Whooper Swans

Following Caroline`s post it was just the original family of six this morning in their usual spot, at one point there were twelve birds, dropping to eleven a day or two later. Last week I drove past en-route to Milford & counted six only to find eleven on my homeward journey a couple of hours later, so there`s still some six Swans around somewhere - or there was! I`ll have another peek later.

Castlemartin Corse

One of todays highlights is a Whooper Swan has appeared with 2 Mute Swans since my last visit. I can not help wondering if it is the same individual that spent the winter on Corse 2024/25! The next question is has Derek lost a bird from his flock of 11 he has been following? 

Whooper Swan

Nice number of ducks about today and seeing a few pintail amongst the mallard, wigeon, teal and shoveller was another highlight. A sparrowhawk also did a good job ruffling the ducks feathers when it flew along the fen meadow (though think his mind was on snipe). A lone Graylag came in mid afternoon. Approximately 44 curlew also flew up and across the corse in the middle of the afternoon with a number landing in the field opposite to join a small flock of about 180 lapwing and a host of corvids who had been feeding across the field most of the day. The water rail also put in a quick dash of an appearance in the usual ditch near hide. 

Greylag 

Sparrowhawk

Interaction between two Marsh Harriers a 1CY bird and a slightly older individual

Marloes Mere / St Bride's Bay

Yesterday afternoon Lisa and I went for a walk around Marloes Mere.  The number of birds was incredible!  Particularly noteworthy were the sheer number (and sound) of Lapwing (estimated 700) and Golden Plover (estimated 500) who were resting on the cut vegetation in the middle of the mere, easily viewable from the southern footpath beyond Runwayskiln.

Ducks in abundance with 7 species: Pintail (2 drakes, 2 female), Tufted Duck (2 drakes, 2 females) Gadwall (at least 20), Mallard (60+), Shoveler (50+), Teal (50+), and Wigeon (50+).  Also plenty of Coot (20+) and Moorhen (20+).  Also nice to be able to see the heads/upper bodies of at least 30 Common Snipe.  Well done to the National Trust and to Trehill farmers Gina and Peter Smithies for their efforts here - it really is making a difference.  Looking forward to seeing new hide(s) here in the relatively near future (hopefully).

Today we did a sweep of St Bride's Bay from Goultrop Roads in the south to Newgale in the North.  Birds included: Purple Sandpiper (9 on Emmet Rock, Broad Haven), Common Scoter (a grand total of just 68...), Red-throated Diver (a total of 37, 24 of these at Goultrop), Mediterranean Gull (7 at Broad Haven), a Wigeon (1 on the sea with scoter at Broad Haven), Oystercatcher (2 at Broad Haven), Guillemot (1 at Goultrop), Razorbill (6 at Goultrop, 2 at Druidston), Gannet (2 at Goultrop), Chough (2 at Broad Haven, 1 at Druidston) and Raven (1 at Broad Haven).

Wishing everyone a relaxing and peaceful festive season, and a bird-filled 2026.

Angle again

Another bite at the Angle Harbour area, hoping for a photo or two. The red-throated diver was close inshore by the Old Point  House. The only novelty was a razorbill. 

Monkstone Point.

Offshore from Monkstone Point this afternoon. 2 Common Eider (Male and female), 1 Great Northern Diver, 1 Red-throated Diver, 2 Great Crested Grebe, 2 Common Scoter, 2 Red-breasted Merganser. 

On the Point itself, 30 Turnstone and 50 Oystercatcher. 

Curlew 24

 Thanks Richard for the report of Curlew 24. It was ringed as an adult male at the Gann on 14 October 2018, and since then has been seen on seven occasions, all of them near Angle village in mid winter. It's a really useful update to the survival monitoring project because it's been 11 months since the last resighting. Like many other curlews he is faithful to a specific location at a certain time of year - and quite long-lived.

Whooper Swans

Thirteen still present this morning at Rickeston, South of the Dale road. 

Angle

 A look around Angle this morning with Richard Ellis produced similar results to Toby’s visit yesterday. At Kilpaison again 20+ Brent’s and good numbers of Wigeon and Pintail. Fewer waders though with just 2 Bar-tailed Godwits amongst the Oystercatchers, a single Dunlin, 12 Ringed Plovers, c.20 Redshank and 12 Curlew.

Round at Angle Harbour 40+ Black-tailed Godwits, 15 Redshank, c.25 Shelduck, 20 or so very vociferous Curlew including a colour ringed individual - orange on left leg and black on right with number 24 in white. A Red Throated Diver was showing well close in to the shore by the Point House pub with a further bird out in the bay over towards Kilpaison. Also 12 or so Great Crested Grebes .

Angle area this morning

Angle Bay (on the falling tide): 1 Slavonian Grebe, 1 Red-throated Diver, 13 Great Crested Grebe, c20 Pale-bellied Brent Geese, 70 Pintail, 554 Wigeon, 400+ Dunlin, 2 Sanderling, 1 Knot, 17 Bar-tailed Godwit, 21 Black-tailed Godwit, 30+ Redshank, 1 Greenshank, 50+ Curlew, 100+ Oystercatcher.

West Angle Bay: 1 Great Northern Diver. 

Pembroke Castle pond

From Paul Fraser: Female Goosander sighted on pond today late morning, did not appear to be feeding but was  mid pond, not close to its usual feeding location near the commons outfalls.

Dowrog Common & David's Gull

Given the good run of wading birds at Dowrog Common this autumn, this article on the Wildlife Trust of South & West Wales website is worth a read to understand the work that is being done there:

https://www.welshwildlife.org/blog/nathan-walton/transition-mire-enhancement-project-dowrog-common

David's Broad Haven gull is a Great Black-backed Gull, which explains the bulky bill and legs :-)

Snipe H'west airfield

 Approx. 40-50 Snipe flew eastwards over the A40  towards the airfield at 13:45 this afternoon.

Broad Haven

From David Meanwell: Apologies for the poor photos from my phone
I assume this was an immature herring gull but was surprised at the size of the bill and how thick the legs were.
Broad Haven village on Saturday 

Llys-y-fran

Met up with George for a look at the reservoir this evening, a fairly compact roost mostly towards the southern half. An adult Caspian, 6 Yellow-legged gulls (5 adult and 3 cy),  couple of Argentatus-type herring gull, the Ring-bill/LBB cross and a small presumably LBB/HG. 5 adult Mediterranean gulls. 3 GBB (2adult and a 1cy). 15 Greylag flew down the reservoir, single male Goldeneye.

Redshanks

From Peter Royle: I spotted this Redshank on the Gann on Friday, and Michael Sherman kindly sent me the sightings history for this bird, which has been very faithful to its wintering site, as follows:

Redshank 80 - BTO metal ring DT23686 was ringed by us at the Gann on the 7^th December 2020 aged as a 1^st year bird. Resighted by Dave A on the 21/04/2021 at the Gann, again by Dave A on the 24/02/2023 on the beach near Musselwick and the latest by Paddy at the Gann on the  21/01/2025, and now on the Gann by PDR on Dec. 19^th.

One feature of Redshanks in flight, which I had never noted before is the wonderful pattern on the flared tail feathers, reminding me of the undergarments worn by the Can-Can ladies of yesteryear.