Birdrace -1st Jan - on foot!

In the style of "foot it" being organised by the BTO hows about having a 1 Jan Birdrace solely on foot from and back to your front door? I'm going to be doing it on the 1st Jan around my Cemaes home so it will be more interesting if there is some competition. Remember walking only allowed, no cars, public transport or bikes. Anyone else up for it? Tony from Tregele is also competing. Let us know if you are up for it and post your results and pics here on the blog. Good luck and all the best for 2013!

Lens for sale

Hi everyone,

I was thinking of upgrading my lens soon, and so thought I would post a little advertisement here in case someone is interested. The lens I am selling is a Canon 100-400mm f4-5.6 L series zoom lens. I have had it since August 2010, and it has served me well. Almost all the images on the Bardsey Wildlife blog were taken with this lens, on a Canon 7D body.

The lens itself is still working perfectly fine, although has quite a few scratches on the lens hood, and the writing on the lens is a bit faded. I still have most of the bits and pieces that it first arrived with, including a lens case, the lens hood etc. 

Attached to Canon 40D

 Fully extended plus lens hood

Fully compacted with inverted lens hood

If anyone is interested, please contact me at: bardseyben@gmail.com

Clwyd Sandpiper Sp.

Had quite a good selection of birds down on the Clwyd lately with a male and female Merlin, Wildfowl consisting of Shoveler, Goldeneye, Tufted Duck, plenty of Wigeon, 3 Little Grebes, the odd Little Egret and a few Swans and Geese.

 

Waders have been good too with Grey Plover, Bar Tailed Godwit and over 1000 Lapwing wintering at the site. On 27th December I came across a Common Sandpiper type species. By the time I saw it, it was 3.30pm, light was fading and the bird was quite a distance. Although not a clencher for Spotted Sandpiper, it did appear to have a less of a primary projection than what a Common would have, it appeared to have 'light' legs and was very active, and ocassionally getting chased by a Redshank.

 

Probably the most unhelpful picture i.d wise, but it brightens up the post a little!

If anyone in the area, the bird was seen on the muddy banks along the water's edge just south of the railway bridge and I was on the Rhyl side viewing. Weather was horendous today and the tide came in quicker than I wanted so only got 30 mins this morning but worth a look if in the area. It was last seen heading in the direction of Rhuddlan and there are a few shingle edges and islands that way that Common Sands like to favour in the Summer.

 

Conwy RSPB - festive treats!

The Bittern showed well to one lucky observer along the boardwalk this morning before melting into the reedbed. Could well be feeding on dead or injured starlings that roost here each night. Unfortunately no sign for birders soon on site. A single zitting Firecrest was near the Bridge Pool while Lesser Redpoll, Siskin and Bullfinches were also in the area. Trotting ponies flushed 2 Jack Snipe, 10+ Common Snipe and a Woodcock from the flooded marshy area at the far end of the reserve. Gadwall, Shoveler, Tufties, Pochard, Teal, Wigeon, Goldeneye and Red Breasted Merganser were all present too. This fine cock Pheasant followed me around for at least half an hour- I'm sure I'm going mad as I found myself chatting away to it!

Bittern in the rain.

A few bits and pieces around and about in the rain today.
Bittern outside the RSPB coffee shop at Conwy while at least one Firecrest present by the bridge pond.
4 Waxwings were just east of rainbow bridge along the side of the A55 while a single Great northern diver was off Rhos on Sea.
A spectacular sight was a flock of 2000 Lapwing along the River Clwyd. 5 Goosander, 4 Golden Plover and a Merlin here too.

South Africa trip

I have recently returned from 7 weeks in South Africa. I spent most of that time at Tswalu game reserve in the Kalahari. It is South Africa’s largest game reserve.  I was working on a project looking at the association between Sociable Weavers and Pygmy Falcons. This study aims to determine the nature of the interaction between these two species, and delve into the demography and life history of the Pygmy Falcon. We spent most of my time looking for Pygmy Falcon nests and monitoring the nests we found. We also looked at which other species share their nests. In my spare time we spent time birding and ringing in the area.

For more information on the Pygmy Falcon project see http://users.utu.fi/robtho/index.html

At the end of my stay at Tswalu, I flew down to Cape Town for 3 full days of birding Table Mountain, Kirstenbosh Botanical Gardens and the peninsula for more endemics.

In total I managed 216 species of bird. Birds marked in bold are endemic species of Southern Africa.

More photos under the list.

African Penguin

Cape Gannet

Greater Flamingo

White-breasted Cormorant

Bank Cormorant

Cape Cormorant

Crowned Cormorant

Reed Cormorant

African Sacred Ibis

Hadeda Ibis

Glossy Ibis

Black-headed Heron

Little Egret

Cattle Egret

Little Grebe

White-faced Whistling Duck

Egyptian Goose

South African Shelduck

Yellow-billed Duck

Cape Shoveler

Red-billed Teal

Hottentot Teal

White-backed Vulture

Lappet-faced Vulture

Verreaux's Eagle

Martial Eagle

Black-chested Snake Eagle

Yellow-billed Kite

Jackal Buzzard

Steppe Buzzard

Forest Buzzard

Black-shouldered Kite

Pale-chanting Goshawk

Gabar Goshawk

Black Sparrowhawk

Rufous-breasted Sparrowhawk

Peregrine Falcon

Rock Kestrel

Pygmy Falcon

Common Ostrich

Helmeted Guineafowl

Orange River Francolin

Cape Spurfowl

Common Buttonquail

Red-knobbed Coot

Common Moorhen

African Swamphen

Kori Bustard

Red-crested Koorhan

Northern Black Koorhan

Black-winged Stilt

African Black Oystercatcher

Spotted Thick-knee

Blacksmith Lapwing

Crowned Lapwing

Ringed Plover

Three-banded Plover

African Snipe

Wood Sandpiper

Common Sandpiper

Ruff

Little Stint

Kelp Gull

Grey-headed Gull

Hartlaub's Gull

Swift Tern

Sandwich Tern

Common Tern

Namaqua Sandgrouse

Double-banded Sandgrouse

Burchell's Sandgrouse

Speckled Pigeon

Feral/Rock Dove

Lemon (Cinnamon) Dove

African Mourning Dove

Red-eyed Dove

Cape Turtle Dove

Laughing Dove

Namaqua Dove

Grey Go-away-bird

African Cuckoo

Black Cuckoo

Jacobin Cuckoo

Dideric Cuckoo

Klaas's Cuckoo

Pearl Spotted Owlet

Verreaux's Giant Eagle Owl

Spotted Eagle Owl

Western Barn Owl

Rufous-cheeked Nightjar

Alpine Swift

African Black Swift

Common European Swift

Little Swift

White-rumped Swift

African Palm Swift

Speckled Mousebird

White-backed Mousebird

Red-faced Mousebird

European Bee-eater

Swallow-tailed Bee-eater

Lilac-breasted Roller

African Grey Hornbill

Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill

Common Greater Scimitarbill

African Hoopoe

Crested Barbet

Acasia Pied Barbet

Greater Honeyguide

Lesser Honeyguide

Golden-tailed Woodpecker

Cardinal Woodpecker

Ground Woodpecker

Spike-heeled Lark

Sabota Lark

zFawn-coloured Lark

Eastern Clapper Lark

Barn Swallow

White-throated Swallow

Greater Striped Swallow

South African Cliff Swallow

Black Saw-wing Swallow

Common House Martin

Rock Martin

Fork-tailed Drongo

Eurasian Golden Oriole

White-necked Raven

Pied Crow

Cape Crow

Ashy Tit

Southern Pied Babbler

Cape Bulbul

African Red-eyed Bulbul

Dark-capped Bulbul

Sombre Greenbul

Olive Thrush

Karoo Thrush

Groundscraper Thrush

Short-toed Rock Thrush

Familiar Chat

Ant-eating Chat

Mountain Wheatear

African Stonechat

Kalahari Scrub Robin

Cape Robin-Chat

Cape Grassbird

Long-billed Crombec

Cape Penduline-Tit

Yellow-bellied Eremomela

Chestnut-vented Tit-Babbler

Layard's Tit-Babbler

Zitting Cisticola

Desert Cisticola

Neddicky

Rattling Cisticola

Grey-backed Cisticola

Black-chested Prinia

Karoo Prinia

Rufous-eared Warbler

Barred Wren-Warbler

Fiscal Flycatcher

Chat Flycatcher

Marico Flycatcher

African Dusky Flycatcher

Spotted Flycatcher

African Paradise Flycatcher

Cape Batis

Pririt Batis

 Cape White-eye

Orange River White-eye

Cape Wagtail

African Rock Pipit

African Pipit

Red-backed Shrike

Lesser Grey Shrike

Common Fiscal

Brubru

 Southern Boubou

Crimson-breasted Shrike

 Brown-crowned Tchagra

Bokmakierie

Cape Glossy Starling

Burcchell's Starling

Red-winged Starling

Common Myna

Common Starling

Wattled Starling

Cape Sugarbird

Malachite Sunbird

Orange-breasted Sunbird

Southern Double-collared Sunbird

Marico Sunbird

Dusky Sunbird Dusky Sunbird

House Sparrow

Southern Grey-headed Sparrow

 White-browed Sparrow-Weaver

Sociable Weaver

Red-billed Buffalo Weaver

Southern Masked Weaver

Southern Red Bishop

Pin-tailed Whydah

Shaft-tailed Whydah

Scaly-feathered Finch

Violet-eared Waxbill

 Black-faced Waxbill

Green-winged Pytilia

African Quail-Finch

Swee Waxbill

Black-throated Canary

Yellow Canary

Cape Canary

Forest Canary

Cape Siskin

Cinnamon-breasted Bunting

Cape Bunting

Golden-breasted Bunting



 





Double-banded Sandgrouse



Red-crested Koorhan