Access and parking information for week ahead

Directions:
Leave the M4 at junction 28. Take the A4072 North (signposted Caerphilly/Risca). At the first roundabout take the 2nd exit (left/straight on) onto the A468 towards Caerphilly. After several hundred yards take the left at the mini-rounderbout. After approximately 1.5 km turn left onto Caerphilly Drive. Parking is described and shown in red on the map below. Please park sensibly with due deference to the local residents.

Note parking will NOT be available in the community centre during the week and do not park in either the 'Friendly Fox' or 'Rhiwderin Inn' pub car parks but feel free to stop in either for grub, etc.

If a volunteer is present on site please feel free to donate £1.00 to ensure continued access across all of the fields.

Whilst walking around the site, please respect locals privacy and be aware of horse-riders.

See map below (click on it for the full size version). Leave a comment or email gwentbirding(at)googlemail(dot)com if further info required.

Where to watch Yellowthroats in Rhiwderin

Not sure this is going to really be that helpful, but, for those twitching the bird this week when the number of birders on site might be rather low, the map below (click on it for the full-sized version) gives you a couple of pointers as to where to search. Personally, I'd start with the hashed central hedge and go from there. The bird can be very skulky, rarely gets more than a few feet off the deck and does move around a fair bit. On the plus side, at times, it will remain in an area for a while and calls a fair bit (a call that Mr. Dunne describes as 'tcheh', 'chhh' or 'tidge'). Good luck all.

"Kevin, where exactly did you leave the Yellowthroat?"

Done and done

Another, and last, shot from Thursday afternoon,...

Showed really well at times today. Still a little cracker.

PS. Dunno whether I misheard the original story but I am getting less confident about when this bird was first seen,... might have to start calling the finder 'Secret Squirrel' :))

Yellowthroat Sunday directions/parking/access arrangements

Directions:
Leave the M4 at junction 28. Take the A4072 North (signposted Caerphilly/Risca). At the first roundabout take the 2nd exit (left/straight on) onto the A468 towards Caerphilly. After several hundred yards take the left at the mini-rounderbout. After approximately 1.5 km bear either turn left onto Caerphilly Drive or continue for 250 m and turn right onto Pentre Tai Road. Parking areas for both options are described and shown in red on the map below. Please park sensibly with due deference to the local residents, parking in the community centre has been arranged from 07:00 (no charge). Do not park in either the 'Friendly Fox' or 'Rhiwderin Inn' pub car parks but feel free to stop in either for grub, etc.

There is a charge of £1.00 to ensure access across all of the fields in which the bird has been seen (there will be a bucket being rattled at the stile).

Follow on site directions for the bird. When walking around the site, please respect locals privacy and be aware there is a fair amount of horse-riding.

See map below (click on it for the full size version). Leave a comment or email gwentbirding(at)googlemail(dot)com if further info required.

YELLOWTHROAT GWENT!!!

Common Yellowthroat, Rhiwderin, Newport.

Directions:
Leave the M4 at junction 28. Take the A4072 North (signposted Caerphilly/Risca). At the first roundabout take the 2nd exit (left/straight on) onto the A468 towards Caerphilly. After several hundred yards take the left at the mini-rounderbout. After approximately 0.75 km bear left at the Ruperra Arms onto Pentre Porth Road then after circa 1.5 km turn right opposite the sign post for 'The Farmer's Daughter' restaurant.

Parking has been arranged from 07:00 (do not arrive before) in a field on the right at the top of the hill (approximately 0.5 km along the lane) immediately beyond the white bungalow and the derelict barn. Be aware that the approach to the parking field is a single track lane, drive carefully and considerately.

Please be careful driving into the field (some areas are muddy) and park sensibly/as advised. There is a charge of £3.00 for parking.

Follow on site directions for the bird. When walking around the site, please respect locals privacy and try not to piss anyone off, e.g. horse-riders, dog-walkers, etc. This is someone's local patch and they would like to be able to show their face on it in the future.

See map below (click on it for the full size version). Leave a comment or email gwentbirding(at)googlemail(dot)com if further info required.

Ooh, it's throat is quite yellow isn't it?

And a lovely black mask.

Same survey, different site

The final visit of the Great Gwentish Goosander Survey, or whatever it's called, took place this afternoon. A tactical substitution meant I side-stepped Ynys-y-Fro and headed to Llandegfedd. The change of venue instantly paid off in the form of a skittish Slavonian Grebe; found an hour or two earlier, it still appeared to be getting its bearings as it performed a large circuit of the reservoir before ending up back at the dam end. Whilst we clocked, what transpired to be, a disappointing number of Goosander the interest was maintained by other Llandegfedd megas including Iceland Gull (just one adult, although the gulls came in late so other birds may have been missed), Oystercatcher, Woodcock and a flyover Golden Plover.

You can see they are rare, I've taken awful photos of them,...

Mid reservoir Slav deciding on whether to roost with the larid.

One of three 'good' Llandegfedd waders noted this evening.

Penny Lane?

Today Pen-y-lan produced male Goshawk causing consternation amongst the corvids, a female Merlin doing the same to the smaller passerines, and an out of place Kingfisher. The latter briefly adorned roadside telegraph wires before skimming off due south, straight across the fields at the usual Alcedo altitude, all of four feet off the ground. As we were ringing we didn't cover much ground but still managed reasonable totals of the farmland species, minimum counts being: Stock Dove 30, Skylark 300, Chaffinch 150, Linnet 30, Yellowhammer 10, Reed Bunting 20.

Despite a huge input of time, effort and tears we only managed to catch a handful of Skylark,... emphasis on 'a' rather than 'handful',... i.e.,... one.

Too cold to rain,... almost

Have had a couple of days upstairs this week, not upstairs proper, but upstairs enough to be wandering around in a landscape of hoar frost, catty ice and all-round general frizzness. Very few birds of note: Woodcock, a couple of brave Stonechats and a handful of Snipe were about the sum of it.

It's not a tiny lorry, it's very far away

It was pretty quiet out there today, one or two Crossbills high overhead was about my lot.

If you click on the picture you will see a bridge,... and another bridge, and two pylons and a bit of land,... on both sides! And a teeny-tiny lorry.

Nippy out

A couple of chilly days out in the field. Nothing too exciting but still heaps of Yellowhammers in the South Gloucestershire hedgerows or, at least, heaps more than in the South Gwentshire hedgerows.

Don't see enough of these round here. Didn't see this one round here.