Blackcap

Ah! having reported a female blackcap in my garden yesterday I now have to say that one of the local cats has killed it. A tearful owner contacted me to say that her cat had brought home a bird with a ring on it's leg a did I want it. It was a British ring and I have forwarded the details to the BTO and await their reply. Thats five dead birds due to cats in the last 8 days. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Ysgol y Dderi

I think I mentioned recently that the school has been attracting a lot of Siskins and other birds to their feeders. Well now it seems they've embarked on a more ambitious feeding programme. I was at the school today with a few other people working on the school/village community garden. We noticed a magnificent Heron fly low over us. First one way. Then a while later back in the opposite direction. And back and forth again and again. Turns out that Mr Rogers, the kindly caretaker, has just renovated and restocked the school pond with cute little goldfish this very morning. Shall I tell him or will you?

FIRECREST

Len Kersley tells me that a Firecrest was foraging in an apple tree in his Aberystwyth garden yesterday lunchtime!

Frogspawn, submerged forest and the Leri

We have frogspawn in our pond today (Sat 27th) too (near Llanrhystud), plus 10 mating frogs.

On a different topic, we went to look at the submerged forest at Borth at low tide today and noticed that there were a large number of dead and sluggish crabs (both edible and masked) on the sand and in the pools around the tree stumps, plus a number of small dead fish (mostly flatfish) washed up near the stumps. Also quite a few shellfish, shells open but still with the contents intact, in the pools. They only seemed to be present on the stretch of beach near the forest, so is this phenomenon somehow associated with the submerged forest, or with the very low tide? If anyone can suggest an answer I would be interested to know more.

One Little egret and one curlew on the Borth side of the railway bridge at the Leri, no scaup though. A peregrine seen over the fields between the Leri and Ynyslas, plus about 60 curlew.

We also found a ladies wristwatch on a footpath between the boatyard and the Ynyslas road, so if anyone has lost it, please get in touch.

Aline Denton

frogspawn or not

In one of our ponds a dead frog is being consumed by caddis fly larvae(I think). We didn't realise until too late that you have to keep the surface free of snow so that photosynthesis can take place and oxygenate the water.

TANYBWLCH

This morning Kevin McGee saw a Red-throated Diver, close in off the beach and coming into breeding plumage. Also, 3m and 3f Goosander on the Ysytwyth and the lone Redshank which has been present there for some while.

LONE WHOOPER SWAN

A Whooper Swan was on Pond Llywernog, next to Nant yr Arian, this morning.

Spring

Along with all the usual birds in our garden yesterday pm was a female Blackcap. No sign of any spawn though.

Beached Bird Survey

This week-end is the annual survey of dead or dying birds found along the shore-line of the U.K.
I did the Aberaeron to Aberarth section today and thankfully found only the fox eaten remains of a farmyard goose and a BHG tho' I'm mindful that the winds recently have mostly been off-shore. I did note 8 dogfish which were about 3' long, the sad result of fishing activities.
I don't know what Elfyn was on about; the new beaches between the very expensive groynes have quickly taken on the appearance of a typical British beach: plastic, tins and assorted man-made debris were there in abundance!
To be fair there were 4 dunlin and a couple of oystercatchers on the new beach and the new groynes have already got weed and been battered by the waves chucking that expensive new stone around. Anyone know which wood has been used? It's a very pretty pink! I thought I saw parrot claw marks on some bits.....

Signs of spring

Most of the regular garden birds - blue tits, chaffinches etc are starting to show signs of spring fever; the first real harbinger of spring - frog spawn in the garden pond,- appeared overnight - 11 days later than last year. Has anyone else seen any yet?

Yesterday's trip

Just to let you know what you missed by not joining us for our trip -
These pictures of Snow Buntings were taken by John Davis at Kinmel yesterday.

Merlin at Ynyslas

I scanned the sea for a few minutes from the turn car-park Ynyslas this morning. It was quite choppy, all I managed to spot were 4 Common Scoter off shore and 6 Ringed Plover on. Closer to Aberleri I had prolonged views of a perched Merlin and saw 5 Sanderling scuttling about by the water's edge. c100 Curlew in the salt grass and lots of birds far off in the distance, too far off!

A Request for Information...........

My name is Sally Snow and I work for Aden Productions, a small independent television company in Cardiff. We are currently producing two programmes for the BBC both of which are presented by Iolo Williams. In fact you guys may have noticed us around-following leads on Tarka and the like. I know a few members of the forum have spotted us about!

The reason I am emailing is because I wondered if you might be able to post a request on the forum asking for any mute swan nesting activity as this is something we are really keen to film in the next 2 weeks. Ideally we are looking for a mute swan nest which is quite accessible so that we can have Iolo in frame with the birds. Obviously I understand that posting the whereabouts of nests is not a great idea, so I wondered instead, if anybody had any suggestions if they could drop me an email sally.snow@adenproductions.com

We really appreciate the input and advice of forum members as it is you guys who are out and about that tend to spot the most interesting things.

It would be wonderful if this is something you think you could help us with.

Thank you and best wishes,

Sally Snow

Spotted Redshank

This apparently regularly Winter visitor was on the field behind the
Breakwater hide at Ynys Hir at around mid-day today (Thursday 25th), fairly viewable from
the hide.

David Bratt

Chough Ynyslas

Chough C3 was busy trashing the dune slack by the caravan site this morning. Haven't seen this ringed bird before. Also skylarks singing in earnest.

Your trip

What a great life you lot lead! 3 Hen Harriers! 65 Bewick and 26 Whooper Swans! Velvet Scoters! Snow Buntings!!!!!!!!

Group trip

Nine of us decided to meet up and slip over the border into Cheshire this morning to visit RSPB Inner Marsh Farm. It's a lovely little reserve, if you've not been you should consider it if you're in the area. We saw lots and lots of Lapwing, 3 or 4 Black-tailed Godwit and a similar number of Dunlin. There were Pink-footed and Greylag Geese and away in the distance some intriguing but unidentifiable swans. We hatched a plan to move on from Inner Marsh and try for a better view of the swans from Shotton but first we went to Burton Marsh for a "raptor-fest". On show were 2 Peregrines, 2 Merlins, Marsh Harrier, 3 HenHarriers and 2 Buzzards. There were also Gadwall and Shoveler to be seen. When we got to Shotton we got excellent views of 65 Bewick and 26 Whooper Swans, a real treat. Then it was on to Pensarn. There were 1,000s of Common Scoter but the tide was well out, they were so far away that picking out their Velvet cousins amongst them proved too difficult. There were also lots of Great-crested Grebes and Red-throated Divers. Finally we moved along to Kinmel Bay where we were treated to superb views of 4 Snow Buntings.

Spring - Official

Spring - in Felinfach

It's TRUE - Spring at last. I was delighted to see that, not only have our Robins paired up, but Mrs proved it by taking nesting material in to one of the nest boxes in our carport (spurned by House Sparrows!). It is situated very close to the boundary between their winter territories (known as 'Front' and 'Back').

David Lucas

Purple Sandpipers etc

Yesterday (Weds 24th) we went for a brief walk along the seafront. The
tide was quite high so we had good views of the Purple Sandpipers
(10). Managed to get a few nice photos, including a funny one of a
Purp dunking its head in the water!
Also saw two Red-throated divers out at sea, and one Curlew amongst 18
Turnstones on the Old College rocks.

Rachel Davies and Ian Lycett.

Ynyslas - aftenoon

A late afternoon visit to Ynyslas just before high tide - along the Leri the Scaup, 10 Shelduck, 8 Curlew and a few Redshank. Further downstream 98 Wigeon and a pair of Goosanders. At the point a flock of waders flying up stream - probably Knot but the light not good to be absolutely sure as they were closer to Aberdyfi so possibly also out of the county!

Long Wood,Betws Bledrws

A search for Marsh Tits proved fruitful with a single bird present at a regular spot just below the memorial garden. Otherwise, a single Stock Dove and a Hare up on one of the hill forts. I noticed that Song Thrushes were back singing, particularly in a favoured breeding area in the conifers near the car park. They have neen noticeably scarce or absent all winter from this area of the county it has seemed to me.(Maybe this is so every winter and I just haven't noticed before?). However, I have seen birds now and again when I've been working nearer the coast. The BTO's migration atlas suggests that they will make short migrations, particularly in especially severe winters. So perhaps they had gone no further than a few km to escape the cold or maybe to Ireland or France? Though we are lucky enough to have so much information these days about bird migration I dare say that if we knew just exactly how mobile some of our 'resident' birds are we'd still be astonished.

Pecking Order!

If you were to manhandle me I'd peck you to Bob!

Gratitude................

This morning, when I was taking some kitchen waste to the compost bin, I discovered a starling trapped in my fat-ball feeder. He hadn't been there long because I'd not seen him when I was in the garden five minutes earlier. By the time I got to him he was really, really stuck. The opening of the spiral wire feeder is probably about 7cms in diameter narrowing down to nothing and he'd managed to get his entire body inside with beak, wings and legs sticking out all over the place. I took the feeder down and sat down on my garden bench. Holding the feeder between my knees I started trying to free him, but he didn't do much to help. He gripped the feeder with his claws and held on for dear life, it was not at all obvious how I was going to get him out. After a few minutes, carefully wrestling with his legs, wings and beak I got him free, whereupon he pecked my hand and flew off shouting starling curses. Honestly, you do a starling a good turn and what thanks do you get........

YNYSLAS

From Kevin McGee: late afternoon, 2 Snipe in the dune slacks, female Scaup still on the Leri near the rail bridge and 5 dark-bellied Brent Geese downstream.

Purple Sandpipers

At high tide today there were 7 purple sandpipers on the sea wall in Aberystwyth, 3 redwings were feeding on the castle grounds presumably the same 3 which have been hanging around the old college since the start of the year. There were also 2 rock pipits here.

Tom Wells

Sun-kissed Llanrhystud

As I sat in the car at the beach this morning the thermometer was reading a balmy 11 celsius. Walking south along the sand I thought about taking my coat off-but didn't just in case another blizzard should catch me unawares.
80 Curlews were in the fields.Out at sea were 4 Common Scoters close in and a minimum of 7 Red-throated Divers.

Puffin spotted

I saw a puffin flying south at Aberystwyth harbour this morning around 9am. Bit of a surprise!

Birds at Borth

There were 5 purple sandpipers on the rocks at Borth today. Lots of scoters at sea but didn't see any divers. I took a walk up constitution hill in Aberystwyth I didn't get anything up there other than a pair of ravens.

TEIFI MARSHES

During a rather cold and otherwise uneventful visit to the reserve this afternoon, Bob and I saw the Great Grey Shrike when we were at the river viewpoint.

Atlas Square SN15Q

Early on saturday morning we surveyed SN15Q in the south of the county just west of Cardigan, it proved to be very productive with 38 species recorded. This included 3 Wigeon, 1 Common Scoter, 1 Merlin, 5 Snipe, 13 Curlew, 21 Guillemot, 1 Razorbill, 19 Skylark, 7 Song Thrush, 3 Redwing, 85 Starling, and 8 Reed Bunting. Also on The Teifi in Cardigan were 14 Teal and 2 Wigeon

Tom Wells, Alice Waterhouse, Nia Stephens and Tom Pinches.

Turn carpark - Aberleri Bridge

we were lucky to have just parked on the turn car park when a merlin came in low across the beach after a small group of waders on the waters edge,

not sure if it was succesful or not.

then onto the bridge /aberleri good veiws of 4 gooseanders2m-2f scaup showing well but no otter

alan hill

Ynyslas - Aberleri

Two pairs of Red-breasted Merganser were getting amorous and frisky - well the chaps were - near Aberleri this afternoon, it was lovely to watch. The usuals - Shellduck, Curlew and Redshank were there in quite large numbers, a few Wigeon but nothing else to report.

Cors caron at sunset

Male hen harrier, barn owl, pair(or 2)of little egrets, and an otter in front of the Fflur hide with 2 prs of teal and a pr of mallard. All very evocative in the sunset over a snowy bog.
Earlier a goshawk over the house.

Garden birds

I've had a redpoll on my peanut feeder over the weekend only the second time in 27 yrs of living where I am near Machynlleth! I've got siskins feeding on my nyjer seed too but not as many as some other folk on here and the goldfinch love the stuff. Unusually this winter too I've had goldcrest and treecreeper feeding on the ground below the nut feeders! The hard weather certainly made these vulnerable little birds go that extra mile to get food.

Siskin and Lesser Redpoll

Here is a photo of Siskin and L Redpoll feeding on Andre Marsh's garden feeder. We had a bit of difficulty uploading so it's a couple of days late, but we finally got there.

DIVERS and MED. GULLS

When the Red-throated Divers are absent off Borth one can expect to find them off the sarn at Wallog. Bob and I were there last week and saw just one. Kevin McGee saw just two in the vicinity today, plus 3 Goosanders and a male Kestrel along the cliffs between Clarach and Wallog.
Hardly any Mediterranean Gulls have been reported, so Chris Bird was fortunate to see single adult birds at Borth and Aberystwyth on Friday.

Plovers at Cross Inn

At Cross Inn around mid-day 80 - 100 Lapwing about half a mile North, in 'aimless' flight.

David Lucas

Twite at Nant-yr-Arian

We stopped at Nant-yr-Arian at about 2:20 this afternoon on our way back home from Rhyadar. From the deck outside the restaurant I scanned the ground below the large feeder hoping there might be a Brambling or two. No Brambling, but I was thrilled to discover a Twite amongst the Chaffinches, Greenfinches and Siskins there. Two male Goosanders were competing for the attention of The Lady (Goosander) of The Lake. According to Joe there were not quite as many Red Kites as usual at feeding time.

Jays and Long-tailed Tits

I’ve now got 8 Jays at the feeders and also for the first time in 18 years, Long-tailed Tits coming to the peanuts, very occasionally a party of 8 have called for a quick snack during the last 2 months.

On the Teifi at North part of Cors Caron, 4 Snipe, 6 Teal, 4 Mallard and a Dabchick but no Owls or Harriers.

Philip Ellis

Siskins/Lesser Redpoll/GS Woodpecker & Wrens

Garden birds:
I put up a couple of nyjer seed feeders before xmas and expected the onslaught of goldfinches. Instead I got greenfinches, sometimes up to 12. After 4 weeks or so, goldfinches finally found the seeds. Unexpectedly, siskins and lesser redpolls got on to the act and really took over in January. 35+ siskins with 4 redpolls was the best count but they all disappeared 2 weeks ago with the milder weather. However, the recent cold snap has brought them back and I managed to get some photos. The male Redpolls are especially good looking!

Talking of wrens, I came across 3 this morning (Sat 20th) up on my lane (Lisburne Rd, Bont), the most I've seen for a long time. Also, 2 of them seemed to be pairing up.

Andre Marsh

Aberleri - Ynyslas

Although the tide was high and the weather was pleasant, there weren't an awful lot of birds to be seen at Ynyslas this morning. I had intended to walk to the Pill-box but was put off when I spotted a couple of shooters ahead of me. So I went to Aberleri where I bumped into a couple of other birders. A Scaup and a Goldeneye showed very well and a flock of Skylarks passed noisily overhead - there were calls and snatches of song. There were 5 dark-bellied Brent Geese on the water, further along towards Ynyslas and I watched 3 Ringed Plover near the end of the saltings.
From the turn car-park I saw several dozen Common Scoter on the sea.

Brambling

Another (or the same) Brambling he first seen since one in early December 09.

Apololgies for the quality but all our feeding station shots have to
be taken through double glazing.
However, I still aspire to producing something approaching MIke's
quality - one day!!


David Lucas, Felinfach.

Eglwysfach

On our walk along the wall this-morning, at one point we found ourselves surrounded by a mixed flock of winter birds. Mostly Long-tailed Tits, but some Blue and Coal as well as a lone Goldcrest.
The Long-tails were so close I could hear the fluttering of their wings as they shifted around just above my head. Chaffinches were calling and singing all over the place and a couple of Siskins put in an appearance. Not seen any Wrens lately though.

A request for help..............

Russell Jones has passed the following message to me and I am happy to post it here.
I'm sure someone reading this will be able to help............

I wonder if you could help me out? Not sure who I would need to
speak to , I manage a small woodland nature reserve, "Coed tan-y-bryn"
near Bronant, Ceredigion and we are looking for more volunteers to help
out with wildlife studies. We often have unidentified species and I'm
sure if we had extra help we would easily double our bird list in a day
or so! Could you point me in the right direction of any local bird
groups? Any help would be really appreciated. We are just changing over
to using Recorder 6 from a very basic system and will be submitting
records to various people from this year onwards..

Many thanks
Scott

www.thegreenphoenix.co.uk

Garden Birds

Beautiful shots of the Bullfinchs Mike, there seem to be more around this year, we have had one most days around the area, in previous years if they've been here I missed them.

My siskin flock on the feeders peaked at 45 to 50 last Monday, they seemed to be everywhere, perhaps some were moving through going north because numbers have reduced back down to about 20/25.
A very welcome addition this week is a Song Thrush another bird that has been conspicuous by it's absence in previous years. Heard the first Tawny Owls for this year last night, they are normally ever present. I got around to making some nest boxes last week and put them up at the weekend and got immediate excitement trom the Blue Tits with both of them being regularly inspected. The local House Sparrows have invaded our roof space making lots of noise scratting around on the aluminium lined insulation. Three pairs are currently building nests so I have a good excuse for not getting out the ladders and fitting the new soffit boards.

Llanrhystud

In the snow-free coastal fields of Llanrhystud this morning there was a large flock of approx 200 lapwing, feeding together with a large flock of starlings and black-headed gulls – quite a sight. Several disagreements seemed to be taking place due to their close proximity to each other. Two redshank were feeding close by and in another field there were approx 60 curlew.

Also present were 3 kites (2 were perched on adjacent fence posts, looking like a couple of book-ends), 3 buzzards and a heron.

2 cormorants out at sea, together with a probable great-crested grebe – it was a long way out.

Back at home, we had 7 long-tailed tits on the peanut feeder. This is the first winter I’ve seen them visit the feeder in the 12 years we’ve lived here, though small flocks are regularly seen in the trees around us. Is this a visiting group who have already discovered the delights of a peanut feeder elsewhere, or have the local population taken 12 years to work it out?

Aline Denton

Black Redstart

seen yesterday 18/feb on the old college buildings male redstart at last! also under the pier 15 turnstones-

1 ringed plover

alan hill

Ynyslas

Two Chough flew over at about 9:30 at Ynyslas this morning. Later on a magnificent male Hen Harrier could be seen over the saltings near Aberleri.

Aberystwyth - Clarach

there were 2 choughs in the fields next to the coastal path between aberystywth and clarach, also 21 wigeon were on the rocks at the base of the cliffs along with 3 shags

Tom Wells

(Received 18th Feb)

Leri otter

From my own observations and looking at the other sightings on the blog it would appear the Leri otter(s) are most often seen in the couple of hours around low tide, especially on the flood, and neap not spring tides. There is also a diurnal cycle on top of the tidal cycle, they tend to be most active early morning and late afternoon, but they have been seen at all times of the day. This is only a generalisation, and wildlife likes nothing better to establish a pattern and then tear up the rule book! The tide seems to be the stronger influence which would make sense in relation to food availability and ease of catching fish etc. Also the dog otter does like to mark territory and the banks are covered at high tide.

Seawatching off Aberaeron

I enjoyed a mornings birding in Aberaeron today I counted 17 turnstone on the foreshore which is much reduced in area following the construction of the extensive new sea defences. There was a gannet close inshore and I was hoping it would lead me to a porpoise but he didn't deliver! Offshore 2 duck flew north and from their 'jizz' I think they were pintail but I'm not 100% sure on that. Two red-throated divers flew south. A couple of lines of auks flew north. Also watching (and counting) the waders from the seafront was the legendary Peter Davis who informed me that the much awaited book 'The Birds of Ceredigion' may be out soon.
I lunched at the harbourmaster hotel and the 'Albatross' hadn't wandered far from the bar! (cryptic clue!)

Regarding the Buzzard that may have been poisoned

If you suspect poisoning of any wild creature then you can drop the specimen at the Veterinary Laboratory Agency to have a post mortem evaluation done courtesy of DEFRA / WAG. There is no charge for this. There is one in Carmarthen at:
Job's Well Rd, Johnstown, Carmarthen, Carmarthenshire, Dyfed, SA31 3EZ. Tel : +44 (0) 1267 235244. Email: carmarthen@vla.defra.gsi.gov.uk

Dr Rob Davies

Garden Bullies

Had a pair of Bullfinches coming to the garden feeder for the last four months so I thought it was time he had a passport photo taken!

Scaup@Leri

Feb 17th

Sue and I walked the dyke from Leri Bridge to golf crossing-Scaup in residence and Cormorant in breeding attire (thanks Janet!). Flock of 100+ Curlew behind boatyard.

No otter tho we stayed til 16:00. Tide too high?

Rheidol Goosanders

The goosanders are particularly active this week .There were 3 females hanging around this morning and eventually they decided to take a trip down river no doubt as far as the bridge in Trefechan.I was pleased to introduce my grandchildren to the delights of birdwatching when the lapwing put in a brief appearance yesterday morning.The highlight must be the male and the female great spotted woodpecker that regularly visit the feeder.Today on our way to Machynlleth I was able to point out another flock of lapwing on the sunday market field at Tre'r ddol and was told that there were 21 of them!

I am also concerned regarding the dead buzzard found near Penrhyncoch as the 6 we recovered during and after the very cold snap were nowhere near overhead cables .We might have wrongly come to the conclusion that they failed to find sufficient food and starved to death as they were all juveniles.There has been no sighting of other dead birds which surely would have also succumbed if poison was the case.It remains a very sad mystery!

Lis Collison

WHOOPER SWANS

Up here at Trisant, within Ceredigion's Arctic Circle, I passed by Llyn Frongoch, late afternoon, where ice covers most of the lake. Despite the heavy snowfall, I could make out a couple of Whooper Swans, probably thinking they were still in Iceland.

Leri Otter Behaviour

I’ve some experience of watching wild otters in Ireland where, at Rosscarbery in West Cork, they frequent a location with a brackish water lagoon separated from a drowned river estuary by a causeway along which runs the main N71 trunk road. The causeway is breached by a road bridge/tunnel which the otters use to pass between the two sides. This is no more that 30 yards from a busy hotel and less than 10 yards from a seat which is a brilliant point to observe them. This is a busier location than even at the Leri bridge with both frequent road traffic and footfall. The extent of otter activity is given away by a very large number of sprainting points and favourite feeding rocks covered by piles of discarded crab shells and other remains.

They are seen frequently, most often at dawn or dusk when they are at their most bold, but also frequently at other times of the day when, whilst you cannot take liberties with them, they appear quite oblivious to human activity. I have seen family parties and lone otters at this location on a number of occasions and have been honoured to be able to observe them for often hours at a time. On one notable occasion, albeit just after dawn, I followed one dog otter as he swan across the lagoon and under a boating pontoon. As I stood on the pontoon no more than five feet away he stood his ground from beneath the pontoon staging and we spent at least ten minutes in a standoff with me watching him, speaking to him softly and him quietly barking his defiance. It was me that gave up in the end!

I am not at all surprised that the Leri otters are behaving without obvious fear of humans. If they are like the Irish otters they are just not interested in us unless directly threatened.

One aspect of their behaviour that I’ve thought about is the degree to which their activity is “tidal”. In Ireland I’m pretty sure that it is. My feeling in retrospect is that they are most active from mid to low water and back again. I’m no longer able to verify this in Ireland as sadly I no longer have the opportunity to visit. I have given it some thought, however, and from recollection I’m pretty sure that most observations were “tidally” as suggested. I suppose it makes sense that they do not see the point in unnecessarily diving through a deeper column of water closer to high tides. I’d be interested if anyone can throw any light on the Leri otters’ behaviour in this regard.

They are undoubtedly fascinating creatures.

Roger Watkins

Dead Buzzard

I’ve just found a fairly freshly dead buzzard beneath power lines on top of the hill between Bow-Street and Penrhyncoch – very near Hen Gaer above the woods behind IGER/IBERS on SN632844. Might it have been electrocuted as the power lines are not that far apart? A lot of kites and buzzards congregate up there so I worried about poison as there is a dead sheep nearby – but that’s been there several weeks. There’s no ring on its leg, but I brought it down in case anyone wanted to examine and/or stuff it. I can keep it in a freezer if necessary.

Sue Dalton

S'NO GOLDFINCH

At first glance I thought we had a rare arctic migrant!

Subconciously I always take 'our' birds to be residents or regular
migrant visitors - obviously not so, as we have never seen this guy
before. Incidentally we do seem to have a significant number of
'extra' Goldfinches and Siskins this morning, seems he's arrived with them.

David Lucas - Felinfach

Knot a lot

Ynyslas high spring tide this morning produced a lone knot by the car park but very little else apart from the usual curlew, redshank, ringed plover. This evening a little egret was by the Leri railway bridge and the scaup was with a friend, no sign of Tarka though.

Tame or wild otters?

There has been some suggestion that the Leri otter(s) may perhaps have once been captive animals and that they were released into the wild possibly from the 'Animalarium' in Borth. Curious to know if this was a possibility I called at the 'Animalarium' today and spoke to the owners and they deny releasing any previously captive otters into the wild and in fact they have not kept captive Eurasian otters at their premises. I have no reason to disbelieve them so we can safely assume that the Leri otters are truly wild animals. The 'dog' otter is remarkably tolerant of man when he is sighted but as someone said today a couple of decades have passed since they were hunted and persecuted and perhaps the present generation of otters everywhere are losing some of their fear of man. They are generally seen far more often now in daylight hours than in the past.

Penglais Woods

a walk in the woods today produced the jay feeding in its usual place (near the main entrance of the woods), a couple of great spotted woodpeckers, a group of long tailed tits with the usual woodland birds among them, 60+ Redwing feeding at the top end of the wood commuting between the trees and the fields, there were also 5 skylark among them.

Tom Wells

YNYSLAS

Two birds of note still present this morning: the female Scaup on the river Leri just upstream of the railway bridge and the lone dark-bellied Brent Goose, on the Dyfi, upstream of the Leri saltings.

Little Egret at the Leri

I spotted a Little Egret on the banks of the Leri near the bridge yesterday, while our first record during the garden bird watch was a Blackcap - in Mach!

I spent last week on sunny Tiree surrounded by lapwing, golden plover, greenland white-fronts and curlew. They were all so tame!

We also had watched otters bothering swans in a loch and Captain the dog chased a few hares - but he had no chance!

Andy

Cors Caron

I'm glad the folk from Cheshire saw the l.egret before some adventurous(?) teenagers climbed thru' the dead hedge screen at the observation room and put it off the flash.
Peregrine high over the S.E. bog this afternoon.
Wood was quiet whilst clearing out nestboxes but at least the freeze seems to have put paid to the fleas! Wrens and goldcrests present and calling in the garden.
Didn't see the grey geese David as I was enjoying the annual kite trust meeting in the Elan valley hotel and gleaning tips on spotting Honey Buzzards from the very wonderful Steve Roberts.

Female goosander

There was a female goosander on the Rheidol above Trefechan bridge yesterday. Given the sighting of a male on the Ystwyth, they didn't seem to know it was Valentine's Day yesterday. Or was she put off by the scruffy appearance.

I gave Anne lots of hearts, sunflower of course.

CROSSBILLS

I had a report from the Mid-Cheshire Ornithological Society group who spent a weekend over here and it was a party of their members I met at Ynyslas on Sunday.

Before leaving for Ynys-hir they saw the female Scaup on the Leri.

The day before, they noted Little Egret, Woodcock and male Hen Harrier at Cors Caron and 3 Crossbills at The Arch. Given the paucity of Crossbill sightings in recent months I think they did rather well.

Tan-y-Bwlch

Whilst Jaq "Morrisoned" this afternoon Buster and I had a walk along the river at Tan-y-Bwlch.
I was pleased to see a pair of Stonechats on the other side of the river, near the stables, I've not seen many this winter. A rather grubby looking male Goosander was on the river and a Buzzard was hanging around near the bend. There were lots of corvids in the field where the new lambs are, presumably clearing up the offal, but that was about it.

Ring-necked Duck. Just over the border........

Mark Wilson and Bev Hopkins report seeing a Ring-necked Duck, in company with Tufted Ducks this weekend at Llyn Pencarreg, just over the border in Carmarthen. Goldeneye, Mallard and Pochard also present.

Mute Swans on the Rheidol

Here are the mute swans that come each winter to this part of the Rheidol according to my neighbour.You might remember the tragic event a few months ago when one of them met an untimely end .Could this be the the reason there are only three now.They were busy feeding on Wednesday when I managed to take this just as they were going back up river.

Lis Collison

Scaup and Tarka 2 ?

Thurs 11th.

Sorry- a bit late. Scaup as skittish as ever by railway bridge, but otter performed on and off !

Looked like a much smaller female ? Worked downstream from 13:30 - 17:00 ending up well below boatyard and eventually in field ditch. Took several snoozes en route.

What a pleasure to meet Josh + Rachel.

Superb day and weather .

BORTH - YNYSLAS

This morning, on a calm sea, under a bright blue sky, there were exactly 300 Common Scoters visible offshore, plus 10 Great Crested Grebes, but only a couple of Red-throated Divers. (Wallog, between Borth and Clarach, is probably where most of them were feeding.)
At Ynyslas there were 12 Sanderling, a Merlin, 10 or so Snipe, a couple of Woodcock and a friendly party of birdwatchers from Cheshire. Earlier they had seen a Slavonian Grebe off Upper Borth and 5 Purple Sandpipers on the rocks there.

PLAS CRUG DITCH, ABERYSTWYTH

Josh and Rachel Maynard were amazed to see a Water Rail in Plas Crug ditch today. (See Harry Pepper's article on this gem of a site near the heart of town, in the current Ceredigion Annual Bird Report.)

Green Woodpecker

Along the track to Llanerchaeron a G.W. was "yaffling" this afternoon and a Greater Spotted was drumming. Unfortunately no sign of a Lesser Spotted to score a hat-trick!

Old Grey Goose

At Cross In this morning, almost bird free zone, several heard, Siskin, Great Spot, and Ravens.

Visually, a male Bullfinch and about 30+ 'uniformly grey' geese in perfect V formation ( I'm ashamed to say I'm not knowledgeable enough to identify them) the Whitefronts perhaps? Headed near enough due East to Tragaron Bog maybe. I left a message with Liz in case they DO arrive there and I hope she will advise.

David and Anne, Felinfach

Sightings at Llanybyther

Mink still alive and well around Llanybydder sighted on thurs 11.02.09 hunting along river bank. Goosanders also simming up and down river(3 females seen) Pair of dippers in courtship mode.

dave Bevan

7 Jays at Ystad Meurig

I've now got up tp 7 Jays coming to the garden feeders, some now very tame.

The downside is they have dug up and flown off with all my recently planted dwarf tulips, all the other bulbs have been left alone and I wonder if the supplier dressed the bulbs with blood and bone or something else appealing to corvids or do Jays just like tulips?

Anyone else had this problem?

Philip Ellis

My birds today

At Ynyslas this morning there was a male stonechat in the scrub land between the dunes car park and Searivers caravan park and late afternoon I saw another male near the railway crossing at Ynyslas. There was a kingfisher on the Leri upriver of the road bridge and an egret upriver of the railway bridge. Very late evening (5.30pm) a male hen harrier was hunting over the fields and the bog. There were a few golden plover and curlew on the pasture between searivers and Ty Gwyn Ynyslas. A few great crested grebe offshore but I couldn't find any divers. There were six turnstone under the pier at Aberystwyth and the usual black redstart on the old college building.

Sparrowhawk

this afternoon (Friday 12th) a starling came to a sticky end in our garden in Comins Coch...

regards

Barbara Hauck

Treecreeper

Tree Creeper spotted in our back garden in Llanfair Clydogau this afternoon (Wed 10th). Unfortunately, it flew into a window, but after a little TLC it recovered and merrily flew off.

Claire and Dave

YNYSLAS and CORS FOCHNO

Sightings from Kevin McGee:
At midday, a Great Crested Grebe and 18 Common Scoter offshore at Ynyslas and a Merlin on the Leri saltmarsh. 5 Snipe and a Woodcock in the willow carr wetland near the caravans.
During the afternoon, a male Hen Harrier, a Woodcock and 100+ Redwings on Cors Fochno.

Afon Clettwr

Not a great deal along the Clettwr this morning, due to the presence of wildfowlers on the estuary today. However, the Canada geese were all on the distant fields upstream towards Hen Hafod, and the Greenland Whitefronts were with them - mostly distant glimpses, but some better flight views when small groups flew between fields. Two drake Shoveller with the Teal and Lapwings on the Lodge Farm fields. The usual Redshank, Little Egret and Dipper on the river completed the picture. Only one Dipper today - maybe they're moving back upstream to breeding territories now?

brambling etc

Brambling, female, with chaffinches at our feeding station.
2 little egrets and a ringtail harrier over the central bog -wouldn't it be good if a pair took up residence with the herons!
Re Starling flocks: a friend recently saw a massive flock above the Rheidol over the A4120. A non-birder, he said it was amazing 'just like on the telly'; a black swarm making patterns in the sky.

Green sand yesterday late afternoon flew onto our pond, calling.

starling roost

There is a reference in the 2007 report to a roost of possibly 120000 birds at Mydroilyn, but obviously no grid ref. I'd be interested to know myself. I was going to have a look but bad weather intervened.

Starlings

I was travelling home on the A.487 north of Cardigan late afternoon yesterday and there was a 'huge' flock of starlings flying North or North East. The sky was black with them. Did someone say on here that there was a large roost in the Mydroilyn area? (possibly 120,000 birds?) Can someone provide an O/S map reference for the roost location please?

The 'chop' 'chop' syndrome

Your photos of the felled hawthorns is very sad Liz they looked like exceptionally fine trees. There seems to be a preoccupation nowadays amongst certain sections of our rural community and our local councils to chop things down and dig up hedgerows for no apparent reason.

In Search of Shortie

A beautiful afternoon for a visit to Cors Caron to search for the Shortie that had been reported as present at the northern end of the bog. A walk down to the cutting then out across the public footpath to the Teifi almost convinced me that once again Cors Caron was a BFZ (bird free zone) when a couple of crows were seen in the distance followed by a Red Kite. A little brown bird in the rushes proved to be a Jenny Wren - at least one has survived the winter! A further couple of small birds brightened the afternoon - a female Reed Bunting and a Willow Tit. Back towards Dolbeudiau some 15 Fieldfare were foraging on a stubble root crop. Progressing further North along the Ystwyth Trail a striking male Hen Harrier was seen hunting either side of the track.
As the sun started to sink three other intrepid 'Shortie Searchers' appeared - by the time I left however no Shortie had obliged.

Shrike surprise

Lots of Siskins at Cross Inn Forest this morning,maybe 50.Also, a Peregrine low down in overdrive, a singing Willow Tit and a couple of male Crossbills,one of which dropped a cone on my head from just 15 feet above me.
All seemed good so I marched back to the car. A flurry of Siskins at the top of a tallish tree caught my eye. I looked up and the Great Grey Shrike flew off. The Siskins must have been mobbing it? Unfortuneately it quickly disappeared from view and further searching and scanning failed to relocate it.
Shrike grid ref 563652 at the western edge of the forest

Recent Sightings

On Monday Meurig Williams noted 112 Wigeon and 6 Goosanders on Maesllyn Pool, beside Cors Caron, and I saw 11 Tufted Ducks there. Chris Bird reported a dark-bellied Brent Goose at the Dyfi estuary, upstream of Ynyslas.
On Tuesday Brian Kington watched a male Black Redstart half way up Constitution Hill at Aberystwyth and Andre Marsh is pretty sure he saw a Short-eared Owl at the northern end of Cors Caron.
Today I was at the Teifi estuary and the wintering Common Sandpiper was at its usual spot, on the Ceredigion side, opposite the old Jewsons yard at St Dogmaels.

Cwm Berwyn

There are more photos but you get the gist.
Some of you will remember some wonderful early summer walks up this road with Red before the log lorries arrived in force. If anyone can explain who or what benefits from this carnage I'll bake you a cake. I haven't counted these tree rings but similar hawthorns at the same altitude near here were a minimum of 80 years old so that's a long time for the micro-fauna to hold their collective breath.

tetrad V

Neighbour of the notorious tetrad W. In an area which today at least, lacked even a single Robin,Wren,Dunnock,Magpie,Starling,Buzzard or Raven it is perhaps surprising that Bulfinches are so common. I saw a flock of 12 on my last visit and another 4 today. I presume they are able to find sustenance on the buds and/or seeds of the conifers, but I don't really know. Five Crossbills and fantastic views south across the border made for a very enjoyable morning.

Clettwr and Leri

1 chough flew over Ynyslas golf course at day break. This afternoon 3 little egrets were on the Clettwr and an otter had left pawprints on the bank. Tarka was doing his usual rounds of the Leri today. Scaup and female goosander upstream of the railway bridge.

Birds at Ynyslas and Borth

There were seven purple sandpipers on the rocks at Borth this afternoon. Divers in flight offshore and on the sea and lots of scoters plus a great crested grebe. Stopped off at Ynyslas I didn't see the otter but it had been seen (and photographed by Janet). The scaup was upriver of the railway bridge. At about 4.45pm a barn owl made an appearance. I was on the road bridge when I saw it. Its quite a pale bird. It was hunting in the area for some time and I had great views of it in fact it perched on a fence post by the roadside at one stage! This bird would be amenable to being photographed I imagine. Kev/Janet/Mike over to you again guys! The chap living in the cottage on the hill who is also the owner of the boat yard had seen a grey seal upriver recently not sure if he said last week.
There were lots of curlew (I counted 70) in the field beyond the boat yard. Lapwing in the field before the railway crossing and a mixture of starling, fieldfare and redwing in the Ty Gwyn fields at Ynyslas.

Llyn Fanod

I took advantage of the fine weather yesterday and went to Cross Inn and Llyn Fanod.What a lovely place and we were rewarded not with the Barnacle geese seen on Saturday as they had gone but with 17 or so Widgeon and the large group of Gossanders.There were 2 divers right across on the other side and even with my scope I couldn't make them out ,possibly golden eye.What fascinated us was the colour of the sheep grazing ,they were a strange peaty colour no doubt the ground there is black with peat and it rubs off onto their fleece!A pleasant walk into the forest at cross inn rounded off a pleasant afternoon ,with a detour for a bag of chips, eaten on the quayside at Aberaeron in the warm sunshine!

Best wishes

Lis Collison

A tale of a lamb and a crow

This morning I witnessed an extraordinary bit of behaviour between a crow and a lamb in the field below my house which I've never seen before. A carrion crow was persistently harassing a lamb by chasing it stealthily but with caution this action clearly annoyed the lamb as it reacted by chasing the crow with its head down in the 'butting' mode! The crow took evasive action and was not at all put off by the lambs defensive action it just took part in some 'displacement activity' by picking up some grass and dropping it presumably to give the lamb a 'false sense of security'. What happened next solved the mystery of this crows incessant interest in this particular animal. When the lamb had his back turned the crow sauntered up to it and gave its tail a couple of sharp tugs with its beak! I then saw that an elastic band had been fitted higher up on the lambs tail by the tenant farmer effectively stopping the blood flow to the tail which would eventually result in it dropping off. This of course is common practice among sheep farmers and in fact the 'severed' tails are a good source of food for kites in the spring! Anyway the crow's 'tug of war' trying to 'dislodge' the lambs tail failed as the startled lamb bolted off to a safe distance away from the crows unwanted attentions.

Postscript- Of course 'intelligence' in corvids is a well known fact but what intrigues me about this incident is what was the 'trigger' which caused the crow to behave in such a manner? I wondered whether it might have been the coloured rubber ring on the lambs tail which stops the blood flow or did the crow somehow 'know' that the tail was probably close to disengaging with the lamb's body! If anyone has any theories on this I'd like to hear them.

WHOOPER SWANS

On my way back from a great Birding Group walk, there were four Whooper Swans (2 adults and 2 young) near the end of my journey on Bwlchcryws pond, just off the Devil's Bridge road near Trisant.

Ceredigion Birding Group Field Trip

Twenty one of us met at Borth Railway Station this morning to be guided across the bog by Harry Pepper. It was very, very cold to start with but eventually the temperature climbed to cold.
As we congregated on the platform a Stonechat showed itself very well just the other side of the track. We saw a couple of Reed Buntings as we walked along the path by the Leri. Instead of turning across the golf course Harry consented to continue on towards the Railway Bridge for a chance of seeing the Scaup that has been hanging around there. We found the Scaup and as we watched it Tarka, the magnificent male Otter put in an appearance. He was very active, continually diving and re-surfacing with tit-bits and getting ever closer to where we stood. There were some appreciative oohs and ahhs, I know that at least one of our group had never seen an Otter before, so it was very good of him to turn up. He entertained us for 15-20 minutes before it was time to move on. We retraced our steps then headed towards the coast for a bit of sea-watching. We saw 3 Sanderling, a Ringed Plover, a Great-crested Grebe and several Common Scoter before calling it a day.

Leri sightings

On the way to the railway bridge early this morning I disturbed a female merlin chasing reed buntings and a female peregrine was sitting on a molehill nearby. The dog otter was patrolling his territory round the road bridge, yesterday there was a smaller otter catching breakfast near the railway bridge. A single purple sandpiper was by the wooden jetty in Aber all afternoon yesterday.

Ynys-hir highlights

Ynys Hir, Saturday, 6th February From the breakwater hide around high tide; 60 bar-tail godwit (possibly black-tails among them ? ), 6 goldeneye on estuary and a peregrine on the ground. 3 pintail still on car park pool and a good number of shoveler throughout the reserve. The barnacle geese have almost certainly moved on and no sign of white-fronted today either. Chris Wallbank

LLANRHYSTUD-LLANSANTFFRAED

Sightings today from Kevin McGee: 100+ Curlew, 25+ Turnstones, 14 Wigeon offshore and 3 Golden Plovers.

RING-NECKED DUCK

Arfon Williams was out and about today, firstly at Cors Caron where he saw a male Hen Harrier, 3 Little Egrets and a Water Pipit.
Later, at Llyn Pencarreg, the wrong side of the border near Lampeter, he found a female Ring-necked Duck. This is quite possibly the one that Chris Bird first saw, earlier this winter up at Llyn Blaenmelindwr, to the north of Ponterwyd. It then moved to Llyn Rhosrhydd at Trisant and when that lake froze over it moved to Cwmrheidol dam lake. That froze over and Chris is sure he saw it, with Tufted Ducks on the sea just off Aberystwyth harbour, three weeks or so ago.
According to Chris, the male Black Redstart was again on the Old College at Aberystwyth today.

Llyn Fanod

Seen this afternoon at Llyn Fanod: 20+ goosander, 16 barnacle geese, 4 canada geese, 9 lapwing and 12+ bullfinches plus the usual buzzards and kites.


Trevor & Yvonne Storeton-West

Talgarreg/Llangybi

Yesterday,I managed to survey some tetrads between Talgarreg and Pontsian. Approaching the area where I saw a Merlin in December I came across 180 Common Gulls and a couple of Great Black-backs too. In the field opposite was quite a large winter flock of 50 Linnets. Dipper was on the river in Pontsian again and over the hills looking towards Cwrtnewydd,60 Golden Plovers. Needless to say, enough Starlings to give the BTO computer apoplexy when I entered them on the database.
Approx. 40 Siskins on or around the massed feeders at Ysgol y Dderi in Llangybi all week.

Mammal Droppings

In relation to Bob's image of an animal dropping I agree with Liz I think its a polecat scat too.

I got the above diagram of mammal droppings from 'google images'

Description of polecat droppings:-

When fresh they are usually black with much fur and small bone fragments and sometimes plant material. They have a very strong 'musty' smell. The droppings have a typical twisted 'mustelid' appearance with tapering ends. They measure 7cm in lenght and 0.5cm in width. There will be no fish remains unlike mink (and otter). Fish bones have never been observed in polecat scat. They regularly use latrines.

Here is a tip which Geoff Lyles the otter expert once told me - If you come across dry otter spraint 'never' take a good sniff of it otherwise you will end up with small fish bones firmly entrenched up your nose which may require a visit to your local 'A&E' department to be removed!

(The above facts were obtained from 'The Handbook of British Mammals' (Blackwell Scientific Publications) and the 'Wild About Britain' website link below

http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/

hen harrier

A male over fields above Tyn y Graig on the Swddffynnon to Lledrod road.
20+fieldfare over Cors Ian nr Lledrod also.

Cors Caron

A glorious afternoon out over the board walk to the 'Bird Watching Pavilion' at Cors Caron was rewarded with a rare sight of some duck and other birds on the pool in front of the hide. A little Egret, a Heron, 10 Teal - some drakes going through nuptial behaviour with a rather distraught duck, 3 Wigeon, 3 Dabchicks and 5 Brown Head Goosanders!. On the large pool were a pair of Canadas and three Teal.

poo

Bob, you do have to remember to drop a £ coin(oh, alright a penny will do)to show scale. The length and twist on these look like polecat to me and guess you are familiar enough with fox to have eliminated those. Ah, the other essential: have a little sniff.....

KNOT at YNYSLAS

Kevin McGee reports that there were 300+ Knot at Ynyslas at the high tide, plus 3 Turnstones.
Chris Bird saw the leucistic Common Gull at the gull roost on College Rocks at Aberystwyth this evening.

Merlin @ Ynyslas

Waited all day for otter-Iolo and Steve got him at 08:38 +,but I failed. Iolo did point out a fem. Merlin just down from the Xing, to Janet + myself..
Oh well-try again

Can anyone help with these poohs............

Anybody out there know what creature these poohs come from?

Bob Relph

Shetland...............

Further to Elfyn Pugh's note about Shetland (below) anyone heading as
far north as Hermaness may like to know that the warden is from next
door (N.Pembs) & will gladly converse in Welsh. Alastair Wilson has
been there for the past 2 summers & should be back on Unst in April.

MA Wilson

GREEN 31Y - rest in peace

That was the title of an e-mail I received this evening from Renaud Flamant, one of the coordinators of Mediterranean Gull colour-ringing on the Continent.
The story of Green 31Y is told in the 2008 Ceredigion Bird Report. Ringed as a third year bird near Antwerp in April 2001, it used to spend the non-breeding season on the Ceredigion coast, often at Borth, far from its nesting area on the Belgium North Sea coast.
It returned to Borth early last July and my last sighting of it was on 23rd September, a few days after I had taken this photograph of it.
Sadly it was found dead at Lampeter on 26th October.

Curlew

55 curlew in the field south of the beach carpark at Llanrhystud late afternoon today

John Woodruff

THE NEXT ANNUAL BIRD REPORT

I have already recieved a couple of short articles for inclusion in the 2009 Ceredigion Bird Report and I thought it would be timely to ask for further contributions.
All county reports have two main sections; a systematic list of all the species present during the year of the report, followed by articles on various topics.
The Systematic List is compiled from the data base held by the County Recorder which is made up of records sent in by resident and visiting birdwatchers. With varying degrees of detail, it is a summary of the status of all the species, rare, common, resident or migrant seen in the county. So, has Russell Jones received everyones' records for 2009? Guidelines as to what county recorders would like to receive can be found in past editions of our Report.
As for Articles, they could take the form of:
i) brief notes about some interesting sighting or aspect of bird behaviour in the garden or anywhere. eg Bob Relph's piece on a Buzzard with a Grass Snake in the 2007 Report.
ii) the results of a survey or study of certain species eg Ian Harrison's survey of some cliff-top breeding birds in the 2008 Report.
iii) a review of the birds to be found in your favourite area or patch, such as Harry Pepper's articles on Aberystwyth prom in the 2007 Report and, a relative small patch, Plas Crug ditch in the 2008 Report, or Bob's note about a favourite walk near home, again in the most recent Report.
iv) an article about the status of a species in Ceredigion that you may be particularly interested in. Mediterranean Gulls were done recently and Purple Sandpipers have been bagged for the next Report.
So, this is open to anyone to contribute.
Also,it would be nice if any volunteer wardens of the South and West Wales Wildlife Trust reserves in the county would like to do a little piece for the Report on their reserves, many of which are unknown gems to many of us. I will put out another request to the larger CCW sites which are not necessarily well known to everyone and a review of their features and birdlife would be most welcome.
3 further requests!
Photographs. Recent Reports have had some wonderful colour photographs and hopefully the 2009 Report will have plenty more.
Line Drawings. These also add much to the look of the Report and would be greatly welcomed.
Monthly Weather Summary. Belatedly, I am doing one for this year. Is any weather-buff able to produce one for 2009?
I look forward to a great response to some or all of the above!
Please contact me at johndavis@ midwalesbirdwatching.co.uk

is is

Wildfowling seasons

Often wondered as to why there is a difference in shooting seasons above and below highwater mark - Claimed to be due to the fact that duck inland start breeding - even in early February - whereas the majority of coastal estuarine duck are migratory and will not be breeding until they return to their summer residences.

On the Dyfi the shooting zone is below 'mean high water mark' anyone shooting above that is technically breaking the rules unless they have the permission of the landowner.

Shetland Wildlife

Sure its not Ceredigion but I thought readers would like to know about a BBC wildlife programme on BBC 2 this evening called 'Simon King's Shetland Diaries' there was a snapshot of what's in store on the BBC breakfast programme this morning. This new series is in three one hour parts and in my mind is a 'must' see. No doubt like many of you who may have read about Shetland in your youth (remember Bobby Tulloch and the Snowy Owls?) well a couple of years ago I visited the islands and spent 2 weeks there in June and they were absolutely superb scenically and birdwise I highly recommend a holiday there.
So watch this series and you might get hooked as well!
It starts at 8pm on BBC 2

Note- If you ever do visit the islands and you intend crossing over to Unst from Yell then call in at the 'Mad Dog Cafe' at Gutcher on Yell from where the ferry departs this is (or was) run by Bobby Tulloch's cousin. The cafe overlooks Bluemull Sound from where Orca's are sometimes spotted.

shooting seasons

The shooters were probably after duck and geese below the high water line as the season extends to Feb 20th. All other shooting finished on Jan 31st. Go to shooting u.k. web-site.
Why d&g can be shot below the line but not above it is a bit of a mystery; Mike can you enlighten?

Brent Geese

John and I met at Ynyslas this morning to see what birds the high tide might push towards us.
Answer - not a lot. We decided against walking to the pillbox because we could see a couple of men over in that direction who we were pretty sure had guns with them - when does the season end?
So we moved along to the turn car-park to look at the sea. We saw rafts of Common Scoter, several Red-throated Divers, 1 Great-crested Grebe and 6 dark bellied Brent Geese which flew hither and thither eventually heading north.

Tales Of The Riverbank

'Sprainting'

'Hardly a ripple'

(Click on images to enlarge)

'The' otter was in the Leri again this afternoon up and down river of the road bridge. He foraged, he 'pooed' and he rested.

No sign of 'Hammy the Hamster' 'Roderick the Rat' or 'GP' (Guinea Pig) we have enough escapees in this country as it is!

(Do you remember the music from 'Tales of the Riverbank'? here's the link (turn your sound on!) http://www.oreshko.co.uk/giulianiAndante.htm

Actually its quite a nice piece of classical guitar music by the great Italian composer Mauro Giuliani.

(Montgomeryshire stuff- I was in Machynlleth at midday today when the local jackdaws and starlings went into a state of panic as a peregrine flew over the town)

Aberystwyth

yesterday (monday) i flushed a woodcock from one of the paths in the middle of penglais woods, also there were the usual woodland birds including a fairly tame jay feeding out in the open by the greenhouses. today a female goosander was feeding close in on the sea infront of old college

Tom Wells

BTO Training Day

Hello everyone,

I have been asked to circulate this information about the latest BTO training day. Those of you who attended it last year will remember it as a very enjoyable and informative experience. I hope those who missed it will take the opportunity to go this time.

I will not be around during Feb as I will be in warmer climes. Fortunately the weather cleared up enough to get out to visit my tetrads for the winter Atlas. I hope you are all finding the combination of time and weather to complete the winter recordings.

I asked Dawn about Roving Records for birds seen in unlikely habitats during the really cold spell. We had lapwings in the middle of Aberystwyth. She says just record what you see. Periods like this are normal and there was a very similar spell during the last Atlas. The can cope with it.

I am still pleading for roving records and tetrads if possible for the South of the County.

Moira

Please look under "News & Events" for full details.

Starlings off to roost

Two or three thousand Starlings flew NE over Tregroes this evening,(possibly heading for the roost site at Mydroilyn?).