Short-eared Owls

I was working outside this afternoon, contemplating piles of timber and tools, when out of the corner of my eye I noticed something breaking the horizon by the Wireless Station up on Clip y Gylfinhir, Mynydd Rhiw. It simply 'did not look right', triggering a race across the yard for my binoculars - a sprint known to all ornithologists!

A first glimpse as the bird rounded the hill then my suspicions were confirmed as the Short-eared Owl reappeared, quartering over the young gorse and heather in it's search for food.. A little while later a party of walkers flushed a second bird in the same area. It's always a delight to see these fine birds, which I've encountered regularly on the heathland around the village during the winter months.
   

Belated Bittern

I've just heard a very convincing report of a Bittern at Cors Geirch last week courtesy of Eddie. His mate was working a JCB on the edge of the marsh and described seeing a "heron sized bird, many shades of brown with a yellowish bill that was standing in a ditch before walking into the reeds". About as convincing a description as it gets! 

Cors Geirch is a great site but access is extremely difficult with just the odd track and footpath crossing it. Even the old bird hide there is completely overgrown. It would be great if CCW improved access - who knows what passes through unnoticed.

Porth Dinllaen Diver

Firstly, apologies for the long delayed blog update. I may as well have hibernated during December and January which seems to be memorable for horrible wet weather, a nasty cold virus and a lack of serious birding apart from lots of garden observations and the odd trip here and there. Check my twitter account for more regular missives from the field.

Anyway, less excuses. Today started well with a fine Brambling at the garden feeding station plus 30+ Chaffinch.

This afternoon I met up with Eddie and had a walk out to Porth Dinllaen in what I can only describe as a WNW gale. Expressions like "sandblasted" came to mind although there's always some protection by one of the holiday cottages to scope the bay. The objective was to check for any storm-driven seabirds sheltering in the amazing natural harbour and we had some success. The highlight was a fine Great Northern Diver which was busy munching crabs in the style of last winter's Surf Scoter. A couple of Red-throated Divers were in the area plus a party of seven Great Crested Grebes which were roosting in a tight group. Many of these birds were moulting into breeding plumage.

Small parties of Guillemots were passing offshore (although no Little Auks were picked out) while two Ravens flew past the headland with one carrying what appeared to be a golf ball!

A small gull roost comprised a couple of hundred each of Common' & Black-headed' with the odd Herring Gull. A handful of Lesser Black-backed Gulls have been passing through Pwllheli in the last few weeks although the harbour has been relatively quiet otherwise. Roll on spring!
  

Porth Ysgaden Pipit

I had a call from Dei Rhys Jones this afternoon who had the good fortune to come across a probable Richard's Pipit at Porth Ysgaden around lunchtime today. Although Dei is not the most experienced birder his description sounds spot on. He had prolonged telescope views of the bird on the pasture - describing it as a large pale upright pipit - alongside the resident Rock Pipits, and also heard it's characteristic sparrow-like calls in flight. It also hovered before landing as it flew around the area before heading north-east.

I decided to meet up with Eddie late afternoon in the hope of relocating it. Sadly there was no sign of the target but a nice flock of 56 Golden Plovers were overhead, 16 Turnstone fed on the beach and 16 Wigeon were roosting offshore. Two vocal Red-billed Chough were busy demolishing the clawdd in the search for food.

Before long the sun was setting and it was time to head home - grumble, grumble... November days are too short but only a month to go before the shortest day and the promise of all that verdant green lamb frolicking bird singing daffodilly springness!

November Birding

Oh well that's another autumn over - or is it? Just heard we've had one of the coldest October's on record and it really feels like it with some low temperatures and that horrible greyness I associate with this month. I've done a little birding since the last update but not seen too much of interest apart from a decent flock of Wigeon and a party of Pintail on the Llanengan floods a few days ago.

So the year turns and with it the annual rituals. The Sibley Guide to North American Birds has been removed from the car boot and is firmly back on the bookshelf as the forlorn hope of finding a Yankee passerine in Porth Meudwy is swept away for another year.

Porridge every morning.

The sunrise and sunset has become more rapid unlike the long drawn out dusks of summer (well at least the odd night when it was possible to sit outside).

The medium sized blackish birds zooming across the sky are Starlings now, rather than Barn Swallows.

Eternal dampness outside... but the wood burner is lovely of an evening.

I had a wander around the fields by the house tonight at dusk and glimpsed a Barn Owl in the twilight over the rough grassland. A posse of Redwings called overhead. Song Thrushes and Robins were disturbed from the gorse topped cloddiau as I passed while a distant bonfire glowed on the road to Pen-y-caerau.

Hoping for a local Waxwing soon...

Wood Lark Dip

There was a young man called Marc
Who went out and found a Wood Lark
(on my patch!)
He told me, I twitched it, then sadly I dipped it
So now I'm gonna punch his face off....

ONLY JOKING!

But (gggggggrrrrrrrr), it is a teeny weeny bit gripping when a One Man Bird Observatory turns up and finds stuff that I should have!

The fact that Mr Hughes was actually out looking (rather than limping around in recovery mode after a particularly spine-bending yoga class the night before while contemplating a day of meaningless toil) probably helps to explain his good fortune. Plus the fact that he's a bloody good birder. Nice find - they're a scarce Welsh migrant - and it could have been a lot worse (think Calandra worse).

The bird was seen in flight between the Ty Newydd Campsite and the end cattle grid onto Mynydd Mawr then landed in the weedy field adjacent to the lower car park but was not relocated. Having dashed along (all of 17 minutes on the road) I discovered that there were loads of birds on the move - Starlings, Jackdaws, hundreds of Chaffinches, Reed Buntings, Siskins and a few Brambling and began kicking myself for not getting out earlier.

So never mind, lesson learned and to be honest I don't really need Wood Lark on the patch - having heard one over Mynydd Mawr a few years ago that pitched down on Bardsey 20 minutes later. I was still stuck in the wires from my Sennheiser when I received the news from the island, having managed to pull the microphone lead out from my MiniDisc while simultaneously attempting to hit the record button and fit my headphones - becoming hopelessly entangled while trying to reconnect. Fortunately my Anglo-Saxon expletives were not recorded at the time. I tend to keep the record button on these days...

Fortunately, the interloper will be heading off back to the Great Orme soon - leaving the hardcore Lleyn Birder(s) to soldier on, probably counting Jackdaws... PS he also had at least two Firecrests in Porth Meudwy.

Good for him...;-)

Merlin, Firecrest & Jay

First off, apologies for the lack of updates. I simply have not got round to it! Any readers left?

It's been a truly beautiful autumn morning. The weather was dry, calm and cool with the sun slowly breaking through a veil of cloud over the bulk of Cadair Idris, making for a  nice start to the day.

My attention turned once more to migrant counting at Uwchmynydd and a fine Merlin dashed across the road on arrival. Unfortunately, after an hour I gave up disappointed with low numbers of birds on the move. Click on the image below for the details:

Good to bump into Marc Hughes aka MarcBuzzard (and definitely worth a follow on Twitter) who joined me for a while and then had a wander around the area, finding a Woodcock near Ty Newydd Campsite.

Selected species in Porth Meudwy included: Great Spotted Woodpecker, 28 Blackbird, a Fieldfare, 10 Redwing, one Mistle Thrush, two Blackcap and three Chiffchaff. A flyover migrant Jay was being pressured by the local Crows to continue. A couple of Brambling called overhead while Marc picked up a Lapland Bunting on the move with a flock of Skylarks.

Finally, a brilliant male Firecrest ( a new bird or is t the same one hanging around?) was found just below the Tir Glyn campsite.

Aerial Plovers

I could watch Golden Plover flocks all day, especially when they take to the wing. This is when they're transformed from the shy, slow moving waders of open grassland and moors to sky dancers; often circling endlessly across the sky back and forwards from horizon to horizon. Whenever I see them - and even more so when I hear them - I'm taken back to wilder landscapes than the farmland that dominates so much of the peninsula.

From searching for golden-spangled breeding birds on long hot May days, across upland bogs white with Cottongrass, high above the Derwent Valley in Derbyshire's lovely Peak District, to watching resting flocks of autumn migrants on Unst - the most northerly of the Shetland Isles - they've always been a delight to encounter. A flock of c.100 circling the Llanengan floods late afternoon today were as captivating as ever.

A single adult Mediterranean Gull, 47 Teal, 16 Wigeon and 60 Curlew were virtually the only other birds present but the Goldies stole the show.

Redwing

It's been a rather cold, dull and wet day but a fine Redwing calling over the house - my first this autumn - was a good start.

Later, I had a message from Steve Stansfield reporting a Citrine Wagtail on Bardsey - first for the island, and probably another one to add to my 'flown over the house' list...

Anyway, this is a bit of a late post, but the avian excitement yesterday on the mainland was probably just a statistically significant Jackdaw movement ;-p as witnessed by yours truly at Mynydd Mawr. I see by using the 'Migration Pattern' page of Trektellen that there were some big numbers moving in Europe. If you're as fascinated by migration as me and have never had a play with this remarkable database then get on the case (or throw your binoculars away). Full count from yesterday below:

With a relatively uneventful session on the hill I called into Porth Meudwy for a quick look on my way home. First surprise was a group of eight Mistle Thrushes by the car park, my highest count here, as was a flock of 17 Magpies (presumably a post-roost group).

Other selected species included; two Grey Wagtail, six Blackbird, 13 Robin, 10 Blackcap, three Chiffchaff, 17 Goldcrest, a single Coal Tit, a flock of 10 Red-billed Chough over to the east, Lesser Redpoll, Bullfinch, Reed Bunting and a flyover Common Snipe. 

Continental Jays?

I set the alarm for another unearthly hour and was rewarded by a brilliant starscape and silver moon on waking. The ritual of breakfast, gathering food, flask, optics etc was quickly over and I was out on the road again, heading west. After some very heavy showers the morning dawned dry and cold with the wind in the northwest and expectations high.

Visible migration was again on the agenda but sadly the results were a little disappointing - click the Trektellen screengrab below for full details:

The two Jays were seen by an unknown birder who I met in Porth Meudwy after completing the count where I was pleased to see another couple of these smart corvids - presumably they're Continental birds as big numbers are presently being reported from both sides of the North Sea.

With the sun hitting the top of the valley after a cold night plenty of birds were busy flycatching and eating the blackberries, haws and elderberries. Blackcaps were most evident with 19 logged plus a total of three Chiffchaff. I was fortunate enough to refind both the Yellow-browed Warbler and the male Firecrest and was able to view both from the same location at one point (in the bottom section of the valley in the willows by the stream). By this time the sun was really warming the place up and it tuned out to be a gorgeous day.

Overhead, hirundines were passing through with 19 Barn Swallow and 25 House Martin. While watching these a group of Common Buzzads were located very high up in the clouds (two adults and four 1st years - presumably also on the move).

The usual suspects were around the valley including twenty Robins, two Blackbirds and a single Song Thrush were also seen. Where are all the Redwings and Fieldfares? Very late arriving this year. Small groups of Chaffinch were again dropping in, a Lesser Redpoll buzzed overhead and a few more Skylarks headed over. A couple of Coal Tits could also have been migrants as they were the first I've seen here for a while.

After bumping into Eddie again I was relieved when he connected with the Yellow-browed' before we had a drive around Uwchmynydd, checking Pwll Cyw (quiet apart from a few Goldcrests, Chiffchaff and a nearby Northern Wheatear) and Ystolhelyg. A nice Red Kite was a bonus bird drifting overhead. After dropping him back in the valley an Adder slithered across the track as I departed.

On reaching home received a message that a probable Richard's Pipit was at Porth Colomon today (no further details) and a Firecrest was at the crossroads by Ffynnon Saint just west of Aberdaron. This was still showing late afternoon.