Location: BirdFair, Rutland Nature Reserve I only discovered there was a Birdfair a few years ago and since then I have been eager to see what all the fuss was about. Renowned as the Glastonbury for birders we almost didn't go this year, but a last minute change of plans saw us travelling up to Leicester to attend the great event.
Seeing we were only attending the day (and not the whole weekend) we decided to try and do as much as possible; including a cruise with Simon King. Unfortunately the evening cruise was full so we had to attend the 6am one, this ment getting up at 3.30am and travel from our Coventry hotel to get to Rutland in time.
The harbour was pretty easy to find and we were relieved the weather was nice, infact there wasn't a cloud in the sky - great conditions to spot ospreys :)
Here are some pics from the cruise:
The Rutland Belle with the sun rising behind
Simon King spotting ospreys!
Common Tern
A gulp of cormorants!
Amazing Osprey taken pic by Dan
Dan, myself & Simon King aboard the Rutland Belle
The lovely message Simon wrote in my birding notebook.
"Lovely to have shared Rutland & the ospreys with you"Simon King
What a fantastic start to the day and we managed to spot several Ospreys! After the cruise we headed over to the main Birdfair event. We had no problem parking, grabbed some breakfast in the shape of croissants and orange juice (we had brought with us) and then excitingly headed into Birdfair 2017. All I can say is WOW, we looked at the event map and realised there was so much to see. So with limit time we set ourselves a sort of to-do list:
Attend Chris Packham's bird crime lecture
Go to the BTO tent to see them ringing birds
Meet David Lindo, Bill Oddie & Chris Packham
Check out the Art Marquee
...have fun!
I am pleased to report we did all these things and more, here are some pics from the great day...
Chris Packham leads the talk on 'Tales from the Frontline of Conservation' - an excellent report on wildlife crime in Malta, Cyprus and the UK. The footage and stats were heartbreaking and all bird lover needs to make a stand against this slaughter of our wild birds.
Chris gave us some Twitter accounts to contact, here they are on the screen.
All the heroes on stage: as well as Chris Packham, there's Ruth Tingay, Ruth Peacey,
staff from Birdlife Malta/Committee Against Bird Slaughter and Mark Avery
Below is an excellent video from Chris Packham's You Tube channel on the bird crime in Cyrpus. Some clips from this video were shown at the event and I encourage you to watch it to see the horrific reality these birds are enduring as we speak.
After the presentation I felt quite emotional, not only for the torture these birds are going through but the pure heroes these people are in all what they do for the protection of birds. This was my first ever lecture I attended at Birdfair and was so pleased I was able to witness it.
After this we decided to check out the BTO stand where they were ringing birds. There was quite a few people around the stand but we still got a pretty good view. As we waited for the next bird to be revealed a voice came over the tanoid saying the BTO stand was about to reveal something special...
The big reveal...what is the bird going to be?
Unbelievable! It's a sparrowhawk! WOW, what a stunning bird! She was a bit feisty with incredibly sharp claws, but still got ringed, weight, examined and then let free. What a treat!
The next bird was equally as feisty but just a little bit smaller: the adorable blue tit
After spending over half an hour at the BTO stand we decided to have a stroll around all the marquees. With so many different stands it was hard to choose which ones to go to: cameras, optics, charities, wildlife holidays, art, local produce, clothes, books. The art marquee was very inspiring and there were a few artist in that really caught my eye.
Everyone seemed so friendly and we talked to so many people. I even met my Facebook friend Stuart Pike whilst visiting the League Against Cruel Sports stall - it was great to finally met him and his partner Majella in person. The celebrities were lovely too, Bill Oddie signed my birding book and we all had a chat about bridge cameras - a legend!
Meeting Bill Oddie - what a lovely chat, we talked about bridge cameras and he signed my birder book :)
At the RSPB stall...here is Dan sporting a rather fetching puffin hat and I am a Roseate tern (complete with sand eels!)
Dan tries some virtual reality discovering puffins and terns on Coquet Island with the RSPB
The icing on the cake though was to finally meet my wildlife hero Chris Packham - he was signing his book so i queued up to meet him. What a gentleman, firstly he signed my copy of 'Fingers in the Sparkle Jar' and also my personal birding book. I explained I was doing the #My200BirdYear but was starting to struggle. He was so encouraging and said there was plenty of time with the winter birds due in the coming months and that I could definitely hit the 200 mark! He then took time to have a pic with Dan and myself. A experience I will never forget :) Thank you Chris!
The legend Chris Packham. I have so much admiration for this man, an inspiration to us all.
Dan and I so honoured to meet him
About to sign my copy of 'Fingers in the Sparkle Jar' book
The inspiring autograph and message (on the first page of my birding book) I will cherish all my life x
"Good luck with the 200!!!" Chris Packham
The day was coming to an end and we were starting to flag a little so we decided it was time to say goodbye to Birdfair. Before we went we managed to get one last pic with The Urban Birder - David Lindo. A great guy who knew where Swansea was (where he had actually been birding!). He signed a book for us and happily posed for a pic.
Dan, David Lindo and myself
So this was the end of our Birdfair experience and even though we were only there for a day we thoroughly enjoyed it and got to do and see so much. We will definitely be back next year, but this time we will plan to go for the whole weekend and make sure we get to see all the lectures we want to see. After Birdfair we decided to go to a different part of the Rutland Nature reserve - Lyndon.
Location: Crymlyn Burrows, Swansea The weather has been really weird the last few days, so when the sun decided to shine at 6 o'clock we made our way to one of our favourite nature havens: Crymlyn Burrows, Swansea Bay.
I have written a few blogs on this special place and every time I visit I always discover something new. Now owned by Swansea University, this SSSI designated area has an array of different habitats: salt marsh, woodland and sand dunes. We were only there for a hour and this is what we discovered...
Dragonfly - needs IDing
Evening Primrose flowers
The sandy dunes to the beach
When we got to the beach we noticed lots of jellyfish were being washed up on the beach (we counted over 20 ranging from small to gigantic ones). I think they are barrel jellyfish, but not 100% sure - be great if someone could confirm that they are.
Apart from the jellyfish there was a lovely group of sanderlings near the shoreline. I love the way the run away when the waves come in, then follow it back out...lovely little birds and a new spotting for #My200BirdYear (I am now on 124).
Sanderling
Sanderlings near the waves
Sanderlings with Mumbles in the background
On the way back to the car we spotted more interesting things such as a flock of linnets, a 11 spotted ladybird and a pellet. Crymlyn Burrows is one of my favourite places in the world, a great place to explore...
Location: Crymlyn Bog, Swansea Not far from where I live is an awesome little nature reserve called Crymlyn Bog; a designated SSSI with an array of flora and fauna.
The weather was brilliant (about 25 degrees) so we planned to go to the reserve looking for lizards that usually basked on the boardwalks. Unfortunately, it looked like the lizards were hiding, perhaps the weather was to hot? On the other hand dragonflies were out in good numbers.
Here are some of my pics from the walk...
Crymlyn Bog information sign
Keeled Skimmer Dragonfly
Keeled Skimmers mating
Damselfly
4 Spotted Chaser
Black Tailed Skimmer
The fantastic boardwalks of Crymlyn Bog (usually lots of lizards on the sides)
Apart from the wonderful dragonflies there were quite a few birds around including Sedge Warbler, juvenile robin and a fabulous buzzard that was perched on a nearby lamppost.
Location:Craig Cerrig Gleisiad, Brecon Beacons An interesting day today. We ventured up to the Brecon Beacons National Park to a wonderful Nature Reserve called Craig Cerrig Gleisiad.
We knew Ring Ouzel have been sighted there, it even says on the information board at the entrance of the reserve, but we've never ever seen one here...until today.
The start of the walk with a information sign...
...Ring Ouzels!
We made our way to the reserve and were dwarfed by the overpowering steep crags. This fascinating landscape is the result of the Ice Age 20,000 years ago and over time the ice carved the 150m cliffs we see today.
Despite the reserve's tough, mountainous setting it has an array of wildlife. Over 500 plants can be found here and 80 different birds including; Peregrine Falcons, Kestrels, Red Gouse and of course the Ring Ouzels. In addition to the plants and birds, you will find many species of fungi, insects, amphibian and reptile species.
The step crags of Craig Cerrig Gleisiad
Green Tiger Beetle
Red Tailed Bumblebee (I think)
We explored deeper into the reserve and noticed a large bird perched on a cliff in the distance, we couldn't really work out what it was, so we checked the pic on the camera's screen and noticed another bird on the right of the pic...we couldn't believe it, a Ring Ouzel! We saw with our own eyes the Ring Ouzel was join by another one and attacked the bird on the left until they eventually chased it off.
Here is the pic, you can see the large bird on the left (which is in fact a buzzard) and to the right you can see a small black bird (the Ringed Ouzel) with the distinctive white collar
After all the excitement and no other sighting of the Ouzels we decided to call it a day. Walking back to the car we spotted a fox and watched as Pen Y Fan disappeared behind hill fog.
Location: Forest Farm, Cardiff Without doubt, one of my favourite bird is the kingfisher. I haven't seen many in my life and it was only last year I saw my first one. A spectacular, colourful little bird that is so charming to see and I get so excited when I get a glimpse of one.
Recently on Facebook I noticed there had been a few spotted in a lovely little place called 'Forest Farm' in Whitechurch, Cardiff. A great place and a haven to wildlife with some really good bird hides. We got comfortable in one of the hides and waited; whilst waiting we meet a lot of lovely people all eager to to get a glimpse of this beautiful bird.
A few other birds made an appearance, including a grey heron, green woodpecker and moorhens:
Grey Heron
Adult moorhen
Juvenile Moorhen
It must have been well over an hour before we got our reward, my partner Dan spotted it in the back of the pond. It was quite hard to see at first, with the orange breast blending into the reeds. But as soon as he started flying, with that striking blue, there was no way you could miss him.
The beautiful kingfisher at Forest Farm
Unfortunately, he was only around for about a minute and never returned when we were there. We didn't mind, we saw him and that was enough to make us smile!
I will definitely make Forest Farm one of my 'go to' birding places, it's great! Here are some of the other treats we saw:
Closeup of a Magpie from one of the hides
Great Tit
Not far from the education building we discovered this little patch of wild flowers; isn't beautiful? I would much rather see flowers like this than a well mowed lawn :)
Red tailed bumble bee collecting pollen from a cornflower.
This will be my 3rd year to do the Wildlife Trust's #30DaysWild challenge and I thought I would do something a bit different.
For 2017 I will be concentrating on one species a day and finding out lots of interesting facts about it. Whether it's a flower, mammal, bird, fungi, insect etc. I will try and discover (and hopefully photograph) something of interest daily and learn more about it by researching the internet and reading books. I will also try and create some artwork inspired by it using different mediums.
