Freezing Weather

Brings in the birds, the search for food is a must.

 

Black Redstart

Black Redstart at Edern, perched on the church.  Its a female.
23/24th November 2016

 

Chiffchaffs

Chaffchaffs are still in my garden and singing.  They have choosen the Hawthorn trees where there are lots of leaves and berries that have insects and little spiders around them.

CATCHING UP WITH SUMMER 2016

Lots going on in my little wildlife field now that the Rowen saplings have grown a bit.  The Alders have reached a good height. Very glad that all the trees and shrubs got growing again after they were all vandalised in 2010.
Sheep Sorell when seeded has to be the Goldfinches favourite feed. Very lucky to have breeding Willow Warblers, Chiffchaffs and Common Whitethroats to join all the usual birds, Wren, Blue and Great Tits etc.

  
 

My favourite birds

Choughs, Grey Wagtails 

 

BRAMBLING

A stunning Brambling mixing in with a flock of Chaffinches was feeding on my drive.  The date was 20the Dec. Sadly no photo.

GREAT NORTHERN DIVER

A Great Northern Diver arrived in the bay of Morfa Nefyn, it swam along the shoreline as close as 20feet from the beach.  I saw it with an orange crab which isjust crunched in its beak and swallowed it.  The beak looks long and strong, it swam a good distance before breaking the surface.  Two Great Crested Grebe's were also very close to the beach and could swim below the surface for a good distance.
The sea was calm for once and the rain has eased but the cloud was heavy and very dull.

 

MED GULL

Just near Aberdaron in a field, flock of gulls, approx 6 Med Gulls in all.

 

DOTTEREL

Having a walk on the very top of Mynydd Mawr late September, bird and sea watching.  Someone came to speak to me and said he was very excited in finding a Dotterel.  As I have never seen one went to look and found this large wader crouched amongst the rocks and Heather, very still but watching our every move.  Many photos were taken and they we left and was able to watch the bird catching and eating Crane flies (commonly known as Daddy long legs).  A great sight to remember, thank goodness for my camera, love this bird watching just love it.

 

GREAT-GREY SHRIKE

In the hills between Criccieth and Porthmadog there had been a report of a wintering Great-grey Shrike.  I didn't really think that I would see it but having driven through the hills and not very many brids about, I was a amazed to see on a dry stone wall this bird.  It flew from the wall to a fence and I was lucky enough to get a photo.  It was landing every so often onto the grass for feed.  A great sight indeed.

 

RED-BREASTED FLYCATCHER

A rare bird paid a visit to Uwchmynedd and I was lucky enough for a few photos on the second day.
Hardest little bird to catch on camera, shy, quick and very wary.  A smart bird all the same.
That's three this year the Spotted, Pied and now the Red-breasted Flycatcher. A big WOW for my bird watching.

 

THE LAST POPPY

The last poppy of summer was for me a single Field Poppy in a huge field in the corner out of the wind.  The Autumn chill is here every morning and the summer flowers are fading away.  Petals are falling and little spiders cling to the stems and eventually the stems rot and fall into the soil.  
The Harebells always the last summer are fading and the sky blue colour is fading to grey, the gorse still in flower remains most of the year.
But, yesterday was poppy day for me..........

 

CHIFFCHAFFS NEAR AND FAR

I have good memories of the song of Spring, a chiffchaff singing,its not just the Cuckoo that heralds Spring.
 14th September to-day, the Cuckoo has long gone but the Chiffchaff remains.  Sometimes this birds sings Chiffchaff and other time specially during the Autumn its call is 'hweet'.
Again sometimes it bobs its tail, a sure sign that the bird is a Chiffchaff and not a Willow Warbler.  
Black legs another sign.  Little Spiders under leaves are part of their diet and this little warblers can hang upside down seeking out the small insects.

 

SUMMER TIME 2015

What better place to be when the sun is hot by a lake, sea or a pond.
I'm lucky as in I have at least two of these on my doorstep.  A small local river provides wild life in small quantities but very interesting all the same.  Friends provide me with mature ponds where I can sit and watch the Dragonflies, Damselflies and sometimes Beautiful and Banded Demoisells.
If I'm very lucky I have even seen Grey Wagtails, Sparrowhawk, always see Buzzards and once I saw a Kingfisher.