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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Griswold's Birding Year 2014 (1 Viewer)

ClarkWGriswold

Carpe Carpum
Supporter
Wales
Previous Total

2013: 172


Having enjoyed completing last year's list it's time to start all over. As per usual I'll include any mammals, decent places to eat/ stay or just some things that are of interest to me.

Last night I earned sufficient brownie points to get a whole days birding today by babysitting the children and nephew whilst OH went out.

It was a wise decision to take Sarah's car today as some of the standing water was so deep it was coming up over the bonnet. I fear my car would have drowned. Before it was light I headed down to Kidwely Quay before going to Burryport Harbour and then onto Penclacwydd. From Penclacwydd I headed home for a quick homemade Scotch Egg before going to The Beacons.

Frankly, the weather has been horrendous all day today. I know there have been various threads about hide etiquette but by the time I reached the British Steel Hide I wanted to take my pants off to wring them out:eek!: I'm pretty this would breach the rules of etiquette (even in Llanelli :-O) so I refrained.

The Carmarthenshire sites and the back garden gave:

1. Blackbird
2. Song Thrush
3. Redwing
4. Black Headed gull
5. Herring Gull
6. Common Buzzard
7. Sparrow hawk
8. Rock Pipit
9. Brent Goose
10. Mallard
11. Wigeon
12. Gadwall
13. Common Teal
14. Northern Shoveller
15. Pochard
16. Grey Heron
17. Little Egret
18. Greenfinch
19. Chaffinch
20. Goldfinch
21. Robin
22. Dabchicks
23. Dunnock
24. House Sparrow
25. Great Tit
26. Coal Tit
27. Blue Tit
28. Wood Pigeon
29. Collared Dove
30. Goldeneye ( at Penclacwydd and Usk Resevoir)
31. Curlew
32. Redshank
33. Lapwing
34. Red Breasted Mergansers
35. Coot
36. Moorhen
37. Jay
38. Rook
39. Carrion Crow
40. Magpie
41. Jackdaw
42. Oystercatcher
43. Nuthatch
44. Mute Swan
45. Cormorant
46. Wren
47. Tufted Duck
48. Shelduck
49. Starling
50. Black Tailed Godwit
51. Greylag Goose
52. Pied Wagtail

The weather turned steadily worse on the Beacons:eek!: but a stop at Llwyn- Onn Reservoir gave:

53. Great Northern Diver. ( This had been reported at www.glamorganbirds.wordpress.com)

The GND was my bird of the day. Although my total was up 13 on last year the weather was against me all day. River levels were very high so where I expected to see Grey Wagtails and Dippers there were none.

Car of the day was a metallic brown M5. Sounds awful but it looked gorgeous.

This year we'll be in Speyside for two weeks (end of May/ beginning of June) so I'm hoping to add some Scottish specialities then. With a bit of luck, Handa maybe on the cards as well.

Pob Hwyl to everyone with their Birding year lists.

Rich
 
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54. Feral Pigeon (woo and indeed hoo)

Just had a phone call from Sarah to say that the front number plate was missing from her car. Clearly the "lake" I drove through by Cwm Cadlan had taken its toll.

Rich
 
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First mammal of the year today. Apologies for the cac photo but it was miles away.

Rich
 

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Also at Kenfig Pool were:

57. Lesser Black Backed Gull
58. Canada Goose
59. Kingfisher
60. Bittern

Outside the house was a flock of Meadow Pipits which was a little strange. First time I've seen these here.

61. Meadow Pipit
 

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Went West this afternoon. A quick stop at Dryslwyn Bridge gave:

62. Treecreeper

And then at Cilsan Bridge there were a flock of:

63. Whooper Swan

Second mammal of the year was Grey Squirrel. Was briefly behind a Fiat X19 which looked in great condition.
 

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Had to take the car in today to get a few things sorted. A sensible car maybe on the horizon :-C. Had a walk around the Fendrod which gave:

65. Goosander

And then at my parents:

66. Siskin
 
Hopefully will be able to get in a decent birding session tomorrow. Did pick up number 67 today though whilst on a course at Margam Park.

67. Raven
 
The weather has been fantastic here today. This morning I headed down to Penclacwydd and added:

68. Peregrine
69. Greenshank
70. Mistle Thrush
71. Great Black Backed Gull.
 
This afternoon it was up to the Beacons. There's some great driving roads in this area so even if the birding is poor you can still enjoy the day. Favourite cars of the day were a beautiful Morgan and a battered old Landie crew cab which I later then saw out on the estuary.

Llwyn - Onn reservoir was much flatter today and gave great views of the GND. Dipped again on the GGS but I didn't give it long as Garwnant was too busy and I was feeling a little anti-social (nothing new there!)

The following were added:

72. Fieldfare
73. Red Kite
74. Stonechat

Below are pics of Llwyn-Onn, a poor shot of the GND and Pen y Fan behind the car.
 

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No Dippers or Wagtails where I usually pick them up but at the site is a very moving tribute/memorial to the miners who lost their lives in The Gleision Mine tragedy.
 

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Quick hour at Cardiff Bay Nature Reserve today before catching up with friends at the Cardiff Hollywood Bowl. Was hoping to have picked up Lesser Scaup but it was wishful thinking. Did manage the following year ticks:

75. Kestrel
76. Great Crested Grebe.
 
Needed to get out of the house today so pointed the Zed North and then West to some places I enjoy.

First stop was Craig Y Nos. Got chatting to the owner of a gorgeous Black Lab/ Rottweiler cross. She mentioned that quite a few people were nervous of him due to his size so I called him over. What a beautiful dog. He just leaned against me whilst I scratched his head.

Picked up the following on the walk:

77. Dipper
78. Goldcrest

From here it was onto Usk Reservoir. I'd planned to do the 6 mile circular walk but the weather wasn't playing ball. No new birds but did hear a Green Woodpecker. Unfortunately the rules I've imposed on myself is that I need to see the bird to count it.

Next over to Talley Lakes. Some great views of Kites and Buzzards on the way. The weather really turned after walking through the churchyard so I only had a quick scan. A couple of female Goosander were in amongst the Tufties.

Next was Dryslwyn Bridge. Stopped outside Dewi Roberts butchers in Llandeilo to grab some lunch. I've mentioned it before but his chicken and ham pies are amazing! Also picked up a game pie for the weekend. Dewi (I presume) clocked the Zed outside and we ended up having a 10 minute conversation about cars and the great driving roads in the area. Transpired that Dewi once had a 200SX amongst other things and was able to do the Heathrow run in a time which is not suitable for a public forum:-O

Unfortunately Dryslwyn Bridge did not produce the wanted for Tree Sparrow so it was on to Kidwelly Quay. This is a lovely little spot for a couple of hours birding and usually has a good variety. The Mergansers were showing really well today. Added to the list were:

79. Dunlin
80. Golden Plover
81. Bullfinch

And weirdly for me as I've never seen them so early before - overwintering I should think.

82. Chiff Chaffs

Quite a decent day despite the weather.:t:
 
Just got back from a very blustery Rhossilli. A few logs have gone on the fire and bacon from Howells Butcher in Penclawdd is about to be cooked along with some lava bread from Crofty - sweet:t:

A few Redwings, heaps of Robins!, Stonechats, a Kestrel and a Grebe that was just too far away to pin down with my 8x's were present. There was also a load of Spanish students which was a little strange. Almost felt sorry for them given the weather conditions. Added to the list were:

83. Rock Dove
84. Common Scoter(+) . There were hundreds of these but too far out to determine if any other species were present.

On the way to pick up the bacon and lava bread one of these was seen on Crofty Marsh Road.

85. Grey Wagtail.

Rich
 
Not quite Hawfinches but managed a couple of hours birding this morning. Fairly quiet at Penclacwydd with Greenshank, Redshank, a couple of Black Tailed Godwits etc. Carmarthenshire Bird Club's trip to Whiteford Point was cancelled due to weather conditions.

Did manage a couple of additions:

86. Snipe
87. Spotted Redshank
 

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Added a couple of year ticks this afternoon. Prior to this though was the sad moment when I part-exed my lovely old Zed. No more will I be able to hear the wail of the 3.5V6, 24v, 276hp engine being wrung out to the redline between birding venues. :-C

It's been replaced by a family friendly, 3rd generation common rail, piezo crystal injected, 2.0 diese..............................................|=o|
 
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