppetry for muppets.  

Not the best songster in the world ever but they do play ball don't they.

PS.  Please note the title is, as I'm sure you know, a reference to a Kurt Donald Cobain quote about the dawn chorus and nothing to do with one's anti-pointless-reintroductions rant.  Boing.  Time for bed. 

All a little subdued

A bit of Blackbird on Water Rail action.

All a bit low key today.  Only Whimbrel and Wheatear were on the move at Uskmouth, although the immature male Marsh Harrier did do his best to brighten up the, otherwise overcast, Cetti's Warbler survey.  At Goldcliff, two Garganey, a Common Sandpiper and a few Swift high overhead were the highlights.  All manner of ickle babies are starting to appear though, taking on the cute baton from the rapidly-becoming-too-big-to-be-cute lambs.  Laaaavely.

No big birds with long legs

Popped to Ynys-y-fro this afternoon, thought I'd better scan the skies over Newport for a passing White Stork or escapee Common Crane,... nothing doing.  Breeding waterfowl, a few Whitethroat and a handful of hirundines were about the sum of it.  The only semi-notable was a male Mallard hybrid (possibly Mallard x Gadwall or 'Brewer's Duck'), the bird was accompanying a female Mallard and a brood of two small young. Mmmmm, backcrosses, potential future stars of many a Gwent Birding blogpost.  Watch this space.

Due to the lack of anything picture worthy at the reservoirs,... here's a woolly lawnmower from Saturday.  For those in need of a step-by-step guide to butchering the above, see here.

 

Predictably half-decent

Classic conditions for a half-decent arrival or two today; E to NE winds with the odd front, and associated precipitation, passing over.  As a result there was a good array of waders at Goldcliff, amongst the 18 species on show were: nine Ringed Plover, three Grey Plover, one Knot, one Sanderling, one Curlew Sandpiper, 237 Dunlin, one Ruff, 15 Black-tailed Godwit, 7 Bar-tailed Godwit, 12 Whimbrel, one Spotted Redshank (in almost full summer plumage [sooty jubbliness]) and one Greenshank.  Also three Dark-bellied Brent Geese on the pill, a lone lingering Wigeon, one Yellow Wagtail and two singing Reed Warbler.  I should have hung around longer, something better was bound to have dropped in, but homemade cake beckoned like nothing had beckoned before.

Having dipped the Garganey yesterday, popped back to Boat Lane/Redhouse and snuck that into the notepad too.

  Part of the calidrid flock, including the Curlew Sandpiper decked out in its most dull-diddly-dull-dull plumage.

Ladle and gentlespoon birds

A few hours over high tide at Goldcliff produced a couple of passes by the immature male Marsh Harrier, one Bar-tailed Godwit, seven Whimbrel heading up-channel, one Greenshank, 29 Black-headed Gull passing through, a steady trickle of Sand Martin and Swallow with a couple of House Martin mixed in, two Yellow Wagtail and a Lesser Whitethroat. Also a Sedge Warbler at Boat Lane but no sign of the Garganey.

Second calendar-year male Marsh Harrier(-type? [better add the old 'type' caveat in light of Blanc, Sternalski & Bretagnolle]).  Presumably yesterday's 'female' was also this long-staying bird and not a sly passage lady Marsh Harrier attempting to sneak by under the radar(?).
  

Whilst we're getting all 'sexy',... a lady Lapwing, identified as such by the brown feathers on the forehead and crown; shortish crest; significant amount of white feathering on the lower throat/upper breast; and the dark feathers on the breast, throat and head dull blackish with white feather admixed, not as deep and glossy as in males.  Other features not visible in this image include differences in wing shape and the white sub-terminal pattern on the outermost primary; and extent of glossiness on the mantle and scapulars.  More information on sexing Lapwing here and here.

Beyond the borders

This week, whilst on a series of potters around various parts of eastern and southern England, I saw/heard a few Egyptian Goose, two Greylag x Canada Goose hybrids, one Ring-necked Duck, a fair few Red-legged Partridge, one Red Kite, one Marsh Harrier, a few Little Ringed Plover, a fair few Common Tern, a fair few Cuckoo, one Tawny Owl, a surprisingly small number of Woodlark, lots of Lesser Whitethroat, a few Whitethroat, a fair few Dartford Warbler, one Grasshopper Warbler, five Nightingale, lots of Redstart, a few Wheatear, a few Yellow Wagtail, a few White Wagtail, one Crossbill and one Corn Bunting.

And,... back in Gwent,...

Two Dippers and a Tawny Mining Bee.

[sigh]