Start of migration?

It has been a very quiet period birdwise at the Teifi Marshes but this weekend I found a little grebe and a black tailed godwit - both birds that I have now seen here for some time:

Best image recently

I have ignored this blog for a while so to catch up this is one of the best images I have managed recently - a Kingfisher taken at WWT Slimbridge.

More images from the Heron Hide

A female bullfinch - still trying for a good image of a male!

 

 

A couple of images of a male blackcap:

 

Some images of a goldcrest - gathering cobwebs for nest building:

 

And a house martin in flight:

 

 



Various images from the Teifi Marsh reserve

No osprey on the nest but at times it looked like this buzzard was going to nest here:

 

 

Two images of an orange tip butterfly:

 

A mother and two young otters from the Kingfisher Hide:

 
And some images of a whitethroat from the Heron Hide:

Buzzard displaying down at Ceibwr

From the road we could see two buzzards hovering over the headland. When we walked nearer we could see one of them had nesting material:

 

Some images from the Heron Hide

 

A male blackcap:

 

 

A chiffchaff:

 

A long tailed tit:

 

And a very co-operative wren:

Back on the Teifi

A quiet period on the Teifi Marshes at the moment, but I did manage these images of a curlew - from the Curlew Hide:

And a dunnock from the walkway:

Some more images from Slimbridge

Another kingfisher dive:

 And a pair of snipe images:

A day at Slimbridge WWT

Spent quite a lot of time at the Kingfisher Hide as there was a male digging a nest in front of the hide. In one exciting episode the kingfisher did some digging then perched on a twig and repeatedly dived to wash off the dirt. At this period I could pre-focus on where I thought the kingfisher was going to dive and try to catch the dive. This is one of the many images I managed:

 

On the way back to the exit stopped at another hide and saw this little egret catching a newt (hope it is not a crested newt!):

Spring at the Teifi Marshes

Spent some time at the Heron Hide and got my first view of a chiffchaff:

 

There were two buzzards being very active around the marsh and one landed on an electricity post on the marsh. Suddenly I saw it swoop down and pick something off the marsh. It had caught a frog / toad:



 

On the way back to the car we saw this comma butterfly on the boardwalk - is it early for this?

Goldcrest at Llanelli WWT

There were not many birds about but walking towards Sir Peter Scott hide we met a birder who said that there were goldcrests in the trees by the walkway. He helped us find some - walking back and fore along the path, but the birds were very active and mostly hidden in the branches. In the end decided to stay in one spot and wait for the goldcrests to come to us, This is one of the resulting images:

St. Brides bay and the Gann

After what feels like weeks of storms - a nice sunny day - so decided to visit the Gann. Called in St. Brides on the way and saw a female stonechat: (with ring)

 

Some oyster catchers:

 

 

Several Meadow Pipits:

 





 

Also saw some turnstones, grey and pied wagtails but did not manage any acceptable images.

 

On the Gann there were 20 or so Brent geese but too far away for decent photographs. Also saw a male goldeneye and this well marked adult cormorant:

 

 

 

 



A pair of fighting curlew

Went to see what was showing at high tide in front of the Webley Hotel near Poppit and found this pair or curlew:

A common sandpiper

Received news of a common sandpiper near the old Jewsons site - now BV Rees' showrooms at St. Dogmaels. This is one of the best images I managed:

18th. January

A visit to Llanelli WWT was not very productive only producing an image of a song thrush - claiming territory. Signs of spring??

A visit to Kidwelly Quay produced a very interesting half hour or so - watching a pair of red-breasted merganser fishing for crabs. This male was the most successful, by far:

Also saw a few redshank:

16th. January - a surprise at Newport Bridge

Looking for birds from Newport bridge was surprised to see what I thought was a dog otter catching fish. In fact it turned out to be a grey seal:

Would love to know, if someone can identify the fish.