Ceredigion Birding (1 Viewer)

[mcmerlin]

Hey all, theres absolutely jack squat on here about birding in this beautiful and wild welsh county. well im a student at aberystwyth and i do a fair bit of birding, and often see interesting birds even when im not birding. So from now on i shall be posting interesting stuff i see, and birding sessions, on here. hopefully some of you other ceredigion birders will do the same- it will be great to find out more about the birds and the birding sites around here.

i'll start off with what i saw today- it was wet, windy and horrible and i was up at llanbadarn campus, aber and walked back to town. all i saw was a Dunnock on campus. LOL. but there will be far more exciting stuff to come.

 

[mike from ebbw]

Hi there.I used to live in Ceredigion (Rhydlewis?)and its a stunning part of the country.I found that a good place,especially waders,was the shingle beach at Aberaeron.

 

[mcmerlin]

oh yeah? what waders do you get there, mike? the beaches at aber are good for waders too, and i have seen and photographed oystercatcher, ringed plover, turnstone and Purple sandpiper(abers speciality wader). ive also heard that whimbrel turn up on tanwylbwlch beach but ive yet to see them.

 

[mcmerlin]

group of 7 or 8 turnstone on aberystwyth beach today

 

[luke]

i usually go to aber on a yearly trip with the local bird club, we go to Cors Caron NNR and then go over to aber to see the purple sands and we also try for chough but havnt had success the last few times. we used to see then over by the tram thing that goes up that hill. Are they still about?

 

[mcmerlin]

Hi Luke. You can still see choughs , but not really in the town itself-the best bet is to head to the top of constitution hill, and then walk along the cliff side or along the track up the top- they can often be seen in the fields or flying around, swooping over the cliffs. The purple sands showed very well this year, i got some great photos. what sort of stuff do you get at cors caron?

 

[mcmerlin]

urgent- help needed

Apparently there is a cattle egret in ceredigion again- can anyone tell me where it is? see, im going home tomorrow for easter, and so tomorow its my last chance to see this rare bird. i understand that last time, one was seen , in january, it was at a place called llandre- is that the llandre that is part of the village Bow street? if so, do you know whereabouts in llandre, any directions? id be extremely grateful if someone could help me out here.
also, i havent managed to get black restart in aber this year and thought id missed it- but apparently one was seen today- now normally they're said to be frequent the old college roof, so does anyone know if thats where this one was seen?
Again, id be extremely grateful for any help.
Thanks a lot,
Guy

 

[luke]

cors caron is great for hen harriers during the winter, you can watch them from the bridge that goes over the teifi (i think thats the river?). Also the old railway line is great for willow tit, usually really easy. We've also had whooper swans plus the usual mix of winter wildfowl. Never been in the spring but i bet you get grasshopper warblers, sedge warbler plus redstart. Maybe hobby aswell, as theres loads of dragonflies.

 

[mcmerlin]

Great! i will have to get down there at some point! the range of birds sounds quite similar to that of Ynys hir, which i visit every now and again.

 

[mcmerlin]

Well, here is my report from yesterday.
My parents didnt arrive in aber til about 11.30- we then walked along the seafront and saw several turnstones on the beach. after that my mum went shopping whilst my dad and i went looking for Black Redstarts around the old college- a small bird landed on part of the castle ruins- i quickly locked onto it and got a seconds glimpse of what looked like a dark bird, and a lighter tail, it could have been red, but literally the bird flew off before i had time to even analyse that!! Damn!! we continued the search around the old college building, but then it started raining heavily, and we were forced to flee into town, into the dryness of shops. it carried on raining into the afternoon, and the chances of it clearing up seemed very vague, and the search for the Black Redstart had to be given up. we drove up to morrisons and shopped there, and then got back in the car. it was still hammering it down. we thought it very unlikely that we would see this cattle egret at Llandre, now- we imagined that it would be difficult to park , and we'd have to walk a little way to find the egret, in the downpour, seeing it seemed unrealistic. but we had a bit of time to kill before we needed to be heading off so we decided to go suss the place out, as cattle egrets have been seen there more than once. so we drove up to Llandre, and took the minor road out towards Tal-y-bont. the hedges were high on both sides of the road and i said' how will we be able to see where it is?', but very soon after that there was a gap in the hedge where a fence was- and among the cattle in the field beyond, was a white blob that was obviously an egret- and extrmely likely to be the one we were looking for! excited, we turned the car round and parked up by the fence. my dad and i got out of the car,( the rain was still absolutely hammering down) and viewed the bird through our binoculars. at first it had its back to us, but it looked smaller and more compact than a little egret. then it turned its head- i could just about make out the yellow beak through my binoculars, but my dad could see it well, through his better ones. i started trying to take pictures whilst my dad set his scope up. i couldn't get any decent ones, though not through lack of trying- the bird was just that bit too far away, and the rain was lashing down, and my camera was getting soaked and the lens kept getting water on it. i got one photo where you can tell it is a cattle egret well enough, but still it is a poor photo. my dad set his scope up, and through it we got superb views of the cattle egret- we could see perfectly the short yellow beak, which is so different from the little egrets long black one. and also, this bird was clearly a different size to little egrets, it looked tiny compared to the cows it was standing by. extremely happy, we clambered back into the car, abslutely soaked, took off our wet stuff, dried our gear with a towell, and set off home for sunny shropshire/staffordshire.( which actually wasnt sunny atall, either). Cattle Egret is a new tick for both my dad and i!! thanks very much to everyone who helped give us info about this!!!!!

 

[luke]

nice one, glad you saw it.

 

[mcmerlin]

Cheers, Luke.

By the way, as i'm now home for the easter holidays i wont't be writing up any reports on this thread for about 3 weeks. instead il be writing up reports in the birding in south staffordshire thread, as i live in west shropshire, on the staffordshire border. But i will still be checking this thread regularly, and will be happy to talk about any ceredigion related birding.

 

[nickderry]

well done on the cattle egret - bet it was good to see! As for other birds, you'll get the whimbrels on the sandy part of Tanybwlch in late April to mid-May, or go to Borth golf course where you'll get about 50 of them with a few Barwits among them. If you go behind Tanybwlch, at the foot of Pen Dinas, then you'll at least hear a few grasshopper warblers - even if you don't see them (I never did). Tanybwlch has lost a lot of its appeal in the past few years, there used to be a great flooded patch that held waders and ducks, but the farmer drained it. Don't worry about the black redstart yet, you'll get one sooner or later - they're quite regular.

 

[Richard Powell]

Hello mcmerlin

I'm currently planning a birding world tour of north and mid Wales, for the week after next. I intend to visit Ynys Hir while travelling between the places I'll be staying (Anglesey and Rhayader). I last visited Ynys Hir in 1985 when I was eight years old! I was just wondering if you had any other ideas for places that I could visit, around the Aberystwyth or north Ceredigion area?

My plan, so far, leaving my home near Stoke. En route to Anglesey, I've booked a place on the RSPB's Black Grouse watch at Llandegla, near Wrexham. Then afterwards perhaps Conwy RSPB, then birding places on Anglesey the whole weekend.

Then between Anglesey and Rhayader. Assuming the Ospreys are back near Porthmadog I could go there, then Ynys Hir. Then I know around the Elan Valley there's the reservoirs themselves, Gigrin Farm of course, and the mountain road between the Elan Valley and Cwmystwyth.

It would be worth knowing of other places I could visit. I could always get over to the Aberystwyth area from Rhayader, depending how well I find the local specialities, or depending on the welsh weather!

Richard

 

[mcmerlin]

Nick- Thankyou very much for this info, when i get back to aber i will be on the search for the whimbrels and grasshopper warblers.

Richard- Ynys Hir is always worth visiting, you'll see something there. now, if you go to Aber, i should think you'll probably be a bit late for purple sandpipers and black redstarts(unless the latter hang around through the summer), but youd stand a good chance of seeing Choughs if you went up constitution hill, and walked along the top- and theres plenty other birds up there too such as stonechats, peregrines, wheatears etc. .
Bwlch Nant Yr arian (where i do a bit of volunteering for the RSPB) is decent- it is famous for its Red Kite spectacle, which you will already have witnessed at Gigrin Farm, but it has other charms such as being a great place to see Crossbills- its also said to have Tree pipit, Redstart, Pied flycatcher and Wood Warbler, although i havent seen them yet, but i havent been much in the summer, mostly winter. i dont know if those birds will be there yet, quite possibly not. Theres a small reserve near ynys hir called cors dyfi which has snipe and nightjar. Im not that great a help to be honest, as when im at uni i do almost all my birding in Aber, with the occasional visits to Ynys hir and Nant yr arian.

 

[Richard Powell]

That's ok, thanks for your ideas. I could have a look around Aberystwyth if I have some time to spare. Hopefully I'll get over to South Stack on Anglesey, so I'll get chance to see Choughs there.

Now you mention it, I have heard of Nant Yr Arian. Johnny Kingdom went there in one of his programmes on BBC2 recently. By the time I'm in the area it'll be too early for Pied Fly, Redstart, Wood Warbler, Tree Pipit.

Richard- Ynys Hir is always worth visiting, you'll see something there. now, if you go to Aber, i should think you'll probably be a bit late for purple sandpipers and black redstarts(unless the latter hang around through the summer), but youd stand a good chance of seeing Choughs if you went up constitution hill, and walked along the top- and theres plenty other birds up there too such as stonechats, peregrines, wheatears etc. .
Bwlch Nant Yr arian (where i do a bit of volunteering for the RSPB) is decent- it is famous for its Red Kite spectacle, which you will already have witnessed at Gigrin Farm, but it has other charms such as being a great place to see Crossbills- its also said to have Tree pipit, Redstart, Pied flycatcher and Wood Warbler, although i havent seen them yet, but i havent been much in the summer, mostly winter. i dont know if those birds will be there yet, quite possibly not. Theres a small reserve near ynys hir called cors dyfi which has snipe and nightjar. Im not that great a help to be honest, as when im at uni i do almost all my birding in Aber, with the occasional visits to Ynys hir and Nant yr arian.

 

[James S]

Cattle egret still in Llandre today.Close to junction and close to fence.
Also went to the old ruin bridge at Devils bridge and managed to see a couple of crossbills(1 of each colour),also siskins and redpolls there.
Lesser spotted woodpecker at Ynys-Hir this morning near to the canopy hide.
2 Brambling at Nant Yr Arian under the bird feeder.

 

[Stevie babe]

Cors Caron 2 years ago about end of June n holiday

Hobby - great view although at some distance it was terrific through the bins, aldo a grasshopper warbler singing somewhere. Great view of a cucko and, soaring kites. Superb.

Steve

 

[Richard Powell]

I visited Ynys Hir on Monday (31st March), I'll try not to make it another 23 years until my next visit!

I saw a good selection of 42 different species in about 3 hours. Including an early-ish Common Sandpiper on the estuary. Also a couple of Brimstone butterflies when the sun came out.

I then went to look for the Cattle Egret at Llandre. No sign of it then unfortunately.

Then yesterday (2nd April), 3 Wheatears along the mountain road between Cymystwyth and the Elan valley reservoirs. Although I think they were just outside Ceredigion, but well worth a drive.

 

[mcmerlin]

Hey.i know i havent reported for ages- just had so much worktodo.anyway,got out to Ynys las thismorning and saw wheatears,sand martins, house martins, and a couple of lone Whimbrel.

This afternoon went to Tanwybwlch. saw, and photographed, ringed plover, turnstone, oystercatcher, dunlin, Whimbrel and Wheatear.

so a very good day for waders and wheatears( both ynsyslas and tanwybwlch were full of wheatears).