Garden birds

Birding through the kitchen window today - though I did see 6 little egrets in the field while retrieving an errant dustbin lid. The cattle are now in for the winter, replaced by tack sheep. This GSW taken through rather murky glass.

Hen Harrier

 Just for info, both the Ringtail and Male Hen Harrier are ringed on Marloes Peninula.

Little Haven 6/12

From Dan Watson:

The following present from Little Haven point this morning:

Min. 17 red throated diver (many more out into St Brides bay) 
31 Common scoter

1 Scaup

1 Great northern diver

7 Kittiwake

LLawhaden Rosy starling seen again and posed very briefly for a photo!

 Two brief appearances today, early morning and lunchtime, the latter when I managed to get a genuinely record-shot quality photo! but good to get one at all! 

Also 8 Goosanders flew down-stream over Llawhaden bridge late morning. 

Yellow-browed Warbler

 Yellow-browed Warbler - Broad Haven..,. I think I've heard it and sounds fine for Ybw rather than Hume's, just quite a dull bird. 4 Chiffchaff and a   "tristis" Chiffchaff too

 The location is here: https://maps.app.goo.gl/epUosbkncWa2N6jm6

(Dan Watson)

Corse - footnote

An excellent morning.

After I'd left Caroline and Amy in the hide and was trudging back towards Starman's Hall, I had this encounter with a chough pair, possibly Bob and Annie's birds from yesterday? I'm guessing male on the left?

Castlemartin Corse

Amy joined me when I went to Castlemartin Corse today. Lovely to see Richard for a while. The Corse felt quiet today.

The Barn Owl had left a very large pellet on the post and Amy decided to dissect it, along with a few other smaller pellets! She came up with 7 skulls. We think they were 3 shrew and 4 vole skulls. On the shelf today, there were some freshly stripped bones and the remaining feather attached looked to be from a snipe!

The Marsh Harriers were flying for short periods and then landing again, either in the reeds or in the many bushes on the Corse. At present think we observed 3 separate individuals, however I have not reviewed my images yet! One landed on the bank opposite the open water which was special.

One of todays Marsh Harriers

A sparrowhawk bombed though just before we left.

Poor quality image of the Sparrowhawk

Two very distant Buzzards and a Red Kite rounds off the observed raptors.

The whooper swan is still there with the two Mute Swans.

Whooper Swan

Part way through the morning a scaup flew in. It remained at distence for the time we were there. Small number of ducks otherwise, just a handful of mallards and a small flock of teal!

Distant image of the Scaup

LLawhaden Rosy Starling re-appearance

Pleasantly surprised to see the juv Rosy Starling again this morning in a large ash tree with about 50 Common Starlings. After a few minutes it flew off East but probably still in the area.

Marsh Harrier Observation

After processing a few more of my pictures from Marloes Mere on Monday 02 December I noticed that the markings on the bird were familiar!

I have been reviewing my images carefully from my visits at Castlemartin Corse over the past month or so, trying to work out how many individual birds I have observed (5 in November). 

I know this observation was observed in late 2020 / early 2021 when we had the wing tagged bird that was regularly seen between the two locations. It is just nice to show this behaviour is still happening between the two sites for the Marsh Harriers.

Marloes Mere 02 December 2024

Castlemartin Corse 25 November 2024

A warm, sunny Gupton/Castlemartin Corse this morning

It had been many months since we had been over to Gupton/Castlemartin Corse. Today’s spring-like, warm sunshine and a chance of finding some choughs feeding in the valley proved an irresistible temptation.  We had a brief chat with Richard Crossen, who was just leaving the area and probably saw some of the same birds he had seen earlier. It was fairly quiet bird-wise when we were there, but it was nice to see a female merlin, which some panicking jackdaws put us on to, a female-type kestrel and a female-type marsh harrier which was never very close.

  

The harrier was always distant when we were there; on this occasion perched on one of the dunes

Waterfowl included the 2 mute swans and an immature whooper swan, 20+ mallards, 30+ teal, a couple of wigeon, at least one shoveler, half a dozen little grebes and a female tufted duck. A small flock of about 15 snipe was flying around occasionally and a couple of herons were feeding in the shallows. We saw no lapwings or golden plovers. A lack of their presence was also commented on by another observer in the hide who had seen two marsh harriers before we arrived. Several water rails were calling occasionally but, overall, the number of waterfowl seemed lower than expected; perhaps some were hiding among the flooded rushes and reeds.

A barn owl had obviously been present in the hide judging by the presence of some reasonably fresh-looking pellets and the presence of a weasel corpse which had been deposited on the shelf.

As expected, a pair of choughs was feeding in one of the damp fields. They were in quite a deep hollow which they might have excavated, or perhaps a badger was responsible. Whatever, it seemed to be providing a good quantity of soil invertebrate food.  

The choughs were almost out of sight when they were feeding in the excavated hollow

Female on the left; male (slightly longer bill and a larger bird) on the right

As well as a few stonechats, meadow pipits and reed buntings in the valley, other passerines included perhaps a dozen or so redwings, several song thrushes and a flock of 6 mistle thrushes. A flock of 10 stock doves was feeding near the cattle higher up the slope amongst the corvids and starlings. The weather was even warm enough for butterflies – a painted lady being seen between Starman’s Hall and the hide.

Diver Milford Haven

From Dave Butler: A Gt Northern diver just off the harbour entrance at Milford Haven late afternoon. 

Carew-Cresswell Rivers

Lots on the mudflats, no chance of a count at low tide. I did pick out 2 grey plover, and a/the great white egret flew over (distant record shot). Great-crested grebe on the water.

Purple Sandpipers - Broad Haven

 At least five Purple Sandpipers on Emmett Rock at Broad Haven beach this morning. Two Chough were on the cliffs nearby. 

At Goultrop Roads, there was a small group of four Common Scoter, but I didn't spot any Divers from either location.

Llys-y-fran

Last hour of daylight at a blustery Llys-y-fran. A big roost stretching the length of the reservoir already set on my arrival. As is typical in a N/NW all were packed tight in the lee of the western bank. 6-7 Yellow-legged gulls (4-5 adult, a 3cy and a 1cy) the pick from what I could see, no time to walk around the first arm so many of the distant gulls were obscured in the choppy conditions. 150 Canada geese and a single Greylag. 

Marloes Mere

The usual suspects of Canada geese, Coot, Moorhen, Snipe, Shoveller, Teal, Mallard, Little Grebe and Wigeon were present today. Was nice to see 6 Tufted duck and 4 Pintail amongst the other duck species.

Tufted Duck

Pintail

The Male Hen Harrier Brian reported on 26^th November was still present and bombed through a few times. Interestingly one of my images looks to show it is ringed! He spent most of the time on north side of the mere hunting along the track. Though I have seen a few ringtails, it is only the third time I have seen a male. Always special to see this majestic bird.

Male Hen Harrier

Large crop on image, looks like the bird is ringed!

A Marsh Harrier intermittently came up from the undergrowth and was on prey at one point. The Canada Geese did not look impressed and watched it carefully for a while! Sadly it was always facing towards the opposite side of the mere when hunting (due to the wind direction), so no decent images to help age the bird.

Marsh Harrier

Three Chough were on the field to the west of the mere. Chaffinch were in the willows next to the hide and a few Reed Bunting were seen in another bush further along. 

A large flock of Golden Plover were seen over Trehill fields on the horizon with a lesser number of Lapwing.