Whooper swans

 Eleven still at Rickeston

Angle and the Corse

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.

Withybush Wagtail Roost this evening

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. 

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. 

Garon Pill

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.   

Colour ringed Redshank 68

Thank you Dave for the observation, Redshank 68 was first ringed at the Gann on 07/12/2020 it has subsequently been resighted at Oakenholt Marsh Flintshire on the 11/08/2021, 15/08/2022, 21/08/2023.

Colour Ringed Bar-tailed Godwit

Thank you Bob & Annie for the observation, we have only started colour ringing Bar-tailed Godwit since September 2025 white number on black ring (right leg) plain orange (left leg) . However, we have only ringed 6 so far and these are 00 - 05.

Castlemartin Corse this evening and a few sightings from yesterday

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. 

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.

Here and there

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.

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.

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.

Marloes peninsula

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.

Pallid Harrier

Richard Rees saw an adult male Pallid Harrier at Castlemartin Corse today. Looks like he has got some amazing images of it. 

Image by Richard Rees 

Red Throated Diver

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. 

zoom in of above image 

Corse Whoopers this morning

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. 

Whoopers this morning

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 Toby

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! 

Zoom in on above image of beak 

Manorbier and surroundings yesterday

A long walk yesterday morning around Manorbier to Swanlake Bay and back produced a nice selection of birds. 

On flooded fields near the railway line 56 Teal, a Little Grebe and a calling Water Rail. 

Swanlake Bay held another two Teal on the sea, 2 Great Crested Grebe and 2 Red-throated Diver. 

There hasn't been any Golden Plovers in the fields between Manorbier and Jameston for the last few weeks so it was nice to see a group of 116 feeding in the sunshine yesterday, presumably brought in by the cold weather!

Over at Manorbier beach 9 Oystercatcher and 3 Turnstone on the reef, and a Kingfisher buzzing around (at least one is wintering between the small stream and the beach this year). Offshore a Great Crested Grebe and a Red-throated Diver.

I can't recall seeing these two species alongside each other previously. Oystercatcher and Kingfisher! 

An afternoon walk to Presipe beach produced a lovely female-type Black Redstart feeding on the cliffs in the sun.

To finish the day a Woodcock flew to the fields near Jameston at dusk. My 140th species on my local patch this year. For anyone who attended the Pembs bird conference this year they may remember from my talk that this was the milestone I was hoping to reach! 

On an unrelated note, looking at Caroline's photo of the swans over Castlemartin Corse from yesterday afternoon - a great photo as usual. The front bird looks slightly smaller than the other two Whoopers and has quite extensive black on the bill. Could it be a Bewick's Swan? Worthing checking if it has joined the Whooper flock near St Ishmael's! 

Angle Bay - this morning

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. 

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.

Mixed waders roosting on the Spit - a location that sadly often gets disturbed

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. 

Castlemartin Corse

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).

The Three Whoopers who did not stay long!

Sparrowhawk 

Brief and distent view of hovering Kingfisher

Whoopers, still!

Back to twelve now at Rickeston  3:15pm 

Whoopers continued......

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.....

Whoopers......

Back to eleven this afternoon  around 3:15, which begs the question where do they go?

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.