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.
Saturday, 7 December 2024
Friday, 6 December 2024
Little Haven 6/12
From Dan Watson:
31 Common scoter
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!
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)
Wednesday, 4 December 2024
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
Two very
distant Buzzards and a Red Kite rounds off the observed raptors. Poor quality image of the Sparrowhawk
The whooper
swan is still there with the two Mute Swans.
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! Whooper Swan 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.
Castlemartin Corse 25 November 2024 |
Tuesday, 3 December 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 |
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.
Monday, 2 December 2024
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 |
Male Hen Harrier |
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.