Clevedon Wildlife

 I've started early with my 2021 plan to walk down to Dowlais most days in order to help loose the extra weight gained during various lock-downs (and because of eating too much with too little exercise) . Today dawned bright and crisp and for once we had a proper frost so I set off at a reasonable time for once. Though nothing particularly unusual was around, the bright, crisp conditions made for a few different photos. It was still a bit too shady on the Blind Yeo when I found the Goosander flock though In addition last night I had read a short piece of the camera instruction manual and learnt how to set a faster shutter speed in the hope that this would give sharper pics. Most people do not wait 4 years to have a look at the instructions but hey ho. This gives an idea of the conditions It also gave me a chance to try out my Christmas present of a re-chargeable hand warmer which I can whole-heartedly recommend. At the top of Dowlais five or six Blackbirds  were shuffling around in

 As the nights get longer, the days darker, the air wetter and the wind colder; I find I've less inclination to venture forth. I have still visited the local, and not so local, countryside a few times though and will try to give a flavour of that here. Clevedon Pier is justifiably famous for being rescued by local voluntary efforts and looked after in the same fashion. Birders know it as a regular site for Black Redstart. We thought that a single female had been returning for about 4 years but a closer look at the tail with tiny black tips suggests its a young bird and so may have been up to 4 different individuals. Next year I will learn how to hold my camera steady but until then, here is some more wavy video Up at the Yeo we have had a few geese but, sadly no Whitefronts or Beans as seen elsewhere in the country. Instead we have Canadas, with a bonus of 2 Brents and 4 Egyptian geese This Wren showed much better than the Dartford warbler, that I found recently in the very same bu

 I have not blogged recently for several reason. The weather has not been favourable and I have not been seeing much when I have ventured out and about around Clevedon. This week, though I decided to go and see the Eastern Yellow Wagtail that had been found at Steart marshes last week. This species has only recently been declared as separate from our own Yellow Wagtails which should, I suppose be called Western Yellow Wagtails from now on. I have no intention of doing so , of course, as its needlessly long, and most of the time, no real confusion is possible with 99.999% of wagtails seen in Europe. I left the visit until after a weekend expecting a lack of anything resembling a crowd at that point. I was correct in this and turned up at 9.05 am to see just three people at the site. So far so good but the news that the bird had flown off at 9.03 was not so welcome. Still a site stretching over several hundred acres was too big to search so I settled in for a wait. About two hours later