Monday, January 22, 2024

Long-tailed Duck - Cardiff Bay : 19th January 2024

Last Friday myself and good friend Dave Gilbert made the most of the last of the recent fine weather by meeting up at Cardiff Bay hoping to catch up with the Long-tailed Duck that had been recently favouring an area of the bay near the barrage.

It favours the area where the orange pontoons are sited adjacent to the sluices and we soon found it still present.

On my walk to meet Dave I bumped into Matt Meehan and had a look through Matt's 'scope at the also present Black-necked Grebe which spends it's time in the middle of the bay and is far too distant to photograph, it was nice to see all the same and good to catch up with Matt and chat.

After having 'filled our boots' with the duck we enjoyed a pleasant walk along the barrage to Porth Teigr near the BBC studios which has been home to wintering Black Redstarts for a couple of years.

After a while a stunning male appeared from nowhere on the pile of large rocks in the middle of the waste ground which allowed for some 'record shots' as it was far too distant for anything better.

I have yet to see one perched on the stacks of building materials near the fence which some others have been fortunate to experience, one day I may get lucky.

The bird disappeared as secretively as it had arrived and so we made our way back to our vehicles bumping into Rhodri Watkins and a friend at the LTD location where we stopped for a chat.

We decided to call it a day and after a cuppa and a pasty I spent 20 mins photographing a few Common Redshank favouring the shoreline along John Batchelor Way before heading for home........













Tuesday, January 16, 2024

'A great day's birding' - Llanishen, Cardiff : 11th January 2024

On Thursday 11th January myself and Facebook friend Steve Benton (Steve WB/BrummieinCymru) from Neath who had been in touch with each other arranged a day out together in Cardiff with our cameras.

Steve is currently recovering from treatment for Prostate Cancer as I underwent four years ago although Steve's cancer was further advanced than mine when diagnosed requiring more extensive treatment, he was in good spirits though and is doing really well.

Another thing we have in common is that Steve is an OM Systems (Olympus) shooter although he also shoots Nikon.

I had agreed that he could test out my OM 1.4x extender before diving in and purchasing one, judging by his images I think he was suitably impressed with it.

We met at the lay-by at Sarn Junc 36 on the M4 and as news had broken early of a Red-necked Grebe at Llanishen/Lisvane Reservoirs we headed there first only to find the bird at great distance against the far bank of Lisvane Reservoir. As the circular footpath is closed over the winter it mean't that any meaningful photos would be impossible unless the bird moved a great deal closer.

And closer it did move eventually settling in front of the Visitor Centre with the wildfowl enabling us to 'fill our boots' with photos of this attractive grebe.

The last one that I had seen was the Roath Park Lake bird in October 2018 and it was a 'lifer' for Steve.

This bird however came a lot closer than the RPL bird which on two separate visits was always too distant for anything more than 'record shots'.

The male Ring-necked Duck was also present during this visit, also the juvenile Great Northern Diver was still in residence on Llanishen Reservoir although again distant staying in the middle of the water.

It was nice to bump into Neil Donaghy, Paul Roberts and Dean Bolt who had torn themselves away from Kenfig/Sker to see the grebe.

Also good to bump into Shaun Evans, Tate Lloyd and Alan Rosney who were amongst the birders/toggers attracted by the grebe.

Good friend Dave Gilbert phoned to say he was on his way to see the grebe and after an hour or so we were joined by him.

We took a little break in the Visitor Centre cafe for a coffee (cheers Steve !) and 'filled our boots' with more photos before leaving.

I'm not sure if it is solely Welsh Water who have invested in the regeneration of the reservoirs but it is now an incredible facility in north Cardiff, well thought out and planned and the works have been carried out to the highest standards.

We had intended to visit Porth Teigr in Cardiff in search of the Black Redstarts but with the daylight closing in we headed for Parc-Y-Pentre in Llanishen instead which was only 15 minutes away, on the way home and had a small group of Waxwings which were showing well in reasonable light.

We soon found the group of birders/toggers watching the birds, these included Dave Palmer of Nick The Sheep fame who I had not seen for several years.

The Rowan tree that the Waxwings favoured was being guarded closely by a Mistle Thrush but the birds did manage a few visits and we both got some images that we were well pleased with.

As the sun's rays bid farewell it was time to call it a day, a fabulous day out in great company with some fantastic birds as well, I guess Porth Teigr and the Black Redstarts will have to wait another day.........






 



































Llanishen/Lisvane Reservoir, Cardiff : Ring-necked Duck + Great Northern Diver : 1st January 2024

Following myself, Dave and Jenson's visit to Rogerstone for the Waxwings here are a few images of the female Ring-necked Duck and juvenile Great Northern Diver at the reservoirs later in the day, the diver was always distant in the middle of the reservoir so 'record shots' only. 

It was nice to bump into and chat with a certain Mr Tim Hall during our visit......