Curlew 24

 Thanks Richard for the report of Curlew 24. It was ringed as an adult male at the Gann on 14 October 2018, and since then has been seen on seven occasions, all of them near Angle village in mid winter. It's a really useful update to the survival monitoring project because it's been 11 months since the last resighting. Like many other curlews he is faithful to a specific location at a certain time of year - and quite long-lived.

Whooper Swans

Thirteen still present this morning at Rickeston, South of the Dale road. 

Angle

 A look around Angle this morning with Richard Ellis produced similar results Toby’s visit yesterday. At Kilpaison again 20+ Brent’s and good numbers of Wigeon and Pintail. Fewer waders though with just 2 Bar-tailed Godwits amongst the Oystercatchers, a single Dunlin, 12 Ringed Plovers, c.20 Redshank and 12 Curlew.

Round at Angle Harbour 40+ Black-tailed Godwits, 15 Redshank, c.25 Shelduck, 20 or so very vociferous Curlew including a colour ringed individual - orange on left leg and black on right with number 24 in white. A Red Throated Diver was showing well close in to the shore by the Point House pub with a further bird out in the bay over towards Kilpaison. Also 12 or so Great Crested Grebes .

Angle area this morning

Angle Bay (on the falling tide): 1 Slavonian Grebe, 1 Red-throated Diver, 13 Great Crested Grebe, c20 Pale-bellied Brent Geese, 70 Pintail, 554 Wigeon, 400+ Dunlin, 2 Sanderling, 1 Knot, 17 Bar-tailed Godwit, 21 Black-tailed Godwit, 30+ Redshank, 1 Greenshank, 50+ Curlew, 100+ Oystercatcher.

West Angle Bay: 1 Great Northern Diver. 

Pembroke Castle pond

From Paul Fraser: Female Goosander sighted on pond today late morning, did not appear to be feeding but was  mid pond, not close to its usual feeding location near the commons outfalls.

Dowrog Common & David's Gull

Given the good run of wading birds at Dowrog Common this autumn, this article on the Wildlife Trust of South & West Wales website is worth a read to understand the work that is being done there:

https://www.welshwildlife.org/blog/nathan-walton/transition-mire-enhancement-project-dowrog-common

David's Broad Haven gull is a Great Black-backed Gull, which explains the bulky bill and legs :-)

Snipe H'west airfield

 Approx. 40-50 Snipe flew eastwards over the A40  towards the airfield at 13:45 this afternoon.

Broad Haven

From David Meanwell: Apologies for the poor photos from my phone
I assume this was an immature herring gull but was surprised at the size of the bill and how thick the legs were.
Broad Haven village on Saturday 

Llys-y-fran

Met up with George for a look at the reservoir this evening, a fairly compact roost mostly towards the southern half. An adult Caspian, 6 Yellow-legged gulls (5 adult and 3 cy),  couple of Argentatus-type herring gull, the Ring-bill/LBB cross and a small presumably LBB/HG. 5 adult Mediterranean gulls. 3 GBB (2adult and a 1cy). 15 Greylag flew down the reservoir, single male Goldeneye.

Redshanks

From Peter Royle: I spotted this Redshank on the Gann on Friday, and Michael Sherman kindly sent me the sightings history for this bird, which has been very faithful to its wintering site, as follows:

Redshank 80 - BTO metal ring DT23686 was ringed by us at the Gann on the 7^th December 2020 aged as a 1^st year bird. Resighted by Dave A on the 21/04/2021 at the Gann, again by Dave A on the 24/02/2023 on the beach near Musselwick and the latest by Paddy at the Gann on the  21/01/2025, and now on the Gann by PDR on Dec. 19^th.

One feature of Redshanks in flight, which I had never noted before is the wonderful pattern on the flared tail feathers, reminding me of the undergarments worn by the Can-Can ladies of yesteryear.