Nightjar @ Ceri Forest

1 male heard and seen this evening, and what I'm pretty certain was another one making a 'cluck' noise at a different site. At least 2 Tawny Owls were heard calling too.

Nightjar nr Llanidloes

On the way back home from Hafren Forest, about a mile or so from Llani (just before Glan-y-llan), I saw a small bird sat on the road. As I got closer I was amazed to see that it was a Nightjar. It didn't stop there for long and soon flew off out of sight, presumably heading off to Hafren it's self?!

Cuckoos @ Hafren Forest

The stars of the show this evening were not the Nightjars, but 3 males Cuckoos going mad over the presence of a female. They kept me entertained for a good half an hour (has anyone else notice an increase in Cuckoos this year?)!



Other birds present included 2 male Nightjars, one of which decided to give a brief chur at 20:20, a very vocal Goshawk - presumably on a nest, and a Songthrush that does an amazing impression of a group of Crossbills!!

Sparrowhawk @ Llandinam

1 seen chasing Swallows and Martins over the village this evening.

Fledglings abound!

First proper spell of rain we've had for months and the village's young birds choose today to fledge! The first to be spotted was a family of 4 beautiful Great Tit fledglings, attended by a very soggy, bedraggled parent (I can still hear their persistant calls as I type!). Then I noticed a plucky little Blue Tit following it's soaked parent to and from the feeder. These were followed by a loan fledgling Dunnock, Robin and House Sparrow trying to make their own way in the world. With so many naive birds in the garden, I just hope the rain stops the neighbours cats from stalking by.

Nightjar @ Hafren Forest

A 3rd 'churring' male was heard this evening.

Crossbills @ Newtown

6 flew south east over Tesco at 19:24.

Nightjars @ Hafren Forest

2 males and a female seen/heard in a large patch of clear fell in the southern part of the Hafren Forest this evening. 2 Cuckoos were also seen.

(possible) Corncrake @ Dolydd Hafren

Popped down to Dolydd yesterday evening, and saw a very odd bird fly into the top end of the first field from the car park. The only way I could describe the bird was by it being what looked like a very small 'bittern' in flight/landing and in colour. I only saw the bird for what seemed like a split second, but it appeared to be flushed from the cattle field and then flitted over the fence and landed in the top far corner of the crop field. After looking through my Collins bird guide when I got home, the size and jizz of it only seemed to fit one bird - Corncrake?

Worth keeping an eye out for!, the habitat look superb!!!

Dyfi Osprey Project

Just around a week to go now before the eggs are due to hatch and they can't come quick enough for the night protection staff and volunteers!

We had another osprey visit the nest today, a stunning looking male with a blue Darvic ring on his left leg - probably a Scottish two year old prospecting for mates and nest sites. Last week we had a Glaslyn osprey, (Porthmadog) 2008 offspring visit for a couple of hours, another male with the Darvic ring 'YC'. Interestingly, of all the 16 Glaslyn chicks ringed to date, YC was the lightest chick, 1230g, and the earliest to fledge the nest - 49 days. He visited the Dyfi nest last week on his third birthday!

A female Marsh harrier has been making daily appearances also around the osprey hide recently and the nightjars are now in full churring mode.

Nightjar @ Staylittle

At least 2 males seen and heard this evening.

Red Grouse @ Glaslyn

At least 4 birds seen this evening, in flight low over the heather surrounding the lake. It could have quite easily been double that, but quite hard to tell when they disappear for 10's of minutes!!

Nestbox occupants

I sense that 2011 may be a good year for our summer visiting 'African' birds. I've got 6 nestboxes set up around my garden and a total of 3 are occupied by pied flycatchers. Two pied nests have chicks and another has a sitting female. Another box has a blue tit nest with chicks and another box has a nuthatch. Only one box is unoccupied. I have a selection of box designs around my garden. Two occupied by the pied flycatchers are of the 'woodcrete' variety manufactured by the German company 'Schwegler', the nuthatch also occupies one of these boxes. Another made out of recycled 'car seats' is occupied by a pair of blue tits and lastly the cedar box attached to my house with a nest cam attached within which is also connected to my TV is occupied by a pied flycatcher. The box with a nest cam has in previous years been occupied by great, blue and coal tits respectively. So basically whatever type of box you put up in your garden will benefit the birds. Last year I didn't have any house martin nests at all yet in the past I have had 21 nests! However the house martins are back in force this year with several pairs endeavouring to build nests under the eaves of my house. Some pairs have obviously decided on a location but others are still searching for the ideal spot. I've got 'globules' of mud all over the place on my rendering under the eaves of my house! I haven't checked the other half a dozen nestboxes erected on trees around the edge of my field bordering the river yet but I know for sure that another pair of nuthatches has occupied a 'schwegler' woodcrete box.
The Pied Flycatchers are remarkably tolerant birds. I have been engaged in some serious ground preparation next to one box containing young chicks and the female pied has been feeding her brood frequently oblivious to my close proximity to the nestbox. (The male although present takes no part in this task). The female has her work cut out as she feeds her chicks literally from dawn till dusk and I bet once they vacate the nets we wont see any pied flycatchers about again! They sure are an enigma these birds but I absolutely love them to bits! BBC 'Springwatch' forget 'Ynyshir' come to me instead!

9.15pm 24th May- Update on the sitting pied flycatcher nest with the nest cam.
I've been watching this female for around 4 hours now and she has vacated the nest at least 6 times during that time. She is very restless. There are 7 eggs in the nest (the usual clutch is 5 to 8 or exceptionally 4 to 10). I watched her antics by eye from my utility room and I reckon she was being chased by the male bird around my apple tree. So has she indeed laid a full clutch or are there more eggs to be laid? Or is she just keen to capitalise on the amorous attentions of the male bird? Who I reckon has no less than 'three' 'spouses' in the confines of my garden!
I've got a microphone on my nest cam and watching it I can hear the beautiful fluid song of a male mistle thrush singing at full voice from atop a fir tree on an adjacent holiday property.
If you want too see my nesting pied flycatcher for yourselves then you are welcome to call by if you are up my way.
It's now 9.38pm and the female has been off the eggs for a good 5 minutes, where has she been? It's getting quite dark now. So will she finally settle down for the night?
It's 10pm and I guess the female has decided to call it a day nevertheless she is still restless, occasionally burying her head in her 'scapulars' then shuffling around and turning her eggs. She is forever restless. Is this the measure of the bird? Are they forever restless eager to get back to their African equatorial forests?
Anyway its time for me to retire to my bed now after an exciting few hours being privileged to watch the antics of one of Wales' most endearing summer avian visitors the pied flycatcher.

Bird Race 21/05/11

Despite still having over 2 and a half hours of 'daylight' left we decided to give up the chase on Brayton's record total of 111 some years ago. It was all going so well at the start of the day when one of the first birds seen was a cracking male Nightjar (another one was heard 'wing-clapping') in a small patch of clearfell near Staylittle. From there we headed to Glaslyn where we were hoping to pick up a Red Grouse calling, we we amazed when we heard a handful of them calling! We also heard Cuckoo there. Next Stop Was Cors/Morfa Dyfi where we were hoping to pick up a few species of wader. Sadly we only added Redshank and Oystercatcher, but we did have the added bonus of the Osprey pair, and several very vocal warbler species. Just as we were leaving there, 3 geese flew along the river and appeared to land. We quickly turned back to have a look what they were, just as well as it was a pair of Greylags and a lone Pink-foot!! En route to our next stop (Lake Vyrnwy) we managed to add a few good birds including Spotted Flycatcher and a cracking male Whinchat. Lake Vyrnwy wasn't as productive as hoped due to the foul weather! We were hoping to pick up a few raptor species and Ring Ouzel, but only managed a single Peregrine! We did however manage to clear up on most of the woodland species so it wasn't all a loss! It was now time to try and pick up some 'wetland birds' so LCyD was our next location, a couple more species were added but by now the weather had really turned on us and picking up new species was getting harder and harder! In the space of the next 3 and a half hours we only managed to add 4 species - Goshawk, Pied Flycatcher, Kingfisher and Crossbill! So come 7 O'clock I suggested we call it a day!!

All in all a cracking days birding with a total of 98 species being seen/heard! Thanks to dad and Marc for keeping me sane. Well done to Phil too, it's not easy to keep going all day on your own.

L. Cyd.

Just back from a week in Poland (9 Woodpecker species, Aquatic Warbler, thousands of White-Winged Black Terns, Cranes, Bluethroat, Citrine Wagtail, Red-necked Grebe, Penduline Tit, Corncrake, L.S. and White-Tailed Eagle, Golden Oriole, Thrush Nightingale, the highlights among 155 species), and a trip to L. Cyd to empty the bins! Talk about back to reality!

However, great to see the 2 Great-Crested Grebe chicks looking big enough to be immune from the attacks of most predators. The only threats they got were from their parents, who for at least 30 hectic minutes were bringing in new nest material to a site in front of the hide, and took exception to their young examining the weed for invertebrates and berated them with sharp pecks to their napes. Looks like they will try for a second brood, and certainly in the last 2 years they have relaid after losing their first clutch.

Bird Race

Places visited yesterday were LCyD, Powis Castle, Canal from Berriew to Garthmyl, River Severn on Vaynor estate Newtown, Mochdre, Hafren Forest, and Cors Dyfi, birds seen were Mute Swan, Canada Goose, Mallard, Tuted Duck, Shell Duck, Goosander, Pheasant, Little Grebe, Great Crested Grebe, Cormorant, Heron, Buzzard, Red Kite, Sparrow Hawk, Kestrel, Osprey, Moorhen, Coot, Oystercatcher, Little Ringed Plover, Lapwing, Curlew, Common Sandpiper, Black Headed Gull, Herring Gull, Lesser Black-Backed Gull, Collard Dove, Wood Pigeon, Cuckoo, King Fisher, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Swallow, Sand Martin, Pied Wagtail, Grey Wagtail, Dipper, Wren, Dunnock, Robin, Redstart, Stonechat, Blackbird, Mistle Thrush, Song Thrush, Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Sedge Warbler, Reed Warbler, Willow Warbler, White Throat, Long-Tailed Tit, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Coal Tit, Nuthatch, Treecreeper, Jay, Magpie, Jackdaw, Raven, Crow, Rook, House Sparrow, Goldfinch, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Siskin, Bullfinch, Redpoll, and Reed Bunting. Paul and team got 98 so with any luck we will go over the 100 mark

Just a few shots from yesterdays bird race will put my results up a bit later got 70 which is gonna take some time to type in

Redstart in Mochdre

Was at a friends last night when i came across this adult bird was a grab shot and the light was going but will try and get up there on the weekend for a better shot, 6 - 8 chicks in the nest no sign of the male bird. Will she take meal worms to the chicks if put out for her?

Green Woodpecker @ New Mills

Just heard one calling now, while out in the garden!

Green Woodpeckers

For three or four days we have had one (or two?) Green Woodpeckers calling from the pine trees in our garden at 1150 feet. Never seen or heard them up here in 15 years. Could it/ they have been juveniles? Got a good enough view to identify but did look a bit grubby and the call was a bit hoarse. I think it/they have moved on now. We have resisent Great Spotted.

Pied Flycatcher @ Meifod

(via Brayton Holt) After nesting here for 17 years and none in the last 5 years, we have a Pied Flycatcher. Wonderful!!!

Crossbill @ Welshpool

9 flew over Charlie's around 11:00 today, heading in the dircetion of Powys Castle.

LCyD

Just a few shots from yesterday, Little ringed plover heavily cropped but an ok record shot and the great crested grebe was a grab shot so sorry for the poor quality, off to cors dyfi today hope it stays dry.

Dolydd Hafren,Lake Vyrnwy,Coed-y-dinas

Dolydd Hafren produced two fine Yellow Wagtail, several female Goosander, three hares,three Little-ringed Plover on Wednesday.

Lake Vyrnwy,Thursday, provided view of Wood-warbler,Pied-fly,Common Redstart,two Dipper,Bullfinches,Siskin,Nuthatch,Merlin,Buzzard,Raven,Coaltit and a male Ring-Ouzel near waterfall.

Coed-y-dinas a single Little-ringed Plover,at least 6 Reed-warbler,Great-crested Grebe with two chicksOystercatcher,Lapwing,etc

Osprey disturbance

At 14.02 yesterday two adult males approached the osprey nest from the railway track, jumped over the fence and walked towards the osprey nest until they were almost underneath. There they stopped and started to photograph the area and the nest. They had ruck sacs and ordinance survey maps and the one with the black coat even waved at one of the nest cameras at 14.22 - all caught on various surveillance equipment including the video cameras and microphones. Both ospreys were off the nest and eggs from 14.02 until 14.35 - over half an hour. No eggs were taken by humans but all three could have been taken by a host of avian predators. It is now too late to re-lay and that would have been the end of the osprey season for the Dyfi birds and maybe for ever.

Both these individuals walked back towards Dyfi Junction along an active rail track where they were apprehended by Dyfed - Powys Police who were notified immediately as soon as we identified the disturbance. I hope you don't mind me posting this on here.. it is now a Police matter and I have blurred out the faces of these individuals.

I would like to pass on my immense thanks and gratitude to the MWT staff and volunteers at the Dyfi Osprey Project yesterday afternoon who acted promptly, professionally and to procedure. I would also like to thank Dyfed-Powys Police for their remarkable response time and effectiveness in dealing with this serious wildlife crime.

Bird Race, May 2011.....

Anyone interested? Myself and a couple of others are doing a 24hr Montgomery bird race on the 21st of this month? Normally the 'rules' say that you have to have 3-4 people in a team, and that at least 3 of you have to see/hear the bird in question. However as Montgomeryshire (like the rest of Powys) isn't blessed with 100's of birdwatchers I don't see why groups of 2s cant join in, or even if you want to go it alone. The only thing I do ask, is that's it's kept to Monts. Anyway, it's all a bit of fun, and you never know what might turn up with all those extra eyes on the look-out?!

Happy birding
Paul

Historic Ospreys

I spent last night as part of the 24 hour surveillance team keeping an eye on the Dyfi Osprey project nest on the William Condry reserve near Derwenlas Machynlleth. I was impressed by the technology (and other undisclosed paraphernalia) put in place to protect this historic nest and I was more than happy to give my time to assist the full time staff. It was nice to be able to get out and about and sample the nightlife around the Cors Dyfi reserve too. It is a well known fact that the sedge warbler is a nocturnal vocalist and on my nightly patrols around the reserve I reckon I detected at least 3 different territories of this species. A walk at sunrise produced a singing cuckoo.

Llyn Coed-y-dinas

Back from Texas trip, and could not wait to get back to the lake.

Single adult Little Gull, Common Sandpiper,Little Ringed Plover,Pied Wagtail.Great-Crested Grebe with at least two young on back, one swimming.

The smart lad in photo is a Pyrrhuloxia, similar to Northern Cardinal.

A polite request..

Folks - a request out of the ordinary here..

We are well into our 24 hour surveillance night shifts at the Dyfi Osprey Project but are always on the look out for more volunteers. We have roughly 35 shifts to cover x 2 people per shift so 70 in all. If you could do just one that would be a great help - 70 will not look that many with a few chipping in. Shifts start at 9pm through to 6am - they are fun, honest! and there is a HUGE reward at the end of the shifts - three osprey chicks hopefully. I expect the first egg to hatch June 1st at which point we will finish with the night shifts. As a bonus you will also see a lot of wildlife that only insomniacs usually see - moths, owls, small mammals and nightjars when they return shortly. Elfyn has started the ball rolling today by arranging a shift.. don't be shy!

If you can find the time to do a shift please ring me on 07595 932 537. The osprey project's number is 01654 781 414, my home number is 01654 702 5921. Many thanks/diolch.

Nagging females (ospreys!)

I visited the Dyfi Osprey Project this afternoon and was glad to see that all was going well. The 'ace' team were there and there was a steady stream of visitors. I took a walk to Dyfi junction and met a couple of guys there too. Back at the project information centre it was obvious, from watching the 'live' images on the tv screen, that the female was very vocal demanding a decent meal however the male in his nonchalant manner preened on a nearby perch he was not going to be rushed for sure. Lets hope he takes parenting seriously and brings his 'spouse' some decent fish.
I have one criticism of the information centre though and that is the temptation of all those lovely ice creams and the like in the freezer might well tempt me back again very soon! Honestly talk about taking advantage of man's weaknesses!
They have one boast there today, a cock reed bunting feeding on the bird table, anyone else had that by any chance? (Liz Snell perhaps?)

Lesser Whitethroat.

1 found singing along the road between Talerddig and Llanerfyl this morning.





Other birds present included Tree Pipit, Meadow Pipit, Redstart, Buzzard Red Kite, Raven, Skylark, Whinchat and 3 Stonechat.

(Stonechat pic taken - 26/04/11)

Hobby @ Caersws

A 1st summer Hobby was seen heading north this morning along the river Severn, other birds included 4 Little Ringed Plovers (on separate terroties), 3 Common Sandpipers, 2 Oystercatchers, hundreds of Sand Martins, 1 brood of Goosanders and a couple of Swifts.

Common Tern @ LCyD

(via Steve Jones) 1 seen on the lake today around 10:00, also Shelduck, Common Sandpiper, LRP and 2 Reed Warbler by the hide. A redhead Goosander was with 6 newly fledged young on the Banw near Llanfair Caereinion (seen from the train).

Full House!! - at 11.45 this morning the female, looking rather uncomfortable, finally stood up in the nest to reveal a third egg. This is good going for two first time breeders.

Visitors shouting and clapping like mad people in the hide and visitor centre!