It’s been a busy weekend for the team at Acer Ecology! Last Saturday, we ran our first Bird Identification Course, tutored by the highly experienced ornithologist, Neville Davies.
The Acer Ecology team and the course participants engaged in a showing of a selection of slides, bird artefacts to see and hold including beaks, feet and feathers followed by some identification practice techniques and then after lunch an afternoon’s guided bird walk around the stunning Bute Park in Cardiff to see and hear the birds.
It was great to be able to walk around Bute Park and for everyone to be able to practice their Bird Identification skills first-hand and have a look themselves!
We had a good selection of birds during the afternoon outdoor session starting with Blackbirds, Lesser Black-backed Gulls, Crows, Swallows, Swifts, Jackdaws, Mallards, Chaffinch, Blackcaps, Robin, Goldcrest (heard only), Wren, Sand Martins, Woodpigeons, Long Tailed Tits, Treecreeper (nesting), Magpie, Dippers (pair nesting), Cormorants, a Peregrine being chased by a Herring Gull, Mistle Thrush, Coal Tit, Great Tits, Blue Tits, Song Thrush and a Canada Goose.
By the Blackfriar weir we watched a Grey Heron, a Dipper feeding amongst the rocks and a pair of Grey Wagtails feeding. En-route back to the Bute Park Education Centre we watched a pair of Nuthatches and a Tree creeper feeding. All in all, we had a brilliant day! There was so much to see and to learn, the course had the right level of fieldwork and also theory. We were also worried about the rain for the day didn’t appear as sunny as expected but luckily, the weather also held out for us till the end of the day!
Be sure to check out our Bird Identification Course photos on our Facebook page to see more of the day!
