Out and about

3-4 Tree pipit and a spotted flycatcher in the misty clearing at Minwear on an early visit Saturday morning. A hobby flashed through along the Western Cleddau whilst enjoying a cuppa at Vincent Davies at midday. A couple of hours around the mere tonight. A female Marsh harrier had a good look around, made a couple of drops but couldn't see if it managed to grab anything. It brought a response from the male lapwing which almost ended in catastrophe when the harrier briefly turned the tables. A mother mallard with 8-9 well grown youngsters were the only ones seen. 5 coot still on nests, usually chicks by now. Dunlin, ringed plover and whimbrel flushed as the harrier hunted around. 2 red-veined darters and a clouded yellow were first for the year.

Ty Rhyg / Glynaeron

 Three Nightjars were churring at Ty Rhyg just before 10 pm yesterday evening. A Tawny Owl could be heard hooting and a Cuckoo was calling from the top of the hill. 

About a week ago, on an early morning visit to Ty Rhyg, a Willow Tit was calling, I could hear three (possibly four) Redstarts singing and a Cuckoo was again calling near the top of the hill. Other birds included a Spotted Flycatcher and a Garden Warbler.

Yesterday morning at Glynaeron Wood, there were plenty of birds around, including another Cuckoo, two Redpoll and a lot of Siskin. 

Early Seal Pup

A very early seal pup was in one of the coves at the Deer Park today along with two adults.

A couple of Puffins were close in near Wooltack Point and numerous Razorbills and Guillemots were off Albion Bay. A flock of about 16 Chough was roaming near Rainy Rock.

A single Lapwing was still hanging around Marloes Mere just in front of the hide, but was clearly not defending any chicks. In fact there was no sign of any ducklings or young coots on the water of the mere. That may have been in in part due to a dog fox which was patrolling the fields just to the west.

On a more positive note, a pair of Dartford Warblers were clearly taking food, mostly caterpillars, to a nest at a non-traditional location on the west coast. The female was still enough for a picture, but it was impressive how quickly they can get into the nest.

                            

Hen Harrier

From Chris and Karen Hatch:  Ringtail Hen Harrier at Marloes Mere today.

Marloes Peninsula

Mere was a bit quiet when I passed other than the Sand Martins feeding over the water. A flock of ~50 Canada Geese were in Trehill fields. Four Shelduck around the mere being the highlight of the waders. Reed Bunting seen carrying food. 

Some fledged Stonechat and young fledged Ravens seen along the headland today.  

Reed Bunting with beak full of caterpillars

Sand Martin over mere 

Young Ravens 

Young Stonechat (one of four) 

Osprey

From Chris and Karen Hatch: Osprey at Gann estuary at 5.30pm today. 

Skokholm

Also a Woodchat today.

Skokholm

No further sign of yesterday's Taiga Merlin; further study has confirmed that it is of this (sub)species (see the Skokholm blog). A Nightjar today along with a small fall of Spotted Flycatchers. 

Skrinkle Haven seawatching

Just a quick update on some enjoyable seawatching shifts at Skrinkle Haven over the last few days. 

A quick look on Monday (18th) morning as the rough weather was picking up produced: 1 Storm Petrel, 2 Puffin and 1 Commic Tern flew west. 

Monday evening: 2 Storm Petrel, 1 Arctic Skua (dark phase adult), 1 Whimbrel and a stunning adult Long-tailed Skua.

Tuesday morning: 1 Storm Petrel, 2 Arctic skua (dark phase adults), 8 Great Northern Divers, 2 Red-throated Divers, 2 Puffin, 29 Dunlin, 13 Sanderling and 2 Ringed Plover.

Wednesday morning: 6 Storm Petrel, 1 Arctic Skua (pale phase adult), 5 Puffin, 9 Sandwich Tern and a Great Northern Diver. There was also a notable flurry of Swallows (38) and House Martins (21) arriving off the sea. 

Skokholm

A probable Taiga Merlin today, a potential second for Britain. 

From the National Trust

I just wanted to get in touch to let you know about a project that National Trust in west Wales are running this year.

Our Dilyn y 'Deryn gyda Branwen | Birding with Branwen events span across 2026. We have one event a month. It's a light touch series of events which we hope will appeal to all comers, especially young and budding birders. 

Branwen (@branwenbirding @branwen.online on Instagram) is a wonderful bird enthusiast living near Llandysul, in her day job she's an amazing sound engineer and DJ, but she has an absolute passion for birding in her free time. We're so excited to be working with her.

The idea is to engage people in west Wales with birding as a way to spend time in nature, promote well being and learn about the natural world on the doorstep. Branwen is hosting a space on her website where birds spotted in west Wales can be logged - it's not supposed to be super scientific, mostly just for fun - a way for people to keep in touch with the project over the year.

We have a free event this Saturday in Pembrokeshire at Ynys Dinas - poster attached - everyone is welcome.

Here is the link to the website and calendar: Birding with Branwen

 

 

Winter Gull Survey (WinGS) Report just published

The BTO has recently published a Report on the Winter Gull survey that many of us took part in during winters 2023/24 and 2024/25. See link to the full report here.

It is quite a technical report, and we have not had much time to read through the details, but a few things stand out:  

·     A good proportion of sites were covered in Pembrokeshire  (reflected in the overall Welsh total). 

There have been substantial declines at the UK scale for four of the five main wintering species (Black-headed Gull, Common Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull and Great Black-backed Gull), with Herring Gull being the exception. These declines are broadly consistent with declines reported in winter by the Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS) and during the breeding season by both the Seabird Monitoring Programme and the most recent national survey (2015-22)  “Seabirds Count”. 

·    WinGS data for Mediterranean Gull indicated a population increase at the UK level, although numbers are relatively small compared with other species. 

Regarding Pembrokeshire:

The total number of Mediterranean Gulls recorded in the Cleddau Estuary, although small (59 in 2023/24) was the highest at a Welsh WinGS site. Their total in the Cleddau exceeded the current nationally important (GB) threshold.

The total number of Lesser Black-backed Gulls at Llys-y-frân Reservoir, met (and data from other sources, e.g. WeBS, shows that it regularly exceeds) the International threshold. However, this site is not designated as a Special Protection Area (SPA) for this species! At least 4,900 (in winter 2023/24) was the highest at any of the listed UK sites in the WinGS  Report.

The significance in Wales of Caldey Island for Herring Gulls is highlighted in the Report, with at least 7,600 there in 2023/24 and 6,600 in 2024/25. Caldey is just outside the Bae Caerfyrddin / Carmarthen Bay SPA. 

Once again, a big thanks to everyone who contributed to the WinGS in Pembs.

Great Skua - St Ann's Head

From the sea, 1 Great Skua and 3 Storm Petrels passing St Ann's Head. A Puffin further up the Haven. (Dale S C)

May 18th Strumble Head'

11.00-13.00 SW 3/4 but surprisingly sunny as all the way from Mathry to the Ocean Lab in Goodwick and then from O lab to within half a mile of Strumble we had steady drizzle. I joined Fran and Lucy for the Monday Sea Trust Porpoise Photo ID survey this morning. As we arrived at 11am a vertual swarm of around 100 House Martins flew past the lookout, heading west. Presumably migrants brought down by the nearby rain? Others passed in dribs and drabs with a few swallows throughout the watch. five or six swifts also passed by in the same direction and then a few more swallows that flew straight out northwards. From the start we had 60+ common Dolphins with a similar number of attendent feeding Gannets which eventually moved off to the west with the tide. Interestingly, given the massive loss of Gannets on Grassholm i looked for subadults, but could ony find three second summer birds. As we made our way back up to the car park at the end of the watch at least eight Chough were feeding in the field behind the car park, some of which had yellow bills, marking them as Juveniles. I did not see the bill colour of all of them, perhaps some crecheing going on?

Carew Mill Monday morning

From Alan Collens: Lesser Whitethroat male , active around the north car park today. Also seen; Kingfisher, Peregrine and one Mute Swan cygnet with its parents upstream of the road bridge.