RHIWBINA HAWFINCH

 The Hawfinch is a bird that's escaped me over the years, so when fellow photographer and Gwent Birder Mike Gough told me about them being at a place called Rhiwbina Hill near Caerphilly, I just had to get over there and take a look.

It's on a country lane where there's a pull in and right next to the pull in there's a small open area where someone puts food and water out for the woodland birds. It didn't take long for the birds to start coming in.

 the feeding area

I sat in my car for about five minutes and then there it was my first Hawfinch a handsome male.

my first hawfinch

hawfinch

The Hawfinch is supposed to be a very shy bird but this individual was coming in to feed on a regular basis. It usually feeds on things like nuts and cherry stones which it cracks open with that huge bill.

The light was difficult to photograph in as it was very dark where the food was, and there was also a sprinkling of dappled sunlight but I managed to bag myself some usable images. 

Here's a selection of  the other species of birds that were coming in.

great spotted woodpecker

chaffinch

jay

woodpigeon

 I was only there for about half an hour but I'd bagged myself loads of pictures and was very happy that I'd finally seen a Hawfinch and in Gwent as well.

handsome male hawfinch

Big thank you to Mike Gough for putting me on the right track and for finally letting  me put the Hawfinch on my British list. Cheers!!

TAL-Y-BONT OSPREYS

From their return to the British Isles at Loch Garten on Speyside in the mid fifties to have finally spread to South Wales in 2024 the Osprey is a remarkable success story. In fact they had come back here last year to perhaps look for a breeding territory but this year they had built a nest and there was hope that they would breed.

The site that they had chosen was a tree on farmland in a place called Tal-y-Bont on Usk, so me and my good mate Steve Bool went down there to see them.

The viewing point is at the side of a canal looking over the farmland and although you can just about see them through binoculars you do need a telescope. Luckily Steve is an ace digiscoper and he got an image and a couple of short videos of one of the birds.

part of the canal near the viewing point

osprey at tal-y-bont

You can see how far away they were by the picture and footage but it was great to just see them.

Tal-y-Bont on Usk hosts a Summer festival called The Green Man which was going to be situated on the farmland that the birds had chosen as a nest site. Now because of the Ospreys they've called it off to leave the birds in peace.

The Ospreys failed to raise any young this year for whatever reason but hopes are high that they will return next Spring and be successful. 

CWMTILLERY NOT JUST THE LAKES AND RESERVOIR

Cwmtillery I feel has a lot more to offer than just the lakes and reservoir, with it's wooded and bracken hillsides, farmland and heather moorland. It's host to a wealth of birdlife and here's just a few of them.

Although obviously not all the birds of Cwmtillery are going to be in this blog, I think it's a fair reflection of the diversity that it has.

At the lake there are now established nesting Coot and Moorhen as well as the resident Mallards.

nesting coot

On the lake there's also been listed - Little Grebe, Tufted Duck, Canada Goose, Goosander, Heron, and the resident Dippers there's also been sightings of Dunlin and Common Sandpiper the list of birds grow ever larger. That is a wonder in itself with the lake being such a popular place for people to visit, especially with dog walking and other recreational activities going on making it a very busy place to live if your a bird. Besides all that there is a good number of passerine species in the trees and bushes that surround the lake as well as Grey Wagtails, Gulls and Corvids that all make the lakes their home.

goldfinch

male blackbird

As you walk up towards the reservoir you'll hear the calls of the Warblers and other small birds and up towards the farm you'll find Swallows swooping over the fields and House Sparrows chirping away in the farm buildings and surrounding bushes.

male house sparrow

swallow

There's also a very good chance that you'll see Pied Wagtails and Starlings in and around the buildings at the top of the reservoir.

pied wagtail

starling with juvenile

Sometimes there's birds on the reservoir but not as many as there should be. I think they're discouraged from being there by the fishermen as the reservoir is used by a licenced angling club. Cormorants use it and Kingfishers have been seen at the far end, although I've yet to see them.

cormorant

The marshy fields near the top end is a good place for Reed Bunting there's also a small pocket of Whinchat that's just about holding on. I've only seen one bird this year so haven't been able to photograph them.

female reed bunting

male reed bunting

male reed bunting

As you go up past the reservoir you come to a bit of an impasse you can either go up on to the road above which will lead you to the top of the Coity mountain (via hill 60) with it's rough heather moorland where Skylark, Meadow pipits, Red Grouse and the odd Merlin can be found and even sometimes in the autumn the odd Ring Tailed Harrier might pass through. There is a quarry just off the road with a sporadic covering of trees and bushes just below this is where the old purifying ponds are situated, there's been sightings of Ring Ouzel our only Summer migrant thrush but so far I haven't been lucky enough to catch up with them. When I was there Tree Pipits were singing loudly and calling - they're staking out their breeding territories.

tree pipit

Another option is to follow a path that will take you through some woods and around what we call the horseshoe bend where you then keep walking passed some bracken covered hillsides. You then walk into open woodland which brings you out onto some open grassland which eventually joins the road and takes you back down towards the lake. 

In the wood I was fortunate to see and photograph this Spotted Flycatcher it's a Summer visitor and is another species that's becoming a rarity. 

spotted flycatcher

spotted flycatcher

spotted flycatcher

Also whilst in the wood I got close enough to this male Redstart to grab an image.

male redstart

The wood was full of life with lot's of woodland species all singing and calling I captured this Wren and Long tailed tit on my walk along the path.

wren

long tailed tit

There's still good numbers of Wheatear up there in different areas, here's some pic's of this beautiful summer visitor.

a female wheatear

wheatear spring male

summer male

and another

and another

At the bracken covered hillsides there always good numbers of Stonechats you hear them before you see them with their clicking alarm calls which sounds like two stones being knocked together hence their name.

the handsome male Stonechat

There's a good number raptor species that's been recorded with the return of the Red Kite being most welcome.

soaring red kite

I've recorded Sparrowhawks, Kestrels, Merlins as well as Tawny and Barn owls and who is to say that there isn't any other birds of prey nesting up there that just haven't been found yet. 

Buzzards have been breeding there for as long as I can remember and they didn't let me down as this one soared above me allowing me to grab an image.

buzzard

I'll end this one by saying that we are blessed living in an area that has so much wildlife around us. Cwmtillery will always be close to my heart and is a jewel that should be cherished. If I had my way I'd make it into a national park though I doubt that will ever happen.

CWMTILLERY DIPPERS

 My old homestead of Cwmtillery have had nesting Dippers there since at least the seventies and perhaps even maybe before then. Cwmtillery Lake has been transformed over the years from the feeder pond for the old Cwmtillery coal mine into the little beauty spot it is today. The Dippers have come through all this and still manage to flourish here every year.

I visited the place back in May hoping to see if the Dippers had returned to their breeding site once more. After a short wait I was delighted to see this little brown bird with it's white breast and whirring wings heading for the nesting site.

dipper

As the bird landed near it's nest site I noticed that there were two young chicks already out of the nest and eagerly waiting to be fed by the parents.

young dipper

I watched for a while as the adults came in with food for the chicks it was great to see that they had once more been successful.

looking for food

adult dipper

I left them in peace to hopefully steer these two chicks into adulthood. It was great to spend time and watch this handsome aquatic song bird and I hope that they make Cwmtillery Lake their home for years to come. 

A DROP OF GOLD AT GOYTRE

 I went to Goytre House Wood in mid May with my good mate Steve Bool looking mainly for Pied Flycatchers. It's a lovely wood which is owned and maintained by The Gwent Ornithological Society. As you walk up the path towards the entrance you pass some farm buildings where there were loads of House Sparrows in and out of the gaps in the walls making their nests calling loudly they are great characters here's a Male.

male house sparrow

As we entered the Wood there's a small pond where we hoped the Pied Flycatchers would be. There's nest boxes put up as well to encourage them to breed, but sorry to say there were non to be seen. The wood was full of birds though Thrushes, Finches, Tits, Warblers etc, here's a Willow Warbler.

willow warbler

 
We did briefly see a Spotted Flycatcher but I wasn't quick enough to get a picture. We were lucky enough though to have some great views of a Goldcrest this tiny little bird came down in front of us and I was lucky enough this time to get a couple of shots.

goldcrest

goldcrest (these birds are tiny)

So sad to say we didn't get to see the Flycatchers I don't know why they wasn't there as they've been breeding at this site for a good many years but that's how it goes sometimes, but seeing and photographing the Goldcrest more than made up for it.

A LOCAL MARSH TIT

 In mid May my good mate Stephen Carter had located breeding Marsh Tits in a wood down near a place called Usk. I personally have never seen one and they are becoming more scarce nowadays as is the very close cousin of the Marsh Tit the Willow Tit. Both birds are hole nesters with Marsh Tit using natural holes and nest boxes where the Willow Tit excavates it's own nest hole. The two birds are almost identical with the best way of telling them apart is by their calls and song. 

We were joined on the trip by another good friend, birder and excellent photographer Lee Parsons who was also very keen to see the birds.

Steve located the nest box and Lee and myself waited at a safe distance to see if the birds would show. Within a couple of minutes the birds started to come in with beakfulls of food which obviously told us that there were chicks in the nest. We managed to get a few shots of the birds and then left them in peace.

my first marsh tit

marsh tit

Below is myself and Lee Parsons photographing the Marsh tit at a safe distance.

here's me

and Lee

It was a great moment for me personally to finally see a Marsh Tit let alone photograph one, so I was well pleased it was a great mornings birding.