Wednesday 30 November 2011

YB Warbler, Firecrest and Snow Bunts @ Conwy

Bits and pieces in Conwy today - the Yellow browed warbler is still sgowing along the loop trail along with a Firecrest. There are 3 Snow Buntings on the edge of Conwy Golf Course, viwed by parking in the Beacons car park and walking along the edge of the golf course. Thers is another Snow Bunting in the shingle ridge at Penrhyn Bay beach.

Costa Rica Talk at BBG tonight



Rhion Pritchard and Dr Gareth Jones will be talking on Costa Rica at Bangor Birdgroup tonight. Doors open 7 - 7.30 pm. Brambell Building, Deiniol Rd Bangor.



Here's a digiscope shot I got of A Resplendent Quetzal in Costa Rica in September. It was more Resplendent than the first one I saw which was bald with no tail!

Grey Phal - no show!

There was no sign of the Rhoscolyn Grey Phal today at 8.10am and again at 11.30am :-(

Tuesday 29 November 2011

The morning started very windy and wet and whilst on the phone Steve saw a striped gem from his office window! (see below). Ben went off to the Narrows and came across then next good bird in the form of this smart ocean-loving gull.

























Pallas's Warbler and Sabines Gull - both breaking the latest records for the island

Grey Phal at Rhoscolyn




This Grey Phal was showing yesterday and today. It's on a small roadside pool at Rhoscolyn. Near 4 mile bridge turn off towards the White Eagle pub. The bird is on a small pool on the left near some black plastic bales before a stand of pines on the right by the house Plas Iago, before you get to The White Eagle. Parking is at a premium here so be careful. The bird is spinning away on this little pool. Occasionally having a little fly aroung the pond giving off a distinct "chip" note. It's pretty close so gives great views, I only managed a few digi-bin shots. Nice little lunch-time twitch! Norman was also enjoying the bird with me.

Monday 28 November 2011

Report of Leach's Petrel, Great Orme

This relates to a bird released by the RSPCA today from the Great Orme after being picked up in Rhos on Sea town following the winds over the weekend.

Yellow-browed Warbler Conwy RSPB

Showed pretty well for about 20 mins this morning, calling frequently. Hopefully, it will be seen again tomorrow. Also 3 Whooper Swans in the morning and a Med Gull about midday from the Carneddau hide.

Rob H

Sunday 27 November 2011

Bits and bobs

A seawatch at Rhos Point over high tide produced a winter plummaged black guille and a prob juv Sab's gull but distant while Conwy RSPB has a whooper swan on the far lagoon and a brent goose with wigeon in the estuary. A merlin zapping along Gloddaeth Lane on the way back to Penrhyn Bay was a nice bonus.

Saturday 26 November 2011

Purple Sand, Rhos Point

Just one over the high tide today.  Big tides this weekend.  8 European WF Geese flew W/SW at midday over Rhos too. 
                             


  D-scoped

Friday 25 November 2011

Unconfirmed report of possible.....

Two reports today, both third hand, of Shore Larks on Pensarn beach east of the railway station. John R and Ralph M have both had a look - no sign. Well worth a look if your over that way.

When in Norfolk last weekend we met "birders" that were very excited by larks on the beach and were happy they were Shore Larks because they were on the beach! The fact they looked like Skylarks didn't matter to them! So unconfimed report of possible at the moment!

Hope to see some of you at Martin Mere WWT over the weekend? We are speaking both days - new talk on The Biggest Twitch, plenty new pics.

Good birding
Alan and Ruth

The North West Birdwatching Fair































It's the North West Birdwatching Fair at Martin Mere this weekend. It's a great oppertunity to see Wildfowl, Raptors, Ruffs and Tree sparrows, plus the ornamental wildfowl. It's also a good chance to do some Birdy Christmas shopping. Also a quick drop in to the Bunting Hide at Pennington Flash on the way always gives great photo oppertunities for Bullfinches, Willow tits and the odd surprise too.









Thursday 24 November 2011

Great Grey Shrike @ Hafren Forest

One found by Tony Cross this afternoon, where the Afon Biga meets the Clywedog reservoir. It can be very elusive for long periods of time, but with a bit of patients it does occasionally perch relatively close to the road!!





This follows a good run of birds in monts over the past week or so, inc:

Great Grey Shrike @ Carno
Bittern, 3 Little Egrets and 5+ Water Rails @ Dolydd Hafren
2+ Short-eared Owls, and numerous Jack Snipe and Woodcock @ Llyn Hir
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker @ Caerhowel
40+ Brambling @ Llanidloes
Possible Cetti's Warbler, Little Egret, Greenshank, 3+ Green Sandpipers @ LCyD
Hen Harrier and 4+ Red Grouse @ Glaslyn

I know none of these are 'megas' but believe me they are all very good birds for this county, just ask Marc!!!

Tuesday 22 November 2011

Rhuddlan white-fronts




The 19 Eurasian white-fronted geese are still frequenting Rhuddlan marsh, best viewed down Marsh Road. Park at the bottom of the lane by the gate adjacent to the caravan park and walk quarter of a mile to view.

Sunday 20 November 2011

Anglesey still on fire.

All the good birds still on Anglesey this morning (bar the Glossy that did not oblige in the short time availbale there). Red necked Grebe showed very well at Penrhyn and certainly is impressive (video below), while the Siberian Chiff-chaff is a super little bird. Steve's description is spot on, although the wingbar was quite prominent in the early morning light. The call was heard often- a plaintive 'peeeep' often likened to a mournful dunnock a good way of picking up with the roving tit flock. A single Tundra Bean Goose alonside a Pink footed Goose here gave excellent conparison between the two species. The Lesses Yellowlegs was also on form on the Alaw Estuary at Llanfachraeth. 11 Whooper swans showed well at Malltraeth Marsh as we were looking in vain for the Ibis.

Blokes, Birds and a Lady!








A great day out. Reg, Adrienne, Tony and Si looking on as I took Point. Tony nails the Yellowlegs. Dave Owens and Son get the Ibis. Quartering SEO at Coron, Malltraeth Sands Dabchick at Dusk and Sunset at Shorelands. Lovely day.

Saturday 19 November 2011

Fantastic Day
















Today me and Tony went out birding and it was probably one of our best days birding we've had on Anglesey. Fantastic weather and a shed load of quality birds! To start the Lesser Yellowlegs was showing well at the Llanfachraeth end of the Alaw estuary. Then we got stonking views of the ibis at Malltraeth. Tony almost had a fit at one point. He had just put his camera down for a few seconds to chat to Jim Bach when the Ibis lifted it's wings in a great pose and what made it worst was all he could hear was me firing off a volley of shots, nailing it! Coron was great with 12 European Whitefronts, Green Sand, Pink foot, Water Rail and a lovely Sibe Chiffchaff spotted by Zac and Chris. There was a well marked Buzzard near Llanfaelog that reminded me a little of a juvvy Snail Kite, and 2 more Pinks were close near Traffwll. The long billed Red necked Grebe showed well at Penrhyn then it was off to Coron again. Here we saw upto 3 Short eared Owls hunting over the Common, with a fly-by Peregrine - lovely! We finished the day at Malltraeth sands watching the Male Hen Harrier quartering over the saltmarsh, Ravens flying to roost and a fantastic sunset! We didn't want the day to end so we carried on, watching a bat feeding by the bridge at Malltraeth before focusing our attention on Jupiter and its moons. Great day!

Siberian Chiffchaff at Llyn Coron







Excellent day birding today on Anglesey. A mob of us were at Llyn Coron looking over the lake near the fishermans car park when Chris Jones said he had a pale looking Chiffchaff. I new if we were going to get anywhere with it we would have to get some photos so in I went! It was pretty elusive but appeared 3 times whilst we were there before moving into the deeper Willow scrub. The photos showed a light grey brown colour lacking any green tones. Hint of a wingbar. The underparts were paler without any yellow. The bill was small and along with the legs were black. They look paler fringed in the photos due to being backlit.The ear coverts were a warmer brown colour. It had a long buff not yellow supercillium. There was a slight hint of green fringes only noticeable on the primaries and secodaries.The only yellow visible was a pale wash on the underwing.
Call, hmmm. There was a quiet piping noise coming from it's direction, but hand on heart I couldn't rule out a distant Teal calling! - Marc good luck trying to "tape" it tomorrow!

news from Sat

River Clwyd: 19 WF Geese on Kinmel Bay side- great local record.

Llanddulas: At least 40 Velvet Scoter on falling tide this morning- think there could be more.  Very distant but caught glimpses of the white panels in the wings throughout the scoter flock.

Glossy Ibis still Malltraeth Marsh RSPB but flew south to roost at 16:35.  Also a Swift sp. flew over at 16:00!

Lesser Yellowlegs still showing on Allaw Est access from Llanfachraeth- easiest to park in village and walk to the bridge.

Friday 18 November 2011

Anglesey birding

John Roberts and I were tempted west today. First stop Llyn Coron. 12 White fronts showed well. Sadly no beans. Not a good start as these would be a much needed welsh first for me.
Next to Valley wetlands. No sign of the interesting red necked grebe for an hour. After a long search we headed back to the mound and the grebe suddenly appeared. It showed very well but was constantly hassled by a great crested. The bill is longer than any red necked I have seen before and perhaps the neck a little more slender. Certainly a good spot by Chris.
After a tip off from Alan we set off to the Alaw Estuary to look for the lesser yellowlegs. The bird was showing well as soon as we arrived.
Black guillis were present off the fish quay in Holyhead.
We decided to try once more for the bean geese on the way home and were very lucky to have the 3 birds fly over our head and away just as we arrived.

Hoping to put some hours in at my local Gresford flash this weekend as a very reliable local birder had a caspian gull there yesterday!

Grebe - worth a second look and a bit more research

I've ben trawling through pics of Red necked Grebe on the net this evening and agree that the Anglesey bird is a very interesting one. There is a lack of quality pictures of winter RN Grebe in general especially those noting 1st winters. Following Chris jones' sharp eye bringing the possibility to our attention and Steve stating on this blog his uneasiness about the bird, I decided to email two i.d. guru's - Martin Garner and Killian Mullarney. Both responded kindly within hours and I'm sure they won't mind me sharing their thoughs with you....

Martin responded in his e-mail-
''Eek! not an easy subject and one I haven’t bottomed out on. I came to the conclusion a while back that first winters probably weren’t identifiable and perhaps extreme adult winter might be. Aging I think also includes iris colour (pale yellow on first winter) more brown in secondaries on first winter and obvious white spur at rear of cheeks lacking on first winter. Your bird looks like it probably is a first winter (probably the first thing to establish with certainty) and as Killian has indicated European birds in first winter and some stages of adult have more extensive yellow. I think some, specifically adult winter holboelli, may have an extent of yellow on the bill beyond that which can be found in Europe birds but it’s a bit of a weak character and needs more research/ data. When I compared skins directly several years ago, adult holboelli in winter also seems to have cheeks of v similar degree of darkness to the crown (slightly paler/ more contrasting on European birds).
As KM has indicated, I also agree the bill does look extraordinary in the pics which is what I guess has most aroused interest.
So bottom line- get some feathers or excrement if it preens and poos –preferably in place where such activities are not commonly shared with other species!
I would at least try and observe it well and record and photograph as much detail as possible. We are always discovering new things with these subtle taxa- so you never know.. ''


While Killian responded by writing:-
''I’m afraid I don’t have sufficient experience or knowledge of holboellii to be able to offer an authoritative opinion on this interesting bird. What impresses me most about the Anglesey bird is the extraordinary length of the bill, a significantly longer bill (compared to European R-n Grebe) being one of the more important characters of holboellii. The extensive yellow colour of the bill is not, I believe, very significant, as 1st-year European Red-neckeds have a mostly yellowish bill up to around mid-winter, as do autumn adults (though I’m not sure until when). A thin yellow iris is a feature of 1w Red-necked Grebes (both populations) and I think there might be a hint of that in the second photo.''
Thanks to them both for their valuable and interesting feedback.


Below are a number of photos from America and Europe of RNGrebe so that we can compare bill structures and length. I know which one I think the Llyn Penrhyn bird looks more like. Click on the picture for bigger images.

The above bird was found dead by Liz Snell at Ynys Las yestreday. Although the angle isn't good the bill looks pretty small.
Above - This bird was taken at llandegfedd reservoir. Although pretty lengthy conmaped to the size of the head, the structure looks different and the bird less hunched than photos of the penrhyn bird.


Above - This bird was at Pennington Flash. The bill looks tiny compared with the Penrhyn bird.


Above - Red necked Grebe (holboellii) taken in USA.


Above - Red necked Grebe (holboelli) taken in USA - bill structure is long and bulkier at base - more like the Penrhyn Bird.


Above - Steve's pic. Note the length of the bill. Even with a hunched posture the length of bill is equal if not wider than the head.



Above - Rob's pic - as in Steve's pic the bird is in a hunched posture that would make the head wider than if it had it's necked stretched. The bill is again at least longer than the width of the head.


Above pic - Finally a monster of a bll from a summer plumaged bird taken in Alaska.
Even though this bill is very thick and long it's certainly closer in structure to our bird than, for example the pennington bird above.


As Steve says below, it would be great to get other's opinions. Any more pics, videos or even feather and droppings samples from this weekend would be great.

Sorry to any photographers who I have 'solen' their images above. If you are cross with me and would like me to remove them, let me know and I'll delete them immediately.