Withering before the blast

A finger-numbing morning in an easterly on the eastern levels.  Checked out the Lapwing flock on Caldicot Moor, nearly 600 birds but not a single Golden Plover (or anything more interesting) among them; did bump into a couple of Red-legged Partridge though.  Decided on more wader fun in the form of a Jack Snipe foray.  A quick potter on the saltmarsh between Collister Pill and West Pill produced three Jack Snipe and 30 Snipe.  The dense cord-grass along this stretch doesn't make for crippling views on the deck but got decent enough looks of all three of the stripey ickle sweeties in flight. 

Red-flanked Bluetail

Finally caught up with the bluetail, only took the five visits.  Not easy to dig out but, once it appeared, it showed down to about five yards, albeit briefly, just beyond the point where the stream goes through the plastic pipes and under the path.  Luckily, it popped up in a reasonably sunny spot so half-decent views were had by one and all (well, all two and a half of us). 

Bettws Bittern

Breakfast, Bettwsbound, Bettws, bagged Bittern, back.

Not the best,... but not the worst views of Bittern. Also Kingfisher(s) knocking about.

Was today International Shite Day?

"… I folded away the letter and put it in my inside pocket 

All of a sudden I felt brushed by the wings of something dark 

May the Lord have mercy on Stringy Bob …"

Come friendly fog and fall on Gwent!

Apart from the moan of fog horn and rifle crack of dew-soaked electric fence it was predictably quiet at Goldcliff.  A few waders drifted in and out of the murk but nothing to write home about (13 Turnstone being the most notable); no disoriented seabird or grounded migrant appeared.  Two silver linings, had the place to myself and I got to play 'possibles and probables' with more or less everything (animate and inanimate) between about 40 and 60 yards away.  Beyond that it may as well have not existed, it may not have existed, everything within the mist may have been a writhing mass of transmogrification only taking solid form on looming into view,... who knows?     
 

 The vista from the third viewing platform was somewhat truncated.

It got a little better but never achieved 'crystal clear'.

Azores 2016

Not a vintage year.  Two largely fruitless weeks under the Azores high with further frustrations care of Brexit idiocy inspired currency devaluation and the small matter of there being a Sibefest in northwest Europe.  No world ticks, one WP tick (Northern Flicker, gripbacktastic), five Azores ticks and only one decent find.  Here's a quick species list and a few pictures. Species marked with an asterisk relate to putative/possible records of almost certainly unacceptable birds listed purely to jog the memory at some distant point in the future. 

Brent Goose Branta bernicla hrota, Wigeon Anas penelope, American Wigeon Anas americana, Teal Anas crecca, Green-winged Teal Anas carolinensis, Mallard x Black Duck Anas platyrhynchos x rubripes, Pintail Anas acuta, Shoveler Anas clypeata, Ring-necked Duck Aythya collaris, Tufted Duck Aythya fuligula, Long-tailed Duck Clangula hyemalis, Fea's Petrel Pterodroma feae, Cory's Shearwater Calonectris borealis, Cattle Egret Bubulcus ibis, Little Egret Egretta garzetta, Grey Heron Ardea cinerea, Buzzard Buteo buteo rothschildi, Moorhen Gallinula chloropus, Coot Fulica atra, Ringed Plover Charadrius hiaticula, Semipalmated Plover Charadrius semipalmatus, Kentish Plover Charadrius alexandrinus, Dotterel Charadrius morinellus, Pacific Golden Plover Pluvialis fulva, American Golden Plover Pluvialis dominica, Grey Plover Pluvialis squatarola, Sanderling Calidris alba, Semipalmated Sandpiper Calidris pusilla, Little Stint Calidris minuta, White-rumped Sandpiper Calidris fuscicollis, Pectoral Sandpiper Calidris melanotos, Curlew Sandpiper Calidris ferruginea, Ruff Philomachus pugnax, Snipe Gallinago gallinago, Short-billed Dowitcher Limnodromus griseus, Woodcock Scolopax rusticola, Black-tailed Godwit Limosa limosa, Bar-tailed Godwit Limosa lapponica, Whimbrel Numenius phaeopus, Upland Sandpiper Bartramia longicauda, Redshank Tringa totanus, Greenshank Tringa nebularia, Lesser Yellowlegs Tringa flavipes, Ruddy Turnstone Arenaria interpres, Wilson's Phalarope Phalaropus tricolor, Black-headed Gull Larus ridibundus, Lesser Black-backed Gull Larus fuscus, 'Azores Gull' Larus michahellis atlantis, Yellow-legged Gull Larus michahellis michahellis*, Sandwich Tern Sterna sandvicensis, Cabot's Tern Sterna acuflavida*, Common Tern Sterna hirundo, Feral Dove Columba livia, Woodpigeon Columba palumbus azorica, Collared Dove Streptopelia decaocto, Yellow-billed Cuckoo Coccyzus americanus, Long-eared Owl Asio otus, Northern Flicker Colaptes auratus, Grey Wagtail Motacilla cinerea patriciae, Robin Erithacus rubecula, Blackbird Turdus merula azorensis, Blackcap Sylvia atricapilla gularis, Goldcrest Regulus regulus azoricus and R. r. inermis, Starling Sturnus vulgaris granti, House Sparrow Passer domesticus, Common Waxbill Estrilda astrild, Philadelphia Vireo Vireo philadelphicus, Red-eyed Vireo Vireo olivaceus, Chaffinch Fringilla coelebs moreletti, Atlantic Canary Serinus canaria, Greenfinch Carduelis chloris aurantiiventris, Goldfinch Carduelis carduelis parva, Common Yellowthroat Geothlypis trichas and Scarlet Tanager Piranga olivacea.

Blue Shark Prionace glauca (dead), Sperm Whale Physeter macrocephalus and Azores Noctule Nyctalus azoreum.

Semipalmated Sandpiper foraging on and adjacent to the track near the seismic station, Corvo, seen to catch and consume various invertebrates including several Tipulidae larvae.

Hummingbird Hawkmoth feeding on dahlia in garden adjacent to the supermarket, Corvo. Yes, I did want something from the shop. Yes, it was a Cornetto.

Dotterel feeding on one of the low hills southwest of the lakes within the caldera, Corvo.

American Golden Plover foraging on the flower (mostly Taraxacum officinale agg.) bedecked slopes below the reservoirs, Corvo.

Pacific Golden Plover loafing in the post-industrial martian landscape of the Cabo da Praia quarry, Terceira. Self-found (actually re-identified, the bird had been reported as European Golden Plover for two days) and the second record for the Azores, I found the first one too. Get me.

 

Long-tailed Duck on the new pond at Paul da Praia, Terceira. 

The great white goose hunt

The High Cross puddles producing the goods as usual; one day, once I've robbed enough banks/post offices or won the lottery, I'll buy that house and have Ynys-y-fro as my garden pond.  I'll be able to see nothing of note from the kitchen window every single day.

Pre-Inquiry Meeting for the M4 corridor around Newport

 Grass Vetchling Lathyrus nissolia, Gwent Levels.

For those that are interested but have yet to receive (or may not receive) letters outlining the details,…

The pre-inquiry meeting for the M4 corridor around Newport/‘New M4’/‘Black Route’ is being held next week at 1 pm on Monday 18th July 2016 (and, if necessary, the following day from 10 am) at the Lysaght Institute, Orb Drive, Corporation Road, Newport NP19 0RA.

The purpose of the pre-inquiry meeting is “to consider what may be done to secure that the forthcoming inquiry is conducted efficiently and expeditiously and to help participants prepare for their appearance at the inquiry.”

This will involve information being presented, and discussions on, various topics regarding the inquiry including:

• the scope of the forthcoming inquiry;
• the draft scheme and orders and environmental documentation;
• the statutory tests applying to the consideration of the case;
• the alternatives to the published scheme;
• the participants;
• details of normal procedures;
• presentation of evidence; and
• the venue, facilities and times and dates.

I’m not saying it’ll be a bundle of laughs but it might be worth attending. 

PS. The Welsh Government is working towards a start date for the Inquiry at some point during autumn 2016.

Latticed Heath Chiasmia clathrata, Gwent Levels.

The insanity reaches Cardiff

The insanity which is currently swilling about the country has washed up in Cardiff.  Today the Welsh Assembly announced that the Chair of the Climate Change, Environment and Rural Affairs Committee had been handed to UKIP.  UKIP, the only party in the Assembly who deny the existence of climate change.

I would like to ask you to email the Presiding Officer and Deputy Presiding Officer to express your feelings on this matter.  Disbelief?  Anger?  Disgust?

It is easily done.  But must be done ASAP.  The election of the chairs occurs tomorrow.

The Presiding Officer (Elin Jones) can be emailed at private.office@assembly.wales and the Deputy Presiding Officer at Ann.Jones@assembly.wales

Here is the text I have sent, feel free to cut and paste as much or as little as you need.

"Dear [Deputy] Presiding Officer,

I am writing to express my disbelief and disgust at the decision to allocate UKIP the Chair of the Climate Change, Environment and Rural Affairs Committee.  



The UKIP local manifesto, amongst the usual lies about the costs of the EU and fantasy narrative of regaining control of immigration, included two direct references to measures to reduce the impacts of climate change: “We oppose […] wind farms” and, in a list to ’save money’, the promised to “End wasteful EU and UK subsidies to ‘renewable energy scams’, such as wind turbines and solar farms”.

Both the above give no indication that UKIP Welsh Assembly members do anything but tow the party line on climate change, i.e. they deny it’s very existence.

Climate change is a clear and present danger to people the world over.  Thousands of people die every year due to climate change.  Climate change drives conflict and the mass movements of people.  Climate change is a threat to all of our children.  It is not a joke.  It is not unimportant.  There is every possibility UKIP will attempt to delay policy and the making of decisions in this area, as a result, people will die.

What the hell are you doing placing the climate change denying, amateur clowns of UKIP at the head of the Climate Change, Environment and Rural Affairs Committee?  Is this the result of gross ignorance or gross negligence?  Why put the UKIP extremists, the only party to deny the existence of climate change, in this position?

This is an insane decision which appears to suggest the Welsh Assembly care nothing for our environment or the future generations of Wales.  I urge you to investigate how this decision came about and to reverse it.

Yours,..."

Thanks in advance. 
Me.

Lammergeier, Sudbrook, Gwent

Lammergeier at Sudbrook, Gwent on Thursday 12th May.  Seen to fly east, then circle and head west.  Possibly/probably the bird seen in Belgium on 9th May.  No obvious signs of bleached flight feathers (as per at least some reintroduced birds), colour marks, etc.  Video via Andrew Mason.

A larger, better quality and, hopefully, universally viewable version of the above video is now available on Vimeo here.