Strange & Beautiful

It was back in the warm and relatively carefree days of summer that I stumbled across a rather unusual find when out searching for insects among the wildflowers. In among a cluster of corn chamomile flowers growing beside the harbour wall, was this rather unusual looking bloom. This particular stem and in a conjoined or…

Corvid not covid

Sunday March 29th: Isolation Day 6 Almost a week into our new life of uncertainty and restriction and the boredom and monotony is beginning to set in. Fortunately the sun is still shining enabling me to get out briefly each day for my daily dose of nature therapy. Whilst being limited to just one small…

Odd one out?

Whilst most days the avian residents of the harbour are predictable and familiar, just occasionally I can be rewarded with an unusual or completely new sighting of a species you haven’t seen in the area before. Today not a new species, but rather a very recognisable mallard, one of many that have made their home…

Injured Wagtail: Revisited

You may remember the pied wagtail with an injured foot from a previous blog? Well today I caught up with this bird once again and was delighted to discover he had survived against the odds! Warning: graphic content Unfortunately as a result of his horrible injury the foot has now been amputated, lost as the…

Injured Wagtail

Today I stumbled (excuse the pun) upon an unfortunate male pied wagtail that appeared to be in difficulty, limping and hopping on one leg. At first glance I thought it may just be resting with a leg tucked up, as many birds will do, but as it moved around it soon became clear that this…

Leg deformities in Chaffinches

During my visit to Nant yr Arian a few weeks ago a male Chaffinch appeared and landed on the fence beside the visitor cafe. It was immediately obvious that this bird had significant deformities of both legs. Male chaffinch with enlarged, pale and scaly legs. This scaly, warty appearance is caused by either mites, which…

Sighting: Leucistic Jackdaw

Leucism is a genetic condition which affects pigment. In birds this results in abnormally pale or white feathers, affecting anything from a few single feathers to transforming a whole bird pure white. https://www.bto.org/volunteer-surveys/gbw/gardens-wildlife/garden-birds/behaviour/plumage/leucism Leucism appears more prevalent in dark, primarily black birds, or perhaps it is just more noticeable in these species, and therefore more…

Sparrow oddity

Whilst watching the House Sparrows a few days ago, a particular individual caught my eye as looking a little out of the ordinary. A closer look revealed what was most certainly a male, but with a mottled brown cheeks and bib, quite different to the usual solid black markings. A typical male house sparrow for…

Sighting: Leucistic Blackbird

I came across this handsome male blackbird quite by accident in town a few days ago, I just happened to have my camera on me at the time. Unfortunately I was only able to capture one photo before other pedestrians sent him scattering. As you can see he has a patch of pure white feathers…