1 grey plover downstream of the bridge and 1 knot down near the Parrog the highlights at Newport this afternoon. A male shoveler in with a large flock of mallard (30+) just upstream of the bridge seemed unusual for this location. A total of 9 moorhens feeding on the exposed island.
2 dippers by the bridge in Fishguard Lower Town.
In the roadside vegetation just below Bryn Henllan, on the road down to Pwllgwaelod, this morning
The two whitefronts were resting near the ditch.
Toby's mention of the right of way had us checking the PCC website - sure enough, this appears to show the old route through the farm buildings (running diagonally through a shed!). This was the subject of a temporary, much later permanent diversion by PCNP, 30-40 years ago, when the sheds were constructed athwart the path. Why this map should be on the website today - no idea, it's wrong. The present route leaves the road above (south of) the church, and crosses the Corse to the east of the former route. Maps of both below - the new official route highlighted in yellow (as per the official PCNP map - approx location of the geese today indicated by blue circle).
With the influx of geese and other interesting wildfowl nationally I thought the reservoirs would be worth a look. Rosebush reservoir: 12 diving duck but only Tufted duck (8m), 7 coot, 6 teal, 3 little grebe and a single GC grebe that was calling. Llys-y-fran: After being devoid of geese on recent visits tonight there were 500+ Canada's and an encouraging 104 Greylag but nothing else with them. 6 GC grebe. A dead drake goldeneye was drifting down the reservoir. Only a handful of gulls at 3pm, the roost formed opposite the hide. Just a single adult YLgull and 2 GBB so I called it a day early. George and Fiona had a double figure count of goldeneye and 2 YL gulls.
From Paul St Pierre: Some bird sightings from today:
Pemberry Pond: 1 Russian White fronted goose, 50+ Canada goose, male shoveler late afternoon. Caerfai (south of St David’s): 2 grey geese over west which were probably white fronted goose at lunchtime.
Broad Haven North End
From the cliff viewpoint at high tide, singles of Red Throated Diver and Black Throated Diver. A group of 6 Purple Sandpipers were on the sloping rock and another 5 flew past. A female Goldeneye close in, seemingly diving down to the seaweed. Further out, 20 Common Scooter and 8 Gannet also a Raven grumbling away on the cliff top.
I went to the NT section of the Corse today. The water level has noticeably dropped since my last visit. Good number of teal, mallard and widgeon about, but the shoveller numbers were to single figures today and no pintail. Did however spot a lone Gadwall at one point. Only could spy 6 whoopers up the side channel to east of hide along with the 2 mute swans. The 4 moorhen were hanging out in usual place near ditch.
Later in the day a flock of about 50 curlew were seen flying around and landing on one of the southern slope fields.
Got up to 3 Marsh harriers today, two adult females and a 1CY bird.
A Buzzard
did kindly pose on a post next to the hide. A distant red kite and a glimpse of
a sparrowhawk being the only other birds of prey observed. 
Long tailed tit on reeds (along one of the ditches) 
Buzzard 
One of the few times the duck got lifted
A check of the upper sections of the Corse (below the church) again this morning. Lots of waders on the wet, muddy fields. Mosty Lapwing (1000+) and Golden Plover (500) with smaller numbers of other species: Dunlin (7), Redshank (3) and singles of Black-tailed Godwit, Curlew and the Grey Plover still. Also 2 Marsh Harriers up over the reedbed.
Highlights were the two adult Russian White-fronted Geese from the other day (they had moved to the field on the north side of the Corse) and a Water Pipit feeding alongside half a dozen Pied Wagtails viewable from the public footpath although a little distant.
Best of a walk at Marloes Mere with John Parker this morning were 8 Greater White-fronted Geese which came in fairly high from the west, and continued eastwards over Trehill Farm until lost to view heading towards Marloes, they did appear to be slowly losing height but we couldn't locate them from the road later. Hard to be 100% sure of the subspecies: given the current influx of albifrons (Russian) it would be tempting to suggest that subspecies, but they seemed dark headed and heavily barred underneath which would suggest flavirostris (Greenland). Hopefully they will appear somewhere so that they can be confirmed. At least 8 Pintail (5 drakes) at the mere, but just one drake Tufted Duck.
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Good, but brief, views of a Firecrest at Monk Haven by the church. Also a Chiffchaff and 2 Nuthatch.
The 11 Whooper Swans again at Rickeston as Derek reported earlier, one of the juveniles has injured its left leg/foot and was apart from the group, struggling to stand.
(Dave & Lisa)
An afternoon out with Paul around Angle. 2 Slavonian grebe were close in diving around the rafts of seaweed in the bay (SM 87275 02405). It was a bit blustery with a bit of a chop so most of the waders were stacked up on the harbour spit, approx 25 barwits, 20 redshank, a couple of knot and 25 PB brent. Most of the duck appeared to be further round the bay. Over at the Corse, no sign of Toby's geese from a look from beside Coreside nursery or the track down on Gupton side. 2 female Marsh harriers, one looked to be an adult the other a first year bird, they perched up in the willow clumps for much of the time. 2-3 buzzards, a male merlin and a kestrel the only other raptors. The 8 adult Whooper and the 2 Mutes still by the hide. A dunlin and a couple of redshank were among the lapwing and golden plovers. 6 little egret. Lots of teal, so I couldn't resist doing a couple of counts 920 and 1140. Starlings dropped into the reeds around 16:30, and one of the harriers seemed to take an interest and did a bit of a fly around.
Having managed to carry out almost annual winter counts of roosting Pied Wagtails at Withybush, we decided to do another count there this evening. The light was not too good due to the cloudy/overcast conditions, but it was relatively calm.
As usual, many of the birds initially landed on nearby dark, moss-covered roofs and some moved around a bit between various roofs and a couple of trees before gradually starting to settle in at their usual roost location.
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| Annie managed to get a record photo of a small number heading to roost before it got too dark. The camera setting for this image was 25,000 ISO! |
Despite the gloomy conditions, we estimated that not less than 880 Pied Wagtails entered the roost during an observation period of around 30-minutes. This was our highest to date! Our previous maximum total was an estimated 780 on 27th December 2018.
It was getting too dark to properly see late arriving birds when we left our observation location, but we were aware of several on the main roof complex that had not yet entered the roost. It is likely that the total could have exceeded 900. The high roost attendance total is presumably a reflection of a good/productive 2025 breeding season.
From Jon Clark: A quick scan over the Garron Pill from the west end yesterday produced 3 Greenshank and a Common Sandpiper working its way up the Limpin stream toward the road.
Still 8 Whooper Swans at Castlemartin Corse this evening with 2 Mute Swans. Maybe 150 Teal, smaller number of Wigeon and Mallard, and about 6 Shoveler. One Marsh Harrier made a few appearances too.
The highlight from the upper sections of the Corse below the church was 2 adult Russian White-fronted Geese. Which were nice to find considering the national influx of this species at the moment. There was also large numbers of Golden Plover and Lapwing (approx. 800 and 400 respectively) a Redshank and unusually a single Grey Plover.
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| Russian White-fronted Geese |
A quick look at the willows alongside Tenby marsh (opposite Kiln Park) yesterday morning produced 2 Firecrest and a minimum of 4 Chiffchaff.
A female/immature Black Redstart today on the coast path between Bosherston and Barafundle today (Nigel Griffiths).
On Christmas Day Lisa and I had lovely views of 2 Firecrest at Monk Haven, they were feeding in the sunny bank adjacent to the church, and in the garden of Monk Haven Manor. 16 Teal on the pond just before the beach.
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Yesterday at Sandy Haven Pill the 11 Whooper Swans were still in the field towards the north end at Rickeston (6 adults and 5 first-winters). One of the Redshank was a colour-ringed bird from the Gann (no.68) and there was a single Bar-tailed Godwit that was similarly colour-ringed (orange left tibia, black with white numbers/letters right tibia) but it was too far off to read, even for the 60x Kowa. Also a red colour-ringed Mediterranean Gull that was similarly too far away to read.
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Slightly closer to home it was great to see a flock of at least 50 Stock Doves sitting on wires to the east of Winsel Lane, St Ishmaels. In a field nearby a good number of both Lapwing and Golden Plover.
Pre-dawn start at the mere, 2 Whooper swans just visible from the car park but their necks were up and no surprise that they had taken flight by the time I'd walked down. Male hen harrier in the early morning light working along Trehills farm side and crop field by the farm. It flushed a big flock of passerines, which later transpired to be about 300 linnet with chaffinch and reed bunting. Plenty of duck including 9 Pintail, 8 gadwall, single drake Tufted duck. Constant wimpers from the wigeon who were flushed a couple of times by 3 buzzards who were stationed around the mere. c300 golden plover and similar numbers of lapwing moving between the mere and Trehills stubbles. 3 black-tailed godwit, 6 chough (3pairs) and a female merlin.
Richard Rees saw an adult male Pallid Harrier at Castlemartin Corse today. Looks like he has got some amazing images of it.
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| Image by Richard Rees |
Was out with family today and saw the Red Throated Diver many have reported recently off Angle Bay. My images sadly show that it has a damaged / missing part of its upper mandible.
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| zoom in of above image |
To the Corse this morning with Mike Robinson - 8 whoopers and 2 mutes on the open water. We got down there at 10.00, left an hour later (no Bewick's!)
A female marsh harrier was keeping the ducks on the move - teal, wigeon, mallard.
Water levels are dropping fast, hastened by recent ditch clearance.
Eleven this morning between 9 - 930, with Caroline`s post in mind, I`ve tried to get closer to them to see if any have been ringed but they`re quite wary & immediately go on the alert as soon as they realise I`m there, I may have another go later but I don`t want to flush them.
Thank you very much Toby for spotting the Bewick.
That my first Bewick in Pembrokeshire!!
Yes, looking at another image I have which show the beak better the black is more extensive. Note in this later image the Bewick is behind the Whooper so perspective does also come into play!
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| Zoom in on above image of beak |
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| I can't recall seeing these two species alongside each other previously. Oystercatcher and Kingfisher! |
We had a very nice if brief visit to Angle Bay (Rhoscrowther-side and Angle harbour) this morning, in glorious sunshine. There were around 750 Wigeon on the eastern side of the bay, plus a dozen or so (distant) Pintails, at least 8 Great crested Grebes, a single Red-throated Diver, and a distant Razorbill. No sign of any Brent Geese though when we were there. Usual gull species included 20+ Common Gulls.
Over at the harbour, locally ringed Curlew 24 (noted by Richard a few days ago) was the first wader we saw feeding on the shore. We checked another dozen or so Curlews but none of them were ringed. We have possibly seen No. 24 in most winters since first noticing it there on 25th December 2018.
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| Another Christmas period sighting of this winter resident Curlew |
A colour-ringed Bar-tailed Godwit was too distant to be certain of its ring number. It had an orange ring on its left leg and and a black ring on the right leg inscribed possibly 11, 12 or 22. Hopefully Paddy or Mike can confirm this ones credentials. It was roosting on the spit in a mixed flock of around 30+ Bar-tailed Godwits, several Black-tailed Godwits, c.150 Oystercatchers (one with an orange ring on the left leg, its right leg was hidden), c.150 Dunlin, 40-50 Redshanks, 25 Turnstones (later busy feeding on the rocky shore) and a dozen or so ringed Plovers.
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| Mixed waders roosting on the Spit - a location that sadly often gets disturbed |
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| Some of the 25 Turnstones - who noisily turned over stones as they fed on the rocky shore |
A couple of days previously we noted two Great Northern Divers in Goodwick Harbour and a distant Red-throated Diver in the bay. Several auks (mostly guillemots and a couple of razorbills) were also feeding inside the harbour and in the bay.
The water level has noticeably dropped over since my visit on Christmas Eve. It felt a lot quieter down there today. Saying that I got lucky with a Sparrowhawk that came in via the hedge line / ditch and landed momentarily on a post. This is not the same bird I saw 2 days ago. I also had brief glimpse of the female Kingfisher at distance. The Whooper was still with the mute swans. Just before 3pm a group of three other Whooper swans came in and landed, they lasted only minutes till the mute swans saw the three of them off. They arrived from the east and departed westwards (assume heading back towards the flock that Derek has been watching).
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| The Three Whoopers who did not stay long! |
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| Sparrowhawk |
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| Brief and distent view of hovering Kingfisher |
Five flew low over me calling at St Brides just before 9am, looking up expecting to see Canada geese had me fumbling to get my camera out of it`s case but it was too late they were off in the direction of Talbeny /Littlehaven. Just after 9am I was over Rickeston checking the remaing birds out - I could see five. Watch this space I suppose.....
