Saturday 5/9 Osprey and waders at the Gann

Following on from John Freeman's report and great pics of the Osprey and waders at the Gann on Saturday (hi John), the Osprey (the unringed Juv) eventually returned around mid-afternoon and settled on a bare tree by the river. After a good long think about it, it eventually decided to go fishing and caught a tiddler in the river!! Much flying around with this fish finger/goujon ensued! A Buzzard mobbed the Osprey at one point, but it held on to its snack and finally headed off up river.

As the tide receded a nice mixed flock of waders built up on the shoreline including c50 Ringed Plover, 20+ Dunlin, 9 Knot, which didn't stay long, and a smart Juv Curlew Sandpiper. There were 2 Whimbrel among the 50 or so Curlew. Oystercatchers numbered 70+. 

On the pools were about 25 Redshank, 3 Greenshank, and a Common Sandpiper, Also lots of nice views of Med Gulls (first and second years and adults) hawking insects high over the pools.

Of butterfly interest was a very pale Clouded Yellow. Could have been the pale female form (helice) of Common Clouded Yellow but as I watched it fly I got the impression that it had very little black on the upperside of the hindwings, which looks to be more indicative of Pale or Bergers Clouded Yellow? This compares to another very pale Clouded Yellow that was in our garden a week or so back that looked to  have obvious black markings on the hindwings.....tantalisingly inconclusive!

Nevertheless a very enjoyable afternoon of birding with our friends, meeting other birders, and seeing a good variety of birds in stunning surroundings.

Waldo stone area

 Hobby 1

Buzzard 2

Red kite 1

Stonechat 10

Rocky and I wander across the preselli hills every day and today we saw a Hobby hunting some swalows and martins for a good 20 mins unsuccessfully this has now made his life list upto 90 species 😀 

Skokholm

Two Sooty Shearwater this evening. 

West Williamston ospreys

Caught up at last with RC's two ospreys on the Carew River - Andy Strzelecki and I watched them  from the benches this afternoon. They were flying about together and interacting before they drifted away down river. Lots of painted ladies and clouded yellows - at least two dozen of latter. 

Miscellaneous swans

Osprey at the Gann 5/9

From John Freeman: A few photos taken this morning of the Osprey. Not long after I arrived, it headed towards Mullock and then I lost sight . Lovely to see a mixture of Waders around the pools, including this confiding pair on the shoreline. I left after a couple of hrs and it was nice to see Derek as I was heading back to the car.

Wryneck, Deer Park and wing tagged Marsh harrier

A wryneck on the Deer Park first thing this morning, likely same bird as found by Dave A yesterday. It was on the southside of the central path. Lots of hirundines passing on the southerly breeze, many it seemed were house martins. Pipits and wagtails passing as well.

The mere was quiet, the only wader was a single ringed plover flushed by a female sparrowhawk. 2 juvenile marsh harriers were having a play around Trehills fields (possibly a third harrier that appeared much closer but never more than two in view at any time). They flushed 100s of linnets/skylarks from the fields. One had yellow wingtags with ST (East Anglia bird ringed and tagged near Cantley, Norfolk on the 15 June this year and is a male). It was also reported on Skomer recently, thanks Adrian for passing the news of the Skomer bird on.

Skokholm

At least two Wryneck, a Turtle Dove and a Black Tern today. 

Llanstadwell.

10 Knot and a Curlew Sandpiper,40+Black Tail Godwit,and good number of Dunlin this morning. 

Two osprey, reported at the Gann

Report on South Wales Birding of two osprey at the Gann.

Carew River Ospreys

 A blustery walk along the east side of the Carew River from West Williamston early afternoon produced just a few Curlews and Oystercatchers and 2 Little Egrets with nothing added up at Point Quarry looking down the Cresswell River other than 2 more Little Egrets.

Then, walking back, an Osprey flew over from the direction of West Williamston and hunted over the Carew River for a few minutes before perching in a tree on the west side of the river. Shortly after it was joined by a second Osprey which perched nearby before flying around close by seemingly interacting with the first bird before hunting briefly over the river.

Later one bird was soaring over the south end of the Carew River towards Milton whilst the other hunted again before perching once again on the west side.

Swift

From Steve Thomas: A late lone swift over St David’s this afternoon 

(Thursday)

Birding optics for sale

The following optical equipment (3 scopes & a tripod) are for sale.  Be nice if they stayed locally.  Collection / delivery can be arranged locally (we live in St Ishmaels, happy to meet up Haverfordwest / Milford / Neyland if needed).  For more details on any item, including condition etc, please drop me an email (david.astins@gmail.com).

Swarovski ATS65HD with 20-60x zoom (comes with a LCE stay on case)

Leica APO Televid 62 with 17-48x zoom (and a Leica stay on case)

Opticron MM2 52 with 13-39x zoom

Manfrotto 190 CXPRO4, with Cley Spey Mule Pack (can sell separately)

Dale Airfield and the Gann

 A very productive visit to Dale Airfield and the Gann.  Several chough wheeling in the wind near the left hand runway.  A large flock of goldfinch feeding on thistle seed on the stony field were put up by a pair of kestrel hunting.  Several small flocks of ringed plover appeared from over the back of the stony field disturbed by a drone that made several passes over the airfield (approx 115 in total).  Several wheatear and the highlight was a very nice pair of whinchat, again up by the stony field on the brambles.

At the Gann there was a large mixed flock of ringed plover and dunlin along with curlew.  They had at least one curlew sandpiper in with them.  There were other waders around but not identified before the osprey appeared and I got distracted for the next 30 minutes before running out of time.  It eventually settled in a tree on the opposite side of the Pickleridge lagoon near the tree that the little egrets can often be seen in and was still there when I left at 3.20pm.

Angle

 On the spit in Angle Harbour this morning with the tide well up there were c.110 gulls roosting. Of these 53 were Mediterranean Gulls the vast majority adults with 4 juveniles. Just 3 Herring Gulls and the rest Black Headed. A small scattering of waders with 31 Ringed Plovers, 5 Dunlin, 1 Sanderling, 1 Redshank and 4 Oystercatchers. 8 Little Egrets were roosting in the trees on the south side of the harbour.

Very quiet at Kilpaison a little earlier with just 3 Ringed Plovers and 2 Dunlin. 6 Little Egrets and 1 Grey Heron were roosting on the north side of the bay. With a wind surfer setting up there was no point hanging about there. Sadly there is a lot more disturbance there than a few years ago.

Osprey still at the Gann

Nice to catch up with the osprey as it hunted around the pools this evening before it crossed over and out into the bay. It put up all the gulls and a few waders that included a green sandpiper. Very few small waders just a dozen ringed plover, a common sandpiper, a huddle of redshank on one of the islands and a couple of greenshank. A flock of 8-9 ruff flew around before settling on one of the small islands to roost, a couple of curlew sandpipers as well. Quite a few pied wagtails on the foreshore with at least one yellow wagtail. 18 little egret roosted in the trees. Very quiet on a thorough look around the airfield earlier, no waders not even a snipe. Be aware a couple of the cows on the airfield now have small calves. They seem pretty docile but not wise to get between mother and offspring. There's a cow that looks like a small fighting bull with horns to match that has a very small cream coloured calf that can be easy to miss in the grass as I almost did.

 

Birds on Goodwick beach

From Mile B: 

A mixture of Gulls, Oyster Catchers and Turnstones on Goodwick Beach this evening. 

Sorry about the poor photo taken with my mobile in the wind.

Osprey

From Gethin Jenkins:  Osprey spotted doing lengths of the reservoir early morning at Llys Y Fran on Monday 31st. Eventually leaving with fish in talons and heading over the dam and into the distance downstream.