Notable Recent Sightings

16/04 Purple Heron 1, Cors Dyfi
05/03 Firecrest 1, Lake Vyrnwy
05/03 Short-eared Owl 1, Lake Vyrnwy
14/01 Pink-footed Goose 1, Dolydd Hafren
03/01 Waxwing 20, Meifod; also 5 Welshpool by canal on 01/01. Last: 6 Bwlch-y-Garreg 17/03
23/12 Waxwing Newtown College, first arrivals 04/12, 47 on 23/12, 67 on 01/01, 30 on 04/02
09/12 Cattle Egret 1 roosting with 8 Great Egrets and some Little Egrets, Llyn Coed-y-Dinas
02/12 Waxwing 21 Guilsfield, 12 Montgomery, 1 Welshpool, and 1 on 01/12 Llanfyllin
16/11 Dotterel 3, just west of Dyfnant Forest on RSPB land
16/11 Great Grey Shrike 1, on edge of Dyfnant Forest on RSPB land, last reported 19/01
15/11 Waxwing 25 or 30, just west of Lake Vyrnwy along the Dinas Mawddwy road
08/11 Great Northern Diver A juvenile was found near Anchor, rescued and released
30/10 Black Redstart 1 in garden at Hendomen, near Montgomery
06/10 Hawfinch 5 in treetops at Powis Castle, by main car-park
04/10 Cattle Egret Dolydd Hafren, a flock of c.30
29/09 Red-flanked Bluetail Dyfnant Forest: a county first
23/09 Manx Shearwater 1st year bird grounded in Llanfyllin; released at coast
03/09 Cattle Egret 10 at Cors Dyfi, rising to 32 on 05/09
01/06 Turnstone 1 at Caersws with Little Ringed Plovers
03/05 Wood Sandpiper 1 at Dolydd Hafren
18/04 BLACK-WINGED KITE 1 video-ed at Glan Mule, near Kerry: a likely FIRST for UK
07/04 Black Redstart Female on Carno roof
07/04 Little Ringed Plover Llandinam Gravels
25/03 Osprey Female 5F 'Seren' arrived back at Llyn Clywedog
25/03 Pied Flycatcher An early migrant near Llanfechain
22/03 Hen Harrier Female in flight near Berriew
15/03 Sand Martin 5, Dolydd Hafren
15/03 Golden Plover c.50, Heldre Hill, Long Mountain, nr Welshpool
05/03 Whooper Swan 1, between Caerhowel (Montgomery) and The Gaer, with Mute Swans
05/03 Pink-footed Goose 1, Caersws, with Canada Goose flock
05/03 Jack Snipe 2, Caersws
05/03 Hawfinch 24, Powis Castle, feeding behind orchard
28/02 Pink-footed Goose c.25, flying north over Welshpool
26/02 Merlin 1 male, chasing Meadow Pipit, Long Mountain near Welshpool
26/02 Pintail 3, Llyn Coed-y-Dinas, 1 since 14 Feb
14/02 Hawfinch 1, Powis Castle car-park, very vocal
23/01 Jack Snipe 1, Moel-y-Garth near Guilsfield
17/01 Brambling 80, in beeches at Pen-y-Waen near Cefn Coch with Chaffinches
07/01 Hawfinch 2, bathing in puddle, Cwm Lane, Castle Caereinion
   
See Sightings Archive for older records

Tuesday, January 03, 2012

Kerry

With a temporary break in the weather, I took a trip up to the snowfield of The Kerry Ridgeway on the 2nd. Not much snow to be honest, or many birds. However the 2 pairs of Crossbills I found were both on exposed Alders, with the males in full song, despite being battered by the wind. While trying to get the shot at top of post, with a background of conifers in poor light, I flushed a Jack Snipe from amongst the conifer brash. The female Kestrel was trying to stay on the fence post as she faced into the gale.
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3 comments:

  1. Anonymous3 January 2012 at 10:42

    Nice spot - where were the alders then? need get up the ridgeway with camera now a bit more time and am now living in Sarn! Btw if light that bad pop the flash up - while the on camera flash on the 7D is pretty weak it may just make a difference. Starting to use external flash with a fresnel extender quite a lot now and it's a godsend in this poor light!

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  2. Anonymous3 January 2012 at 17:06

    Hi Mark, Your comment on the `fresnel extender` captured my imagination being a novice. I had a look at the `Better Beamer` and a home made derivative, ` the `Monster Beamer` - However this did carry a serious equipment and personal health warning. It would be interesting to see maybe a `before` and `after`shot of a subject - perhaps the old Heron may oblige. Also on the subject `is there` or has there been any suggestion of using your skills to teach other members who may benifit from this.? No offence intended.

    Trevor Rogers

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  3. Anonymous3 January 2012 at 19:34

    Haha - nice one Trevor! Yeah the fresnel does come with a health warning in that it works both ways and if you're not careful and leave it pointing in the general direction of the sun it would happily melt your flashgun and any other plastic it could find (remember the old days when you started fires with a magnifying glass?). So care is needed - melting a 400 quid flashgun is not in my plans!

    To me it does however seem to work - a lot of the stuff I took last week wouldn't have been possible without it. Even without the 'Beamer' I'm now playing around with using flash on most shots to provide a degree of fill and of course in strong backlighting it's pretty much the only way to see any kind of detail on the 'dark side of the bird' - early days, and even earlier with another slightly more radical technique (eek), so let me continue playing for a while

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