The green green grass (snake) of home....

Yesterday dawned dry, warm and bright so we grabbed a quick brekkie, stuck a load in the washer, and jumped in the car and headed out to the Ynyslas area for a day of wader spotting. Calling in at Glyndwr pool first, all looked quiet with just 3 lapwing amongst the honking canada geese, despite a good coverage of muddy fringes to the rapidly declining water level. After 15 minutes or so alone green sandpiper flew in and promptly went into deep cover.Deciding to try elsewhere, a quick peek over the embankment on the Leri brought us face to face with 3 stunning black-tailed godwits, looking lovely with their brick red plumage glowing in the sunlight.

  

A quick visit to the beach car park at Ynyslas gave us good views of roosting sandwich terns amongst the gulls, and a large mixed flock of dunlin, sanderling and ringed plover. However, with the sun being out the place was starting to fill up with families and dog walkers, and worst of all, jet ski enthusiasts, so we went on to pastures new. Trying the pools at Ynys-hir seemed like a good idea, and indeed they were. Apart from great views of more green sandpipers, a real treat was in store for us when a gorgeous wood sandpiper appeared from behind a clump of rushes and began to feed, and chase off the green sands, right in front of us. Job done. Before heading back home, a quick stroll around the new boardwalk looking for dragonflies seemed to be the thing to do, and we were rewarded with close up views of black darters and a female southern hawker, who was busy ovipositing in the damp vegetation around the edge of a ditch. Having decided that we had done pretty well, we cut through the woodland to get back to the car park, and got a shock when I almost trod on a superb grass snake; quite easily the largest I've seen in years, at least 3 foot long. To finish things off, we also came across what we believe is a caterpillar of the elephant hawkmoth.

  

A couple of things from today to round things off - a check this evening on the spotted flycatcher nest after last nights heavy rain storm proved positive, with both youngsters looking healthy and close to fledging. Its exposed position has had us constantly checking on their well being, but so far they have escaped the attentions of any predators and thunderous downpours. Also, on the way back from said nest check, we had a new tick for the garden with this beaut of a slow-worm, which appreciated my delicate handling so much he crapped all over my palm - a small price to pay for a photo opp!

lepidoptera days

Another update on our recent activities and I'm afraid this time the reason behind our recent lack of posts is sheer laziness. So what have we been up to?

About two weeks ago a morning spent in Aberystwyth at Tanybwlch beach and Pendinas revealed the breeding success of many species such as sedge warbler, wheatear (at least 8 juveniles on the beach) and chough of which a family of five was moving around the area searching for the best feeding spots. On the beach I spotted a mediterranean gull amongst about 80 black-headed gulls and a few bottlenose dolphins were showing well again near the harbour.

  

  

A few days later we decided to spend an afternoon in the sand dunes north of Aberdyfi. Noteworthy on the bird front were only the passing manx shearwaters and gannets ( not high in numbers compared to the Borth feeding frenzy). Our focus was therefore directed on the butterflies and moths.The highlight and butterfly tick for me was a beautiful grayling (photo) that we found sunning itself on exposed sand. We also spotted large skipper (photo), ringlet, meadow brown, tortoiseshell, common blue and small, large and green-veined white. Also of interest were an abundance of freshly emerged and mating six-spot burnet moths and Dave discovered two garden tigers which are not well-camouflaged in the dunes at all.

  

  

These days waders are beginning to build up in numbers again. We were lucky to have great close-up views of a green sandpiper at Llyn Coed y Dinas (near Welshpool) and soon after found three of them at Ynys-hir feeding on the mud fringes in front of Saltings Hide. Also at Ynys-hir (from Domenlas) were about 40 dunlin, 20 redshank and one curlew.
We also have good news on the local front: Our predated spotted flycatchers built a new nest and are currently feeding their chicks; we were able to see at least two gapes when we discovered the nest which is made out of moss and placed on a rock outcrop. A few days ago we had a buzzard visiting the garden - much to the dislike of our blackbirds. And finally, on a local walk along the Dyfi near Pennal we heard a grasshopper warbler reeling in the middle of the afternoon on 23/07. A very optimistic bird inspired by the gorgeous weather to go for another brood? Also on the walk we had a few golden ringed dragonflies and numerous gatekeepers.

 

Manxie mayhem

After witnessing yesterdays seabird spectacular, I couldn't resist another visit to Borth today - luckily it coincided with a local survey, so Steffi came along as she'd missed it on Monday. We weren't disappointed. Hopefully these photos can convey some of the excitement of standing at the waters edge on a deserted beach, with the sun on your back and a frenzy of feeding activity going on right in front of you. If not, then I suggest you make the effort to see it for yourself.

 

Once again great views of the local, and very unshy, otter as it fed in the surf around the groynes opposite the railway station, and 25 dunlin looked resplendent in the sunshine at the point.

Afterwards we headed once again to Cors Fochno as it seemed ideal for dragon/butterflies. More of the same with the addition of large red damselfly, plus I got good close up views of large heath, and on the bird front a low flying goshawk carrying prey was a bonus. Before we had even left the house this morning we came across this poplar hawkmoth that had decided to use my boot as a good place to spend the day - we moved him to a more suitable spot before heading out.

  

It's getting otter......

As the deadline approaches for the surveys I've been working on, leisure birding has had to take a back seat whilst I stomp about the uplands of Wales, fighting off sunburn, horse flies and trenchfoot. However, there's still bits and pieces to report from the odd afternoons I've managed to meet up with Steffi and enjoy the beauty of the Ceredigion countryside - and now that Steffi has a break before she begins her Masters, she has been heading off into the wilds with the trusty camera whenever able. Butterflies and dragonflies have been on our radar these last few days, and we managed to meet up yesterday at Cors Fochno, a lowland raised peat bog just outside Borth. Before I arrived Steffi had picked up 4 grasshopper warblers, a green sandpiper, families of whitethroats, sedge warblers, linnets and willow warblers, along with large heath butterflies (photo), small red damselfly (photo), black darter (photo) and black tailed skimmer. She also had an incredibly close encounter with a young fox, who seemed oblivious to her presence.

  

  

 Meanwhile I had the pleasure of watching the astonishing wildlife spectacle that is the gathering of manx shearwaters in Cardigan Bay - if  you happen to time it right, as I did, then nothing quite prepares you for the sheer gob smacking event that unfolds before your eyes as thousands and thousands of shearwaters wheel around in great swirling clouds close into shore, with hundreds of gannets mixed in amongst them. With a calm blue sea, early morning sunshine and an empty beach, I sat and took in this brilliant sight which easily ranks as the one of the greatest natural wonders in this country.
Just to make our day really memorable, not long after we met up we decided to cross over the Leri and check the reedbeds - we didn't make it that far. As we were crossing the Leri, Steffi looked down and saw a movement on the mudbank, and there right in front of (and slightly below) us was this cracking otter enjoying a fish supper! Having views like this right in the middle of the day doesn't happen often, so we happily spent the next 40 minutes watching this beauty eating, cleaning and hunting before it headed up out of the river and came up right by us before heading over the embankment and into a reed filled ditch. Not too shabby.

  

Back home, a male whitethroat has this week claimed the gnarly tree at the bottom of the garden as his own, and has been singing his little head off day in, day out. Hoping for a bit of late breeding? Maybe the arrival of this cracking spell of summer weather has given him the urge.....

back on the blog

Well, sincere apologies for the lack of posts. We have been rather preoccupied with first my mum visiting and then with dog-sitting. Birding was therefore a bit limited and when we did get out, we didn't find the time to write up our sightings.

Locally we have mixed news. Our local common sandpipers were predated; less than a week after we found the nest. We hope it was early enough in the breeding season for them to try again elsewhere on a less disturbed field. The nest of our spotted flycatchers was also destroyed (corvids or squirrels? Let's say squirrels). The pair is still around and frequently found flycatching over the river but we don't know whether they are nesting elsewhere. Our blue tits fledged successfully. Unfortunately, we didn't check the box until all but one had left so we don't know how many were reared. The local great spotted woodpeckers reared at least three chicks and we delight with their attempts to get food from our various feeders. They appear to have different preferences with one hogging the peanut feeder, one enjoying the suet cake and one feeding on the ground. The parents still go non-stop for the suet log.

Whilst my mum was here I did have the chance to do a bit of birding whilst we were out and about. On our Borth walk I was very lucky to have found a little stint. But as I've never found such a good bird on my own and because Dave was away over night, I was unsure about what I had until we checked my distant record shots together the next day. So unfortunately it didn't make it into the local news. The three of us also had a very nice day at Ynys-hir. The local woodland birds showed well and I was able to get my mum onto a singing wood warbler, pied flycatchers visiting their nestbox and a male redstart. An added bonus for her was a willow warbler sitting relaxed in a tree in front of us having a very thorough preen.

  

Today we went on a lovely walk in the Wye valley and discovered juveniles of both stonechats and whinchats (photo). They appeared to be quite independent already and were able to find their own food. Also a delight were the activities of a family of wrens with at least four chicks.

 

We also managed to finally catch up with ring ouzel on one of our walks. Although the views weren't brilliant, a positive ID was made on the silvery wing panels in flight. Not too long ago a treat was in store for Dave when he had a close encounter with a polecat up in the hills. And I had a personal highlight when I went to one of the best sites for marsh fritillary butterfly in Wales which is also one of the sites I will base my MSc research project on. So far this summer we have also been lucky with the dragonflies. Four-spotted chaser (top right) were aplenty in the bog pools at Ynys-hir; we discovered freshly emerged male broad-bodied chaser (bottom left) at a permanent puddle on our local "Yellowhammer-walk" and encountered an also freshly emerged golden-ringed dragonfly (bottom right) in a scenic valley at Lake Vyrnwy.

 

 

A treemendous weekend

Much like the rest of the country we've been loving the recent spell of fantastic summerlike weather, and have been getting out and about looking at birds whenever not working (which involves getting out and about, erm, looking at birds). Very active down on the river, with the young dippers & wagtails still being tended to by the adults, whilst today we located the spotted flycatcher nest - easily viewed from footpath - and also the nest, containing two eggs of a common sandpiper. Rather worryingly, its location leaves much to be desired, as it sits rather conspicuously in short grass close to a gravel bank much used by local children and where people take their dogs to run riot. We saw it with the naked eye and we weren't even looking for it - I have to say I don't hold out much hope for a successful conclusion, especially as the adult bird was constantly going back and forth calling whenever anyone (us, a dog walker) or anything (sheep) went within 30 feet of the site, drawing attention to itself and the nest location.

Another interesting avian interaction took place yesterday outside the kitchen window, when I noticed a male pied flycatcher perched on the entrance to our birdbox, which is occupied by nesting blue tits. The flycatcher was cautiously poking its head in for a look, then drawing it out very quickly - presumably a sensible precaution when investigating a potential nestsite, as who knows what may lurk within. It did this about 5 times, then dropped onto the washing line and began to sing - maybe trying to find out if another male was using this territory? After going back to the box again and peeking in, it shot off not to be seen again, and some two minutes after out came the adult tits. Normal service has resumed, with the adults busy taking food into the box, making as many as 12 visits in 30 minutes.
On the mammal front, our badgers are still enjoying the fine dining we provide for them, and after finishing yesterdays survey I headed to Aber to pick up Steffi and we had great views of a feeding pod of bottlenose dolphins doing the whole leaping out the water, tail slapping, spray blowing thing that they do so well, close into the shore at Tanyblwch. Speaking of Steffi, she will now finish this off with tales of her weekend tree spotting......no, really.

Yes, a weekend of identifying trees at the field study centre near Betws-y-Coed. I did my best to focus on just trees and therefore kept my bins and my camera in my backpack throughout the day; but when an alarmed meadow pipit drew my attention to a close-in cuckoo, instinct kicked in and getting my camera out was more important than making sense of the willow tree hybrids. The cuckoo continued to stay close whilst I frantically threw my lunch out in order to get to my camera and I managed to get a few nice shots. Not much else to report from the walks I did on the weekend; however, on the field centre grounds I did discover nestboxes occupied by pied flycatcher and redstart, which allowed for some nice photo opportunities.

  

The Next Generation

Another couple of days with glorious sunshine had us out walking in the Strata Florida area on Saturday. Although common sightings these days we were nonetheless delighted by good views of male and female redstart, pied flycatcher, garden warbler, wheatear and tree pipit. Whinchat were numerous on the walk and filled our ears with an astonishing variety of songs we have not heard before. At some point we were even fooled into thinking there might be a much sought after ring ouzel lurking in a gulley. But as it turned out it was "just another" whinchat showing off his repertoir.

      

We also heard the yaffling of green woodpecker but despite patient and thorough scanning of the trees in question we could not locate them and they remained unseen. A brief visit to Cors Caron (after getting lunch from the Spar in Tregaron in the form of a couple of potato dogs - a "delicatesse" which I have not had since my year as an au-pair in the States and Dave had never tasted, and will never taste again) did not reveal much apart from a few large red damselflies and singing skylark and sedge warbler.

Good news from the local river! The grey wagtails have fledged two chicks so far (yesterday afternoon) but I believe that more chicks remain in the nest as the parents often flew past the chicks with a beak full of flies ignoring their hungry calls. The chicks were not bothered by my presence or that of splashing dogs in the river so that I could sit back, relax and watch them getting fed by the parents and attempting to catch flies of their own. The dippers have also fledged two chicks; these, however are of a very shy nature. It is incredible how well the mottled coloration allows the chicks to blend in perfectly into their environment of slate grey and green vegetation touched by ever-moving dappled sunshine. Whilst watching the youngster I also had three kingfisher fly by, one of which I believe was a juvenile one as it only flew short distances, making frequent stops on overhanging branches. And we've got a new species for the local river: A pair of spotted flycatcher have taken up residence! But so far they have not been very obliging when it comes to having their photo taken.