The Dyfi Ospreys are doing well with three eggs laid. The incubation begins!

Well, we have now moved to Berriew just south of Welshpool.

Garden ticks include up to six Red Kites overhead on any day, hundreds of Jackdaws, Pheasants and Woodpigeon. Also an Otter just over the road.

I've found a local ringer so I can continue training towards my C-Permit. Just seem to be catching Redwing at the moment.

I'll be back in Manchester from time to time, but it's unlikely I'll ever get to 200 for my GM list, as it is a 4 hour round trip to twitch anything :)

 

We spent 90 minutes on the headland at northern edge of Aberystwyth.
Individuals and pairs of Ravens with a large group of seven before we left.
A group of four Chough with two more following behind.
One Wheatear.
One Stonechat.
Three Wrens.
Several Meadow Pippets
One Rock Pippet.

We spent a week at our caravan last week near Machynlleth.

Species seen around the site and locally:

Blue tit, Great tit, Long-tailed tit, Coal tit, House sparrow, Robin, Dunnock, Blackbird, Goldfinch, Chaffinch, Blackcap, Garden warbler, Willow warbler, Chiffchaff, Wood warbler, Great spotted woodpecker, Pied flycatcher, Spotted flycatcher, Pied wagtail, Grey wagtail, Redstart, Red kite, Buzzard, Raven, Crow, Jay, Song thrush, Cuckoo.

Pied flycatchers are in good numbers this year.

A drive to Hafren forest to see the Ospreys by Clywedog reservoir offered good views of the pair around the nest protecting their three eggs from the local buzzards.

A midweek drive to the red kite feeding centre at Bwlch Nant Yr Arian didn't disappoint, with 100+ of the birds on view.

Cheers,

Steve.

-- Edited by Stephen Fuentes on Monday 3rd of June 2019 02:26:42 PM

Moel Y Golfa, early morning walk 05/05/2019:

I had 2 Wood Warblers here in 2017 and I know they were present last year, but unfortunately no sign on this trip. I did however encounter: Pied Flycatcher 3 singing, Redstart 6+ singing, Willow Warbler 1 singing, Marsh Tit, Red Kite, plus all the usual woodland species.

Followed this route on foot and the views from the top are stunning. Also had the whole site to myself:

http://www.ifootpath.com/display-ifootpath-walk?walkID=4764

On exiting and heading down towards Criggion Quarry, the hillside was alive with singing Willow Warblers and a single Yellowhammer.

-- Edited by Neil Blood on Tuesday 7th of May 2019 09:18:44 AM

Visiting our caravan last week, we decided to go for a drive around Llyn Clywedog. Having driven around here many times before, I was surprised to come across an Osprey nest which has been set up along the shore of the reservoir. A single Osprey was by the nest when we were there last Wednesday, and the pair had been reported the previous day.

A bit of Googling revealed that a nest platform had been set up in 2004, but it was 10 years before it was taken up. There has now been a successful breeding pair there since 2014. The Welsh Wildlife Trust are watching the nest 24/7 and we did spot a warden in a vehicle watching from the opposite shore. This nest is clearly not well advertised, but there is an official hide there from which it can be viewed.

Clywedog Reservoir is situated between Machynlleth and Llanidloes. Take the minor road to the resr off the B4518, signposted 'Scenic Route' at the village of Staylittle. The hide is situated on the left as you enter Hafren Forest and before you reach the reservoir. Try not to blink or you'll miss it !

 

Cheers,

 

Steve.

-- Edited by Stephen Fuentes on Monday 16th of April 2018 10:50:32 AM

A visit to Gigrin Farm, Rhayader this afternoon some twenty odd years after my last visit, not long after they started their Red Kite feeding enterprise. Great to see so many Red Kites now, somewhere in the region of four hundred. One part leucistic adult bird stood out as did a few lighter phased/juveniles. Also around were half a dozen Common Buzzard, corvids including Raven and a Grey Heron. A few photos attached.

Bit of a late post, I've just been too busy or too tired. Anyway, August 1st trip to see the red kites again from Llandovery, unfortunately I did get wet in the frequent mega heavy showers, thankfully I went prepared. Much simular to yesterday (previous post) only with less action but A buzzard landed even closer to the hide which was the days highlight. Other birds included lesser redpoll, nuthatch, great spotted woodpecker and a Jay.

August 2nd was a trip to Castle woods..... In the rain at Llandeilo. Highlights included Cormorant, little egret, redstart (briefly close), 3 goosanders on the river, red kite, raven and spotted flycatcher. Species totalling around 40.

Yesterday, before my train was due at Llandovery I found 2 juvenile dippers on the river.

Overall, the 3 days and a morning trip produced 52 species, with my favourite moment still being on Monday 31st July with the red kite and buzzard close experiences

Seeing as how Carys has been away for 4 weeks nursing her mum we deserved a day out and so picked her favourite area of mid Wales, near where she was at Uni (Aberystwyth) and headed to Ynys-las just south of Ynys hir RSPB.

Parking here is on the beach, for £2 all day and the money goes to the wildlife trust so well worth it. We parked up and walked over to a small group on the foreshore looking out over the Dyfi Estuary. As expected they were looking at the star bird that has been here for over 2 weeks, a first-summer female King Eider, or the 'Queen Eider' as she has been nicknamed! The bird was quite distant on a sandbank and sat preening or sleeping most of the time, but with a scope views were good and this 'plumage tick' for me was studied at length. As we watched Carys picked up an Osprey flying towards us up the estuary. This flew low straight over the Queen and flushed her out onto the water, so we got to watch her take a short flight and then swim around. The tatty adult Osprey flew low directly over us which was great too. A Sanderling flew along the shore but with the tide rushing in we headed back to explore the dunes after eating lunch.

On reaching the seaward side of the dunes, mid afternoon, I did a little seawatch as it had been shearwater heaven offshore recently. Sure enough Manx Shearwater and Gannet were easily added to the day list but more unexpected were a party of 4 Sooty Shearwaters heading past north. I see from the pager Sooty Sheawaters were seen off the west coast of Scotland today so this sighting ties in nicely with this. We then headed back, with time moving on, to have a last look at the King Eider. She was again hauled out on a sandbank asleep but not more distant and the heathaze was awful. We had a mooch around and were rewarded with a single Chough and three Sandwich Terns. The final good birds were three Red Kites scavenging a field in which we had seen a car boot sale earlier, next to the road down to Ynys-las.

This site is only just over 100 miles from home but takes 2.5 hours to reach due to the windy roads whichever route you choose, but we reckoned after a day like today it is well worth it

Sunday 17th July 2016

Dyfi Osprey Project

2 adult & 2 juvenile Osprey
(Also Asian Water Buffalo!)

Fantastic day out with the Stockport Birdwatching Group to Ynys Hir on Saturday 16/05/15

10.30am - 4pm

According to the wardens, the reserve is still very quiet for this time of year - many of the birds have only returned in the last week or so. All the same, a good range of 52 species were on display -

8 Pied Flycatcher - Mainly males, picked up on call. There were several great views, with a pair regularly returning to a nest box and another male fly-catching from a gate on the nature trail.
2 Redstart - Both males. One showed fantastically well in bare branches down to around 20 feet. I haven't seen Redstart for a while, so was delighted with the views.
2 Wood Warbler - Finally tracked a pair down in the last hour before we left. They were tricky to find, but once we were on them, they showed nicely in the canopy.
2 Tree Pipit - One bird was seen foraging in the leaf litter, before a 2nd gave far better views, singing and parachuting from a small tree. Lifer for me
2 Garden Warbler
2 Osprey - Visible with the scope at the nearby Cors Dyfi site
1 Red Kite
1 Garganey (m)
4 Whimbrel
3 Raven

Numerous Sedge Warblers, Blackcaps, Whitethroats, Chiffchaffs and Willow Warblers.
Others in the group also had Hobby, Cuckoo and Sandwich Tern.

Gigrin Farm 25.01.2014

Trip to Gigrin Farm mid wales today with Dennis Atherton
What a fantastic place -with today 500 + Red Kites, plenty buzzards and Ravens. And I remember in the 1970s when there only were 12 breeding pairs of Red Kite left in Wales. The promised sun was not present much but the birds were awesome. The sight of 500+ Red Kites spiralling around the site will not be forgotten too soon. Well worth the 250 mile round trip.


-- Edited by JOHN TYMON on Sunday 25th of January 2015 06:08:48 AM

A long weekend at the caravan near Machynlleth:

On the feeders:

Blue tit
Great tit
Coal tit
Chaffinch
Nuthatch
Siskin
Redpoll
Goldfinch
Great spotted woodpecker
Robin
Blackbird

Around the site:

Red Kite
Buzzard
Raven
Pied Flycatcher
Wood warbler
Redstart
Garden warbler
Chiffchaff
Willow warbler
Blackcap
Treecreeper
Goldcrest
Song thrush
Tawny owl (heard only)

Glaslyn Nature Reserve (Montgomeryshire WT)

This is MWT's largest reserve, an isolated expanse of moorland by Glaslyn lake, high in the Cambrian mountains between Machynlleth and Llanidloes.

Red kite
Peregrine
Buzzard
Wheatear
Meadow pipit
Stonechat
Skylark

Cheers,

Steve.

-- Edited by Stephen Fuentes on Tuesday 6th of May 2014 08:12:22 AM

-- Edited by Stephen Fuentes on Tuesday 6th of May 2014 08:14:54 AM

John Rayner wrote:

---

The Red Kite feeding station is called Bwlch Nant yr Arian. A nice centre and tearoom

31 August: The feeding time was 15.00 which we missed. There were 31 Kites sitting around waiting to be fed and the warden was expecting around 100 that day. Photographic opportunities would be excellent and it is well worth a look if you are passing.

Cheers, John

---

John

You should have said you were down in the area. We live two miles away from Nant yr Arian!

The Red Kite feeding station is called Bwlch Nant yr Arian. A nice centre and tearoom

31 August: The feeding time was 15.00 which we missed. There were 31 Kites sitting around waiting to be fed and the warden was expecting around 100 that day. Photographic opportunities would be excellent and it is well worth a look if you are passing.

Cheers, John

Spent the last week walking about the Devil's Bridge area near the Elan Valley, sadly no bins but still some brilliant birds to be had. Walked around a fair bit so sadly can't be to specific about locations, but highlights included:

1 Merlin
2 Redstart (1f and 1juv)
1 Sparrowhawk
c20 Buzzard
3 Wheatear
More Red Kites than i've ever seen before!

Also also found a Shrew and Common Lizard. :)

Hi Dave

Up to two birds winter on the Old College building. Its interesting that you saw one there. Aber is so full of old buildings thats its possible they breed here, but no one has ever found them if they did!

Mind you, there isnt a huge number of birders round here, and the ones that are here can be a bit cliquey!

At the moment, good numbers of Scoters and Red Throated Divers are offshore along with a few Black Throated divers and the odd Great Norther Diver.

Greenland White Fronted and Barnacle Geese are back at their wintering site at RSPB Ynys Hir with the former in much reduced numbers than normal which is a bit concerning!

Whooper Swans are at various upland lakes and Red Kites are in huge numbers at the local feeding stations.

Cheers

On a drive through mid Wales down to Milford Haven and back for a funeral on Sunday/Monday I saw over 40 Red Kites, 3 Buzzards, Merlin, and a Short eared owl.
At the Crematorium near Narberth I saw a Green woodpecker and found a Redstart. Every phone line seemed to have a row of Swallows on it.

Borth

Spent the weekend in Borth watching the Manx Shearwaters. Didn't manage to see any Balearics or, indeed, anything really unusual, but it's just simply amazing to see such huge numbers of birds. This is my third year at Borth and I still find it fascinating.

Apart from the shearwaters seawatching was pretty poor - I had a Bonxie on Sunday morning; several Mediteranean Gulls: Kittiwakes; large numbers of Sandwich terns along with two Arctics and a single Common; lots of Gannets; waders included Dunlin, beautiful summered-up Sanderling, four Whimbrel, Curlew, Turnstone and a single Common Sandpiper; small packs of Common Scoter flew through on Sunday morning along with a few RB Mergansers and a single female Shovellor.

On Saturday afternoon I had a drive into the hills - through Tal-y-bont then along an ever-climbing, winding minor road up to Nant-y-moch Reservoir. Redstarts flitted across the lane along the lower wooded slopes, replaced by Wheatear and Stonechats as I reached the open hill. Lots of Common Buzzards and Red Kites, the habitat looks excellent for several other raptor species too.

A couple of points if anyone is thinking of heading down there in the next few weeks: The 'feeding frenzies' are incredible to watch but if you want to try and find something different amongst all the Manxies I find it better to move away from the areas they are flocking in, otherwise you're simply overwhelmed by the huge number of birds! This weekend the birds were mainly flocking just to the south of Borth, under the cliffs - I found it better to go through them as they passed by the seawall just north of the town, or even out-of town from the car park at Ynyslas. Surfers use this car park, no-one seems to mind if you camp there or (as I did) kip in your car if you want to stay overnight. Skuas are few and far between in my experience but if you want to have a chance of seeing them the first few hours after dawn are best - in fact this applies to the seawatching at Borth in general, or anywhere else for that matter! The Manxies, Gannets, etc., can start flocking any time during the day, but your best chance is early morning or in the evening.

Finally, I put a video from my visit last year on YouTube if anyone's interested in what actually happens - watch in HD:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQdS3p9N9fQ

Wednesday 23rd. of May.
Visit to Gwenffrwd-Dinas RSPB Reserve

This was the first stop for 8 Bolton RSPB Members on the way to Pembrokshire.

The reserve is in a beautiful area and has spectacular views of the Mid- Wales mountain country. It is a wooded hill with fast flowing streams and a river.
The wood is old Oak and Alder etc. Llyn Brianne is just higher up the valley and Llandovery is the nearest town.

Birds seen:

Garden Warbler....2
Wood Warbler.... 12
Redstart....7
Pied Flycatcher...10
Buzzards....2
Red Kite...1
Dipper..1
Willow Warbler...2
Blackcap...1
Great Spotted Woodpecker...1
Goldfinch...1
House Martins...2
Swallows...4
House Sparrow...4
Common Tits.

-- Edited by keith mills on Tuesday 29th of May 2012 09:22:47 AM

The Osprey pair now have three eggs! (well last week they did!)

So fingers crossed they successfully get three off again! Despite the bad weather.

I am sure they will feature on Springwatch again this year!

We've just had a short weekend at the caravan to open it up for the summer. On the first morning, I opened the door to find a Pied Flycatcher singing away right in front of me. Later, on a trip to Machynlleth, we stopped by the road at a place called Forge to watch a dozen or more Red Kites patrolling low over the hillside. We've never seen them in such numbers before other than at a feeding station and wondered whether someone nearby had started another unofficial one.

Around the caravan site, the warblers have returned, with Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Black cap and Garden Warbler all in full song. Another Red Kite was flying low above us, under the watchfull eye of the Buzzards and Ravens higher up. I set some feeders up, and got good numbers of Chaffinch, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Coal Tit, Robin, Blackbird, Nuthatch and Siskins as well as regular visits from a Great Spotted Woodpecker, although Greenfinches were conspicuous by their absence. Goldcrest, Song Thrush, Goldfinch and Long-tailed Tit also went on the site tick list.

We'll be returning in a couple of weeks when I expect the Redstarts and Wood Warblers to have arrived by then.

Cheers,

Steve.

Over the Weekend, I saw my first Swallows and Redstart of the year at home.

Lots of Manx Shearwaters off Borth at the moment, plus passage through of Sandwich Tern, Gannets and Kittewakes.

Ospreys are still 'courting' at the moment!

The female Osprey has now returned to the nest, awaiting the return of the male!

The pictures are now stunning of the nest as they have just installed HD cameras and a fibre optic cable!

Locally, Wheatear numbers are on the increase, as are Chiffchaffs. Plus a few very early Swallows about!