Marloes Mere

First visit for a week or more late afternoon, I timed it well, with a juvenile marsh harrier taking a turn around the mere as I arrived putting up everything including a wood sandpiper, 4 dunlin, 4 snipe, a curlew and a black-tail godwit. 5 young teal and about 100 starling. 2 bright willow warblers in the gorse. Dragonflies stole the show with a male Southern Migrant Hawker in the dried up scrape behind the Britton Hide (possibly another couple that refused to settle). Still some red-veined darters, and a few ruddy darters appearing.

 

Swifts

From David Meanwell: Three swifts over Puffin Way Broad Haven at 3pm today (Tuesday)

Brynberian Moor - if you build it they will come

After leaving the tropics of Haverfordwest it was surprisingly cool with a bit of mist Brynberian side - not ideal for dragonflies, of which there were very few. Some conifers edging the moor have a few cones and crossbills were calling in them. Redpolls buzzing around as usual. Family of greenfinch feeding on seeds in a cypress with a mixed flock of other finches. Just a single juvenile and a singing male whinchat this afternoon. Flushed a snipe whilst checking for damsels. Two family groups of young redstart flying down to grab insects was great to see and for once they were preoccupied enough that I could get a photo or two. Highlight though was a Hobby that appeared and skimmed the tops of the bracken as it homed in on a pipit. It did a couple of wide circuits travelling low and fast out on the moor and then over the treetops around the edges. About an hour later I spotted it perched up in a dead tree on the edge of the moor but had gone by the time I got closer. The bracken is pretty high in places, had me thinking of that scene in Field of Dreams when the old baseball players appear from Kevin Costners characters corn field, magic.

Haverfordwest

 Last Sunday had 3 oyster catcher over the house that was an interesting record, but today noticing large movements of wood pigeon in the Cleddau valley………any one else 

Re "Help"

Just a bit of a guess, and not sure how or if even possible, but it looks like a hybrid Canary/Tenerife Blue Chaffunch. Unlikely presumably, to be a wild hybrid vagrant, so whatever it is, its most likely an escapee.

Help!

From John Witehurst: In the garden today……think an escape/captive bred bird….but really little idea 

Dartford Warbler at Strumble Head

We saw a Dartford warbler at Strumble Head at 8:15 this morning. It was about 30 mins south of the car park, just beyond a small reed bed. We are unsure of the age/sex but it seemed dark with spots on the chin but no “crest”. It was quite mobile, and we quickly lost it as it traveled north. 

Josh, Emi and Francis Daunt

Dale airfield and the Gann

2 male Southern Migrant hawkers on the airfield late afternoon (found by Huw earlier who also had a pair mating), also ruddy darter, and 4 emperors (3m). Gann at high tide, the pools were getting a long overdue topping up. 30 redshank, 10 dunlin, 5 ringed plover, 4 greenshank, 3 common sandpiper and 2 sanderling. A big bull seal hunting close in eventually caught a large mullet. The chough family were present, the ground everywhere must be like concrete.

Marloes Mere Monday

From John Whitehurst: 
A warm visit to Marloes Mere amongst swarms of butterflies and many dragonflies including  Lesser Emperor and Red Veined Darter, also found 4 Dunlin, a Snipe and a lone Golden plover on the mud and a Marsh Harrier across the marsh and back across the fields behind. 

Chough Chicks

From Vicky Pearson: A family of Chough seen on the north side of Solva (the fields at Careg Lyfn).  One chick happily feeding itself, 2 others begging rather incessantly from parents.