Ouzel doozie and Cuckoo a choo

Aber waterfall - Bimo

Ellen loved their times at Aber. She loved to walk upon the beach and gaze across the strait towards Llanfaes. She loved to follow the shallow, meandering river that flowed through a deeply wooded glen, and she loved to watch for that flash of silver amidst the trees ahead, anticipating her first glimpse of the surging waterfall that splashed over a sheer cliff in a narrow ribbon of white water, the Whiteshell River...  From the Princes of Gwynedd – S Penman

Last Saturday was one of those great birding days out not to be forgotten, for all the right reasons and not just because we had gone to Wales and for once the weather was glorious. Our trip up the Aber mountain was to look for specialist mountain and woodland bird and I'm pleased to say we were not disappointed.

The remarkable weather saw the troops out in numbers and we were lucky to get a parking space, but our early start had paid off.

The river meanders by the car park, what a start, twas an omen perhaps of good things to come. Bobbity, bob, dipper, back and forth to its nest, zipping under the bridge where we stood...wonderful.

Happily we set off alongside the path that runs along the river, the Afon Rhaedr Fawr. Woodland, shrubs and grassy glades either side. We were aiming for the Aber waterfall; here the River Afon Goch plunges about 120 feet over a sill of rock, a view worth the trip alone.

Eyes to the skies, it wasn't long before we were treated to aerial cat fight between  that exquisite fork tailed  prince of the  hills a red kite and a  more familiar common buzzard ..mew! 

Red Kite - Neil P

Next  a captivating fierce goshawk rising high over the woodland-  a much better sighting than the previous week at Lake Vyrnwy, noticeably paler, short broad wings and a long tail, (natures adaption to help it manoeuvre through  the trees). Later sightings of Sparrowhawk and kestrel completed the raptors for the day.

Bluebells  - Bimo

The path to the falls is a stunning place, bluebells carpeted the glades, hawthorn blossom gleamed white and smelt divine. A quiet place for a picnic or ponder or for some a happy home...ponies roamed in the dappled shade.

Ponies in shady glade  - Bimo

The stream babbled and rippled, birdsong hung in the air...chiff chaff, willow warbler, blackcap, song thrush, great, blue and long tailed tit, goldcrest to name a few, many binoculars hunted them down.

A streak of red led us to another target, a resplendent redstart, darting from tree to fence post and back, fine views for all. A gt spotted a woodpecker briefly kekked his way through the woods.

Pied flycatcher - Neil P

A male pied flycatcher obligingly sitting on a branch, his female close by. One never tires of admiring this bird, so striking and only here for a few months of the year.

Arriving at the plunge pool, the waters flowed a little faster over the rocky bottom; here a crafty grey wagtail plundered the riverbed.

Seekers - Neil P

Cuckoo calling high over the rocky cliff face, but where? all eyes trained above, a luring call and then a stroke of luck, a flight from tree to rock and back, then settled on the craggy top 'the gowk' our harbinger of spring.

Cuckoo in flight- Neil P

Stomachs rumbled, we strolled back to the car park picnic tables, what a great morning. 

After lunch we travelled a short distance to access an open hilly area in the valley of the Afon Anafo. An even smaller car park and some tight spatial awareness parking.

Stonechats were the kings and queens of the scrub with occasional meadow pipit accompaniment, but what we were looking for was an upland elusive bird, a blackbird with a twist… the ring ouzel with its white breast-band and yellow circled eye.

Afon Anafo valley - Neil P

Another spectacular valley, a green vista, scree slopes, ancient stone ruins with the Anafo flowing through it. We purposefully trod along the path, the wind more blustery on the higher ground. What's that...another cuckoo calling!? Sure enough, as if our path was tracked a cuckoo sat on a stone wall below, being mobbed by meadow pipits; hey... they may have been mum and dad!

Second cuckoo interlude over we decided to stop a while and spread out along the path, giving ourselves the best opportunity to scan the slopes, it worked, after ten minutes success Chris found our bird, feverishly foraging for grubs high on the slopes above.  A great bird to end our trip, a lifer tick for many.

Laura

Live and let lek

Ruabon moor, bleak and cold
a heather moor,a place of lore
Black cock, heath cock
violet black,  a fighting cock
Strut , swagger and flounce
head bowed, white fantail proud
Red wattle flash
bubble, burble,  hiss and coo
Tis a lady cock you do woo

In the ling, brown it's gown
Red grouse, gorcock
standing his ground 
Your white feathered feet do give you away
too late, I say
Go back,  go back, go back you call


Oh fork tailed kite 
you hang and glide
on arched wings you wander by
A scavenger Prince, the Welsh hills your realm
you watch and seek and freely roam
I hear your mewing call, what did you say?
You'll come again another day...


Goosie, goosie, goosander
a ginger topped fine beauty
smoothly she glides upon the waters
Sleek sawbill diver looking for her gander


Bobbity, bob, a little treasure 
perched on a rock in the middle of the river
Dip dip disappeared
Zit, zit reappeared
down the stream, now there are two
Two little dippers, our river fishers 

World's end/Corwen/Llangollen  08/03/14
Laura

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

Haybridge reserve- another hidden gem to wander through

On the mosses, after tree pipit

A dozen members of the group set off for the Lakes on a damp morning that soon turned to a thoroughly wet one. But undeterred, we gathered at Haybridge, which is a privately owned nature reserve (though membership is open to anyone at £10 per year-single) in a dramatic setting on the edge of Grizedale Forest and the Furness Fells.

‘Perhaps these woods of oak and birch may teach you unawares ….truths that escape the eyes that view the world from study chairs’.

The potential for a great day’s birding was obvious, the reserve has mixed habitat with easy way marked trails, however the day we had picked to go was unfortunate.  Dreich, atrocisous –just some of the words to describe the weather endured for the first 3hrs of our visit.

The first birds we noted, from a commotion heard near to the car park, was a gt spotted woodpecker intent on mischief around a blackbirds nest, the parents attacking their adversary with all they could muster.

The morning’s walk took us through coppice wood with its charcoal burner’s hut, wonderful native deciduous woodland, much of it coppiced to retain open areas. Song thrush, willow warbler and the deeper notes of garden warbler accompanied us, and the sheets of bluebells everywhere more than compensated for the grey skies overhead. In fact wild flowers were in abundance, throughout the reserve, wild daffodil and primrose, anemones, stitchwort, ransoms, cuckoo flowers and various fungi to name a few.

Bluebell woodland

The trail took us out of the woods and lead us to open landscapes with great views of the Rusland valley and  it’s  river course. Further on we come to the white moss tarn; on the water we saw mute swans, tufted duck, mallard, little grebe and a greylag goose with her goslings.

Leaving the woods

Eventually the rain had the better of us and we returned to the visitor centre for some lunch. (Hot and cold drink facilities on site by the way)

The visitor centre /museum  has several  feeding stations, very busy stations with siskins, redpolls, goldfinch  and chaffinch vying for space  on a niger tube, whilst  various tits and a nuthatch shared a nut feeder. Further away a great spotted woodpecker was feasting on peanut feeder hanging on a tree, not much competition there!

A welcome tick of the day was an obliging spotted flycatcher seen in the trees behind the centre. Whilst an engaging pair of swallows were very busy flying in and out of the barn were they had nested.

The reserve is home to red and roe deer; here we were not disappointed a large herd of red deer, over 50 individuals wandered out of the undergrowth into open pasture.  Ears pricked, not doubt listening to every word we uttered (just as well as there were several signs of poacher alert warnings dotted around the reserve)

Red deer herd

Cheered by this company, and the eventual lifting of the weather, we headed off for a completely different habitat. The SSSI sites of Hay bridge Moss and Rusland Moss, a raised lowland bog, is edged by the intermediate Lagg Fen, a very wet area of willow and alder, thickly covered in mosses and a rich plant habitat in its own right.  

A wooden board walkway leads through the mosses, this in an area noted for other wildlife, sadly absent due to the inclement weather, dragon and damselflies, newts, common frogs and toads. Adders, slowworms and common lizards are also found on the reserve, alas no sunny spot for basking today.

A word of warning for visitors  to the reserve on wet days, please take care on the wooden bridges and boards,  these can be extremely slippy, sadly discovered by one of our party who ended up with a sore  purple rump and worse, a pair of broken binos

Nearing the wooden bridge on the trail our party had its first sighting of another good tick for the day, pied flycatcher, a fine female flitting about a nearby shrub. Further along the trail and out in the open mossland, where there was less cover for birds, a tree pipit was observed perched high in a solitary tree. This area showed obvious signs of conservation management, clearance of trees to preserve the mosslands.

The path we were on is a circular route however a little further on we had to turn back  as the ground was too sodden to continue, but not before a few of our party  had a brief view of a  red kite  swooping down from it’s lofty perch and down into the tree line. Mute swan and Shelduck grazed the fields beyond and a pheasant’s harsh call was a regular background cry.

We retraced our steps to the centre; again a pied flycatcher was espied, this time a splendid male.  Redstarts are regular breeders here on the mosses and were keenly sort after by the group , however only a couple managed the next sighting  of this elusive bird , sighted by Terry and Sean a little  further down the trial.

On our return to the visitor centre, we sat on the terrace, telescopes trained on the hillside and tops, hopeful of a sighting of Red kite, honey buzzard or osprey’s returning from fishing trips to the Duddon estuary ...  Not today... the mute swans and shelduck from earlier did a flypast and a single goosander was the unexpected bird.

In search of osprey, kite and buzzards 

All in all, despite very unfavourable conditions, we had an excellent day out, and were very grateful to Terry, who is a member of the reserve, for guiding us.

If you plan a visit don’t forget to have a look around the museum/workshop, some interesting bird’s nests, tactile mammal skins, deer antlers and exhibits on show.

Oh and if you find a sodden blue, silver flecked woollen scarf in the woodland. It’s mine!(Laura)

Bird List

Siskin, robin, crow, chaffinch, gt spotted woodpecker, blackbird, mute swan, greylag goose, tufted duck, tree pipit, lesser redpoll, gt tit, coal tit, spotted flycatcher, swallow, pheasant, swifts, reed bunting, rook, lesser bb gull, shelduck, mallard, red kite, pied flycatcher, willow warbler, wren, nuthatch, goldfinch, buzzard and little grebe

Report compiled by Anne and Laura