Cattle Egrets

From Alan Seago: 5 Cattle Egrets at Mullock this afternoon in amongst the cattle in the field at the Saint Bride's junction. Eventually flew off towards The Gann. 

Strumble Head

 Sabines gull 1 ad

Artic skua  2 

Red throated diver 1

Gannet 100s

Auk 100s

Curlew 10

Turnstone 9

Oystercatcher I

Chough 3

The Gann

Did my best to keep out of the blustery wind at the Gann earlier. RH goosander briefly with a dozen wigeon on the pools. 7 little grebe. 52 redshank, 7 greenshank, 5 turnstone and 2 barwits. Single lapwing flying up the marsh. 2 sightings of kingfisher. 5 snipe. 10 chaffinch and a single goldfinch. Flock of 6 bullfinch looked like they were eating blackthorn buds. Chiffchaff singing. The cattle egrets were above Mullock farm at the St Brides junction but had gone as I passed later.

Newport estuary

Only things if note this morning were a flock of 50 curlew in a high tide roost, one of which was colour ringed:  Left - green above yellow 83; right - orange (all above tarsus).

And two med gulls: juvenile, and an adult with a white darvic on left - ?LX9; wind, mud, other  birds, and the bird insisting on sitting down  as soon as it stood still, ment I couldn't get the first digit for sure - most likely 0, O, 3 or B.

Sooty Shearwater - Skrinkle Haven

A Sooty Shearwater west past Skrinkle Haven was the highlight of a couple hours seawatching in the rain this morning! Otherwise a single Manx Shearwater, 185 Kittiwakes west.

Posting guidelines for photos

We have just updated the Posting Guidelines with regard to posting photographs. See here. In order to retain the principle purpose of the blog, which is to report rare or unusual sightings, we feel it is necessary to ask you to not to include pictures of common birds, unless they are behaving in an unusual way or are in an unusual location, or have rings. So a general advisory maximum of 5 pictures per blog post has been introduced but of course many posts will need far fewer or indeed, none.

Wagtail roost

Chris Grayell:  In recent evenings at last light, I've noticed dozens of Wagtails on and around the roofs of the former Thomas Picton school and sports complex.  It doesn't seem to be every evening though, but if there are fewer birds at the hospital roost then this may be where they've gone.

Stackpole

I sadly did not catch up with the rarity. The highlight was having a kingfisher dive down in front of me, heard the plop and only got a blurry image as it left into the distance. I also had my first Goosander and Tufted duck of the autumn. Otherwise just the usual candidates! 

Angle Bay

From the Kilpaison side, 7 pale-bellied Brent Geese, 10 Pintail, 16 Bar-tailed Godwits and a Shoveler   (Paul W and Paddy J) 

Ring-necked Duck - Bosherston Ponds

Nice to catch up with the Ring-necked Duck at Bosherston Ponds this afternoon, in the eastern arm below Stackpole court. 

At Manorbier this morning, some movement over the sea included, 4 Great Northern Divers, 2 Mediterranean Gull, 7 Common Scoter and 174 Kittiwake. At lunchtime a minimum of 123 Skylark in the fields above Manorbier but couldn't find the lapland bunting today.

Goodwick

From  Mike B: Attached couple of photos taken at Goodwick Beach today. One on the Beach and the other the Egret by the flag poles at approx 16:50 today 21st Oct 2026.

Newport Estuary

 A count of 22 Curlew when I first arrived but most had moved on an hour later. 2 Grey Plover, 2 Bar Tailed Godwit, 3 Little Egret, Dunlin, 150+ Canada Geese, 1 Lapwing (fleeting view) and a King Fisher at iron bridge. 

 

 

Redshank L8

Thank you for the record Caroline, Redshank L8 was first ringed at the Gann 25th November 2025.

Stackpole Ring-necked Duck Yesterday

A visit to a very quiet Stackpole yesterday did not offer much hope of interesting wildlife. The eastern arm of the lakes was very low with the Hidden Bridge now having a misleading name and almost no wildfowl apart from the Moorhens, Mallards and pairs of Little Grebe and  Teal. Fortunately a coffee stop at the boathouse and a leisurely scan turned up a lonely Ring-necked Duck directly out and lurking behind the vegetation.

Below the Eight Arch Bridge there was a single Goosander and a Kingfisher nearby. No other ducks were seen. A Firecrest was in the evergreen oaks near the folly cave. Notably, the National Trust are clearing the willows from the swamp in this area. 

A Chiffchaff was singing in the trees behind the Mencap cafe at the walled garden and three confiding Chough by the Eight Arch bridge took flight and landed on the nearby trees, something I do not think I have seen before.

Lydstep Point/Manorbier

A few trips out around work today, starting this morning at Lydstep Point. Decent visible migration in action for the first hour or so after sunrise. All birds moving east included: 162 Goldfinch, 179 Linnet, 41 Siskin, 46 Chaffinch, 17 alba Wagtail, 76 Meadow Pipit and a Reed Bunting. A Dartford Warbler also showed well in the gorse on the headland, which was a bit of a surprise and the first I have seen at this site.

A quick circuit of Manorbier valley at lunchtime produced 3 Firecrest and a minimum of 4 Chiffchaff. 

Out again in the evening but with fading light I opted to check the fields between Manorbier and Jameston. The highlight, a Lapland Bunting with the Skylark flock feeding in the ploughed field behind 'Atlantic View', and 4 Golden Plover flew through.

Dartford Warblers

Highlight of today's birding was a pair of Dartford Warblers in the scrub at the west end of Dale Airfield this afternoon.  Also a brief ringtail Hen Harrier there, perhaps the same as seen by Brian.

A good search of St Brides this morning produced a nice selection of birds, most unusual (for the site) was a Nuthatch.

Marloes Mere and Gann

To add to Brian's Marloes Peninsula records, I saw 28 chough flying far side of the Mere late morning. Sparrowhawk bombed across the mud exposed section and landed other side of bush at far end of pool. Buzzard in the usual place on far side of the mere. One snipe on edge of the pool and saw a flock of ~25 Lapwing flying past at one point. Otherwise quite quiet so enjoyed watching some of the more common species around the willows like this Blue Tit. 

Dropped down to the Gann but was there at wrong point of the tide. One Ringed Plover and a Dunlin off the spit at high tide. To add to the rings from a few days ago Redshank L8 was seen off the lagoon. 

Redshank L8 

White-tailed Eagle

From Dafydd Ap Siôn Rees: Hi, I would just like to report a white tailed eagle sighting, spotted at 14:11 today at Rhos y Cribed, near Porthclais. It was being harassed by everything else, including kites and buzzards, so the commotion was fairly easy to spot. It was headed north from there, up the valley towards St David’s and Whitesands direction.

Marloes peninsula

Plenty of birds in the air and in the fields. 1000 jackdaws chattering high overhead all morning. Blue tits in the hedgerows and withies, loose groups of 3-4 blackbirds totalled around a dozen, 3 fieldfare, reed buntings, a handful of chaffinch, not seen many of these, siskins too-leeing overhead, 30 goldfinch, 100 linnets. Skylarks and meadow pipits picking at a big emergence of flies. Chiffchaff, goldcrest and blue and great tits doing the same in the withies at Martin's Haven. 2 sightings of ringtail hen harrier, one by West Hook around 10am another by Marloes beacon at 8am. Merlin and sparrowhawk. 50 lapwing, Trehills fields, 20 snipe and a Jack snipe. Jay in Marloes village. Flushed another wader at the scrape near Martin's Haven, no call, upperside looked overall brown, white underwings, small head longish neck only in view for 2-3 seconds before dropping out of sight at the back of the rough area or in the field. Spent 20 minutes trying to refind it but didn't show again, Pec sand my best guess?