Visit of the Red Kite 
Thursday, 22 January, 2009, 04:21 PM
Posted by Administrator
Today was a fantastic day, made so by the visit of a gorgeous pair of Red Kites to our area of south Wales.We were visited once before earlier this week by a single individual, but this is the first time I've seen a pair. They were circling the area, so obviously not just flying through on their way to somewhere else. One of our local buzzards was circling just above them, probably wondering who these intruders were. He was tiny in comparison to these large birds of prey.

I took a few quick snaps of one of the individuals through our front window at a huge distance - so obviously not the best of photos. I've placed it in the gallery anyway as it's the only photo we have, but do hope that we'll get another crack at it and replace it with a better photo. Would be a brilliant thing if they became a resident in our area :)



~Jen

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Adult Green Woodpecker Picture 
Sunday, 18 January, 2009, 10:00 AM
Posted by Mark Rowlands


Taken in Woodlandls surrounding Wyllie.

Poor lighting conditions meant this had to be shot at ISO 800 resulting in a slightly noisy image, but a respectable picture all the same.

Other birds around this morning included sizable flocks of Goldfinch and Siskin, Long Tailed Tits, Bullfinch, Nuthatch, Jays, Buzzard, Green + Great Spotted Woodpeckers, Song Thrush, Wood Pigeon and all the usuals (Tits,Robin,Blackbird,Dunnock, etc).

My wife also came across a sizable group of Redpoll feeding in the local area yesterday. :)

-Mark-

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A variety of Thrushes inc. Redwings! 
Saturday, 3 January, 2009, 04:56 PM
Posted by Mark Rowlands
The following images were all taken around the Manmoel area where the majority of Thrushes were out in force. The only one that eluded us was the Fieldfare which I've only seen once so far this Winter.

Redwings - A Winter visitor to the UK and our smallest true Thrush


Another Redwing


Song Thrush


Mistle Thrush - Larger, more grey with slightly different shaped spots to the Song Thrush.


-Mark-

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Local Bird Snaps 
Saturday, 3 January, 2009, 11:30 AM
Posted by Mark Rowlands
Wren - One of Britain's smallest birds! - With a remarkably loud voice!


Another shot of the same bird


Male Bullfinch - Doing well in our local area but struggling elsewhere.


Robin - Everyone's Favourite!



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Buzzard Pictures taken near Manmoel 
Thursday, 1 January, 2009, 02:00 PM
Posted by Mark Rowlands
A very wintery scene in the Manmoel area today with a penetrating frost and bitterly cold wind.

Numbers of Chaffinch in the area seem to be increasing but no sign of the Bramblings yet.

Main sighting today was a very brave Buzzard that stuck around long enough for me to point the camera at him. Shame the light wasn't better as at this range the pictures could of been excellent.





Also around were Mistle Thrushes and Redwing but too cold to chase them so this was the best picture I got...



Happy New Year 2009 everyone! :)

-Mark-

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