Llanelli Naturalists Newsletter - May 2002 - No 68
Kath Cottingham
A male Blackcap was seen daily at my Llangennech garden for about four weeks from 10th December 2001 onwards. He began by feeding from a windfall apple and six days later had discovered the peanut feeder and was then seen there for a large part of each day. On the 23rd December he was also seen pecking amongst the decaying fern fronds near to a window which inspired a quick watercolour sketch (anything to avoid wrapping presents!). In early January he appeared to prefer the sunflower hearts feeder with oatmeal on the tray and defended it quite fiercely, chasing off any blue tit or chaffinch before they even took one peck and he appeared to have ‘eyes in the back of his head’.
On Boxing day I voiced my, now customary, birthday wish to see a Kingfisher (funny woman! – Hon.Sec). Other years we have been to Kidwelly Quay with much success but this year we stayed local to avoid the icy roads and had an interesting few hours on Llangennech marsh, over the railway line at the station. We saw 4 Little Egrets, 2 Dabchicks, 3 Shelducks, a small flock of Lapwing, a Redshank, a Dunlin, a Green Sandpiper, 2 Song Thrushes, 2 Wrens, 2 Pied Wagtails, 5 Cormorants and ....a Kingfisher! (My son also had a good view of another or the same Kingfisher which we missed so he was happy to be one-up on us and he was also the first to spot the Little Egrets!).
On December 27th during lunch I leapt up to fetch binoculars and what I had noticed in the cherry tree proved to be, as I had thought, a male Reed Bunting, the first seen in the garden this winter. We saw three that day and on later days they were observed eating white bread on the grass and on next-door’s shed roof. I had read somewhere that they are attracted to white bread and it appears to be true.
On 29th December we saw a Little Egret, 2 Ringed Plovers, 2 Redshank and Lapwing at Kidwelly Quay as well as the flock of Dunlin, Redshank, etc out on the mud-flats. Along the canal we saw a Kingfisher on 3 occasions and over 150 Lapwing plus 50 Curlew in a nearby field. Returning to the quay we watched at least 2 Chiffchaffs picking invertebrates from the sewage treatment filter tanks in company with 2 Meadow Pipits, Chaffinches, Starlings and a large number of Pied Wagtails.
December 30th brought more thrills mid-morning as several Long-tailed Tits arrived on the bird-table, and flitted amongst the shrubs with one feeding from the peanut feeder. It was one of those occasions when I could not decide whether to tear myself away to let Richard know or just stay there in case they disappeared, but I did let him know and they stayed. After about 20 minutes they were gone but I was quite confident that we would see them on subsequent days as they tend to have a regular ‘beat’, visiting gardens at the same time every day. However we have not seen them since at Llangennech but saw three at Pwll in Richard’s garden on the peanut feeders on 17th January 2002. This is the first time I have seen them on the feeders in either garden and the views were excellent. These birds visited the feeders for two or three weeks subsequently.
December 31st was again very icy so we went for another local walk along the River Morlais and along part of St Illtyd’s Walk where highlights were 3 + 1 Dippers, a Grey Wagtail, a Tree-creeper, a Song Thrush, a total of 21 Snipe in four groups, about 25 Lapwing and 4 Redwing.
New Year’s Day included another walk to the estuary at Llangennech station during which we saw a Little Egret, a Grey Wagtail, a tight, wheeling flock of about 130 Golden Plover, several Reed Buntings and a Brambling in company with several Linnets.
On Jan 5th we saw 9 Siskin on peanut feeders in my Llangennech garden, this being my first Garden Birdwatch record for Siskin for 2002.
