no longer sincere

This week its all been about the mighty waxwing. Knowing there are lots in the country, we've been keeping an eye on a couple of areas that hold berry trees, and on Sunday this paid off with 2 feeding by the Bryn-y-gog estate. By Monday, this had increased to 22, mainly feeding in the other fruit rich area by the library. On Tuesday this had increased again to 52, and by mid morning today, we had 62, back in the original trees by the estate. By now, word had got around and a couple of local ringers turned up and we attempted to catch a few with a mobile mist net! Drawing puzzled glances from passing motorists, 3 were bagged, colour ringed and released unharmed back into the wild. Steffi was beside herself with joy, as she had never seen a good sized flock before, and even more so when she got to put the ring on one.

On a more personal note, we also managed to add waxwing to our garden list when one obliging individual fed on a hawthorn bush down by the river in front of the house.
We also learnt a few new tips, like how to tell male and female apart - blackish throat ends cleanly on a male, diffused on a female - and how to tell one of this years youngsters from an adult (only in the hand!).
As for the cryptic title to this post, any latin scholars amongst you will know that the word sincere comes from the ancient Roman practice of passing off cheap sculptures as quality items by covering any marks or pits with wax, forcing craftsmen to advertise their decent sculptures as being "without wax" - sin cere.

Purple Reign

A morning shift in the library gave us the chance to catch up with the regular Aberystwyth winter visitors purple sandpiper and black redstart. Of the former we found two - one on the rocks by the wooden jetty and one on castle rocks. Of the latter we had a female being chased by a rock pipit around the sheltered side of the Old College. Also noteworthy were two brent geese flying north, 9 ringed plover and ca. 20 turnstone on castle rocks.

Also this week Dave had a brief view of cetti's warbler (his second sighting this year in Britain while I still had none) at Ynys-hir whilst reed cutting and I had two woodcock. One I flushed on Frongoch farm whilst putting together a conservation audit for an assignment and the other one flew by on Llanbadarn campus. Brambling still frequent the garden occasionally.

Goldammer

Today we decided to go on one of our local walks into the upland hills above the golf course. Despite sunny and warmish weather it was fairly quiet on the bird front but a few highlights made the muddy trek worthwhile. Close to home on the Dulas we had 4 dipper and a grey wagtail. Further along, the steep ascent into the hills was sweetened by the sight and sound of two bullfinches. Unfortunately, all the berry trees in the area had already been stripped of berry and didn't produce any winter thrushes. Further along on the small lake we spotted two goldeneye who have hopefully taken up residence for the winter and a feeding flock with tits, goldcrest, treecreeper and two very handsome redpoll. The star of the walk was a beautiful bright golden yellowhammer just as we reached Mach again. A woman in her garden started talking to us and told us that they feed about 30 yellowhammer in the garden and that they breed somewhere just behind the house. We will definitely go back for our "little bit of bread and no cheese" in the spring.

Notable on the garden front on Friday was a treecreeper that Dave spotted casually making its way up on the sycamore just outside the kitchen window.

A field day

Good news on the brambling front, as 3 returned to the garden yesterday, with one being seen today - and no sign of my nemesis, the black cat. Also, yesterday saw the garden list increase by one, with an impressive flock of fieldfare, c250, in the trees along the railway line and in the flood field along with c300 starling. They didnt stay around for long before heading off south in one huge mass. Whilst watching them a male bullfinch appeared, only the 2nd sighting we've had in the garden.

On a stroll down the Dulas before breakfast Steffi managed to get some shots of her favourite species, the dipper - one of at least 5 we saw in a very small stretch of the river; thats 5 individuals, not 5 sightings, as at one stage we had all of them in view at the same time. Also putting on a good show was a vocal grey wagtail, which dropped onto the gravel bank where Steffi was sat.

Today, I added a mammalian tick in the form of a superb adult fox heading across the fields - so much more proper 'fox' looking than the rather scrawny ones you see in the towns and cities.

Get Shorty!

The numbers of brambling frequenting the garden this week reached a peak of 6 on Wednesday, but has tailed off to zero today - maybe the unwelcome black cat I flushed out from under the conifer bush on Friday may have something to do with their moving on? A bonus on Thursday was a male blackcap in the hawthorn, and a small number of redwings, though still no fieldfare.

Today we decided to make the most of the sunny morning as rain was forecast for lunchtime onwards, and headed out to Ynyslas. We stopped by the railway crossing and walked along the Leri, almost immediately flushing a short eared owl off the tideline, which drifted across the river to sit on a post, giving us a baleful glare. A lot of teal, wigeon and shelduck in the estuary, but apart from oystercatchers nothing on the wader front. At Ynyslas point Steffi crawled around on her belly to get some shots of golden plover looking resplendent in the sunshine, whilst I picked up on a raft of 15 scoter out on the very choppy sea. Apart from a large flock of greenfinch feeding on the tideline, there was very little else to get excited about until 2 chough passed overhead. Other sightings included 3 skylark, 2 reed bunting, 3 little egret, red kite and 1 redshank.

Dippin'

Yesterday's sunshine took us to Llanrhystud on a walk along the coastline south to the lime kilns. Snow buntings had been seen there a couple of times this week so we were hoping to get a glimpse of them but unfortunately dipped out. The walk was still very enjoyable - despite a cold, harsh wind - with good views of plenty of chough, oystercatcher, redshank, rock and meadow pipit, a med gull and a flock of about 40 wigeon out at sea. Towards the end a grey seal popped its head up close in to shore.

For today we decided to walk from Dolgellau to Barmouth on the Mawddach Trail along the estuary towards the coast. Overall the walk was absolutely lovely, with stunning scenery cast into a golden light by the beautiful winter sun, although it did lack a bit in bird life. It started off well with good views of dippers on the river. As I was photographing one dipper another one landed nearby causing my bird to burst into song and to flap its wing in some sort of territorial display. On the walk we noted numerous grey heron, curlew, teal, wigeon, pintail (photo), red-breasted merganser and goosander as well as a treecreeper and a red admiral basking in the sunshine on an old tin bath. As we crossed the bridge over to Barmouth (a stunning piece of architecture providing beautiful views all around) we got ringed plover, oystercatcher, redshank and common gull. Unfortunately, we picked the wrong day for visiting the town as a dirt bike race was on so we did not get the chance the explore the sand dunes and the coastline.

its hammer time....

Good news on the garden front this week, with two new birds for the list, and both a couple of crackers. First up, on Monday, my eye was drawn to a flash of sunflower yellow and peering out the window I was astonished and delighted to see a belting male yellowhammer under the feeders amongst the numerous chaffinch and sparrows - unfortunately Steffi was not around so a) she didnt see it and b) there was no photo of it.
Then today, tick 62 appeared in the shape of a brambling, which originally got my attention when it flew into the kitchen window, then sat composing itself in the ash tree, before dropping down to feed with the chaffinches under the seed feeders - luckily this time Steffi was around to see and photograph it, through the window (so not great quality).

Yesterday we headed off on a circuit of our patch, but things were quiet with only redwing, grey wagtail, teal and 11 snipe of any note, along with some inquisitive cows.
Just observed the local bats (pips) are still active and feeding over the garden. With a good crisp and sunny forecast for the next couple of days in store, we plan a few new walks to make the most of this good weather, so hopefully we can update the blog this weekend with tales of avian joy, and stunning scenic photos to look forward to.