Tagged with: Birds
Posts (126)
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Monty the osprey returns to Cors Dyfi
Martin Aaron
Monty the male osprey at the Dyfi Osprey Project has recently returned to his his old nest site following聽a winter spent聽on the west coast of聽Africa.
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Winter feeding
Martin Aaron
With sub zero temperatures upon us, RSPB Cymru is advising people to make sure their bird feeders and tables are full of high energy foods.
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Glaslyn osprey chick hatches
Martin Aaron
Great news for the team up at the RSPB Glaslyn Osprey Project as the first of three osprey eggs hatched today. The first chick hatches at Glaslyn. Image taken from the RSPB webcam. After a rough and windy night which saw the osprey webcam lose power, the female finally revealed the ch...
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First osprey chick laid at Glaslyn
Martin Aaron
The first osprey egg of 2012 in Wales was laid at the Glaslyn Osprey Project near Porthmadog last night and was spotted by wardens this morning. The female laid her first egg two days later than last year on 4 April, and has been sat on the nest throughout the night, getting up to feed briefl...
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African holiday for Welsh osprey
Martin Aaron
There's a nice update here from the Dyfi Osprey Project. The first chick to leave the nest last year was called Einion and thanks to GPS tracking, we know that he's alive and well and currently holidaying in West Africa. Einion set off in the morning from Mid Wales on 31 August and by late afternoon was already in Plymouth. The following day he was in Brittany and the next, northern Spain. Thanks to satellite technology the team at the Dyfi Osprey Project have been able to track Einion - the first osprey chick to leave the nest in July 2011. After a week he'd arrived in sunny Gibraltar and two days later was in Morocco where he stayed for over two weeks, half way between Casablanca and Marrakech. Four weeks after leaving Wales he had reached Senegal, arriving on 29 September and is still there. Find out more about this amazing migration story in the Dyfi Osprey blog.
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Crafty birds
Martin Aaron
Recently I've been trying my best to attract a few more birds to 成人论坛 Wales HQ here in Llandaff. When I say birds, I mean small, interesting ones rather than the feral pigeons and herring gulls that line the rooftops here every single day of the year. It's not to say that we live in a wildlife wilderness though. We have plenty of grey squirrels - no black ones yet! And there's a resident sparrowhawk nearby that takes out the odd pigeon from time to time. We also have a green woodpecker in the top Ty Oldfield car park that regularly waddles around a small, grassy area in search of worms and a fairly tame raven that croaks occasionally. I heard some tawny owls calling at night a few weeks ago in the woods beyond the car park and they're quite active at this time of year - defending their territories in preparation for an early breeding season. The complete opposite of my empty bird feeder at work. This one is feeding a family of long-tailed tits. Image by Eiona Roberts. But that's about it - there's not a tit or finch in sight. I've put a basic feeder up on a tree opposite our office and it's now been there for a week. The only visitors - two large magpies that take it in turns, hanging off it like bad gymnasts, but at least it's getting used. I'm now toying with the idea of making a small wooden bird table to fix to one of the fence posts, in the hope of alerting passing birds to their new feeding station. I found a nice simple plan to follow on the RSPB website with illustrations, if you fancy making one for your garden. With so many birds beginning to search out nesting sites, it's not a bad idea to think about nest boxes too, as we could be in for an early season this year. And even if they don't nest, they will still come in handy as roosting boxes, if the weather remains cold. A blue tit bringing food back to a nest box. Image by Arwyn Harris. According to RSPB, 'Over 60 species are known to have used nestboxes and regular residents include blue, great and coal tits, nuthatches, house and tree sparrows, starlings, spotted and pied flycatchers, robins, house martins, kestrels and tawny owls. ' 'Much depends on the type of the box, where it is located, and on its surroundings.' They are also fairly simple to make providing you can cut in a straight line and use a ruler or tape measure! There's an easy to follow plan on how to build one on the RSPB website or on 成人论坛 Breathing Places if you've got some free time on your hands. It will also save you a fair bit of money too as they can be quite expensive to buy, ranging from 拢7 up to 拢45 plus, depending on what they're made from, which species of bird they're designed for and the technology contained inside. Here are 20 of the best bird boxes from 2009 (so a little out of date) but it gives you a good idea of what is available and the wide selection of designs that you can now purchase - from designer ceramic 'tit balls' to high tech boxes with built in webcams so you can recreate Springwatch from the comfort of your lounge.
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Where have all the birds gone?
Martin Aaron
As the milder weather continues, our wildlife is becoming increasingly confused with the fact that we are still actually in winter. Yesterday I visited Merthyr Mawr with my 2 year old son and his friend for a spot of 'dune surfing' on a snow sledge - hard work dragging/ carrying him back up t...
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Starlings swoop into Llanelli wetlands
Martin Aaron
I was only blogging about this last week and wondering when we were going to see more starling 'murmurations' happening in Wales when this News online story appeared about the Llanelli Wetland Centre. The reserve believe that around 100,000 starlings have recently arrived to roost there over winter. Safety in numbers, helps keep the birds safe from predators such as owls and peregrines and the way the reed beds have been cut make an ideal habitat for roosting birds. I recently saw a few thousand starlings flying over Kenfig Reserve, so wonder if these birds were making their way over to Llanelli? Apparently if you want to see the starlings in action then the best time to visit is around 3.30pm each day. Find out more about this story and watch a video clip on News online. I was just searching online for information about crows doing a similar thing (as I have a huge flock living opposite my house that put on a spectacular show at dawn and dusk) when I stumbled across this jaw dropping video clip of starlings flying over the Shannon River in Ireland. It is probably the best footage I have ever seen of this phenomenon. Incidentally, a large flock of crows however is called a 'murder', not so glamorous but equally impressive if you've ever seen them in action. So, have you spotted any large starling flocks yet? If so, let me know and leave a comment below and we can try and work out where the best ones are currently happening in Wales.
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Cold snap for birds ahead
Martin Aaron
The mild autumn weather has meant late sightings of summer migrants, late broods of young for birds like blue tits and empty feeders as birds were still finding food further afield. Derek Brockway is warning of unsettled and changeable weather ahead with some short, sharp cold snaps which cou...
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Winter visitors
Martin Aaron
The more exotic looking winter birds are beginning to arrive in Wales now and as usual, our Flickr group members have been first on the scene. Here's a taster of what we've received recently. These shots of an Isabelline wheatear on North Gower have caused quite a stir amongst 'twitchers' as ...
