Marloes Mere ...

Three Dunlin and a Curlew Sandpiper  dropped in but failed to settle during my brief stop at Marloes Mere this morning. (Den Vaughan)

Skokholm

Common Rosefinch, Wryneck, seven Black Tern and a Sabine's Gull so far

The Gann

 Colour-ringed Brent Goose at the Gann today.

Skomer seawatch - yesterday

 Totals from yesterday's seawatching

Balearic Shearwater 5, Grey Phalarope 5, Arctic Skua 4, Great Skua 9, Black Tern 20, Sabine's Gull 8

Stackpole Estate - 16 Sept

Went for a bit of a walk around Stackpole Estate yesterday.

The family group of Mute Swans on the Eastern Arm only looked to have seven of the eight cygnets. Unsure if one has been pushed off by the adults or if it was just not showing when I passed them. 

At least two kingfishers were patrolling the far bank.

Was nice to see a pair of Raven off the headland. They were making use of the updraft the wind was causing up the cliff and were diving and doing aerial acrobatics for a few minutes before moving off along the coast.  

Raven 

 Two buzzards across the warren.

Another highlight was watching a kestrel hunting, which caught a slow worm while I was there. The meadow pipits were not impressed and were regularly trying to mob it while it hovered. 

Kestrel with Slow Worm lunch! 

Skokholm

Wryneck today

Strumble Head cont.

 A couple of images to complement Brian's excellent summary below of this morning's watch.

                                                                        White winged Tern

                                                    Side by side comparison with Black Tern

Llangwm

From Steve J: At Llangwm / Blacktar Point today's sightings included:

Curlew Sandpiper (3)

Common Sandpiper (2)

Redshank (50)

Kingfisher (3)

Little Egret (4)

Grey Heron (1)

Great Black Backed Gull (1)

Also saw following butterflies: Red Admiral, Speckled Wood, Wall, Small Tortoiseshell, Painted Lady, Large White.

Strumble Head - White-winged black tern, Leach's and Sabs

A later than usual start for Paul and I. The earlier rising regulars in attendance (inc David, Huw, Luke et al) had already clocked up a few good birds and it was clear birds were passing in numbers. Within the same number of minutes 3 Sabine's gulls passed close in, binocular views, anyone sat at a scope would have missed them, these eventually numbered around 30 by the time we left at 11:30 often with multiple birds coming through at a time. A close'ish Sooty Shearwater was next, with another later on. Skuas were passing throughout the watch c30 Arctics, 12 Bonxie, (were good to see after a few lean years) and a single juv Pom. Kittiwakes passing constantly with a scattering of terns included around a dozen Black terns plus a close in juvenile White-winged black tern flying beside a juv Black tern for close comparison. A single Leach's petrel was good to see again passing close and leisurely. 3 Balearics shearwaters as well. First 3 Red-throated divers of the season, a handful of Scoter and a mix of waders, included dunlin, sanderling, ringed plover and jinking Grey phalarope. 3 juvenile Little gulls. And a sunfish.

 

Skomer seawatching

 Some totals from a blustery day seawatching on Skomer:

Arctic Skua 33, Great Skua 6, Long-tailed Skua 2, Pomarine Skua 1, Black Tern 31, 'commic' Tern 2000+, Balearic Shearwater 5, Sabines Gull 20. 

Skokholm

Grey Phalarope today

Angle

 

At an extremely windy Kilpaison late morning a small number of waders - 4 Dunlin, 6 Ringed Plovers and 12 Sanderling. The latter were put up by a juv  male Peregrine which singled out one individual and chased it inland and out of view. Otherwise just one Little Egret one Common Gull and 7 Black Headed gulls.

Round at Angle harbour it was a little more sheltered. On the south side of the harbour 9 Little Egrets were roosting whilst on the spit there were 60 or so BH Gulls and 21 Oystercatchers. Amongst the BH Gulls  there were also 7 Med Gulls, 2 Sandwich Terns and an Arctic Tern. A similar number of waders were present here also with 8 Sanderling, 3 Dunlin and 5 Ringed Plovers.

Juvenile White-winged black tern, Goodwick

Photos of the White-winged black tern from George. Still around this morning.

Gann

A pleasant hour or so at the Gann late afternoon, inspired by Lisa as I was initially too lazy to get out of the car!  Highlight was a juvenile Curlew Sandpiper with a mixed flock of Dunlin (13) and Ringed Plover (55).  Other waders included Sanderling (1), Bar-tailed Godwit (7), Turnstone (1), Redshank (39), Greenshank (1) and Whimbrel (1).  Little Egret N6 continues.

A scattering of  Sandwich Tern numbered 15, amongst which were 2 red-ringed birds and a single metal-ringed bird, which seemed to be a family party.  The red-ringed adult (KFK) was ringed at Ynyslas, Ceredigion, on 26/9/2016.  Since then it has been seen in Cumbria, Lancashire, Merseyside, Clwyd, Anglesey and Ceredigion.  Red KA4 was a 1CY ringed at the same location on 28/7/25.  Good stuff!  (Lisa & Lazy Dave)

Red K4A with perhaps one of its parents, metal ringed only

Red KFK which red K4A was also seen begging from

The recorded sightings of red KFK

Nevern estuary

 A quick look this afternoon between 14:15- 15:15 turned up

Sandwich tern x 50+ (one 1st w. with an orange flag on right leg, another adult with a yellow ring on left leg, both too distant to read)

Common tern x 10+

Black tern x 2

Turnstone x 3

Dunlin x 20+

Sanderling x 1

Med gull x 1

R plover x 30+

Barwit x 4

Fishguard Flagpoles

 White winged black tern juv 

Little gull 1 winter 

Artic tern 1

Common tern 5

Bar Tailed Godwit 5

Turnstone 10

Dunlin 10

Kingfisher 1

Lousy wet weather 

White winged black tern, Fishguard Bay

Juvenile reported by George earlier, seen from the flagpoles and active around the harbour.

Skokholm

Buff-breasted Sandpiper today

Skokholm

Common Rosefinch, Wryneck and Firecrest the best so far today. 

From Siôn Wilson: Is anybody interested in the attached books?  I would be willing to give any money raised to the RSPCA which my father loved. Please contact pembsbirds@hotmail.co.uk

More on Buff-breasted Sandpiper

Just to advise, re your report of a Buff breasted Sand at Dale airfield, there was one on Chew Valley reservoir, 8 miles south of Bristol, until early Sat 5 September. It hasn`t been seen since that date. And I went there Sat afternoon and missed it !  Yours could be the bird re-located from Chew, who knows. 

Gareth Jenkins, Glam Bird Club member.

Buff-breasted sandpiper, Dale airfield

A pretty blustery, showery start but the sun shone when a Buff-breasted sandpiper appeared at midday, it was in the vicinity of the crossroads where the east-west and north-south runways intersect (SM 79174 06418, fresh.iteration.umpires). In the stiff breeze it was keeping low and behind the tufts of grass, so never the clearest of views. Dave and Lisa managed to catch it before it took flight and we watched it head off in the general direction of the Gann. Huw, Dave, Lisa and myself had a look around but no further sign. I nipped up to Kete and checked a few fields but it or another could well reappear on the airfield so keep checking. Otherwise not a lot else to report.

Newport Estuary

 Friday 12 September 

 Curlew Sandpiper 1

Little Stint juv 

Sanding 5 

Dunlin 20

Ringed Plover 30

Oystercatcher 4

Curlew 10

Bar Tailed Godwit 1

Greenshank 1

Redshank 4

Kingfisher 1

Wigeon 5

Canada Geese 200

And a Guillemot on the river from the iron bridge 

Glossy Ibis

From Stev J (visiting birder from Eccles, Manchester)

At 10:30 am this morning I spotted a Glossy Ibis in a field full of cows about 250 metres on left hand side of road out of Porthgain. 

Carew Glossy Ibis

 The glossy ibis was showing very well this afternoon (Friday), only just downstream of the tidal mill.  Very actively feeding, mostly smaller crabs but also some larger ones that took more time to manage to swallow.

Swallows at St Dogmaels

From James Archer: I've just counted 111 Swallows on the powerline (see attached photographs), ready to go + a handful flying around.
I'm sure we had less arriving than usual, probably less than a dozen