Had another visit to the George on Thursday before Fridays Welsh adventure. Best of the action came in the form of the five Raven which for the first time had taken an interest in the bread that's always put out for the horses in West paddock. I watched them for a while and managed a couple of images but there was little else of note within the 54 species seen on this visit.
Since the Western Reef Heron was found up in north Wales last weekend I've been watching news and admiring peoples ability to drop everything and go to see it. For me time is rarely on my side with these things unless they're close enough for a dash that still allows me to fulfil my family commitments. I've found myself less ready to put in the hard miles required for some of the distant twitches and of course there's also an equation to be made over cost too. All that said and I still very much wanted to see the Reef Heron and with Friday free I told the Jims I was thinking of making the trip and they were willing and even committed to stopping overnight if two days were required.
Setting off at 2am we covered the 282 miles with just a quick coffee stop on the way and arrived at Foryd Bay for 7am. On arrival at the hide we found only familiar faces. All that way from home and I bump into Essex birders, Mike, Steve, John and John along with Chris from Herts and Shaun from Staines plus a couple of Herts/Essex guys who's names I didn't know. News was that the bird was present at 5.30am when they arrived but the tide had pushed it off and it hadn't been seen for over an hour. We set about checking the area and within moments Jim had found the bird out to the far east corner from the hide. We had our lifer! The bird was first found according to a face-book post in Pembrokeshire on 13th May and appeared next at Foryd bay on 5th June. It's the first record of this species for Britain and as such has caused quite a twitch throughout the week. We enjoyed the bird and the company for a couple of hours before heading off to make the most of the miles we'd put in to get to the area.
South Stack was just 45 minutes drive away so we decided on that as our next target hoping to get Dad some much wanted coastal ticks. On arrival we had two Chough before we'd even got out of the car and then walked down to the Lighthouse where I thought it a good idea to walk down the steps to the bottom of the cliff not thinking about the climb back up. Here we picked up thousands of Guillemot, hundreds of Razorbill, Kittiwakes, Gannet and Fulmar. Puffin were hard work but we found two and three Shag. Four Raven flew around the Lighthouse calling and I picked up a few Manx Shearwater out in the bay. From South Stack we headed a bit further round the coast to Holyhead Fish Quay in search of Black Guillemot which we quickly found. Our last venue of the trip would be Cemlyn which is home to the largest Sandwich Tern colony in Wales. Among the Sarnies we found a few Common and a few Arctic Terns along with five Med Gulls. Ringed Plover, Dunlin and Oystercatcher made up the best of the rest. Great place to visit. From here we headed for home arriving back at about 9pm after what was a good days birding.
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| Arctic Tern |
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| Sandwich Tern |
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| Sandwich Tern |
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| Common Tern |
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| Arctic Tern |
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| Sandwich Tern |
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| Raven |
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| Chough |
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| Chough |
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| Chough |
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| Lesser Black backed Gull |
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| Chough |
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| Guillemot |
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| Raven |
Year list now 221 (Reef Heron, Shag, Chough, Manx Shearwater, Puffin and Black Guillemot)
Life list now 456
I have one eye on a certain Heron 280 miles away but it's 280 miles away. Never say never but for now the other eye is locked in at the KGV where I'm still finding the time and motivation to give it a go every couple of days. The four mile walk feels so much easier now it's become routine and I'm still enjoying the slim pickings it brings.
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| A little history lesson |
(Completed 5th March 1913 and water was let in by King George V. with Queen Mary.)
Since my last post on 7th I've walked it twice, once on Monday and again today. On Monday I found a young recently fledged Mistle Thrush and then one of the parents which was remarkably my first of the year which I find amazing accepting I've done 31 laps of the reservoir in that time but in my defense the fields are hard work in the early mornings with the sun coming up in your face oh and I also got a good soaking on Monday for my trouble.
Today I added Pochard to the June list and found another surprise in the form of a Little Grebe which is far from common as a summer visitor but I have bumped into a few recently. Peregrine, Sparrowhawk, Kestrel, Buzzard and Red Kite were all seen today and I found the five Ravens back up in the north west corner. The day was really all about fledglings though and having already seen young fledge from Raven, Mute Swan, Canada Goose, Mallard, Coot, Moorhen, Magpie, Crow, Wood Pigeon, Collared Dove, Stock Dove, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Starling, Blackbird, Song Thrush, Robin, Blue Tit, Great Tit and Linnet today I added to that list of site breeders with Great Spot Woodpecker, Whitethroat, Lesser Whitethroat and Sedge Warbler. To my surprise I found the family party of Lesser Whitethroats in an area I've never seen or heard them in this year. A nice walk bringing the June list to 74 and the total reservoir year list to 113.
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| Oystercatcher |
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| Mallard |
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| Pochard |
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| Sedge Warbler |
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| Whitethroats |
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| Whitethroat |
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| Whitethroat |
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| Whitethroat |
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| Whitethroat |
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| Whitethroat |
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| London |
The overall year list for the UK remains at a modest 215 due to a lack of adventure on my part which the Heron could yet provide if it hangs around for me.
I've had a day Minsmere with Jim and a few patch visits in the last week but otherwise a very quiet week.
2nd June: A nice four mile walk round the George resulted in a count of 49 species with the highlights being a pair of Shoveler on north basin, 2 Stock Dove which are not uncommon but I always like to see, Swift numbers were high and I counted 600 but there could have been double that. A Little Grebe by the pontoons was unexpected and it was great to see all five Ravens on the ground together for once.
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| Little Grebe |
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| A rather wet Fox checking me out |
3rd June: Minsmere! We set off early and arrived early, really early as we only saw six people the whole time we were there. We found four Stone Curlew to start the day list well and give us both a late year tick. Avocets totalled 157 plus lot's of new fledglings but wader species numbers were low with just seven species counted. We saw a Bittern and heard another too, a Tawny Owl was calling from the southern edge of the reserve and we managed to find the two Roseate Terns among the 96 Common and 26 Sandwich Terns. Black headed Gulls were everywhere and I counted 500 before giving up and that didn't include the fledglings of which there were probably at least that number again. Wood Lark and Nightingale probably the best of the rest among the 83 species seen.
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| Shelduck |
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| Sedge Warbler |
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| Roseate Tern among the Black-headed Gulls |
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| Sandwich Tern |
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| Shelduck |
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| Kittiwake |
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| Avocet |
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| Barnacle Goose |
4th June: Another 4 miles round the George with just 45 species counted mostly due to the wind and rain preventing me from hearing most birds on this visit. Highlights include the five Raven still in the NW corner and a high count of 70 Canada Geese which now includes 3 Greylag/Canada hybrids. Among the large flock of Swifts/Swallows and Sand Martins were a number of House Martins which aren't so regular on the reservoir.
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| Grey Heron |
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| Mallards |
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| Five Raven |
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| Raven |
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| Raven |
5th June: Yet another walk round the reservoir and a grand total of 55 species today. As I walked up towards the causeway a Ringed Plover flew past me calling giving me just enough time to grab a record shot. It appeared to land down by the pontoons but scoping from the causeway I couldn't refind it but was pleased as it was my first this year at the George. Still big numbers of Swift and hirundines about but they're so difficult to count so I tend to submit a modest estimate so as not to be accused of over egging the totals. The Barn Owl continues to make the odd appearance which is always nice but today I only saw two Raven.
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| Grey Wagtail |
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| Little Egret |
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| Ringed Plover |
Ringed plover is my 10th wader of the year at the George. Ringed Plover, Redshank, Whimbrel, Dunlin, Sanderling, Oystercatcher, Little ringed Plover, Common Sandpiper, Golden Plover and Greenshank.
Today (7th June) I had two choices, I could drive five hours upto north west Wales to see a Reed Heron or do the 3 mile drive down to the reservoir.....the reservoir won. A decent walk gave a few new ticks for June including Jay, Buzzard, Red Kite and Kestrel but nothing much of note. Swifts continue to be present in massive numbers and again two Raven were present but for the second visit I didn't see the youngsters. The Barn Owl came out to hunt for a while but otherwise it was pretty quiet although I did manage a day total of 57 species taking my months total to 69.
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| Sand Martins |
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| Coot |
Year list now 215 with the addition of Sandwich Tern, Roseate Tern and Stone Curlew from the Minsmere trip.
