Lake Vyrnwy 27th April, 2014

11 birders met at Brunswick Station and set off for Wales in a minibus, with Chris doing the driving. 

On arrival we were joined by two more from the Liverpool group and 3 people from Ellesmere Port.  What a treat we had in store!  Near the visitor centre we saw Chaffinch, Robin, Siskin, Buzzard and Coal Tit.

We started walking the blue trail.  Very soon we came across a female Pied Flycatcher,darting back and forth to a nestbox, beak full of nesting material. It kept us entertained for quite some time, collecting twigs, some were difficult for the little bird to manoeuvre into the box.  And where's there's one, we soon found the male.

Female Pied

Male Pied

Soon afterwards we saw a resplendent Redstart  a Nuthatch and a very smart Pheasant strutting his stuff!

Up in the forest,we came across a lovely clearing with wonderful views. A Tree Pipit was seen flying between a tree and some rocks.  Very soon it landed on a radio mast and was renamed the Mast Pipit, so a new one for all of us!!!  The farmer came up in his quad bike, one hand on the bike, one round his dog, but he still managed a wave.  He left a very happy flock of sheep after he gave them food.

Male Redstart

A copse in the same area gave us another wonderful sighting  of a Redstart on a post. 

Always on the look out for a moment of light humour, Arnie  appeared on edge, 'don't do it Chris Everton will soon regain their form' !

The prankster

Suddenly a Peregrine Falcon came into sight over the hilltop and a very high flying Cormorant followed by Ravens.

we continued the walk and soon came to the woods, there had been a great deal of clearance so not the prettiest place to be.  Piles of newly felled logs and a stumpy wasteland ahead, still the pied and grey wagtails of the area were quiet happy with the area, flitting about, no doubt the clearance had uncovered lots of insect prey.

Logging

Shortly after another highlight of the walk, Arnie's  wonderful hearing picked up the song of a Wood Warbler a short metallic tick that accelerates into a trill that is reminiscent of a coin spinning) and after some pishing it appeared for us all to ogle.  Such a pretty bird, a lovely yellow colour with gleaming white underparts.

And at last our quarry, high up in the sky, a Goshawk  scanning the forestry below, alas no closer view. One day we'll see this vivacious  sweeping effortlessly through the canopy.

After lunch we ventured onto the  lakeside hides. On the path to the hides , a dipper was spotted flying down a woodland stream . The weather was on the turn, a heavy down pour the precursor for the rest of the day   perhaps a reason for the hide birdlife to be quiet with the exception  of once again a delightful pair of Pied Flycatchers, chasing each other back an forth over the woodland enclosed pool at the top of the lake.

The heavens opened once, time for a hasty retreat to the minibus in the hailstones and so back to our Liverpool home. 

Rhodie

Pics - Neil P

Laura

The Hind Lek Maneuver

Hi All,

RSPB members Brian, Janet and myself were up and at`em at Silly O`Clock and on the road for 06:15 hrs this morning. 

It was very misty and we wondered that it would affect seeing the dyslexic Balck Gourse neking.

Fortunately when we reached the high Moorland of World`s End we had left the mist well below us.

We had our cameras handy and ready to roll with the car windows rolled down so we could at least hear them warbling even if we couldn't see them.

As we drove along the single track road we came across several cars parked up on the side then noticed the Grouse in Leking mode not far from the roadside.

We immediately put the Black Pearl into stealth mode by switching the engine off and lowering her sails and coasted to a halt behind the last parked car then dropped anchor.

The Canon doors were already open, then followed by two 500mm Canons primed with SDHC cards out of each porthole and began firing at will ... or Black Grouse in this case.

Then within a few minutes another car came along the road and wanted to pass the parked car that was blocking the road further up ... who didn't want to miss the Lek.

So a car horn was sounded as he was taking too long to move out of the way ... then all the birds took flight as one of the drivers got out of the car ..... so that was the end of the Lek's Maneuver.

By this time the majority of the cars started to move off as it was pointless staying there without any birds displaying.

As we drove further along the road we heard some more warbling and saw another seven birds going through the motions of spring and as the Germans would say, " Four Sprung Durch Technik" or seven in this case, as the Brits always go a few better.

By this time the sun was up over the horizon and we chartered a new compass course for Lake Vyrnwy. Arrived there about 10:00hrs and went into the feeding station to see the birds on the feeders less that half a meter from our faces. We saw Nuthatch, Blue & Great tits, Pheasants and a greedy grey squirrel all feeding on the bird feeders.

So by now we though it was about time we should feed ourselves ... so made headway to the cafe there and had a nice cuppa.

From there we circumnavigated the lake and called into see the impressive waterfall at the far end to the dam.

After being impressed with that, we forged our way forward and scaled the North Face of The Giants of Vyrnwy footpath with grappling irons to hear the summit but unfortunately by this time it was 14:00hrs and was too late to see any maraudering Goshawks as the days heat seemed to put all the birds down for the afternoon and it was half day Wednesday anyway.

By 16:00hrs we headed our way back to our home ports from on `Stranger Tides` after a long day in the sun and lowered the Skull & Cross Bones flag.

A good day was had by all and only 726 photo's taken on one roll of film of the birds and beautiful scenery.

                                              Neil 

Flying giants of Vyrnwy?

Goshawk - SteveRound

March is always a month I set aside for goshawk

As long as it is not raining or the wind is blowing a gale this is the time to look for a normally difficult to see bird.

The forecast for this Saturday wasn’t too bad so we headed to a favourite spot of mine at Lake Vyrnwy. Taking the path up from the Giants of Vyrnwy car park we were retreading the footsteps of the abortive RSPB meet of 2013. However, with better weather this year we were more confident of success.

Even before we had reached our normal viewpoint we had a large goshawk on the hill behind us which was soon joined by a second. After a while they drifted out of sight but it was a good start to the day.

We continued up the track and settled down to scan for birds. From our viewpoint we checked each bird in the sky. Usually these were buzzards or ravens but there we had numerous sightings of goshawks and there may have been up to four birds present.

One goshawk soared alongside a similar sized buzzard for some minutes before diving at a small bird which turned out to be a sparrowhawk (presumably male as the size difference was so vast).

Most of our sightings were across the valley above the hill of the Ty-uchaf tea rooms but birds were picked up from all directions. We had birds flying below us as well as a vertical stoop from above us into the valley below.

During our four hour watch we also saw a pair of peregrines, one merlin and a red kite. One or two sparrowhawks were also present. Crossbill calls revealed one bright red male in the trees below us but that was it for small birds.

If you have a nice sunny day with a bit of a breeze don’t leave it another year.

Terry