Brynberian Moor

Lots of youngsters on the moor this afternoon included meadow pipits, reed bunting, stonechat, whitethroat, chaffinch, linnet. Nice to see two Whinchat families (and a singing male), and a young redstart being fed by his mum. Crossbills and redpoll flying over. First Small red damsel of the year.

 

 

Western Reef heron, still at the Gann

The heron was just below the crossing point at the mouth of the river when I arrived. As the tide flooded in it moved above the crossing, a Little egret chased it around quite vigorously but soon gave up and left it fishing above the submerged crossing when I left around 8:45pm. Sandwich tern flew over and a Common sandpiper on the pools.

Earlier at Marloes Mere a black-tailed godwit, bits of muddy bank starting to appear so might draw in a few waders. No sign of any quail tonight.

Quail, near Marloes beacon

Had a walk along the road from Musslewick to West Hook and back along the coast path to look for quail, only one quail was slightly disappointing considering the number of birds appearing elsewhere across Pembrokeshire and the UK and the number of promising looking weedy fields. It was by the field that had a spectacular show of poppys last year not far from Marloes beacon.

Western Reef Heron

 Looked everywhere from the Gann to spread eagle  pill (Rickeston) & everywhere else in between  this morning with a visiting birder from Bournemouth, only to find out it had "flown in" to the  Gann. So we were able  to get good views of it on the small island with the Cormants. Six Sandwich Terns high over calling first thing.

Kestrels

From Vicky Pearson: A family of kestrels - 4 birds seen - on the cliff north of Broad Haven.  One seems to be on a possible nest, the others out on the cliff top all together.  

Haroldston Chins Chough

From Vicky Pearson: 

I’ve been seeing between 3 and 5 chough flying  together over the last few days (rather than just the normal 2), and this morning saw them close and can definitely confirm at least one juvenile.  Pale beak and being fed.  Possibly a second, but it was facing away feeding itself, so can’t confirm. 

Western Reef Heron

From Cheryl Hewitt: I was down the Gann on Tuesday late afternoon with John Whitehurst and bumped into Dave Astins as well . Good to see the Heron on the far bank of the main pool.  Hard to get a good close up but I thought you might like to see the photos enclosed.
We had missed it earlier in the day so great to catch up with it later on . 

Spoonbill - Teifi Marshes

Spoonbill in front of Curlew hide on the Teifi Marshes 1813 - 1836 then flew up river (Jason Medcraft)

Western Reef Heron, the Gann

Good to catch up with the heron at the Gann this evening. At first it was resting on the shingle bank at the mouth of the river, side by side with some oystercatchers, it then moved up river above the submerged crossing point but always on the far side. It fished around getting some grief from a Little egret who pushed it back down stream. A dog walker inevitably flushed it to the saltmarsh side and from there it flew on to Pickleridge Pools where it had a good dash and slash chasing fry. After a while it disappeared behind the large island at Crabhall. 

Following it around on the road to try and reconnect with it, Dominic Davidson and I got really lucky when it flew in to the sycamores just as we were walking by, photos turned out ok for a change as it nodded off barely 10m away.