Archive News and Pictures - Glamorgan Birding - to 30^th November 2008

12^th November. With several nice birds reported around Glamorgan I tried to catch up with a few new species. First stop was the Yellow-Browed Warbler at Nantyffyllon near Maesteg that had been reported consecutively for the past seven days. After an hour and also chatting to the "finder" himself, we came to the conclusion that following the clear night the bird must have finally moved on. Another bird for next year! Still I had lovely views of Sparrowhawk and Dipper but the camera remained in the car while I was there. Next stop was the Watermill at Ogmore where a single Whooper Swan was still on the flooded fields amongst two dozen or so Mute Swans. The bird seemed very content with its location and company and it wouldn't surprise me if the bird remained there for quite some time. Then it was on to Southerndown where a Snow Bunting had been seen over the past few days. It was the same story here as with the YBW with the bird having moved off. I bumped into several other birders who were all looking for it but with no luck. I did finally manage to catch a perched Buzzard with the camera which was a nice consolation. Being "one for three" I hoped Cardiff Bay would be more successful with 3 other "potentials" reported there. After parking at the ice rink and scanning it didn't look to good but after a "tip off" and moving down towards Penarth Marina, I managed to locate the Slavonian Grebe which showed excellently, at times down to 15 feet. The bird seemed to have a slightly damaged left eye but other than that seemed in very good condition and was feeding happily close to the bay walls. A few hundred shots later I moved round to the barrage and walked for the hour my 50p car parking ticket allowed! The low sharp light was tricky but I managed some nice shots of a Kestrel, Linnet and also a Black-Headed Gull. Back to the ice rink and this time I managed to catch up with the 4 Goldeneye that had been seen over the past few days. Great to finally improve my shots of them and lovely to watch them diving in unison! A quick shot of two Great Crested Grebe on the way back to the car turned out nicely but there was no sign of the two Scaup also reported there. Finally I managed a lovely Mallard photo in late afternoon light over at the wetlands reserve to finish off the day. I'm now up to 197 species for the year - will I break 200?!!

16^th November. A really grey drizzle filled day but undeterred the family headed off to Cosmeston Lakes to hopefully catch up with the reported drake Ferruginous Duck found there on the 15th. After passing a few fellow birders looking for a Bearded Tit in the reeds around the boardwalks by the visitor centre we headed for the West Lake and couldn't spot the bird amongst all the Pochard and Tufted Ducks in various stages of eclipse and winter plumages. After a refreshing lap of the lake we caught up with some more birders back at the viewing platform and together managed to locate the bird which was fairly distinctive once identified! It kept its distance and wasn't very active but did show the white tail patch along with the dark ring around the neck along with the white eye and colouration indicative of the species. Another new life tick and one more for the website even if the photos are rather distant!

21^st November. I wanted to try and improve my shots of the Fudge Duck so headed back to Cosmeston on a greyish morning hoping for better luck. Well no luck at all really as the bird didn't show in the hour and a half I was there and also the Bearded Tit that had been showing over several days also had disappeared! I tried taking a few shots of the numerous flighty Redwing and also saw my first Fieldfare of the winter. A few pot shots at Goldcrest and Reed Bunting weren't going to win any prizes but it made me determined to come back and have another go!

23^rd November. After an awesome evening's entertainment at the Millennium Stadium watching Wales v New Zealand where I took the camera and filled an 8Gb card, I noticed a break in the wintry weather approaching so headed back to Cosmeston again hoping for some more luck with Mr. Fudge duck. When I arrived the light was really good and allowed some great shots of a female Reed Bunting on the boardwalk. I headed to the West Lake and soon realised that the duck, if it was there, was not going to play ball so went looking for winter thrushes to photograph. There were lots of Redwing and good numbers of Blackbird together with my last "easy target species" with a few Fieldfare photographs finally adding their place on the site. After another look for "the duck" turned up a blank, I decided to use the crisp clear light and got some lovely shots of a Little Grebe and also a female Tufted Duck as it was the closest thing to the Fudge duck I was going to see! Some bold passerines were around the bird table with really close views of Dunnock, Blue Tit and Great Tit requiring me to change the focus setting on the lens to allow me to focus within 6 metres! The best was yet to come as on my way back to the car park via the boardwalk I noticed the pristine male Bearded Tit feeding no further than 45 feet away in clear view. I eventually managed to edge to around 25 feet away snapping as I went with the bird unphased by my presence until it flew off as a dogwalker approached. What a cracking bird!

25^th November. A beautiful clear morning so I nipped off to Frampton before work. I was hoping to pick up the immature drake Lesser Scaup which had been seen there but it was certainly keeping its elusive profile. I did manage to find a female Greater Scaup but was handicapped by shooting into the bright light. All too soon it was time for work as I could have happily stayed birding there all morning!

29^th November. A weekend visiting friends in Sheffield proved too tempting for an early morning dip. Even though it was sub zero and a heavy fog kept visibility below 100 meters, I went to Sprotborough Flash near Doncaster to try and complete my Grebe set. With the light levels really poor I kept the camera in its bag which turned out to be a mistake as on reaching the third hide, there was the Red-Necked Grebe around 30 feet away! I got the camera out as quickly as I could but the resulting record shot was as good as I could muster. After waiting an hour and a half in the freezing cold, only a posing Kingfisher in the murk caused the shutter to work.

30^th November. One quick jaunt to end the month's birding allowed me a two minute view of four Waxwing. The flock of up to thirty birds had been reported on the outskirts of Sheffield consistently so I gambled on getting a view. It would have been better apart from some muppet with all the camouflage gear prattling on about fieldcraft, then proceeding to wander up to the tree where they were feeding and scaring the birds off. So again, only a record shot in poor light but great to catch up with the birds again and to hear the distinctive call. 201 Species for the year anyway!