Welsh rare bits and bobs

Not really a birding trip, our family holiday in Snowdonia this week, but the garden list - including Peregrine, Raven and Redstart - offered quality over quantity, and I did manage a couple of excursions to see local specialities, and even a couple of photo year-ticks.

Black Grouse in the Denbighshire hills - a stronghold of this species. Not in its finest plumage, but good to see a male nonetheless (#204)

The brown and white blob on top of the nest is an Osprey, seen from the Glaslyn watchpoint. Good enough for a photo year tick? Well, yes, it's getting desperate (#205)

We took the Welsh Highland railway from Pont Croesor to Beddgelert, which goes much closer to the Osprey nest. Unfortunately, the female which was on the nest just before we left and just after was not there when we passed either way on the train! As is traditional for British nesting Osprey, breeding birds take care to erect high-res nest cameras to keep a video record of their offspring as they grow.

A very distant Goshawk over Beddgelert was a bonus

Nuthatches at the Glaslyn watchpoint feeders were a bit closer

George tries birding at Great Orme's Head. It's behind you, George.

Chough, Great Orme's Head

Painted Lady, Great Orme's Head

Small Heath, Great Orme's Head

Male Stonechat, Great Orme's Head

And finally, Redstart in the garden of our holiday home

Has the Eagle landed?

Well either Dorset birders are having a collective hallucination or the Short-toed Eagle is back. Four possible/probable reports this week, all within a short glide, as the eagle flies, of last year's initial location of Morden Bog. Had a quick scoot around looking for it tonight without success so here are a few almost forgotten photo year-ticks picked up on my travels in recent weeks to compensate - almost forgotten either because of the common-ness of the subject or the crap-ness of the photo.

Common Tern, Lodmoor, Dorset (#195)

Turtle Dove, Frampton Marsh, Lincs (#196)

Goshawk in the Brecks (#197)

Red Kite, Dorset (#198)

So, we're getting close to #200. Could it be the STE?

Photo ticks

Following a recent recount, it turns out that the Paddyfield Warbler (below) I saw in Sussex earlier in the year was the 400th species of bird I've photographed in Britain. My British list is 428 so there are quite a few that I have seen but not photographed. Most, but not all, of the 400 are on my website, and only shame prevents me from uploading those that aren't.


Paddyfield Warbler - my 400th UK photo tick

Which raises an interesting question - when is a photo tick not a photo tick? The normal rule for seeing a bird - 'if you can't ID it, you can't tick it' - could be applied. But there are one or two among the 400 which I have seen perfectly well enough to identify, but of which I only have a crap photo. As a statement of fact, rather than aesthetic judgement, I have photos of them whether I like it or not, even if its a blurry dot. Take my recent Greater Yellowsmudge pictures (below). It was the Greater Yellowlegs (it called, flew around to reveal a square white rump and stood next to a Greenshank for size comparison), but could you rule out Lesser (or, indeed, bumfluff on the lens) on the strength of this photo?

Is it a (i) Greater Yellowlegs (ii) Lesser Yellowegs (iii) Daddy Longlegs. FIIK.

Or should the rule be, if a stranger could identify it, then that's OK? But then which stranger? And how competent would they have to be? Take this Goshawk (below). 'Pigeon', my mum would say. But I bet Goshwak worshippers could tell what it is. The best birders could probably identify some of my blurry dots which I couldn't if I was the stranger being shown the same photo. So what does that make me? [Ed: a bit too neurotic perhaps?] Ok, ok, perhaps I'm over-analysing it. It's my list. I make the rules. And right now it's a whopping 400.

Is it (i) Goshawk (ii) Sparrowhawk (iii) lint on the sensor?

'Not as cute as me...'

...was my youngest son's controversial claim as we cooed over the litter of five boarlets crossing the road in broad daylight with their mother near my parents house in the Forest of Dean.

Infant boar versus...

...infant Moore. Which is cutest?

And here's mum (of the boar, obviously. Rowan's mum is much better looking, but equally shy).

We were on the way back from New Fancy view where up to 4 Goswhawks had put on a display. They were on the far limit of being photographable - unlike this Chiffchaff which was almost too close to focus.

Chiffchaff

Goshawk - said by my dad to have 'wings like a Spitfire' - not a bad description