May 2012 archive

May 31 2012

Summary May 2012

Summary May 2012

Garden

The start of May saw a little improvement in the weather as some of the heavy rain stopped. On 3rd May we saw a newly fledged Dunnock pecking around trying out various things to see if they were edible. By the end of our holiday mid-month we saw our first  – and by the end of the month –  only fledgling Goldfinch on the feeders and young Starlings started to appear only to disappear later in the month. In fact this summer has been very poor for Starlings altogether.  Blackbirds are frantically collecting worms and any other food they can find and seem to spend at least as much time squawking to deter predators such as Magpies and cats which root around in the trees looking for easy food. If they catch any eggs or young then there is not a great deal that the Blackbirds can do about it, though I have seen a Blackbird get the better of a threatening Squirrel in the past. Hopefully we will see fledged Blackbirds in the garden soon. On the 19th we saw a male and female Greenfich looking in good shape – they have been rare this year. Continue reading

May 29 2012

Visit to Cemlyn Bay, Anglesey, Wales 30th May 2012

Visit to Cemlyn Bay, Anglesey, Wales 30th May 2012

After our couple of days with the birding group we wanted to stay another day and go to Cemlyn Bay again and perhaps a few other places. It wasn’t to be quite that way in the end but we had a good start when we revisited Cemlyn Bay. There wasn’t really all that much new there from the 27th but we had longer views of everything and because there was just the two of us we could do what we wanted. As we arrived at the same car park again we saw the half dozen little Plovers on the small pond and a Grey Heron was also roosting there. When we got in position overlooking the Lagoon we could see even more Red-breasted Mergansers – a total of six of them on the main lagoon. Continue reading

May 29 2012

Birding Group Visit to Wales 29th May 2012 : RSPB South Stack

Birding Group Visit to Wales 29th May 2012 : RSPB South Stack

By the time we had finished with the Fish Dock and Soldiers Point in Holyhead and got back on the South Stack Road it was already about 11am and about ten minutes after that we rolled into the car park at South Stack for a much needed cup of tea. The hotel we had stayed at in Holyhead (the Travel Inn) was primitive to say the least and did not do breakfast in any recognizable manner so we were glad of a cuppa. As soon as I looked towards the landward side of the rocks from the cafe I saw two Coughs hopping around the rocks – a perfect start to our day at South Stack. As soon as we were refreshed we set off down the track towards the observatory. From the cliff edge looking towards the lighthouse you could just make out with bins a few puffins floating on the water. Scouring the thousands of Common Guillemots it was possible to locate small numbers of Razorbills. They seemed to prefer to be less densely packed and their backs were much blacker than the dark grey-ish Guillemots. With the scope I even managed to find a couple of Fulmars on the cliff ledges. There were masses of Herring Gulls and at first we could hear Kittiwakes but could not locate the. In fact, as I later discovered, there is a hidden cove in the rock that the lighthouse stands on that they much prefer to anywhere else and this is where I eventually located a few but positive identification was only possible by looking at the leading edges of their wings as they landed in the crannies in the rock. Continue reading

May 28 2012

Birding Group Visit to Wales 29th May 2012 : The Fish Dock and Soldiers Point, Holyhead

Birding Group Visit to Wales 29th May 2012 : The Fish Dock and Soldiers Point, Holyhead

The Fish Dock

After the birding group had finished eating the night before, Anne and I thought we would try to see if we could find the Fish Dock at Holyhead Harbour which was just over the road a bit from the hotel we were staying at. I had looked at it on a map previously so I had a reasonable idea where it was but wanted to check it to see if we could see any of the two pairs of Black Guillemots that supposedly nest in the harbour walls. As it happens it was a bit more of a walk than I thought so by the time we got there it was too dark to see anything anyway. So, back to the hotel we went but at least we knew how to get there and when we all got together in the morning it was suggested that we drive quickly down there to see if our luck was going to be in. None of us had seen Black Guillemot before so it was worth a shot.

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May 28 2012

Birding Group Visit to Wales 28th May 2012 : Cemlyn Bay

Birding Group Visit to Wales 28th May 2012 : Cemlyn Bay

From Spinnies Abergowen we drove to Cemlyn Bay on Anglesey. On our way there we saw both Buzzard and Kestrel (and sometimes Buzzards hovering just like Kestrels – most unusual). We parked at the Bryn Aber end of the bay (which is sometimes cut off by the high tide) where we straight away saw six Ringed Plovers and a couple of Oystercatchers and Black-headed Gulls on the small lagoon. We walked along the shingle towards the middle of the bay and on the lagoon the first thing we saw was a Red-breasted Merganser. A we reached the middle of the larger of the islands we could see that there were many fewer birds than we expected and certainly fewer than we saw the last time we visited this site. Both islands had large numbers of Black-headed Gulls nesting but it was also clear that – by and large – the Sandwich Terns all nested on the larger of the two islands and the Common and Arctic Terns all nested predominantly on the smaller of the two islands. Continue reading

May 28 2012

Birding Group Visit to Wales 28th May 2012 : Spinnies Aberogwen

Birding Group Visit to Wales 28th May 2012 :  Spinnies Aberogwen

We parked at the car park for The Spinnies Aberogwen Nature Reserve and we walked along the shingle beach (look out for the tide) where we saw a single Curlew and a few Sand Martins. At the hide that overlooks the bay (Traeth Lafan) we could see a number of roosting birds including a family of six Goosander, four of which were young. There were Shelduck and Lapwing and Black-headed Gulls and just off a small island we could see a small flock of about eight Eiders. The tide came in quite quickly and many of the spits disappeared under water. Continue reading

May 28 2012

Birding Group Visit to Wales 28th May 2012 : RSPB Conwy

Birding Group Visit to Wales 28th May 2012 : RSPB Conwy

The last birding group day out was a two-day affair involving visits to RSPB Conwy, the North Wales Wildlife Trust reserve, Spinnies Aberogwen near Tal-y-bont, Cemlyn Bay and RSPB South Stack on Anglesey. The three cars had differing starting points so we all met up for tea and planning at RSPB Conwy. Whilst we were there we had a walk around the site which was fairly quiet as the tide was out. Most of the interest was in the birds in the trees and bushes which included Greenfinch and Spotted Flycatcher. As we walked on the river side of the path we had great close views of a Sedge Warbler going at full tilt at the top of a bush. There were Swifts and Swallows and Martins in the air and the ever reliable Reed Buntings. Continue reading

May 22 2012

Birding Group Visit to Moore and Moss Side Nature Reserves 22nd May 2012

Birding Group Visit to Moore and Moss Side Nature Reserves 22nd May 2012

After missing a couple of the birding group mornings as a result of being on holiday it was good to get back with the group and our morning was at Moore Nature Reserve. The last time we were there as a group we saw a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker excavate a hole in a tree near a pathway so we hoped we might see it again. In fact we turned up a little early and from the car park we spotted a Jay, a Buzzard and we even had time to get a scope on a Whitethroat which was singing in rotation around three trees and showing very well. When we were all collected it had been decided that we should take in a new route around a part of the site that I had not been to before but have often wondered about.

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May 14 2012

Rutland Water 15th May 2012

Rutland Water 15th May 2012

On the last day of our holiday we had intended to go back to Cley Marshes but it was so wet when we were packed and ready to go that we decided to go straight to Rutland Water where we were due to stay at the Barnsdale Lodge Hotel (which proved to be a great place – and reasonably priced, perhaps due to last minute booking). As it happens our drive took quite some time so by the time we were settled in on the 14th there was no time to do anything except take a walk around the north edge of Rutland Water where we saw a number of the usual birds but we also saw a Kestrel and a Peregrine in close succession so it was interesting to look at their appearance and manner of flight together. On the 15th Anne wanted to go to a local garden before heading back for Manchester but I thought I would have a look again at the Rutland Water reserve on the south and west side and since, when we last stayed here on our way down to Suffolk, we had not really been able to get to many of the hides at the Egleton section of the reserve due to flooding. Continue reading

May 13 2012

Holmes Dunes NWT 13th May 2012

Holmes Dunes NWT 13th May 2012

We still wanted to do some birding after Titchwell Marsh but it had just been too frantic and full of people there so Holmes Dunes seemed like a quieter place. For a start it is a long drive down an incredibly potholed track to get there and there is no cafe or anything there so unlikely to attract the masses. The reserve is situated on the North Norfolk coast where The Wash meets the North Sea. Behind the dunes are areas of saltmarsh, freshwater marsh and reed beds. They have three hides overlooking Holme Marsh and there is a walk through sand dunes and scrubland with a return walk along the beach as well as a woodland walk. Continue reading