Rosebush Reservoir

 Ring neck duck 1 female 

Scaup female 

Tufted duck 10

Coot 6

Great crested grebe  2

Little grebe 2

Fishguard Harbour 

Black throated diver 1

Great Northern diver 4+

Red throated diver 2

Black Guillimot 1

Guillimot 10

Razorbill 1 

 Great crested grebe 2

Llys-y-fran

A 2cy Caspian gull was the pick of a poor roost tonight, very few gulls had come to the water by the time the light had gone, whether because they've already begun to move to breeding grounds or the draw of the recently slurried fields was proving too much. 3 Yellow-legged gulls (2 adult and a 2cy), 9 Mediterranean gull at least 7 adult and 2 2cy, the LBB/HG hybrid was there tonight. 80 Greylags. 2 Goldeneye (1m). 8 GC grebe with lots of courting behaviour. 2 Little grebe. Most unexpected sight was 8-10 kites heading  south at dusk  (Paul and I counted 8 and a passer by stopped to ask if we'd seen the 10 kites passing overhead).

Linnets

A late afternoon walk up the lane from our house produced a flock of around 50 linnets preening after bathing in our stream, and drying off in the last rays of the setting sun. 

NEVERN ESTUARY BIRD WALK

Castlemartin Corse and Kilpaison yesterday

Apologies for the delayed posting. I visited Castlemartin Corse yesterday morning and was pleased to see a nice selection of wildfowl on the extensive floods. Starting at the upper section, viewing from the footpath past the church: 8 Greylag Geese, 207 Wigeon, 71 Shoveler, 12 Pintail and 13 Gadwall. Plus over 1000 Lapwing, 250 Golden Plover and singles of Dunlin, Redshank and Curlew. The highlight was a smart male Green-winged Teal with a small teal flock on the south side of the Corse, albeit distant.
The 8 Whooper Swans were still present although were distant and obscured behind reeds. A Marsh Harrier made several appearences as well. Later on from the hide there wasn't much on show except for 80+ Teal and a single Shoveler.

Please excuse the poor photo, Green-winged Teal just about visible 

Inland sections of the Corse very flooded!

I made a quick stop at Kilpaison for the rising tide. A small group of Redshank on the shore with 13 Brent Geese and offshore 16 Great Crested Grebe, a Slavonian Grebe, 2 Great Northern Diver and a Red-throated Diver.

Another 'Casp' at the Gann

Both full of lurgy, Lisa and I needed some fresh air so late morning went for a walk from home over to the Musselwick side of the Gann, and did a beach clean whilst we were at it.  Arriving towards the river, I scanned the small gathering of gulls on the beach and was alerted by an interesting looking Herring Gull-type bird at the far right hand end of the flock, due to it's slightly darker looking mantle, clean un-streaked head and neck, and longish looking legs.  I didn't have a 'scope so had to slowly walk closer, until I was eventually close enough to be sure I had an adult Caspian Gull.  However this bird looked a bit larger than the adult we saw on Wednesday, it had a slightly yellower tone to the legs, and when it finally woke up and showed it's bill, the bill was brighter.  After a few minutes it flew towards the car park with a Lesser Black-backed Gull, and I was able to confirm it as a different bird with some photos of the open wing in flight.

The initial view - bird on the right

A bit closer - looking good

Is that a dark iris I spy there?

Yep...and a brighter bill than the adult on Wednesday

Lift off....the diagnostic primary pattern, and a thicker black band on P5: definitely a different bird

Later in the day I checked the Dale Roads gull roost and had a total of 46 Mediterranean Gulls (all adults).

Dale Airfield and other recent highlights

 A female Merlin was the highlight of a trip to a Dale Airfield this morning. Amongst the other birds that I encountered were 4 Chough, 2 Stonechat, a Buzzard and a Snipe, with a Grey Wagtail at the bottom of the road leading up to the Airfield. As I drove out of Dale, another Merlin flew across the road in front of me. 

Yesterday, in a field near Penberi Pond, it was good to catch up with the Russian White-fronted Goose that has been with a group of Canada Geese in that area for over a month now. 

On Tuesday evening, a real surprise was a Barn owl that flew up from the ground, as we drove along Jetty Road in Hakin (which runs beside Milford Haven Golf Course) at about 10.30 pm. 

Grey Plover at Rhoscrowther

 Large flock (I’ve counted 43) of grey plover at Rhoscrowther on rising tide - I don’t have a camera with me unfortunately , this seems like a large number of these waders. Also circa 20 Bar-tailed godwits, large flock of dunlin, ringed plover and 1 knot. 13 light bellied Brent geese also present . 

Bits and pieces from south Pembs

We’ve not been out much recently, but we have been quite busy checking records entered to BirdTrack in 2025 – almost 52,000 - sent to Jon Green County Recorder (eventually to be archived at the West Wales Biodiversity Information Centre). A big thank you to everyone who has submitted records to BirdTrack and to other systems.

With fine weather at last, yesterday morning we managed to do winter bird surveys in a couple of 1km squares. Despite nice survey conditions, it seemed very quiet for most species. Where we are near Martletwy, we’ve not seen many fieldfares this winter. Yesterday, a single one was feeding with a couple of mistle thrushes in sheep-grazed pasture near Minwear. However, in general, there were very few winter thrushes or finches around in areas we visited. 

So far, we haven't seen many fieldfares near where we live

Later in the day we noted that the female goosander was still overwintering on Pembroke Millpond, also now joined by a single male shoveler, but numbers of waterbirds were generally low. A kingfisher (always nice to see) was perched in a usual location on the far side of the middle pond.

There is an old saying that an “early bird catches the worm”. Yesterday, it was a late afternoon robin that caught a very large earthworm (probably Lumbricus terrestris) near Pembroke Castle. It was probably longer than the robin and, judging by its overall size and girth, might have been almost as heavy as the robin too! Having taken some time to devour it, the feisty bird just about managed to fly into some nearby shrubbery presumably to digest it – a good feast before bedtime!  

It took a minute or two for this large earthworm to be successfully devoured

A bit late in the day, but about 10-days ago we were pleased to see quite good numbers of pintail at Angle Bay. In one location closer to the harbour end we counted at least 79 feeding and resting alongside smaller numbers of wigeon. There were probably quite a few more pintails in more distant parts of the bay we didn’t get to, where we could see larger numbers of wigeon etc feeding. 

Part of a flock of pintails in the Angle Bay shallows

Caspian Gulls @ the Gann

We managed to get out late afternoon for an hour at the Gann.  Nice to see the sun for a change, but still quite breezy.  After crossing the footbridge with the aim of walking up the river on the east side to try and read a couple of Curlew rings, a handful of large gulls dropped in for a wash and brush up.  With the bins I picked up a bird which I initially suspected to be a 2nd-calendar year Caspian Gull, and whilst looking at that Lisa picked up an adult bird which raised her suspicions enough to bring my attention to it.  Another Caspian!  Knowing how difficult these birds can be, after taking in the key features at rest, I focussed on getting some photos to peruse later whilst Lisa had a good look through the 'scope. Both birds departed towards the bay after about 15 minutes.  Also a Kingfisher and the long-staying female Goosander. (Dave & Lisa)

The 2CY

Nice pale underwing, whitish rump with contrasting dark tail band

The adult: white headed, small dark eye, pale yellow slim bill, slightly darker mantle than Herring Gull 

Black extending onto P5 (primary 5, the outer one is P10), 2 big mirrors on P10 & P9, with the P10 mirror merging with the white tip, some grey 'tongues' extending into the black

Rosebush Ring-necked Duck

 I found one of Brian’s female ring-necked ducks at Rosebush today (thanks for the info on how to view them), also 2 little grebes and 1 GC grebe, 3 tufted ducks (2 male) and a handful of coots. 

Firecrests

Whilst doing a Winter BBS this morning we found two Firecrests at St Brides, one in the scrub behind the beach, and one in the hedge along the track to the stables. A bright note in an otherwise rather birdless and waterlogged expedition!

Rosemary Royle 

Teifi Marshes

From Mike B:  Attached acouple of photos taken at the Teifi Marshes Wild Life Centre this morning

Martin's Haven; Marloes peninsular to Dale

 Belated reports from the weekend:

- Definitely the wrong weather for the Garden Birdwatch on Saturday! Totals 3 Jackdaw, 1 Robin, 1 Woodcock......

- The Trehill Farm fields are really loading up with Snipe, especially around the scrapes cleared last year - totals 20+ walking through the open fields towards Gatelholm/Albion

- 6 Bullfinch between Mullock and Dale

- a male Sparrowhawk flushed 30+ each Oystercatcher and Curlew on the fields by Jubilee cottages

- a female-type Merlin near Tavernputt

Eastern Arm Lily Ponds

Nice to see 3 Redwing hanging out with 3 Blackbirds today along the lake. Also saw 3 Goosander, 9 Little Grebe along with 12 Coot.  One of the Cormorant was into its breeding plumage. Quite windy so lacked seeing many smaller birds though plenty of Robins begging to be fed along the edge of the path.  

Iron Bridge Newport

From Chris Dighton: Drake Green-winged Teal at the Iron Bridge on 25th. Looks like it’s paired with a female.

Also two snipe, five little egret and a female blackcap.