Monday 16th May 2016

and a deep breath....

After quite a busy weekend around the local nature reserves, talking to lots of visitors including the local anglers, today was more of my time.

I popped into Pembrey reserve late in the afternoon and strolled onto Cefn Sidan beach where the steady breeze was whipping up the dry sand but I had the whole place to myself, again.

Signs of bird migration are slowing down but the mix of waders on the beach showed that some have yet to reach their breeding grounds in the high Artic yet, including a few colourful Sanderling, Dunlin and a group of eight Bar-tailed Godwits two of which were in full summer plumage.

Dunlin resting before the evening onward flight perhaps?

Dunlin (L) and Sanderling (R)

Bar-tailed Godwit and Oysctercatchers (honest!)

On the home front the Starling RAS project continues, slowly.....

Saturday 14th May 2016

Pembrey Burrows LNR Orchids...and more

With an overcast morning the light was less harsh so hopefully my attempts to capture the vista of the Green Winged Orchids will be an improvement on Thursday's attempt.

The orchid comes in several colour forms, from the standard deep purple through pink and then white, this is common in flowers which have blue or purple flowers.

Green winged Orchid with white form

The buttercup in the photographs is Bulbous Buttercup, quite a dainty variety compared to, say Creeping Buttercup.

Green winged orchid with Bulbous Buttercup

Green winged Orchid

There are plenty of other flowers coming into bloom including  Common Vetch, Rue leaved Saxifrage and the Early Dog Violet below.

The next few weeks will see the reserve burst into bloom..

Thursday 12th May 2016

Pembrey Burrows guided walk... Spring Migrants!

Today was the second of the summer series of guided walks at the Pembrey Burrows & Saltings Local Nature Reserve; there wasn't a great turnout but nevertheless we had a really interesting walk.

Starting at the entrance to the reserve, well you would wouldn't you, we ambled through the first grazing fields, now devoid of the bullocks who have been munching away for five months, they seem to have made an impression as we found swarms of Green Winged Orchid, in amongst Bulbous Buttercup and Cowslips. My photos do not do the image any justice at all.

My photo doesn't do justice to the incredible vista of the Green-Winged Orchids

We continued on out onto the edge of the salt marsh where a change of vegetation was very noticeable with Thrift, Scurvy Grass, and the first signs of one of the site specialities Rock Sea Lavender, (not yet in flower so photo to follow) found at a selected few sites across the country.

Thrift

After pausing at the shelter were more seasonal information has been added, we continued out towards the sea as high water was due.

Here the estuary was like a mill pond, a Northern gannet was just in the county as it dived for fish and most definitely on the reserve were a large flock of Oystercatchers, with an accompanying group of smaller waders including, Dunlin, Sanderling and Knot also in the group was a lonesome Bar-tailed Godwit, bringing the bird list for 2016 to 100 species.

The weather had improved to sunny and quite warm (my fleece was surplus to requirements) which brought out the butterflies including Small Blue, Common Blue Small Copper, Green-veined white, Dingy Skipper and Green Hairstreak.

Green Hairstreak

Small Blue

Small Copper

                                  Thanks to Adam Dare for the butterfly images

The walk took around two and a half hours long enough to sample the diversity of the site.

Tuesday 10th May 2016

Back to the routine...

Well not yet I have been back a day, which has been all about getting a new car for myself, that's sorted with a Suzuki Jimny sitting on the drive....

My project on Starlings, called a RAS, (resighting adults for survival) has at last started, after difficulty in getting the correct plastic rings then the disappearance of the Starlings from the area I finally got started this morning with four adult birds ringed and colour ringed (darvics), I would like to ring 50+ this season

So keep your eyes peeled you never know where they may turn up.

Starling KAA keep an eye out for her...

Friday 6th May 2016

Lesbos 2016.. the penultimate blog...

Ringing yesterday yielded just four birds, a brood of Great Tits which were in themselves interesting as they are so far advanced in moult to be regarded as a 3 in ringing terms which means they are the older young of the year out of juvenile moult.

The rest of the day, given the weather was more cultural and included visiting the Roman bridge at Kermastes, where it is currently undergoing preservation by the authorities, ah a picture you may think well I didn't think to take one!!

I did manage to catch up with 7 Caspian Terns on the slat pans

Today we headed east to pick up a few odd and ends birds and managed to see Olive Tree Warbler, at a reliable site, OTW is a speciality of the island and is a large robust warbler and elusive so eh no photo...

Alpine Swifts were seen very well and low down again at a reliable spot along the beach.

It has been a tough birding fortnight, splitting time between ringing and birding, with the vast majority of passerines having seemingly moved through. However Lesbos remains a great place to visit for the warmth of its people, the unspoilt beauty of its scenery and of course the wildlife...

Dice Snake?

Wednesday 4th May 2016

Lesbos 2016..

Complacency is an odd thing, yesterday morning I casually remarked "oh Ring Ouzel" as a female of the species flew across in front of the car and landed nearby, a very brief look and I motored on, little did I realise that Ring Ouzel is almost considered a vagrant species to the island opps, I will have to fill out a rare bird description report ....

After a few thunder storms through the evening the morning was reasonable but I didn't plan any ringing instead we went off in search of Caspian Terns never did see them though! I then decided that a late and short ringing session was called for so set the nets at the Christou River reed bed at 09:30hrs.

By 09:40hrs there were three warblers in the net the first clearly a Reed Warbler, the second was somehow different ( it also called differently) and the third was an obvious Reed Warbler.

My "not an obvious Reed Warbler" was duly processed and it seemed apparent that this bird needed reference to the ringing "guide" by Lars Svensson.

The overall impression was Reed Warbler like but with a more Olive tone across the back, the rump was more buffish but still not rufous, was this a MARSH WARBLER? the wing was 69mm, the "notch" in the 2nd primary feather was 9mm, the tarsus was 23mm long and 2.5mm wide,the bill 12.4mm long and 1.8mm wide, the primaries were lightly but obviously tipped whitish.

I became more and more convinced that I was processing a Marsh Warbler and used a calculation from the guide book which helps determine the identification of the species V Reed Warbler which is  bill length 12.4mm - (bill width 1.8mm X tarsus width 2.5mm) = 7.9; also the ratio of the P2 notch to total wing length  9mm/69mm = 0.13 all point to Marsh Warbler!!!

Having reviewed all the data I'm happy with the identification

Tuesday 3rd May 2016

Lesbos 2016...

Today I woke to a near gale blowing, so that paid end to any plans of ringing.

Instead we went "West" in search of Isabelline Wheatears, one of the special birds of the island, fair to say they are pretty reliable at a few sites and within minutes of arriving at one of the sites I've seen them at in previous spring visits one was sat on a wall, then a bush then out of sight.....

wind swept Izzy Wheatear

We called in to the salt pans and were told of a Red necked Phalarope bingo...., given the diminutive size of the bird and its distance from any human there's no photo..

The forecast rain arrived late in the day with a few rumbles of thunder and one or two impressive forks of lightening, not enough to stop an intrepid duo dashing off to look for a couple of reported Caspian Terns, no joy tonight maybe first thing tomorrow.