At this time of year I’m normally looking forward to some great close encounters with the breeding Kittiwake colony on Mumbles pier. In the past I’ve taken some excellent photos and watched several generations of chicks hatch and finally fledge from there, and it’s always been a treat. As I’ve Read more…
After a couple of hours in conference calls on Sunday it wasn’t until late afternoon that I finally escaped back outside with my new camera. Clouds and heavy showers were the name of the game but with incoming sun forecast we headed down to Bracelet Bay. My original intention had Read more…
We were up in Leeds this past weekend visiting family on what, despite a brief snow shower, turned out to be a very sunny couple of days. The presence of our favourite glowing orb was rather timely as Emma’s parents house has just been fitted with solar panels, the readout Read more…
Having spent some time with the Mediterranean Gulls at Bracelet Bay it would have been rude not to make the short walk down to Mumbles Head and its ever accommodating Turnstones. The flock there is by far and away the tamest that I have ever found which makes it a Read more…
A look around Bracelet Bay on Sunday turned up at least twenty Mediterranean Gulls split between their usual piece of roadside grass and the beach below. As always I studied each one to see if any were ringed and found three that were. The first was a juvenile bird (Green Read more…
It seems that the Mumbles pier Kittiwakes always get a good response on here whenever I write about them, so I thought I’d share a few more of my favourite photos from our recent visit. As I mentioned in my last post there are now at least 275 individuals on Read more…
I made a quick visit to Mumbles Pier a couple of weeks ago to check on the breeding Kittiwake colony and was very pleased to see that their numbers have swelled to at least 275 individuals, many of which are now paired up and in the last throws of nest Read more…
I made a passing comment a couple of posts ago that the Kittiwakes would soon be back on Mumbles Pier and Jeremy kindly let me know that they already are! The breeding colony on the pier is now well over twenty years old and is one of only a couple Read more…
Regular readers of this blog may recall the excellent run of rarities that Eglwys Nunydd reservoir threw up around September time last year, including a Bobolink, Grey Phalarope and Whiskered Tern, all of which I managed to see. This weekend the industrial water body was back on form in a Read more…
Just before Christmas I found another ringed Mediterranean Gull (white 3C78) at Bracelet Bay on Gower. I duly sent my finding off to the relevant ringers and was amazed to find that this bird had originally been caught on the same day and in the same place as the last Read more…