Viewing entries tagged
Yellowhammer

Llandegfedd Rewards

Just when you’re having a bad day, struggling to get out the house and motivated due to health reasons, by which time the day is almost gone but I arrived at the north end of Llandegfedd at 3:30pm, to be rewarded with a fishing Osprey right in front of the car park. I didn’t even need to leave the car park as the bird patrolled the perimeter, giving me several hover flights as he hunted the shallows. Moments later a Red Kite flew into the same air space, and it was nice to see the size comparison between the two species. Kites certainly have the bulk but there didn’t look like there was much in the wing length between the two.

I’ve started to turn my attention to our spring bug life, of which there were plenty on the wing during this short lived heatwave. I clocked 24c in my car! and by next week we’ll be experiencing another cold snap with -1 night-time temps. This weather is truly crazy. If that’s not a sign of global warming in April I don’t know what is.

Good to see my local population of Violet Oil-beetles out in good numbers with over 20 adults and plenty of larvae on the lesser celandines. Andrenna Sp. present but not sure what species, not sure if the picture will show enough of it’s features to identify it to Sp.

Sound

I always make the effort to record Yellowhammer when able, not just because they sound amazing but because I’m hoping I one day record a different dialect. The predominant dialect in Wales is XIB but there are small isolated populations that sing different dialect, which might suggest that those birds originate from a different area, possibly even a different country.

It was nice to see a Female out in the open for a change too, as they usually stay hidden, tucked up in the middle of a Gorse bush. You can see how well her rustic colours blend into the twig colours: making them much harder to spot when they’re sitting on the nest.

Yellowhammer F - SR1A1767.jpg

A few other showy songsters came in the form of a Nuthatch, which is another personal favourite of mine. They have such a rich quality to all of their calls, and they have quite a variety of different song types. This shows two types you’ll likely hear in the spring but it also shows their high pitch squeal call which can catch some people out when heard on its own.

Common species non-the-less, but it’s cool hearing the subtle differences between the Robin’s winter and spring song. Here’s a good example of a spring song, which tends to have more heft behind the lower notes, and less scratchy higher notes.

By far my favourite recording though was of this blackbird, which was at quite the distance away, 20m or so, but thanks to the Schoeps CCM 4 inside the dish, it makes it sound like the microphone is right in-front of it’s bill. I’ve never experienced this level of quality inside a dish before, it honestly sounds like a shotgun recording. Very pleased.

Nocmig

It’s been a mixed bag so far but really please with some of the birds that I’ve got already. Waders are just starting to pour in, with Golden Plover flocks, Curlew, Grey Heron and Little Ringed Plovers, but for me, hearing migrating Blackcap, singing their migratory song, is pretty epic. How on earth these birds navigate the darkness I do not know.

I’m still waiting on confirmation from a few mysteries too, which a probable Bittern and White-front Goose flock, but they’re a bit distant so might have to let those go.

Nocmig

Birding

My first ‘birding’ trip to Llandegfedd this year proved fruitful with a Kittiwake flying in over our heads on the dam wall, continuing on a NW flight path. Not sure if it’s a migrating bird or if it’s been blown off course during the last storm but I presume it’s the latter. There’s so much we don’t yet know about migratory birds, which is why Nocmig recording is quite an exciting activity to take part in. All that community data could really help paint a bigger picture about bird movements and distribution and all this could be achieved from the comfort of your home. So far I’ve only heard a Swallow, I haven’t actually seen one yet but looking forward to it.

One spring migrant I’ve certainly heard plenty of so far is the Chiffchaff. At first I wasn’t sure if it was just the birds that overwintered here that were singing, but I can confirm now on the Gwent Levels that they’re everywhere already! Here’s a recording from Llandegfedd this week.

I love this time of year, as winter migrants start to properly sing and ‘warm up’ to spring, but at the same time, spring migrants are arriving and starting to reclaim territories, so you get this cross-over of sounds from birds that live in totally different worlds to each other. You would have probably heard this by now but if you haven’t, keep a close eye on the Ivy and Holly bushes, especially around open fields of waterways. As the Redwing flock up, they’ll often sing together, creating a wall of sound that sounds way bigger than it actually is. The scratchy sub-song of the Redwing is quite common in winter but it’s less common to get a single bird sing their spring song, which is exactly what you can hear slightly in the recording below. Just a few fluty notes is all it takes.

I’ve recorded quite a lot so I won’t post everything, but here’s a comparison between the song of a Goldcrest and a Firecrest. Other than the fact that they’re both high pitch, they’re quite different when you know what you’re listening out for, so here’s a comparison. That dainty, bouncy rhythm of the Goldcrest is quite distinctive compared to the Firecrests loud-sharp-monotone song, that speeds up towards the end.

I have plenty more new recordings to listen to. I’m really starting to become more proud of the work that I do, and the benefits that it has, not just for my own mental health, but for others than are stuck in isolation, not just because of covid lockdowns but because they’re confined to the house, care home or hospital bed.
Below, probably one of my favourite, as it’s my very own Garden Blackbird that is now gracing me every morning and evening. I’ve commented on the track where mimicry is used.

My local Yellowhammer’s are back on territory and it’s so nice to hear this iconic song again. I can’t imagine the countryside without it. We need more gorse! Hedgerows aren’t enough, we need to protect our gorse patches and not allow farming culture to cut it all down. Even the brecon beacons national park have a lot to answer for, for needlessly cutting down gorse. Cattle can graze around it, and it doesn’t spoilt the view, it enhances it, as a mountain side covered in flowering gorse is a site to behold.

If you haven’t managed to get to your local mountains yet, the moorland soundtrack is in full swing again. Plenty of Skylark and Meadow Pipit displaying. The only sad the about that trip was seeing the amount of destruction done to our protected peat bogs. 4X4 and off-road vehicles have a lot to answer for, not only do they pose a threat to ground nesting birds but the damage they’ve have caused to our nationally important peat bogs is almost irreversible. They think it’s just grass, and that the grass will grow back, but that is not our moorlands work! they aren’t in many ways like ancient woodland, formed over hundreds of years, and once damaged like this, take a very long time to recover. The exposed peat makes the moorland less affective at storing water, which can cause flooding, as that water is no longer being stored and released slowly. It also contributes to global warming, as it makes the peat less affective at storing carbon. I hate seeing this happen on our doorstep but truth is, it’s happening everywhere. It’s good to see the police are starting to tackle this but I do think that off-roaders need somewhere where they can practise their hobby and enjoy themselves without causing damage. Simply educating people isn’t going to be enough.

Some other cool moments for sound were these Carrion Crows, that were in full territorial dispute. At first I thought they were dive bombing a predator, but they were actually dive bombing each other. |f you listen to the start of the recording, you can hear two birds forming a bond with each other by rubbing their bills together.

I’ll hopefully get more opportunities to record Siskin, as I know they can be excellent at mimicking other birds. In this recording you can hear Swallow and Green Woodpecker, but I’ve heard some that are quite elaborate with it.

This Robin actually did a pretty good job at mimicking other birds. I’ve commented a few of the more obvious species on the actual track, check them out.

Nocmig

Right! Now onto the good stuff, as migration is well and truly underway! And like last spring, I have high hopes for something special flying over the house. So far it’s been mixed bags, but last night, despite the northerly winds, I had quite a variety of cool birds.

I won’t upload every recording, but I’ve also had Wigeon, Snipe and good numbers of Moorhen, Coot, Mallard, Redwing and small numbers of Song Thrush too. As we approach April, things should really pick up, as so much starts moving, it’s quite exciting as you never know what you might have flying over your house at night. I’m expecting Common Scoter any day now as they have started moving all across the country but I’m also looking forward to Terns arriving, Spotted Flycatchers and Tree Pipits, which seemed to be a popular one for me last year.

I’ll end with some sleep material and a celebration of my local streams.


Breached Lockdown for a Shag!

Ok, so I do not encourage anybody to breach lockdown for anything other than an emergency or work, as per government guidelines, but here’s the story of how I ended up having to travel a little further than expected, for a Shag. Of course, I mean the bird.

It all started with curiosity, as a member of public, Jo Norman, posted a picture online of what was thought to be a Cormorant at the time, upon posting the phone pictures, others started posting pics of the same bird and as soon as I saw it, I instantly noticed it was actually a juvenile ‘European Shag’, which is a rarer bird for inland waters, as they are true sea birds, found around our rocky coastline. This time of year birds are on the move to warmer climates, and when this is timed with adverse weather conditions, we do end up getting a few blown off-course and stuck inland, struggling to re-find the coast. Every year birders check through hundreds of Cormorant flocks on ponds and lakes in the hope that one of them might be a Shag, but it seldom ever is. So to have one on the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal was very strange. Even stranger was that the bird was super tame, often walking up onto the bank and sitting right next to you. This rang a few alarm bells to me, as these are usually signs that there may be an underlying health problem, however it was fishing and catching fish really well, so I suspect, being a first year bird, it doesn’t really have any fear of humans yet. The only issue was it was being pestered by Dogs each time a Dog walker went past, which is quite often on the canal. It actually took us two days to eventually find it, but Craig Constance went on a morning mission to locate it, proper investigative style, and he eventually pinned it down in Newinn, about a half a mile up the canal from where it was last seen. Apparently it has been here for two weeks, which was also a worry as the weather hasn’t been too bad so it must be struggling to get strength back. We observed it for a while, and Lee Gregory also came over to see the bird. Lee has a lot of experience ringing these birds, so his observations were welcomed. Shortly after the bird had a very close call with another Dog, and we both thought in that moment that this was going to be the end for this poor bird as it will only get weaker. The fish it was catching were tiny, and just not enough to sustain it long term.

Craig and I got home and just couldn’t settle with the idea of leaving it there. A couple hours later we rang all the rescue centres around, and all of them agreed that it would stand a better chance if it was on the coastline in more suitable habitat, but they were all too busy to help. So we just went for it. I got an old fishing net from the attic and Craig got some blankets and we went straight back out there to re-locate it. This actually took WAY longer than I was expecting, and before I knew it, I was almost in Goytre before I found it and Craig went in the opposite direction back towards Pontypool. Thankfully it was swimming back towards Newinn, so I followed it back till it decided to rest on the bank again. By then Craig had caught up and the capture was fairly straight forward. Net straight over whilst it was resting on the bank, bill strapped up (as they can cause a bit of damage with that hook) and it was straight in a bag with blankets. The bird was putting up a good fight, very strong, which was a good sign. Usually when a bird is on its last legs, the struggle of capturing it can cause it to die from shock, but this bird was strong enough to put up a fight all the way to the coast! which is a great sign. It was underweight, but it could still fish, so he has a better chance now.

Upon release, we were a bit worried as he didn’t fly off like we expected. He could fly enough to jump up 6 foot high rocks and I watched him fly a fair distance after the dog attack, so I think he’s just lost a lot of muscle due to being underweight. There were no signs of injury, inside bill showed no fishing hooks or lures and he wasn’t otherwise showing signs of injuries. He eventually could see the tide was coming in, so climbed up the rocks and eventually settled in a perfect little hole in the cliff, where he should be safe enough. As soon as he heard the sea he seemed to have a lot more energy, so just hope it manages to get into a routine of fishing and resting for long enough to get fit again. Here’s for hoping. One things for sure, he looked a lot more at home on the coast and if we didn’t intervene, he would have been malled by a Dog or eventually starved to death. As an ecologist, this sort of thing happens quite often and I consider it now more of a responsibility and part of my Job. I do not encourage anybody to breach lockdown rules, the title was just a bit of a joke.

Vismig & Goldcliff

I’m still working along the Gwent Levels this winter, and I was looking forward to the day I started getting some autumn migration overhead. Till this day, the Vantage Point surveys had been fairly quiet, but all was about to change with the wind on the morning of the 21.09.20 where the schedule survey was lined up in accordance with high tide and an early morning. With all these factors and rolling fog coming in off the bristol channel, it must have spurred many birds to move. Before I knew it I was counting hundreds of birds, sometimes all at the same time, all heading East. The over-all count was incredible with a staggering;

X 2570 Meadow Pipit
X 287 Skylark
X 354 Siskin
X 180 Linnet

X 500 Goldfinch
X 193 Swallow
X 72 House Martin
X 33 Sand Martin

X 16 Tree Pipit
X 6 Yellow Wagtail
X 16 Grey Wagtail
X 316 Pied Wagtail

X 2 Yellowhammer
X 11 Reed Bunting
X 6 Golden Plover

Little Stint to the right

During the survey I also had 3 Little Stint drop on the last bit of mudflat with a few Dunlin and single Ringed Plover. Presumably the same birds present at Goldcliff Lagoons at the moment.

I went straight to Goldcliff afterwards, which was a good call! as Darryl Spittle found me my first Lesser Yellowlegs, which I landed on straight away from the first platform. Present also was 1 Glossy Ibis, 13 Grey Plover, 6 Ruff, 3 Greenshank, 4 Yellow Wag, 1 Whinchat, 4 Wheatear, 5 Pintail, 5 Bar-tailed Godwits amongst all the usual great birds.

The Lesser Yellowlegs was quite a distance away for my telephoto lens, so I’ve included a phone pic thru my scope, which shows much more features, even when surrounded by black-tailed Godwits.

Here's a few more from previous visits to Goldcliff and Magor, with plenty of Wheatear along the coastline, a hunting Hobby catching Dragonflies and a few special insects in the form of the beautiful Ivy Bee, Migrant Hawker and I stop at Llandegfedd on the way home found my first Ruby-tailed Wasp. There’s no wonder I haven’t seen one before, I didn’t realise how small they were. Most would mistake them for a fly! but those colours are truly incredible.

With so much luck the day before on visible migration, I arranged to meeting, socially distanced with Craig Constance and Daniel Webb at Goldcliff and were also later joined by Darryl Spittle. I really enjoy this sort of birding as it tests your ability to recognise calls on the fly and even the visual elements happen so fast, you really need to know what you’re looking for, and I couldn’t have been surrounded by better influences really as these guys have been doing it a long time and they’re quite the pro. That said, if there was anything I brought to the table, it was my parabolic dish, as it allowed us to pull out individuals in a flock that would have otherwise been too distant to hear. I’ve listed a few of the favourite birds in the recording and mashed them together.

Nocmig

It’s been a very mixed bag on Nocmig recordings lately, with some really bad nights with 0 score, but there has been a slow movement of Song Thrush, and last two nights have had my first movement of Redwing, yesterday also seeing my first on the canal whilst looking for the Shag. Last night though was a big score! With 2 Redwing, a BARN Owl! which is a new one for me and totally unexpected over Sebastopol, but for me a personal favourite, a Golden Plover! which I believe is a young bird if I read correctly, as it’s slightly higher pitch and a shorter, less formed call.. but I could be wrong. Either way, very happy with those results and it totally pays off.

I’ll end this very long blog with a picture of this beautiful Starling. Still on my wish list to get a decent recording of these guys.

Starling

Bird Song Dialect

It’s somewhat ‘easier’ to notice dialects in species that have relatively simplistic structures to their song, especially in species that don’t use any form of mimicry, like a Yellowhammer. Any differences in song between regions would, therefore, have formed due to direct learning from other males within that area. This is essentially how isolated populations start to form new sub-species and it’s not to say that Yellowhammer ever will split, but it begs belief that DNA results were able to separate Scottish Crossbill from Common Crossbill, despite that fact that the only differences (as far as I’m aware) is their song.
It’s studies like these that really paint the picture about how little we actually know regarding bird dialect, but it can be a useful tool to learn more about their distribution. For instance, in the Uk we primarily have XIB dialect, which is the classic one people are used to hearing, but we do have populations in the Uk that show XsB, BC and some random combinations. If all of a sudden your local yellowhammer is singing a different dialect, it’s safe to say that this bird is probably not your local bird anymore and an ‘outsider’ has moved in. This isn’t a bad thing though as it diversifies the gene-pool.

Here’s a link to Pavels Pipek’s Yellowhammer project - http://www.yellowhammers.net/about.
If you have any sound recordings of Yellowhammer, please send them over as you never know, you might be the first to find a new dialect for the Uk and it all helps with data collection. Here’s a list some of the main dialects that Pavel has discovered in his research:

Yellowhammer Dialects

Here’s a local bird who’s already settled in with his female. I watched them mating straight after extended periods of singing, so he’s doing his Job correctly so far! No signs of nest building yet though, unless of course they’ve finished the nest already. I have lots of stories with Yellowhammers as it’s the main species my Grandfather spoke of growing up. He reminded me time and time again about where they used to breed in Gwent. Some places of which are really hard to believe now as they’ve since been replaced with concrete and buildings.

Here’s my garden Blackbird. He hasn’t got a very varied song yet, which would imply he’s still a young bird as they get richer and more diverse with age. Still a beautiful song but I do miss our old resident bird as he used to mimic my neighbours whistling. I wonder how long it will take before this guy starts doing the same.

Perspective

The last two months I've experienced so much change, what with the start of my new Job in Cardiff with Aden Productions, and also losing my beautiful Grandmother last week. It's times like these that remind us just how fragile life really is. It doesn't take much to throw you off-balance, even at times where things appear to be falling into place. I'm very lucky I have a strong, loving and supporting family that are always there to listen. My Nan Violet was certainly one of those, and despite having an endless list of health problems, she'd still listen to you moan about what really were, insignificant things in the grand scheme of life. Cherish your loved ones, they are irreplaceable. 

Below, just a small selection of images I've taken recently. I've not had much time outdoors, but the time I have had with the camera has been pretty productive. It's not quite spring yet for some of our migrants but they are turning up one by one. I do love Yellowhammers in spring and despite them being back on territory, they aren't singing just yet. We need a bit of warmer weather, which I believe is just around the corner. Keep your eyes open! 

Blaenserchan - Black Redstart

Today I visited most of my local wild spaces and spent a fair few hours in the Blaenserchan Valley in search of Common Lizards. I did find some, 7 in-fact, but they were proving extremely difficult to find on this hot day. Usually you find them basking in the sun in the morning and evenings but it was so warm, they were disbursed all over the mountain in amongst the bracken.. Don't know if you've ever seen a Common Lizard in a mountain full of bracken but it literally is like finding a needle in a hay-stack. I came prepared for it however, even brought my chair along as I know, once you find one, you have to gain their trust by sitting and waiting until they realise you aren't going to hurt them. I got so close I could have reach out and touched a few. Blaenserchan was so good today, it brought me a 'lifer' in the form of a female Black Redstart! - Thanks to birding friend Tim Griffiths for that one as I surely would have missed it with my head stuck in the bracken looking for Lizards. I also found a Yellowhammer in the valley which I personally haven't seen there before. Insect life was great too with Bloody-nose Beetles, Green Tiger Beetles, a Stonefly, Brimstone Butterfly and many more. 

Singing in a cloud

Not the best day for Photography with fairly thick fog covering most of Pontypool. Was hoping that going further up the mountain I may get above the fog but it was ten times worse. Didn't seem to put the birds off though and luckily for me, I brought my recording gear. 

My recording gear is perfect for days like today where visibility is poor and sound becomes a much more reliable way of picking out birds in the fog. Lucky for me I can ID them by sound alone and I picked out some notable birds today as a result of this. I heard Crossbill, Redwing, Fieldfare and a single Curlew flying in the thick fog.. which I would have missed if it wasn't for my parabolic dish. 

On the way up the mountain I checked on my local gorse patches to see if the Yellowhammers were back in song and despite being back on their breeding grounds, I only picked out a few calls, no full songs just yet. Not that recording them was even possible today with over 20 off-road vehicles ripping up the coal spoils and creating a racket. Still not sure what I think about the off-road activity there, though for the time being, it doesn't seem to effect the Yellowhammers. 

Male Yellowhammer 

The British 

Something that was quite sad and certainly does effect the Yellowhammers was the burnt Gorse patches. This particular patch did home a Yellowhammer nest last season and its now completely ruined. 

Burnt Gorse

Yellowhammers and Ring Ouzel treat!

Early start today with birding friend Craig Constance on a mission to find Ring Ouzel locally and upon arriving at destination, we found one! Amongst 6 Blackbirds.. which didn't make keeping it very easy as once out of site, every blackbird became a target. I didn't get great shots but this was my first ever sighting and I'm very happy to have finally seen one. Big thanks to Craig for the invite, and for getting me out of bed ;) well worth it!. A quick stop at Goldcliff with a no-show from the Glossy Ibis but a lovely male Marsh Harrier but ended up heading back to get some more Ring Ouzel action- to find it had moved on. The day ended with good friend Paul Joy watching Redkites, Yellowhammers, Stonechats and many more and today I also had my first Redstart of the year so things are really happening now and I'm getting really excited for a productive spring. 

Upland Survey

Only a short photography session today having spent most of the day surveying a site that may be victim to yet another development. This one however, we'll feel all around the valleys. I'll blog about this on a feature date once I've accumulated enough concrete information. For now, enjoy the Meadow Pipit and Yellowhammer that I bumped into on my travels. 

Upland Specials

I seem to be surrounded by development lately.. with South Sebastopol well on its way and further destruction in our upland habitats from 4x4 vehicles, I'm starting to see a lack of appreciation for our local habitat in general. With the comforts of modern society and everything we've come to cocoon ourselves in our day to day lives, who needs a variety of habitats? When people do want their wild fix, they prefer to watch nature from a distance, rather than getting their hands dirty and appreciating the ground they step on. Habitat is so underrated and it's down to lack of knowledge and understanding. We should all know the basics about the world we live in, it should be drilled into us from birth how important habitat is to our wildlife and ourselves: How industry has effected our landscape but also how nature is fighting back and using some of our darkest hours to their advantage. We paid a heavy price in the valleys to industry but it's not like we've turned a new cheek! We still neglect our land, our environment and every delicate treasure we have on our doorstep. Below are two species that are quite delicate in their daily needs, both are a lover of Gorse Bushes and due to cultivation and pressure in the farming industry, many of our upland farmers are cutting this down to maximise growth of grassland for their live stock. (This is what ecologists mean by habitat loss). I approached one of the 4x4 drivers about them driving on the moorland and their response was 'it's just grass'... This goes to show how un-educated people really are because it's far from just grass! It's a very complex ecosystem made up of thousands of specialist plant species and you need only look closer to work that out. I didn't get mad at that person though because it isn't their fault, it starts with the Government and with parental teachings, it starts with the foundations of living in Wales and something needs to change for people to start appreciating the land we live on. A spark is needed and I hope I live long enough to see it happen, otherwise, it's going to be a very sad story for generations to come and whats worse is, they won't even know what they're missing.