From Dan Watson: Just a quick email to give you an overview of some recent sightings from a long weekend away:

Splash Pond 7th and 8th Dec (Broadhaven): 2 siberian chiffchaff (see attached photos), 2 + common chiffchaff, 4 Blackcap, 5 Snipe, 1 Water rail. 

Broadhaven beach 7th Dec: up to 14 Med gull and 2 Purple sand at N end

Littlehaven: 15+ red throated diver, 1 GN diver, 17 Common scoter, 4 Kittiwake, 3 Med gull and approx 5 or 6 Harbour porpoise (6th Dec only) 

51.7409685, 5.0951893: at least 5 whooper swan this afternoon.

Gann, Marloes mere and Sandy Haven

Very blustery visit but found a bit of shelter Dale side on the low tide. 45 redshank, 10 turnstone and a snipe flushed from the rocks. 210 Common gull, single adult Mediterranean gull, GN diver making light of the rough bay.

Very brief scan of the mere, pair Tufted duck, pair Gadwall. Everything flushed inc the big flock of lapwing but couldn't see the culprit.

Marloes Mere after the recent heavy rain (more rain forecast for the coming week)

No sign of Derek's swans at Sandy Haven, I checked a few fields between here and back to Milford and then back towards St Ishmaels. A peregrine flushed a mixed flock of Golden plover and lapwing. More lapwing flying over on a brief stop at Bicton reservoir, a teal the only duck.

Sad to see about 100m of hedge has been cut to the ground or grubbed out just by Walwyns Castle.

WeBS Castlemartin Corse

Thanks to Richard for helping with WeBS today.

The NT section of the corse was feeling the full brunt of the wind today with waves on the water around the hide. This meant most wildlife was hunkered down and seeking shelter. The bulk of the count therefore occurred on the upper part of the corse.

Due to the topography and hedge line, which provided a bit of shelter from wind, the ‘snipe’ field lifted a lot more birds than usual with count of 202. With a few other random birds lifted here and there, made a total count of 205. (For WeBS counts, last time numbers exceeded this at Corse, were the winter of 2017-18 and in Nov/ Dec 2018). 

4 Curlew were seen on the upper corse and two more were towards starmans making 6 for the count, shame that flock of 39 I saw recently were not about today!

The flocks of Golden Plover (260) and Lapwing (500) were reasonable.

A good count on the gulls with 480 Black Headed, 40 Herring, 18 Lesser Black Back and 3 Common gull on the upper corse, with 3 Great Black Back and 4 more Herring adding to the count down towards Freshwater West end of the survey area.

We had total of 78 Mallard, 32 Teal, 10 Shoveller, 6 Pintail and 2 Little Grebe. Though I have seen a handful of Wigeon and 2 Moorhen near the hide recently these alluded us today. Sadly, no sign of any Heron or Egret today.

A Kestrel and Buzzard were the only Birds of Prey today. 

Was nice to see a pair of Chough having a good feed towards Starmans.

Whooper Swans & Stock Doves

 Twelve Swans now in the field above Spread Eagle pill,  I`m guessing the original family of six + another family ( of two?) Parking in layby opposite the gate into the field gives a restricted view as one needs to walk across  the gateway to get a better view which puts them on high alert. On the way back to St Ishmaels some thirty (a very rough 40 mph estimate!) Stock Doves flew up over the the road close to Winsel cross roads, surprise surprise a few moments later, a male Merlin flew over.  An otherwise normal trip to Tesco!

Marloes Mere

Went to have a look at the Mere today. The Lapwing and Golden Plover were making use of the green islands across the wetland area. I was one short of Brians Tufted count only getting 4. Highlight was a very brief glimpse of a Merlin hunting around the willow bush next to the hide. It then landed on one of the boundary hedges to the south of the track. 

Only had 4 Tufted 

Teal 

Very poor quality image of the Merlin 

Golden Plover and Lapwing 

Waldo Stone areaa

 Hen harrier male flying around for 30 mins 

Red kite 2

Buzzard 2

Raven 5

Lesser black backed gul 4

Stonechat 4

Dowrog common 3rd December

From Alastair and Jill Proud:  2 male and 1 ring-tailed hen harrier came into the roosting area at 4.30 pm.. 1 kestrel, 2 snipe, 2 buzzards and pheasant seen while waiting for harriers.

The Gann and Marloes mere

Late afternoon visit to the Gann, turned up a Red-throated diver just off the parking area on high tide, and a goosander on the pools. About 70 wigeon, 4 Little grebe and 3 greenshank. Quick look at the mere at dusk, looking more like a proper wetland these days, certainly plenty of water. Family group of 5 Tufted duck, 3 Pintail. 790 lapwing, with 30 Golden plover and 10 snipe on the few bits still above the waterline gave me something to look through. 2 buzzards the only raptors, one caught a thrush or starling.

 

Skomer Young Birders Week

Skomer Young Birders week is available for booking - see Young Birders Week

Marloes peninsular

 A few sightings from over the weekend: 

- It has been a good weekend for Merlins: a female over Martin's Haven, and a male on the dug-up ground in the Trehill fields.

- Marloes Mere had 325 Lapwing roosting on Sunday, with two more flocks totalling c.200 on the nearby fields. Other notables on the Mere were a Water Rail swimming in the ditch to the left of the Britton Hide, a  pair of Pintail, and a rather lost Great Spotted Woodpecker!

- The Trehill Farm fields had a maximum c.300 Golden Plover, but these frequently break into slighly smaller groups to feed. Snipe numbers are building up more slowly, with a dozen seen/flushed, including a Jack Snipe.

Pen Anglas - Dartford Warbler

Dartford Warbler calling and singing quietly whilst flitting around between gorse patches.  Towards Crincoed, with a backdrop of Harbour Porpoises.

Rosebush and Llys-y-fran reservoirs

First visit this winter to Rosebush, 11 Tufted duck (6 male), 7 coot, 2 Little grebe and 2 GC grebe.

Llys-y-fran:  nothing spectacular but always something interesting. It was a very late forming roost and when it did very jittery with gulls lifting off and repositioning, the cause, as is often the case, a big male adult GBB was marauding through the roost. After the huge numbers of LBBs in recent visits, tonight had a much paler grey flavour. BH gulls eventually numbered 3500, Herring gull 730 (inc 2 big 1w argentatus types), Common gull min 57, Mediterranean gull 12 adults, 4 adult Yellow-legged gulls. The roost formed way up the reservoir beyond the radio mast, the LBBs arrived very late and settled up beyond the hide. 3 GC grebe, 1 Little grebe and 2 chiffchaff. Trudging back in the near dark couldn't help but think of the Tom Courtney black and white classic, Loneliness of the long distance guller (or something similar!).

Castlemartin Corse

Today’s highlight was a Merlin that was chasing some snipe along the corse. The only other noteworthy observation was a flock of 39 curlew flying down the corse in the early afternoon.

Merlin 

Ringed Marsh Harrier - Castlemartin Corse - update

Some further information on a ringed Marsh Harrier seen at Castlemartin Corse on 8th September.

It was ringed as one of 4 nestlings on 13th June 2025 in Frodsham Marsh, Cheshire. Thanks to the ringer, Steve Binney, for the information.