Hadyn Jones

Birding for 50 yrs. Local patches Undy foreshore(WeBS counter), Slade Wood. Retired twitcher U.K. & World. Part retired accountant. Gardener. Dog walker.🦮

[Hadyn Jones @Magorbirder]

Adults seen everywhere with alot of food for their youngsters.
Sedge Warbler and Song Thrush.

[Hadyn Jones @Magorbirder]

WeBS count Undy today - numbers building back up. 754 Shelduck,145 Mallard,50 Curlew,17 L Egret, 1 Common Gull (2nd yr),3 Grey Heron,1 Oik,57 BHGull,24 HGull,4 LBBGull,1 GBBGull,5 Canada Geese,1 Cormorant. Nice to see 1 Redshank back in Caldicot Pill.

[Hadyn Jones @Magorbirder]

Just to follow up my Bluesky post that Shelduck numbers starting to build up at Collister. 330 counted.

[Hadyn Jones @Magorbirder]

This is a rarity in my garden nowadays. A Small Tortoiseshell.

[Hadyn Jones @Magorbirder]

Never seen so many Painted Ladies at Slade Wood. By far the commonest butterfly today.

[Give A Shit About Nature @giveashitnature]

Frank Newell spent 38 years in the military. When he came home to his family farm in North Carolina, the bluebirds were gone.

When Frank was young, the fence posts around the pastures in Warrenton were wood, and Eastern bluebirds nested in them by the hundreds. When he came home decades later, the posts had been replaced with metal. The bluebirds had nowhere to nest and were disappearing.

Bluebirds can't excavate their own nest cavities. They depend on old woodpecker holes and natural rot in dead wood, both of which vanish when a landscape gets tidied up. So Frank started building them nest boxes by hand, 25 a week, with donated lumber and a Sears table saw that lasted him 33 years.

The word spread, volunteers joined, and businesses donated wood. The Eastern Bluebird Rescue Group, which Frank founded in 1996, has now built and distributed more than 500,000 bluebird houses, sold at or below cost. Warren County is now believed to hold the largest concentration of Eastern bluebirds in the United States.

Frank Newell has since passed away, but the group he started is still going, run by his daughter and son-in-law and a few dozen volunteers.

[Hadyn Jones @Magorbirder]

WeBS count 17th May Undy. More noticeable sightings were 21 Whimbrel,19 Curlew,1 Barwit,183 Shelduck,8 L Egret, 7 Oystercatchers, 37 Herring gulls.

[Hadyn Jones @Magorbirder]

Herb Paris in Slade Wood. First time I have come across this plant.

[Hadyn Jones @Magorbirder]

On the potatoe foliage at the Allotment. I believe it is a Hairy Dragonfly.

[Hadyn Jones @Magorbirder]

Holly Blue in the garden.

[Hadyn Jones @Magorbirder]

Nice Early Purple Orchid at Slade Wood.

[Hadyn Jones @Magorbirder]

And 2 Willow Warblers

[Hadyn Jones @Magorbirder]

Magor Marsh WeBS 17 L Egret and @ 14 nests,5 Grey Heron,3 Little Grebe(inc 2 juvs),3 Gadwall,3 Mallard plus ducklings,2 Coot with 3 chicks,10 Mute Swan,1 Moorhen. In walk round had 1 Garden Warbler,7 Sedge,9 Reed,2 Cettis,plus Blackcap,Chiffchaff, Goldcrest.

[Hadyn Jones @Magorbirder]

At Craig y perthi 2 Yellow Wagtails and 1+ Alba Wags with several Yarrelli.

[Hadyn Jones @Magorbirder]

2 Litle Egrets trying to muscle in on the Grey Heron nest branch. A bit of aggro with the Heron at Magor Marsh.

[Hadyn Jones @Magorbirder]

At Collister(WeBS) this am with BB and 1 Lesser Whitethroat,3 Wheatear,2 Barwits,1 Blackwit,15 Whimbrel,34 Curlew,44 Dunlin,3 L Egrets,3+ Herring Gull,71 Shelduck,3 Mallard,1 Canada,Whitethroats en route.

[Hadyn Jones @Magorbirder]

@aquilabirding Gosh, I remember that one at How Hill.

[Hadyn Jones @Magorbirder]

Collister Pill p.m. a second Wheatear of the year there.

[Hadyn Jones @Magorbirder]

Had my first Willow Warbler today in Magor. Later than other years.

[Hadyn Jones @Magorbirder]

My Aeoniums starting to look good in the greenhouse.