Marloes White-fronted and Pink-footed Geese plus Marsh Harrier, Yesterday

A sunny day and winds coming from the south was an opportunity not to miss, so, inspired by Caroline's report of a Greenland White-front Goose, I headed to Marloes. A quick scope from the car park revealed a smallish pale goose amongst the 29 Canada Geese, but no white was obvious on the face. On arrival at the barbed wire gate there was a Pink-footed Goose and the Greenland White-fronted Goose appeared a little later. They seemed to like being close together for a lot of the time.

The White-front obligingly did a circuit of the pool and came near to the hide for a photo shoot. It was interesting to note how the bill colour and darkness of the head and breast changes depending on the strength and direction of sunlight.

The pool was busy with ducks - about 40 Teal and good numbers of Shovelers, Mallards, Tufted Duck, Gadwall and a few Wigeon. A pair of very noisy Little Grebe stayed close together in front of the hide and a single Sedge Warbler burst into song unseen in the willows just below the window. A Willow Warbler and some Chiffchaffs were feeding quietly nearby. At least 50 Sand Martins were feeding over the water and briefly settled onto a very crowded bramble patch. Small numbers of Swallows and a single House Martin passed through. The three Lapwings were still around, a pair once going up together to chase off a crow and returned to their favourite patch of wet grass.

The relative calm was disturbed by a low flying helicopter which put up the Canada Geese and ducks. Immediately afterwards an adult female Marsh Harrier appeared from the west, quite high up. I suspect it may have been lurking nearby and took the opportunity to scan for unattended nests. It only managed one circuit before the local Buzzard attempted to chase it off, but failed badly. The harrier was much more aggressive and agile in the skirmish. The Buzzard gave up and drifted off eastwards before the harrier went south towards Skokholm. The rubbish picture indicates the aggression, if nothing else.

A bonus for staying most of the afternoon was the late appearance of eight or nine Whimbrel, that dropped in and landed out of sight. I could not find them despite their calls and some singing. Fortunately they did a couple of circuits before heading off northwards.

And Happy Birthday to the Blog and thanks to Rich, Brian et al. It has become my daily read and way better than looking at a newspaper.

20 Years of Pembrokeshire Birds!

Long time readers of the blog will know that although the archive goes back to January 2008 the first couple of years entries were deleted. I actually set the blog up in 2006 and the first entry was on 14 April that year so the Pembrokeshire Birds blog is 20 years old today! 

I’m really chuffed that in the age of Facebook, X and other social media that it continues to be well supported and provides a useful source of information for local and visiting birders. Over the 20 years there have been more than 24000 posts with, in recent times, over 1300 per year and, with over 6 million views logged, the blog continues to be popular.

That it does continue to be popular is due in no small part to all the regular bloggers past and present (some sadly no longer with us) whose names are far too numerous to mention here but thank you all. Many thanks also to the people who have helped with running the blog, in particular Richard Dobbins who, with his vast knowledge of birds and the birding world, ran the blog with me for many years. Also thanks to Brian Southern who continues to help out with emails and to Mike Young-Powell who was involved in running the blog for several years.

In September 2020 I handed ownership and the running of the blog to the Pembrokeshire Bird Group so finally a massive thanks to Rosemary Royle for managing it since then and dealing with the many emails of sightings and queries which are sent in.

Here’s to many more years of Pembrokeshire Birds!

Carew castle under attack! 13/4/26

 ........from a pair of wily Ravens!.

While having stroll at dusk around the mill pond to the castle, a single Raven flew purposefully into the castle airspace and was immediately mobbed by the pair of resident Crows. A dramatic aerial tussle ensued resulting with the Raven flying off followed by BOTH Crows, at which point a second Raven  suddenly appeared with what looked like a crow egg from the castle walls! 

Was the second Raven simply taking advantage of the Crows being distracted by the first bird, or was this a deliberate cooperative tactic by the pair?! wouldn't be surprised if it was the latter..

Very few waterbirds around: just a handful of Redshank, a pair of Shelduck, a Heron, Mute Swan, and a Lesser Black Back. Lovely evening though.

Skokholm

A Lapwing with eggs in the Bog, our first breeding attempt since 2000. 

Dale and Marloes

Saturday, blustery walk along the Marloes peninsula, first White wagtails in Trehills fields, the male lapwing chasing off a crow on the mere. At an even windier Gann, Great crested grebe in the bay, and a handful of gannet just offshore. 

Sunday, much calmer, lots of teal had appeared on the mere, approximately 100 birds. C50 shoveler, 4pr Tufted duck, 25 coot. 3 lapwing, looked like 2 male with the resident male displaying and chasing off a whimbrel, the female (if this is the other half of the pair) was away from the usual spot, and a GBB gull was in that area. A Greenland white-front with the canada flock headed off west and dropped down beyond the mere out of sight. First sedge warbler. Lots of swallows, likely in the 100s. 4 curlew dropped in.

Manorbier - Great Skua

A Great Skua flew past Old Castle Head yesterday evening. 

Whitethroats back in this morning. 5 singing males at Skrinkle.

Sedge Warbler and Otter at Teifi Marshes

Prompted by a report yesterday of a visiting Osprey we visited Teifi Marshes today, but unsurprisingly did not see it.

We also failed to see a Kingfisher at the Kingfisher hide, but unexpectedly found an early Sedge Warbler. Inititially it was skulking on the flattened old reeds and gave an occasional bit of song and then, briefly flew up to a Kingfisher branch to enjoy a spot of sunshine.

And finally, after 30 years of visiting, we briefly saw an Otter as it quickly crossed the pond from the south to north and disappeared into the reeds.

Also around were plenty of Sand Martins, a couple of House Martins and a few Swallows. Cettis were in good voice, sometimes singing from high postions, so there was still a feeling of Spring despite the temperature being around 9 degrees.

Birds and Cetaceans s at Strumble this morning.

Wind SSW 3-4 overcast: Arrived at Strumble about 09.30 to see a steady stream of swallows and House Martins passing by following the coast heading towards the Lighthouse. A small passerine flying parallel to the coast but further out had a red tail but on it to late for more conclusive ID than Redstart sp. Around 60 Common Dolphins crossed the bay R to L, giving nice views inclusing mothers with small caalves,for over half an hour before dissappearing beyond the light'. A while later four or five commons came in close to us and were seen feeding which attracted a dozen or so Gannets. At one point four Gannets plunged in and remained down for some time all with Mackrel /Herring sized fish in their beaks which they then swallowed! Interesting was an obvious subadult, feeding close to what was presumably its much larger mother. As the small tide gathered porpoises arrived on the scene one group of maybe five or six just beyond feeding common dolphins, both visible at the same time in my bins. The porpoises were less obvious and also seemed to be surface feeding although around twenty metres apart from the dolphins. The flow of swallows and Martins had eased off but a few spots of rain brought down more hirundines. A nice single fulmar swept past just as we left!

Waldo stone area

 Grasshopper warbler 2

Cuckoo  male  calling 

Willow warbler 5

Chiff chaff 3

Blackcap 3 

Swallow  4

Linnet 5 pairs 

Stonechat 6

Stackpole Estate

Started off on the headland today. There were a few Razorbills on cliffs or rafting and the Jackdaws were collecting material to nest with. A couple of Wheatear along the route. A few fulmar trying to get some updrafts off the cliffs. 

A cormerant had found a wrasse to have for lunch! 

Saw a distent Red Kite and was a little surprised to see it come down to sit on headland for a little while. 

The highlight though was a Merlin just sitting on the headland. 

The lakes there were a lot of chiffchaff singing. First thing I did see 2 Common Sandpipers sitting on the logs on side of ponds. Difficult to see but only just saw a glimpse of one heron in the Heronry 

Martin's Haven

A lovely hour at Martin's Haven / Deer Park early evening.  Nice to see a sprinkling of migrants, includin Swallow, Willow Warbler and Wheatear.  Highlight were the Chough: a pair and 2 singles.  Hard to beat a Chough in a location like this on a beautiful spring evening. (Dave & Lisa)

Mating Chough

A chough pair (presumably the "Furzenip pair") mating in a field behind Freshwater West. The male took the initiative by spreading his wings (at first I thought it was the female soliciting food, before it  became apparent which was which...). There are more photos but this captures the essence. Afterwards they flew off   towards the coast.