YOUNG BUZZARD

I KNOW I KNOW, where the hell have I been. Well the answer to that is no where really there hasn't been that much to blog about and although I've taken a few bird images throughout the summer there hasn't been anything out of the ordinary that hasn't been seen before.
So because I've neglected my blogging responsibilities for so long thought I'd share an incident that happened a couple of weeks ago.
Whilst going for my usual walk with the youngest Aneurin and Jack (that's our jack russell dog)  Jack flushed a Buzzard from some undergrowth on a banking, the bird was a juvenile from one of this years pairs we have nesting up here. The bird was very distressed and couldn't fly and by the way it was holding it's wing it looked as though it had somehow managed to break it. The buzzard lay still looking at us eyes wide open I expect terrified.

young buzzard with it's broken wing

I had nothing on me to cover the bird with so I could capture it and didn't want to distress the bird any more than was necessary and also didn't fancy having buzzard talons stuck in my hands, so a quick phone call to the wife and she came to the rescue with her jeep a box and a blanket as well as  the rest of the boys in tow.
We soon had it wrapped in the blanket and put in the box and kept it warm and quiet over night whilst we phoned around trying to find out where to take it so it hopefully could be saved.

Bertie the buzzard as the boys had named him, quiet in it's box

We've got an Owl sanctuary and bird of prey centre near where we live and after talking to the owner whose a very nice bloke called Malcolm we decided to take it over there to him. He told us that because Buzzards are now a common bird of prey a vet would more than likely put the bird to sleep than try to fix it's wing because it would be expensive treatment for a bird that is wild.

Malcolm with Bertie the young buzzard 

We left Bertie with Malcolm for a few days to see how he faired. The good news is that Malcolm decided to keep Bertie as one of his collection so at least we know that he will be well looked after. Malcolm's Owl and bird of prey centre is situated at the Garden festival site in Ebbw Vale south Wales. He has quite a variety of raptors on show which have either been injured like our Bertie or have been kept as pets that people no longer wants or can't look after. It's free of charge to enter and if you do decide to visit please give a small donation or buy something from his small gift shop it all helps to keep this fascinating place open.

A BIT OF RINGING

GOS (Gwent ornithological society) and BTO (British trust for ornithology) conservationist Stephen Carter (a name I may have mentioned before) paid me a visit yesterday to find some nests and check on the nest boxes. We had blue and great tit nests in a few boxes and all doing well except for one great tit nest that had failed. The eggs had hatched but the wet weather we recently had as either stopped the adults from feeding or water had got into the box and chilled the chicks, either way it was sad and disappointing.
We had nuthatches in a box that has recently fledged and we've also got four different pair of redstarts with Steve finding the fourth nest whilst we were out checking the boxes.

redstart nest with seven eggs

male redstart

Whilst we were out and about Steve also told me about a wood he goes to where he stumbled upon this mallards nest a first for him and he sent me the pic so here it is:-

mallard nest a first for Steve

Also another first for him was this Lesser Redpole nest:-

lesser redpole nest found and photographed by Stephen Carter

Two of the redstart nests had chicks in that were ready for ringing (their legs not their necks) so I stood by whilst Mr Carter did his stuff.

Steve starts to ring the chicks

another one done, what a cutey.

look at the concentration

the last one gets it's ring, look at all that gear.

they all safely put  back into the nest box 

Later we had a scout around for any new nests, Steve found this Linnet nest:-

linnet nest

He also found a blackbirds nest and a Wren building. We watched a male reed bunting singing away and spotted the female but we couldn't locate where the nest was. There were also a Stonechat with its chicks, which was also frustrating that Steve didn't find the nest as they must have nested somewhere near by. 

We did notice this baby frog crawling through the grass we put him back down so it could carry on it's journey:-

 Not a bad afternoon though and great to see most of the birds that's using the boxes being pretty successful except alas for our one great tit.

We've also had quite a few rabbits about the place and by the way our black and white bloodhound Jack has been going berserk about the place I think there may be a warren close by. There could be one by my feeders remember the hole near the feeding station? Well this cheeky bleeder came out of another hole close by and stayed for a while.

cheeky rabbit

they are cute

                         

he looks the part but hasn't caught one yet

 Big thanks to Steve once again for his company, think there's a few more twists as quite a few of the birds are going into second clutches, will Steve find them? watch this space.

THE BREEDING SEASON

                                                                                                                                                          We're well into the breeding season now and that means nests, eggs, chicks and  juvenile's. Roving BTO nest finder Steve Carter has been over to the farm and found a few nests as well as checking on our nest box colony which up til now (touch wood) has been quit successful. Lee Parsons also has been over on a couple of occasions and found Steve a meadow pipits nest and has also took some nice photographs of some of the nests. 

First our Tawny owl, only one chick reared but it has successfully fledged.

Tawny owlet

Here's some of the nests that Steve and Lee has found.

redstart

meadow pipit

chaffinch

dunnock

song thrush chicks

pied wagtail sitting tight, this nest was a success with all the chicks fledging 

linnet

                         

Some of the birds,

dunnock

great tit

great spotted woodpecker

blue tit

female redstart

female blackbird

male blackbird

female linnet

male redstart

nuthatch

greenfinch

coal tit

pied wagtail

male reed bunting

male siskin

goldfinch

male chaffinch

The pied wagtails have already fledged so have the nuthatches and the Blackbirds that I had nesting in one of my new boxes I added to the colony this year.

OUT AND ABOUT.

On Sunday I visited two local water bodies, Cwmtillery Lake and Pen-y-fan Pond.

cwmtillery lake from bottom end

the lake from top end

pen-y-fan pond from car park

First stop was Cwmtillery Lakes I was brought up near here and the lake reservoir and surrounding mountains is where I cut my birdwatching teeth. I still love coming to the lakes but there's a lot of is a dog walking, pick-nicks, youths drinking cans and it's really close to the main road, but having said that they still do have some good birds and the local action group for the lakes have done some fantastic work there. It was a clear morning but bleeding freezing I sat still for about an hour and had some great views of grey wagtail and dipper.

grey wagtail

dipper

I sat for what seemed ages watching these birds but photographing them proved to be more difficult than I thought but I did manage a couple of decent efforts.

There were the resident mallards but there were no females think they will all  be sitting on eggs or tending to ducklings hidden away somewhere.

drake mallard

Also a few Moorhens scuttling about.

moorhen

To my surprise nesting Coot I just hope people walking their dogs and the fishermen in general give these birds a chance.

coot on nest

coot with chicks

I was also surprised to see these two Canada Geese swimming by.

canada geese

I left the place quite pleased with what I'd seen but couldn't resist one more pic of the Dipper what a cracking bird and well worth freezing my butt off for.

dipper

Time I arrived at Pen-y-fan pond there were quite a few dog walkers and people just up there enjoying the morning sunshine. Nothing on the pond but saw quite a few species of birds while walking around finches and buntings and other small passerines but couldn't get close enough for any decent pictures. While walking near the banking I disturbed this Heron what a beauty.

grey heron

lovely bird

Didn't think I was going to be lucky enough to photograph anything else but on the way back to the car a meadow pipit landed reasonably close enough for me to grab a couple of images.

meadow pipit

these are mostly overlooked but what a handsome bird

When I got back home I had a nice surprise my first swallow of the year was back at the farm. Expect it will soon be joined by its mates and they'll be repairing their nests ready to start breeding they had an excellent year last summer.

our first swallow

I really enjoyed my few hours out and it was nice to see and photograph a couple of different species but I do love it on the farm.