Back to 'normal'

So our firebreak is over in Wales, what does this mean, well I hope that it means people were sensible, people stuck to the rules and prevent further spread of this hideous virus so that we have a chance of at-least spending Christmas with our families, but I must say, my trust in people these days has certainly been tested.

During the lockdown I’ve still been as busy as ever with my surveying Jobs, mostly on the Gwent Levels. Whilst it has been great to still get outdoors, the weather has been questionable, and I don’t take advantage of my Job. As soon as the survey is finished I’ve been coming straight home. I did however get to find a rare bird on one of my surveys, in the form of a Richard’s Pipit.

I didn’t have a camera with my on my survey, or my sound recording gear, so I quickly took advantage of the only device I had, which was my mobile phone. I was amazed how much the video actually did capture, and thanks to the bird doing another circle, I was able to get 5 calls on video of the bird flying over. The spectrograph confirms it perfectly, with two horizontal higher modulations either side of the triangle shaped call, which is diagnostic for the species, which also separates it from the similar call from a Tawny Pipit, which only has a single upper modulation on the latter slope of the call, but that also has a double syllable.

I only wished I was quick enough for the Red-throated Pipit I had on a similar survey last month, but that bird was way too quick for me and I made the mistake in searching for my audio app on my mobile phone, instead of going for the camera. So top tip, if you ever think you have an interesting bird that is calling, go straight for the camera app and take a video. The audio quality is actually pretty decent for a mobile and the spectrograph never lies.

Below are a few photos from random surveys over the last month. I haven’t taken many pics, simply for lack of time. In other news though, during lockdown there was a Snow Bunting up the British mountain, found by Mike Jones and refound by a few local people on their daily walks up the mountain. The bird was feeding alongside the main road in typical Snow Bunting fashion but I don’t believe it hung around for long enough but if you’re looking for something todo withy our new found freedom, it’s well worth a visit up The British top road. The bird was sighted near the cattle grid at the old entrance of Blaencuffin Canyon.

Nocmig

Well I honestly don’t know where to start with Nocmig. November has been insane!!! With huge numbers of winter thrushes, some days noticeably better than others though and with added wader activity. I’ve had good numbers of Grey and Golden Plover, a few Lapwing but the last two nights a strong movement of Dunlin too. The last two nights I’ve had Barn Owl, which makes me wonder if there’s just a local bird but there isn’t much left of my local area in turns of hunting grounds so I really don’t know on that one.

One thing is for sure, I’ve added a lot more to my ‘mystery files’, something I one day hope to dedicate a blog post (or three) too, as I’m sure some of them might be interesting, and at the very least a good story.
So far this month alone, only 9 days in I’ve had over 2,122 Redwing Calls, 146 Blackbird, 81 Song Thrush, 8 robin, 6 Fieldfare, and I won’t bother counting the amount of random waders but here’s a few of my favourites below.

I’ve had that many birds, I was saving them all to start with but when you’ve got over 700 Redwing in one night, I’ve come to be a little more selective lol. That said, even the Redwing vary greatly, so it’s always worth saving the ‘odd’ looking calls just incase it catches you out again one day. I’ll do another blog on odd sounding Redwing as it’s quite amazing how much they vary in shape, size and frequency. Below is a picture of my favourite shape by far, but by no means a common shape to find.

Redwing Zigzags

Naturally, with migration doing well at night, Visible migration can also be just as good too. This month saw thousands, if not hundreds of thousands passing over pontypool alone, and with it, quite the number of Chaffinch’s and Thrushes. Getting my first Brambling of the year was nice, but nicer that it came so close to the microphone to reveal that subtle chaffinch type call that they also make. Sometimes, as we learned one morning, they don’t make their iconic raspy call at all, so it’s important to learn the subtle calls too as we had a whole flock of Brambling and not one of them made the rasp call.

I’ll end with another Robin, the song of winter, with a collection of both urban and natural sounds in the background.

Winter Thrushes

It’s been another random month so far, with Lockdown restrictions disrupting day-to-day lives yet again. There seems to be a lot more uncertainly this time around, with localised restrictions. Especially for people who live on the edge of county boarders who aren’t able to travel under a mile in one direction, yet people from the other-side of the country can travel there no problems . Well of course all that’s changing now, and about time it was really as it’s no longer about everyone being in the same boat, it becomes a little bit more about pot-luck as to where you live, as people living on the board-line will feel these restrictions even more frustrating. Of course it’l all be worth it in the long run, so long as everyone plays their part and doesn’t stretch things too far. Though I do think if the Government acted faster in the first place, they may have been able to avoid a second outbreak entirely.. I’m lucky that my Job gets me out of the county a little, whilst my survey work on the gwent levels continues. Here are some photos of a very mixed autumn so far. Not much on the photography side of things but I’m fine with that as it’s meant spending more time birding, sound recording and generally just being outdoors and learning more about the natural world.

Nocmig

This has been thee month for Nocmig recordings it would seem, as the winter thrushes arrive, the time spent going thru my nocturnal recordings has almost tippled, largely due to the sheer quantity of Redwing but also because the winds are up, and my neighbours wind chimes make it even harder to pick out the birds.
I’m trying to not let it get to me though as I’m as determined and committed as ever to these recordings.
It’s truly amazing what you get over your house at night. So far this month I’ve had a total of 686 Redwing, 118 Song Thrush, 37 Blackbird, 4 Fieldfare, 8 Robin, 5 Dunlin, 1 Wigeon Flock, Grey Heron, Curlew and I’m yet to total up the amount of Goldcrest calls as I had a huge movement of them in one night, made difficult to count due to wind chimes. Bare-in-mind that these numbers are only the birds that call. If you’ve ever watched a flock of Redwing fly over, you might only get one or two actually call in a flock of 70 birds, so the sheer number of Redwing flying over to get a total of 686 calls, is quite staggering and this is just the beginning of migration season.

I almost forgot that at the end of last month I also had a few Plovers, with Golden and Grey Plover and by far my favourite was 2 Barn Owls! Since they dug up my local fields for housing, I did wonder if we’d ever see them again as they used to breed here. These are just migratory birds though I believe, either young birds looking for new territories or adults seeking warmer climates for the winter.

Birding

I had hoped for a Yellow-browed Warbler this autumn, with a hope of getting a recording of that iconic call they make, but the only local bird found, was by Steve Preddy in Newport, which of course is out of county and despite working in Newport, this would have been for total pleasure and not work.. :) So i’ll just have to keep my ears out for my own, or wait till next year. Llandegfedd Reservoir has seen some nice birds though, which is about time, it’s been quite poor this year really for rarities. On the same birding trip with Craig Constance, soon after getting out of the car, Craig latches eyes on a Red-throated Diver which just dived, which I confirmed for myself once it emerged from the water. Before I even had time to lock the scope onto the Red-throated Diver he spots a second rarity in the form of a female Red-breasted Merganser! He was on a roll that morning for sure lol. Below are some phone pics thru my scope. Talking about phone pics, here are some more Phone-scope pic from not 1, but 13! Ring Ouzel in Blaeavon last week. Craig and I also had a run in with a ‘Mealy Type’ Common Redpoll that landed at our feet to feed up the British, but continued north up onto the moorland.

Sound Recording

Below are a few calls that you’ll only hear in the autumn and winter time really. A flock of Fieldfare, and also a small feeding flock of Redpoll. Both were quite windy but nice to get recordings either way of a new species.

I’m continuing to record as much Robin’s as I can this winter, 1. because it’s my form of bird therapy, and reminds me of spring and 2. because I’m intrigued to see if I can spot any different dialects, or any mimicking phrases they might possess.

For example, this bird I recorded on the Gwent Levels, does a fantastic job at interjecting a Blue Tit song, within it’s own phrase. This is quite a popular way of using mimicry in birds with complex songs, as in order to stand out from their rivals, they need more material to work with, so interjecting random sections of songs from other species of birds, makes their own song sound more elaborate and therefor, more appealing. It also demonstrates their ability to listen, learn and perform difficult tunes that fall outside of their typical vocabulary. Listen to that third phrase and see if you can hear it for yourself.

I’ve also been continuing to record water sources, that I intend on using to create a nature album. I hope to sell this album on In Our Nature CIC’s website, so that people who might be stuck indoors or are suffering from mental health issues, can bring the sound of nature into their homes. We’re offering a number of different activities at In Our Nature CIC, but one that I’m particularly excited about is our Sound Walk. Be sure to join our facebook group and keep informed about upcoming projects.

I’ll end with a distant pic of this female Marsh Harrier from my dusk survey near Magor Marsh this week.

Female Marsh Harrier

Breached Lockdown for a Shag!

Ok, so I do not encourage anybody to breach lockdown for anything other than an emergency or work, as per government guidelines, but here’s the story of how I ended up having to travel a little further than expected, for a Shag. Of course, I mean the bird.

It all started with curiosity, as a member of public, Jo Norman, posted a picture online of what was thought to be a Cormorant at the time, upon posting the phone pictures, others started posting pics of the same bird and as soon as I saw it, I instantly noticed it was actually a juvenile ‘European Shag’, which is a rarer bird for inland waters, as they are true sea birds, found around our rocky coastline. This time of year birds are on the move to warmer climates, and when this is timed with adverse weather conditions, we do end up getting a few blown off-course and stuck inland, struggling to re-find the coast. Every year birders check through hundreds of Cormorant flocks on ponds and lakes in the hope that one of them might be a Shag, but it seldom ever is. So to have one on the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal was very strange. Even stranger was that the bird was super tame, often walking up onto the bank and sitting right next to you. This rang a few alarm bells to me, as these are usually signs that there may be an underlying health problem, however it was fishing and catching fish really well, so I suspect, being a first year bird, it doesn’t really have any fear of humans yet. The only issue was it was being pestered by Dogs each time a Dog walker went past, which is quite often on the canal. It actually took us two days to eventually find it, but Craig Constance went on a morning mission to locate it, proper investigative style, and he eventually pinned it down in Newinn, about a half a mile up the canal from where it was last seen. Apparently it has been here for two weeks, which was also a worry as the weather hasn’t been too bad so it must be struggling to get strength back. We observed it for a while, and Lee Gregory also came over to see the bird. Lee has a lot of experience ringing these birds, so his observations were welcomed. Shortly after the bird had a very close call with another Dog, and we both thought in that moment that this was going to be the end for this poor bird as it will only get weaker. The fish it was catching were tiny, and just not enough to sustain it long term.

Craig and I got home and just couldn’t settle with the idea of leaving it there. A couple hours later we rang all the rescue centres around, and all of them agreed that it would stand a better chance if it was on the coastline in more suitable habitat, but they were all too busy to help. So we just went for it. I got an old fishing net from the attic and Craig got some blankets and we went straight back out there to re-locate it. This actually took WAY longer than I was expecting, and before I knew it, I was almost in Goytre before I found it and Craig went in the opposite direction back towards Pontypool. Thankfully it was swimming back towards Newinn, so I followed it back till it decided to rest on the bank again. By then Craig had caught up and the capture was fairly straight forward. Net straight over whilst it was resting on the bank, bill strapped up (as they can cause a bit of damage with that hook) and it was straight in a bag with blankets. The bird was putting up a good fight, very strong, which was a good sign. Usually when a bird is on its last legs, the struggle of capturing it can cause it to die from shock, but this bird was strong enough to put up a fight all the way to the coast! which is a great sign. It was underweight, but it could still fish, so he has a better chance now.

Upon release, we were a bit worried as he didn’t fly off like we expected. He could fly enough to jump up 6 foot high rocks and I watched him fly a fair distance after the dog attack, so I think he’s just lost a lot of muscle due to being underweight. There were no signs of injury, inside bill showed no fishing hooks or lures and he wasn’t otherwise showing signs of injuries. He eventually could see the tide was coming in, so climbed up the rocks and eventually settled in a perfect little hole in the cliff, where he should be safe enough. As soon as he heard the sea he seemed to have a lot more energy, so just hope it manages to get into a routine of fishing and resting for long enough to get fit again. Here’s for hoping. One things for sure, he looked a lot more at home on the coast and if we didn’t intervene, he would have been malled by a Dog or eventually starved to death. As an ecologist, this sort of thing happens quite often and I consider it now more of a responsibility and part of my Job. I do not encourage anybody to breach lockdown rules, the title was just a bit of a joke.

Vismig & Goldcliff

I’m still working along the Gwent Levels this winter, and I was looking forward to the day I started getting some autumn migration overhead. Till this day, the Vantage Point surveys had been fairly quiet, but all was about to change with the wind on the morning of the 21.09.20 where the schedule survey was lined up in accordance with high tide and an early morning. With all these factors and rolling fog coming in off the bristol channel, it must have spurred many birds to move. Before I knew it I was counting hundreds of birds, sometimes all at the same time, all heading East. The over-all count was incredible with a staggering;

X 2570 Meadow Pipit
X 287 Skylark
X 354 Siskin
X 180 Linnet

X 500 Goldfinch
X 193 Swallow
X 72 House Martin
X 33 Sand Martin

X 16 Tree Pipit
X 6 Yellow Wagtail
X 16 Grey Wagtail
X 316 Pied Wagtail

X 2 Yellowhammer
X 11 Reed Bunting
X 6 Golden Plover

Little Stint to the right

During the survey I also had 3 Little Stint drop on the last bit of mudflat with a few Dunlin and single Ringed Plover. Presumably the same birds present at Goldcliff Lagoons at the moment.

I went straight to Goldcliff afterwards, which was a good call! as Darryl Spittle found me my first Lesser Yellowlegs, which I landed on straight away from the first platform. Present also was 1 Glossy Ibis, 13 Grey Plover, 6 Ruff, 3 Greenshank, 4 Yellow Wag, 1 Whinchat, 4 Wheatear, 5 Pintail, 5 Bar-tailed Godwits amongst all the usual great birds.

The Lesser Yellowlegs was quite a distance away for my telephoto lens, so I’ve included a phone pic thru my scope, which shows much more features, even when surrounded by black-tailed Godwits.

Here's a few more from previous visits to Goldcliff and Magor, with plenty of Wheatear along the coastline, a hunting Hobby catching Dragonflies and a few special insects in the form of the beautiful Ivy Bee, Migrant Hawker and I stop at Llandegfedd on the way home found my first Ruby-tailed Wasp. There’s no wonder I haven’t seen one before, I didn’t realise how small they were. Most would mistake them for a fly! but those colours are truly incredible.

With so much luck the day before on visible migration, I arranged to meeting, socially distanced with Craig Constance and Daniel Webb at Goldcliff and were also later joined by Darryl Spittle. I really enjoy this sort of birding as it tests your ability to recognise calls on the fly and even the visual elements happen so fast, you really need to know what you’re looking for, and I couldn’t have been surrounded by better influences really as these guys have been doing it a long time and they’re quite the pro. That said, if there was anything I brought to the table, it was my parabolic dish, as it allowed us to pull out individuals in a flock that would have otherwise been too distant to hear. I’ve listed a few of the favourite birds in the recording and mashed them together.

Nocmig

It’s been a very mixed bag on Nocmig recordings lately, with some really bad nights with 0 score, but there has been a slow movement of Song Thrush, and last two nights have had my first movement of Redwing, yesterday also seeing my first on the canal whilst looking for the Shag. Last night though was a big score! With 2 Redwing, a BARN Owl! which is a new one for me and totally unexpected over Sebastopol, but for me a personal favourite, a Golden Plover! which I believe is a young bird if I read correctly, as it’s slightly higher pitch and a shorter, less formed call.. but I could be wrong. Either way, very happy with those results and it totally pays off.

I’ll end this very long blog with a picture of this beautiful Starling. Still on my wish list to get a decent recording of these guys.

Starling

Telinga Stereo Mk3 Review

I don’t often do gear related reviews, but considering gear plays a big part in what I do, whether it’s cameras, lenses, binoculars, scopes, trail cameras or sound recording gear, I thought some might find it useful to learn about this gear, as in todays saturated market, it’s difficult to know where to start off and even harder to find something that’s good value for money with such a fast growing development line.

Camera’s for instance are constantly being improved, but not quite on the level as todays smart phones, so you can still pick up a bargain that should last you several years. I won’t go into cameras this time around, but I would like to talk about my sound recording gear, specifically my choice of microphones.
I have never been able to afford premium gear, so I’m always looking for best value for money produces, whether that’s new gear or used. The great thing about microphones is, they usually last a very long time and the whole formula to making a quality microphone, was mastered many years ago, so you can pick up second hand microphones that still to this day sound incredible. Recording wildlife presents many hurdles in the field, as like photography, it can be difficult to get close enough to your subject to get a strong enough signal. The way around this is to use longer, and often more expensive long shotgun microphones that give you more directionality and a narrower axis sensitivity, so you can isolate the sound you are pointing it at, whilst the long interference tube rejects sounds from behind and from the sides. For many years I used the affordable Sennheiser ME67, which I still use today for all of my Nocturnal recordings. It has superb noise - signal ratio, but it doesn’t sound as premium as Sennhieser’s MKH line, so I also own an MKH 416, which is a shorter microphone, so you would need to get much closer to your subject, but the sound is superb and has been the industry standard for many years, especially for dialog in film productions.

No matter how long the microphone though, you always wish you had more directionality and reach, and this is where the parabolic microphone comes in. Before I bit the bullet and bought my first parabolic, I listened online to every available recording I could find, I also read reviews and contacted each manufacturer so I could understand what makes a good parabolic dish setup.

The main manufacturers were Telinga, Dodotronic, Wildtronics and since then a few others like Soundshark and Klover. I’ve always believed that a company’s web presence says a lot about a company and whilst some of the other companies have more promotional videos online, the quality of those videos tell the story about what sort of quality you can expect from them. To cut a long story short, Telinga is where I invested my money, because the sound quality was very comparable to the some of the classic branded companies like Sennhieser and Schoeps and if sound quality mattered above all else, you could always buy their universal handle, which allowed you to use a microphone of your own choice. This is where I wanted to be down the line, using their great quality handle and flexible dish with my own microphone, but I settled for the Stereo Mk 2 which was a newer version of their famous Stereo Dat Mic. I could write a whole blog on recording stereo inside a parabola, but in short, it’s a much more natural experience, and helps you find your subjects faster in the field, even with your eyes closed. Here’s a recording of a Dunnock as an example of the sound of the Stereo Mk 2, but bear in mind I recorded this using a Zoom H6, which is a great value recorder, but doesn’t show off the microphones full potential.

I’ve since upgraded my recorder to Sound Devices Mixpre 6 ii and have also upgraded the Telinga Stereo Mk 2, to the version 3, which Telinga offered to all customers so long as they paid for the shipping. How many companies can you say have done something like that? Not only did the upgrade vastly improve the sound quality, it extended the microphones life whilst retaining most of the original materials. Take a listen to the Dunnock below and see if you hear the difference. The background sounds more open, but natural, and the mid-high sounds over-all less coloured. I am inspired by quality, so the better it sounds, the more likely I am going to use it, and this year, I’ve used this microphone more than ever.

Here’s a collection of recordings from this year alone from when I first started using it, till this very day.
The Stereo Mk 3 has improved wind handling performance, as well as an overall more dynamic range, which makes you really make use of that stereo as the background sounds are more natural. This is very difficult to achieve inside a dish where only the mid-high frequencies are being amplified, so off-axis sounds have the potential to sound more coloured, but with the Mk 3 they are very natural. This is the best quality you will get inside of a Parabolic dish for the money. The next setup here would be to use their Universal Dish and make use of small cardioid or omni microphones from Sennheiser or Schoeps. What I will say though, is that the microphones you’ll get from Telinga are designed to handle the toughest of weather conditions, and even though the sound quality will be improved jumping up to a Schoeps, it does come at the cost of wind and handling noise, all of which are superb on the Telinga mic. Schoeps realise this also, and have teamed up with Telinga and Rycote (famous company for wind protection solutions), to create a dish set that allows you to have the ultimate setup. I would love to own one one day, but even then, if I ever wanted stereo inside a Parabola, the Stereo Mk 3 is the way to go. Below is a variety of different types of recordings from the Stereo Mk 3, everything from Wild Boar, Tree’s and a variety of different tonality birds from various distances and in mostly challenging conditions, living here in South Wales, we are very humid, wet and windy, and often all three at the same time.

telinga-pro-8-mk2-system_copy.jpg

I have to end by saying also that Jon and Klas at Telinga have been nothing but supportive with every dealing I’ve had with them. I’ve provided them with feedback of their gear, and they have returned nothing but the best of customer service. Sound Devices have also been very helpful, as I had a bit of a bumpy ride with my first few units but all has been resolved and I’ve been using the gear for months now with nothing but flawless performance. I’ve owned the Telinga Pro X and V2 flexible dish now since 2015 and even though the dish has quite a few scratches from me pushing my way thru dense forest, it all continues to work perfectly. I’ve seen and felt the dish provided with the Dodotronics setup and it doesn’t come close to the quality of this V2 dish from Telinga: The flexibility and edging is far superior with no bubbles in the plastic itself and it’s actually larger, which means you have an advantage of capturing slightly lower frequencies with the dish. If build quality is less important to you though, the dodotronic setups do feature good mic capsules, some of which have been rumoured to be used by Telinga in the past also, and if you just want the use of a parabola as a tool, then some of the cheaper options might be more suited for your purposes. If you want the best quality though, you cannot go wrong with Telinga and the Stereo Mk 3 will always be in my bag.

https://www.telinga.com/products/pro-series/

Indian Summer

Anything can happen this time of year with the weather but September has become a month not to underestimate, as we have consistently had warm weather creeping in, just when we all had a taste of the autumn in august with wet, windy and cold. Migration has some-what come to a stand-still in the last week, with no waders moving on my nocmig, but it has been replaced with a large movement of Siskin, Meadow Pipit and the odd Chaffinch. Now my Nightjar have left for Africa, I usually turn my attention to the water. Llandegfedd has already produced a few Ospreys on passage, one of which stayed for a week but remained antisocial due to all the boat activity on the reservoir. We were lucky to witness it leaving the reservoir after one last circle of the water in search of a fish and literally the next day, the same bird was picked up at Chew Valley Lake.

It’s now a great time to search for any late summer insects. Wasp Spider females are now at their largest size so they are easier to find and there are plenty of Caterpillar’s around that are fattening up, ready to pupate. In terms of resident birds, the local Raptor population seem to be turning to insects for their main source of food, including Red Kites, that I’ve observed feeding on what looked like large Beetles. This field was full of sheep so it’s likely that the beetles are a variety of dung beetle species that are draw to the fields by the sheep droppings. The coast-line is filling up with waders, with large flocks of Turnstone, Ringed Plover, Sanderling, Dunlin, Oystercatchers and Knot. It’s been a great year so far with waders, mostly around the coastline, with an abundance of Curlew Sandpiper, Pectoral Sandpiper and Little Stint in the country, all of which have been seen at Goldcliff Lagoons in the last two months. I have a group of friends that regularly bird Goldcliff Lagoons, and if you want to see regular updates on the birds seen there. I highly recommend looking at Blair Jones’s blog - https://www.thewildlifeoculus.com/ where he has a very well written, running documentary of Goldcliff Lagoons that’s also packed full of images that paint a vivid picture of the often, action packed lagoons. I also recommend subscribing to John Lawton’ youtube channel - https://www.youtube.com/c/johnluk/videos as John also spends a lot of time on the Gwent Levels and puts a lot of time and effort putting together video clips. Video is another ball-game, you really have to be dedicated as not only does it take up a lot of space on the hard drive, it’s pain-staking to edit footage and cut it up into a presentable form.

I have a lot of images below, some of which have been taken very recently on short trips to the beach at Ogmore-by-sea. All others have been taken in Gwent, with a Great White Egret showing well at Blaenavon Garn Lakes. Wasp Spiders at Marshfield on the Gwent Levels, Osprey at Llandegfedd and the rest, pretty much in my tiny little Garden.

I’ve also been continuing to search for natural textures. I’m planning on using these images as part of a task at In Our Nature CIC. For anybody suffering with mental health issues, it can be an important exercise to make your world smaller. You might find yourself stuck in a closed environment all the time, whether it’s office work or you might be house-bound for health reason, so open spaces can feel a little overwhelming. Focusing less on over-all landscapes, and more on the little details right in-front of you can be a good way to over-come what can otherwise be a sensory overload. The same technique also works for people who take in too much information, in that they’re constantly exposed to open landscapes, where they’re always having to interpret large quantities of information. People who drive long distances tend to suffer from this and it’s often subconsciously so you aren’t even aware of how much information the brain is actually taking in.
We’re subjected to information every single day and we can’t control everything, but we can chose to concentrate on the little things.

Sound

The end of august was quite a windy one so I didn’t do much in terms of sound recording, other than of course this recording below from the comfort of my doorstep. Here you can really hear the depth of the wind storm at was upon us that day.

Since then it’s returned to our Indian Summer, and the water coming thru the inlet at Llandegfedd sounds beautiful.

The bird soundtrack is still very much so Robin dominated now but with the hot weather I have started to hear the odd Dunnock, Blue Tit and Great Tit singing. Next on my list is to get some nice recordings at the beach, the sound of Waves are magic, but I’m saving this for those cold winter days where there won’t be any birds singing.

Nocmig

I haven’t had much on the wader front, as there’s been a low pressure over Scottish seas for a few weeks now, holding those wader flocks back. I have had large numbers of Siskin, Meadow Pit and Grey Wagtails over the house early morning though, with the off Yellow Wagtail in the mix. I’ve just started to get Chaffinch in the morning also but Siskin seem to be dominating the morning migration, with numbers reaching in the hundreds. I’ve had that many recordings I haven’t uploaded any of them yet but here’s one of the closer Yellow Wagtail calls to end this lengthy blog.

End of a Season

The picture you see below, will likely be the last of the season, as my last nest has sadly been predated. Over-all the season was a success, with all my other pairs successfully fledging two chicks each. That is a great year for these birds that don’t have a very high success rate. I suspect the failure of this particular pair was down to a Tawny Owl, that was very persistent throughout the night, doing low flights right over the nest site. I was surprised after a nocturnal session how many males were still churring last week, but I suspect it was more of a ‘goodbye’ churr, cuing to the females that the time has come, because the following days, all of my roost sites were un-occupied and I found this female miles from her nest, roosting in a tree. It’s probably a welcomed changed after sitting in mud and poo for most of the season.

Here’s a short clip of the pair seeing off a hunting Tawny Owl:

Midnight used this log roost almost every single day as it was close enough to the nest that he could keep an eye. Not all males will do this, but it made sense for him todo this the second time around, as the first clutch failed. Two sets of eyes are better than one. I only located one of the fledglings, so it’s likely that they’ve left the clear-fell now and headed to more suitable feeding grounds ready to migrate for the first time to Africa. It always amazes me how chicks know where to go..

I’ve done so much travelling between work and random birding trips since my last blog, so I won’t bore you with all the details. Here’s a selection below that highlights my favourite moments, most of which were on the Gwent Levels but some, like the Southern Dune Tiger Beetle were from the Gower. Small Red-eyed Damselflies were numerous at the reen entrance to Goldcliff Lagoons which was nice, as I’ve never seen one officially before. Lesser Marsh Grasshoppers seem to be turning up everywhere on the Levels now I know what I’m looking for. Their sound is actually quite similar to Field Grasshopper but the notes are spaced differently. You can hear it better when slowed down so I’ve including a recording below.

Sound


Below are some targeted flock recordings from Goldcliff Lagoons on a nocturnal visit. It’s quite difficult to get one of the platforms to yourself at high tide with so many visitors, especially this time of year where it becomes more popular due to arriving migrants, so I visited after dark, on a late high tide. There were still quite a few birds feeding in the dimming light, but even after dark, simply moving the dish around you can target specific species. It’s great hearing such a variety of waders in one place, with the added sounds of Shelduck, Little Egret and Greylag Geese in the background. It’s also been beneficial to me, to see different variations of calls on the spectrograph, from wader species, as it helps me ID some of the more unusual calls you get on Nocmig recordings.

Nocmig

What a turn out so far! In my last blog I spoke of how autumn migration has well and truly began, and whilst everyone knows this, I didn’t expect to get all these species over the house already! Wood Sandpiper was on my wish-list and it didn’t take long to get one! I had a Wood Sand long before I had a Green Sandpiper, which goes to show it’s not all about how common the species is, you really could end up with anything on these recordings, regardless of where you live.

Below I put together a selection of different calls, all of which I had within one night, just so you can see the visual differences side by side.

Here’s a few more species, all dated accordingly, but I’ve also had quite a few Dunlin, Ringed Plover, Whimbrel, Crossbill, Swifts, House Martin, Swallow, Oystercatcher, Moorhen, Grey Heron, Coot, Spotted Flycatcher and many unknown smaller birds that are going to take a while to ID.

I’ll leave the blog with a Robin recording, which seems to be taking over at the moment.

Autumn Migration

I can’t help but feel the tension this time of year, as it’s a race for many bird species, to complete their breeding task and start to make their way south again for the winter. Some of my Nightjar are either during their second clutch, or are thinking about starting one, but they really want to get a move on, otherwise they risk the unpredictable weather of autumn. Pair number 1 are still roosting with their first clutch of chicks, but pair number 2 have finally kicked out the kids and look to be getting cosy again. I know this because she (Pebbles) is starting to roost with Rocky again at his favourite roost site, which I predict is where she is going to lay her second clutch. As a result he’s started to sing a little more, which has spurred on more territorial behaviour from neighbouring Male Midnight, who wasn’t on his usual log today. I suspect he’s on the edge of his territory, to make sure that Rocky doesn’t get any bright ideas and move in on his girl (which does happen quite often with Nightjar).

Their movements, roost site choices and behaviour all makes sense, the more you get to know these birds. Whilst it might appear random to us at first, there’s always a reason for their choice of roost and the more I’ve learned, the more I realise that their requirements are particular, but quite simple. So simple in-fact that there are things we can do, to ensure their breeding habitat stays in suitable condition, for as long as possible. It’s something I intend on discussing with NRW, Woodland Trust and any other land owners that happen to have breeding Nightjar, as their success rate is pretty low, at just 20%, but we can increase their chances that with some careful land management plans.

Nocmig

Finally, Autumn migration is picking up, and I’ve started to get more waders on my Nocmig recordings. I share this experience with close friend Craig Constance, who is also recording at his home, and despite living just a town away from each-other, we are both getting very different results so far. Just this week Craig has managed to get a Quail!, Green Sandpiper and a steady movement of Tree Pipit. Being on the canal, I seem to be getting quite a number of Common Sandpiper so far, but even with the canal, anything could happen, no matter where you live. Always expect the unexpected!

We’ve both been keeping our ears open for key species, Quail was one of the species that we hoped to pick up, so for Craig to get one already, was quite exciting! Wood Sandpiper was also on our list of species to look out for, and before peak has even arrived, there it was! My first Wood Sandpiper, and the classic call too, so no mistaking this for anything else. Who would have thought, over Sebastopol we’d be getting such a variety of species, some of which are quite the rarity. We usually get one or two on the coast, especially picked up at Goldcliff, and now I’ve heard one from my Garden, i’m eager to go and see one on the flesh, so I’m hoping we do find one soon. We do seem to be getting good numbers in the Uk this autumn so it’s just a matter of time.

There isn’t much left singing now, so I was particularly happy to hear two Male Greenfinch in full song on the Gwent Levels this week. Most certainly not a common sound anymore due to declining numbers. Such a pretty song too, which has been on my wish-list to record for quite some time.
The only birds that are still singing, are birds that are second (or third) clutching. You’ll probably notice that Wood Pigeons are quite vocal again too, and I’ve even seen some carrying twigs to build a second nest, or repair the first one.

The only other singers on the levels right now are random Wren’s, Cetti’s, Linnet and Goldfinch, but as you can hear below, the Linnets aren’t giving it their full effort anymore.

The Dawn chorus has been pretty poor the last couple of weeks and I’m not sure if it’s just the winter Robin song creeping in as autumn approaches, or whether it’s birds going for a second clutch, but either way, it’s nice to hear some birds singing in the morning again.

I’ll leave you with a few more photos, firstly of Midnight who’s still roosting on his favourite log. He’s the only Male that has stayed with the female throughout the entire incubation period, which I think is a reaction to the fact that they failed their first clutch due to predation. He’s keeping a close eye on her, and in doing so, gives her an early warning system should another predator come lurking. Two sets of eyes are better than one after-all.

Birthday Blog

Today I plan on doing absolutely nothing for my Birthday. It’s the weekend, the weather isn’t the best and last night I took a Piriteze tablet, which has knocked me out for the day lol. I got bit by three mosquitoes whilst recording nocturnal waders at Goldcliff Lagoons the other day which has left me itchy all over. Even though piritize usually helps with this sort of itchiness, I have a bad history with piritize, so I don’t take them often. They do make me extremely drowsy and I learned this the hard way as I ended up in A&E a few years ago after taking too many!. They completely knocked me out, like a very strong sleeping tablet. Jodie literally had to peel me off the floor, it was quite worrying at the time. I laugh now, but truth is, it was very stupid of me to not take the correct dosage, so please always read the box before taking any new form tablet. They might be small but they pack a punch!

Anyway, quick update on Nightjar’s. I have three pairs that have successfully fledged two chicks so far and the 4th has just started their second clutch having failed their first. I think they’ve only laid one egg like last year but I refuse to flush her off the nest to find out, like so many nest finders and photographers do.
I’m going to take this opportunity to educate people about Nightjar photos they might be seeing online. IF you see a female Nightjar on a stick with her eyes wide open, or wings in an awkward position, it’s because she has been flushed off the nest. I’m seeing plenty of photos online from irresponsible photographers who don’t know what they’re doing and are looking for that ‘perfect photo’ with the birds eyes open. If you do your job property as a wildlife photographer, which is to NOT to disturb them, their eyes should remain shut or slightly open, called ‘slit eye’. This shows that the bird is trusting in their own camouflage and stil believe they have not been spotted. If their eyes are wide open, you have got too close and the bird fears for it’s life. These birds should only have their eyes fully wide open at night and it makes me sick that there are people out there who are willing to disturb females off the nest just to get that one shot. Absolute idiots! I could easily name names, but I hope that they’ll read this blog and know that they aren’t fooling everyone. There will always be people out there that know the truth behind the photo.

In other news, we had a few days of sunny spells which has brought me back into bug hunting mode, which has finally lead me to find my first pink morph grasshopper! I think it’s a Field Grasshopper but without its usual colour features it’s actually quite hard to tell without it singing. In the same patch was a few Mottled Grasshoppers too and I seem to be finding Roesel’s Bush-crickets wherever I go now! With hundreds singing on the Gwent Levels, Llandegfedd, Pontypool Park, The Race Meadows, Green Meadow, Cefn Ila, and most unusually at an upland site near my Nightjars too. I’ve seen more long-winged Roesel’s this year than any year previous, so I believe this year is one of those exceptional years where conditions were so perfect, almost perfect enough for plague levels of dispersal. This does happen from time to time with locust species across the planet, but I don’t believe it’s anything to worry about here.

Here’s a slomo version of this very loud iconic, electric sound. In slowing the recording down you also bring the pitch down, which means everyone can enjoy the sound of this cricket as some may not be able to hear them as they’re so high pitched and we all lose the top range eventually. I’m losing it slightly in my right ear and I’m sure it’l catch up with me eventually but till then, I’m making the most of it.

Another loud but high-pitched grasshopper is that of a Long-winged Conehead, which is a personal favourite as slowing it down reveals this incredible pattern, otherwise inaudible at full speed.

I’ve done a lot more sound recording this month than photography, making the most of what’s left of summer weather. During surveys I’ve put out unmanned drop rigs, just to maximise productivity whilst at these beautiful locations on the Gwent Levels. I’ve really come to love the place even more after these surveys. Every tide sounds different, as the weather totally changes how the water hits the shoreline. Sometimes it bubbles up thru the mudflats, and others it crashes in like waves on a sandy beach. Here’s two examples below, both high tide in the exact same spot, sounding totally different both times.

I also took a trip to the Canyon, where I found plenty of butterflies, including a Humming-bird Hawkmoth feeding on bramble flowers on the cliff-face. I went there to record the sound of the small waterfalls, but I think I was a little too close now, listening back it can sound a little ‘tinny’ and that’s because the waterfall hits many rocks on the way down, so it’s just a collection of very small sounds, so I would have been better off further away, to capture the sound of the entire waterfall as a whole, instead of just one section of it. Lesson learned. It’s the equivalent of photographing a beautiful landscape with a macro lens.

Goldcliff Lagoons

Goldcliff Lagoons is a classic example of brilliant conservation. The management plan here, to keep the site in pristine condition for breeding waders, is almost perfect, keeping the grass short with cattle, and the water levels just right so that it’s not too deep, and not too dry, leaving just enough shoreline to keep many wading species content but also enough deep water to keep a constant ecology of aquatic invertebrates that provide a constant food source throughout all four seasons. That in conjunction with a high electric fence around the perimeter to keep ground predators out. As a result it’s become a safe haven for many declining bird species such as Avocet, Little Ringed Plover and Lapwing. Post-breeding we start to see the arrival of winter migrants and amongst the hundreds of Black-headed Gulls, were plenty of Ringed Plover, Little Ringed Plover, Common Sandpiper, Black-tailed Godwits, Dunlin, Knot, Redshank, Whimbrel, Curlew, Lapwing, and some fresh arrivals in the form of a single Bar-tailed Godwit, Greenshank, Sanderling, Green Sandpiper, Whinchat, Yellow Wagtail, and the infamous Glossy Ibis that’s been present for a few years now: So long that’s it’s been named ‘flossy’.

I timed my visit straight after a survey, as it was high tide and still fairly early with my survey finishing at 6:50am. It’s nice when you have high tide line up with the early morning sun, as theres usually more birds present and they’re all lit up by the morning sun, with all the platform and hides on the east side of the lagoons. I didn’t get much time to myself as it’s a popular location for birders, but here’s a few short recordings from the Snipe Platform, of Black-tailed Godwits feeding and a single Oystercatcher performing like it was spring again.

Beings I didn’t get much time alone, I planned a late trip at the next available high tide, which was at 10:30pm. Being dark by then, you couldn’t really see that much but I did see / hear large numbers of Curlew and Whimbrel arriving just after sunset and plenty of arriving waders making sound, but unfortunately the wind levels were too high for sound recording with a parabolic dish, so I’ll have to try again.

This late visit was the reason why I got bit by Mosquitoes 3 times, as there was a HUGE swarm over the lake. So large that you could hear the swarm over the top of the wind and thousands of waders!

Whilst I’m on the Nocturnal, here’s a recent heterodyne recording of a Pipistrelle Bat from a Bat Survey. Heterodyne is a process that transposes the ultrasonic frequencies produced by the Bat, down to an audible pitch that we can relate to. It’s still not the best way to appreciate the complexity and tonality of these Bat sounds but it’s the quickest way to ID Bats in the field, with use of a Bat Detector.

Nocmig

Autumn migration is finally here and I’m really starting to get some decent numbers of waders coming over my house in Sebastopol. I’m lucky here as I’m not too far away from the canal, which the birds are clearly using to navigate during the night on their migration.

There was one night that was particularly good, as we had short rain showers and low cloud, which wasn’t enough to stop waders from migrating, but was enough to bring them lower to the ground and therefor easier to pic up by the microphone. This resulted in a movement of 9 Dunlin, 7 Oystercatcher, 1 (possible 2) Redshank, 2 Moorhen and 1 Common Sandpiper. Here’s a few recordings showing mixed flocks also, which proves that these birds are often moving together. Since this day I’ve had some days with nothing at all, and the odd Oystercatcher, with a few Common Sandpiper. Autumn hasn’t even started yet so it should be an interesting season to come! Who knows what will end up over the house .

Nightjar + Updates

Some good news, some bad news, such is the nature of nest monitoring. In this woodland I have 7 pairs, but I’ve only managed time to find 3 nests so far. 2 of these nests are doing great, both with two chicks and both getting bigger each day, but as the nest gets smell from droppings from both the parents and young, it starts to attract predators, and the worse happened for my 3rd pair that seemed to get their chicks to a decent age, but the nest was found empty, with just a few chick feathers that were broken off. I didn’t have a camera on this nest so it’s difficult to know what the cause was, but this pair failed their first clutch last year also and managed to start again with their second clutch fledging one chick. Below is a male that I’ve come to call Midnight, as he’s particularly dark compared to my other males. Males are usually darker than females, but this guy takes it to another level. He’s the male of the failed pair, so is now sticking close to the female again where-ever she may go, so that they can start over. He’s even roosting on Rocks which makes sense now the nights are getting cooler as that extra warmth sitting on a rock that’s been baking in the sun all day will most certainly give them an extra boost of energy at sundown.

I don’t usually photograph birds on the nest, but I've been getting requests to see the chicks on Facebook so here we go. There are two showing in the photo, but the second is much harder to spot. They’re just getting too big to stay underneath Mum, and it this time lines up perfectly with their adult plumage coming into play, so they are becoming less dependant on mothers superior camouflage.

We’re so lucky in Gwent to have such a variety of fauna and flora and I don’t appreciate it half as much as I should whilst I’m out and about. Usually too busy to stop and observe the ground, especially when you’re focuses on Nightjar, you get a little tunnel vision, but it’s surprising what you do find if you just set aside a bit of time. There are some species that you just need to make the time for, like the Scarce Blue-tailed Damselflies in upland Gwent ponds, if you don’t look, you won’t find them, but there are other species that you just need to get lucky with, and luck was on our side as a Silver-washed Fritillary was sapping moisture and minerals from a clay patch right next to the car along Albion road, pontypool.

Sound Recording

I’ll start with a mystery, and if you do have an idea of what this begging sound might be, please get in touch as I’ve suspected many things but cannot find any reference material that matches.

There were a few Woodcock roding so I thought it might be a begging chick but I’m honestly not convinced it’s even a bird at this rate. This is the first decent recording I’ve got of a roding Woodcock but I’ll try to improve on this next season as it’s a very cool sound.

The star of the show was of course this beautiful performance off this Male Nightjar that does have a very distinctive song, where the inhale section of the song, also described as the minor phrase, is quite low pitched in comparison to its major phrase, making him identifiable, even by ear, so long as you know what you’re listening out for.

Throughout the season I have been observing Goshawks nearby that have been taking food back and forth, so I suspected at the time they were nesting quite close but till now I’ve kept my distance as I’m not scheduled and I have no interest in disturbing them, but in the last few weeks the chicks have fledged and are venturing much further away from the nest site, so it was a matter of time walking the woodland paths that I eventually came within reach of my recording gear. This is why I love sound recording with a Telinga Dish, as unlike photography, you don’t actually need to see the bird to appreciate it, which allows you to appreciate wildlife from a much greater distance.

Nocmig

I’ll end with a few updates from my Nocmig recordings, which have just started to pick up again as birds are starting their autumn migration.

So far I’ve had Little Ringed Plover, Oystercatcher and a few morning extra’s in the form of Swift, Linnet and Raven, which I don’t usually get here.

Babies!

So I know everyone loves to follow the Osprey projects around the Uk because of the live cams ect, but also because the birds are identifiable so people can really track their progress. Thousands of people watch avidly and know them all by name by now, and I know most pragmatic naturalists are probably cringing right about now, but I do think that in giving individuals names, that people start to realise that these birds are unique, and aren’t just carbon copies of each other. We all have individual characteristics and it’s no different with wildlife. An example of this can be seen below, as last year I found a Male Nightjar that would roost on rocks instead of the typical logs, but only when the weather was bad or it was due to rain. I have a few reasons why I think he would prefer a rock in these circumstances. Rocks don’t sway in the wind, the don’t attract Wood Ants, and should any sun make an appearance, the Rock will warm up. There may be no reason what so ever and whatever the reason, this is the only Nightjar in the area that I’ve documented doing this year on year.
As a result, I’ve come to name him Rocky, and his sandy female Pebbles.

I’ve only found two nests so far in this woodland, with another 4 to go but both females have managed to hatch an egg on the same day, so it’ll be interesting to see how they both develop.
The other pair have chosen the burnt habitat and I’ve come to name them Ash and Tinder. I think this pair is a young pair, as the spot she has chosen to lay her eggs is, well, questionable to say the least. I’ll keep you informed of their progress this season but anything could happen with lots of predators in the area.

One thing I am keeping an eye on is the weather as we’ve gone from 30c heatwave to plummeting temps with strong winds and rain. Not so great for breeding birds, but I did take some of the storms as an opportunity to record some rain storms. If you suffer with mental health issues like myself, you might find listening to these before you sleep really helpful. Stick the headphones on and relax.

Whilst we are on sound, on one of my nocturnal monitoring sessions with the Nightjar I come across a displaying Snipe. This sound is worth talking about, as if you didn’t know already, this sound is produced mechanically. It’s referred to as ‘Drumming’ as the sound is produced during a flight display, where the tail feathers are stiffened and spread out in such a way that the outer feathers catch the air and produce this incredible sound. I heard it for the first time this spring on the Gwent Levels, but this was the first time I’ve heard such a long extended performance.

I’ll leave you with a few ‘arty’ shots of Hard Ferns, Large Skipper and an Emperor Dragonfly on a short social distancing walk with Lee Gregory. Lee is such an asset to Gwent, his natural history knowledge is incredible and he’s such a nice guy! Hopefully when this lockdown is behind us we can get out more often.