Re Is Merlin a wonky wizard?

I response to the previous post: Merlin is undoubtedly a wonderful resource which has opened up a whole new world for many people, especially, but not only, for those who love birds/wildlife but who are not birders. I use it sometimes to test it and to see if it picks anything up that I can't hear (now that my hearing is not as sharp as it used to be!)

But I would say that it is not 100% reliable especially when it comes to very similar sounding calls/songs. I have been watching a Dunnock singing in the garden and Merlin proclaimed it as Stonechat, and it has misidentified a call of a Jackdaw as a Chough. Living in Llawhaden would have been nice to have those on the garden list! It can also have a problem with Spotted Flycatcher calls. It doesn't always get it wrong but the calls of young Dunnock and Robin can fool it sometimes! It also identified the subsong of Blackcap as Garden warbler on one occasion. 

On the whole it is amazing how much it can identify correctly and it is great to be able to see a sonogram in real time or as a recording. I think it just has to be used with caution particularly when it comes to scarce species unless they can also be confirmed visually.

An American Robin would be awesome but I suspect the settings may be need to be adjusted to amend the home location to Europe? Not sure what to make of the RL Partridge!

Some signs of spring and is Merlin a wonky wizard!

 On her morning dog walk around  Abermawr woods and beach, my partner Fran, has been hearing and seeing Chiff Chaffs for over a week now. As she is not too confident on birdsong, she uses the Merlin app on her phone. This morning it identified American Robin and Red Legged Partridge whilst having difficulty with singing Song Thrush.

American Robin would be something of a miracle, although Red Legged Partridge is unlikely but vaguely possible i suppose. It also recorded Black Cap unnoticed by Fran but with migrants or even overwintering Black Caps its not so unlikely. But heres the rub, can you depend on accuracy given the previous anomalies? 

Broad Haven 28 Feb

Nice to see 13 Purple Sandpipers roosting on Emmet rock at high tide yesterday afternoon at the north end of the beach. There were 4 Turnstones with them. Also a Great Northern Diver, and a male Common Scoter off shore, plus an an odd, large, sub-adult gull that flew north at dusk with other gulls that appeared to have a double-length bill! 

Unless it was carrying something, this is presumably some kind of aberrant growth?

Jonathan Bennett - a short tribute

Known to us all as a birder first and foremost, Jonathan was a keen and accomplished sportsman in his early years: opening bat for Llanrhian Cricket Club, county level badminton player, and single figure handicap golfer at St David's Golf Club.

Always keen on the outdoors, initially with gun and rod, as were most of his contemporaries in north Pembrokeshire.  He gradually became less and less keen on shooting game birds, abandoned his gun, and began to spend more time watching them.  He still enjoyed fishing for European (sea) Bass throughout his life.

At first Jonathan’s birding was confined to St David's and its immediate environs, of which he had a knowledge second to none.  A favourite tale from these early days was going with the late Sean White, of Thousand Islands Expeditions fame, to South Bishop in September 1992 for a “rare bird”.  See image below from the 1992 Pembrokeshire Bird Report for Jonathan’s account of this clearly exciting afternoon.

Gradually his interest spread to the rest of the county and by the time of his passing his county list had just reached the 300 mark, a number only a handful have ever reached.  By this time the (in)famous St David's Birders had formed: Jonathan, Byron Davies, Geoff Morris and Rod Hadfield, later joined by Lyndon Lomax and Owen Roberts, with Stuart Devonald in an honorary capacity as he lived far away from St David's: in distant Broad Haven no less!

Together they visited many of the UK hotspots including North Norfolk, the Cairngorms and south west England, before spreading their wings to visit most famously Israel, where they were guided by none other than Hadoram Shirihai, and Poland with Wildwings.  In later years Jonathan signed up for several trips overseas with Owen's St David's based R&R Travels visiting Finland, Estonia, Cyprus, various parts of Spain, eastern Turkey, Morocco, Hungary, Ecuador and, achieving a lifetime ambition, Galapagos.  Another much wanted trip to Point Pelee, in Canada, was arranged but Covid intervened.

Not too long after Covid his inherited arthritis began to become troublesome and he decided to retire from the building business he had taken over from his father.  Sadly his arthritis became worse and he was never able to take full advantage of his few leisure years.  His final new Pembrokeshire bird was last October's Brown Shrike, near his beloved Porth Clais which Owen and Glynis took him to see.  Quite poignant, as the first time they had met had been at another rare shrike, a Woodchat that Owen and Glynis (Dave: it was surely Glynis!) had found in the mid-1990s on St David's Head.

Always full of fun despite the poor health of his latter years he will be sorely missed by all who knew him.  A very proud Welshman, but most of all a man of Pembrokeshire, a county that other than for holidays, he never left from the day he was born to the day he died.  Our thoughts are with his wife Susan and his son Matthew at this difficult time.

(Owen Roberts & Dave Astins)

Jonathan in his Llanrhian Cricket Club days (courtesy of Llanrhian CC)

Jonathan & Owen in Porthclais, October 2025

An afternoon to remember, September 1992

Steve Sutcliffe's Memorial Party for friends

Steve Sutcliffe died on 13th November  2025. It has taken me a while to get organised but this month on the 21st March at 1300-1700 we are having a  get together for all who knew him and would like to come. There will be food, drinks, music and photos, and plenty of laughter seasoned with fond memories of Steve or Sooty as some knew him as.

The venue is at the TENBY GOLF CLUB 

There is plenty of parking but do register your car when you arrive, we will be waiting for you in the 19th Hole. 

If you would like to come and share the joy wear something brightly coloured and fun, as requested by Steve in his Will!

Stories and your memories that you shared with Steve should be around 8minutes long or less. if you have any photos or newspaper clips please also share these via this email address

REPLY TO THIS EMAIL ADDRESS PLEASE: 

  stevesmemorial@icloud.com

Bosherston and Pembroke Mill Pond

 A female Common Scoter was a bit of a suprise at the east arm of Bosherston lakes this morning initially by the 8 arch bridge I later saw it near the reedbed below Stackpole Court. Otherwise 6 Coot, a drake Goosander and 9 Cormorant the other notable waterbirds. Lots of redwings singing in the woodland.

A quick stop at Pembroke mill pond on my way home to check if the drake Red-breasted Merganser was still there. It was! 

Whitefronts and Egyptian geese, Sageston

From Ian Sefton. 25 Greylag, 4 White Fronted, 4 Egyptian & 2 Canada Geese on the flooded valley at Coal Lane between Sageston & The Ridgeway this afternoon 28/02/26

Sand Martins - Teifi Marshes

Three Sand Martins over the Teifi Marshes this morning, 8 feeding over the Teifi Marshes on the 26th February.

Jonathan Bennett

Dave passed on the very sad news that Jonathan has passed away. It always brightened your day when you saw Jonathan, he was always enquiring - what was around or how the fishing was going or where was the best place for Black darters. His mobility had suffered in recent years and those days were fewer but I was fortunate to bump into him 3 or 4 times over the autumn around his stomping ground of St Davids, the last time he was leaning against the boatyard gate at Porthclais and we managed to coax out a firecrest. Yet another we've lost.

Jonathan's family have asked if anyone knows who might have taken the original photo, in the hope they might get a better copy. Could it have been Graham Rees.

Jonathan and Byron Davies at the original Britton hide

Marloes Peninsula

Blew the cobwebs away on the Deer park for a short while this afternoon. Saw pair of Raven flying between the mainland and Middleholm. There were a few Gannets and Shag in Jack Sound. There were five Fulmar on the usual ledges and a couple on the wing. A number of Herring and Lesser Black back gulls flying along the cliff line. As I left two chough flew up the valley from Martins Haven.

Fulmar

Raven

I then went to the mere, along with the usual suspects, there were 6 Gadwall, 5 Pintail and 3 Tufted ducks. The unexpected highlight was case of spot the odd one out amongst the Black Headed gulls when one turned out to be a Mediterranean gull!

Spot the odd one out! 

Pwll Deri - Strumble, Sunday

From Matt Hunter. A walk from Pwll deri to Stumble today Dartford warbler on the coast path and c. 50 gannets off shore.

Llys-y-fran

A check on the gulls this evening. A modest roost as it can be this time of year mostly up around the hide and tight to the far bank, 900 LBB, 700 BH gulls, 60 Herring gull,  20 common gull, 5 Med and 2 GBB (a 2cy and the adult, who roughed up an adult LBB, ripping out a beakful of white feathers, looked like Jimmy Edwards - ask your grandparents!) and an adult Yellow-legged gull. Numbers did increase around 5:30pm but only a trickle. Otherwise 300 Canada geese just a single Greylag, 8 Goldeneye (3m). 7 GC grebe, 2 Little grebe and a curlew flying noisily around for 10 minutes.

Bicton WeBS & a small tour south of the river

Highlight of our Bicton Reservoirs WeBS (St Ishmaels) were 2 Jack Snipe and a Woodcock, both flushed from the margins of one of the irrigation reservoirs.  Once again no diving ducks of any description, no Little Grebe, and no Coot.

We decided to cross the Cleddau Bridge this afternoon and enjoyed great views of the drake Red-breasted Merganser on the castle pond in the company of the female Goosander.

On to Angle Bay and a fairly quick scan from Sawdern Point and a look at the eastern (Kilpaison) end. A single Red-throated and 2 Great Northern Divers at the entrance to the bay.  In the bay itself 22 Great-crested Grebes and 21 Brent Geese (distant, but appeared to be 15 pale-bellied and 6 dark-bellied) (Dave & Lisa)

Strange find at Marloes! 22/2/26 and Chiffchaffs.

A rare visit to Marloes Mere today and not long after i arrived, everything on the mere went into panic mode. Ducks, Lapwings, Gulls, almost every bird on the mere seemed to hit the air in terror! I was hoping for a Marsh or Hen Harrier but the reaction of all the birds on the Mere seemed a bit extreme even for a Harrier  . 

Scanning with my bin's, I could not make out a raptor of any kind that could be responsibkle for the mass mayhem, but then, there it was flying fast and low,  i saw it, a Bonxie! (Great Skua) probaly hoping to surprise a victim.  

A gang of gulls that had lifted off the mere was its next target. But numbers made them brave, they soon  had enough and began mobbing the strange interloper, driving it away to the south over the old Youth Hostel/Runwayskiln Cafe, I hung around for another hour, to see if it returned, and at one point a Buzzard flew over the mere with hardly any reaction at all! I preume it headed off back to sea but what was a Bonxie doing here anyhow?

Having just read Richard Ellis's post, my partner Fran walks our dog at Abermawr most mornings and has seen and heard Chiffchaffs singing since the 15th of Feb. The thing is, are they overwintering birds or migrants, given the strong SW/SE  winds we have had ?

Whooper Swans

 Still 11 birds at Sandy Haven, faithful  to the usual field for four months now. I wonder does this bode well for a return next winter.....

WeBS Dowrog

 Highlight was a Great White Egret (a first for me for this WeBS site although it has been recorded here before ) , also the first singing Cetti’s warbler of the year. 

3 Whooper swans in the field opposite where the Dowrog Road joins the A487, there’s a small depression in the field currently full of water, the Whoopers were with a flock of Wigeon. 

4 Russian white-fronted Geese still with the large flock of Canadas at Penberi , one was actually in the water so it was included in the WeBS count for this month. 

Golden plovers St Davids airfield

From Sandra Young. About 300 golden plover on St Davids airfield this afternoon with other smaller birds?...meadow pipits?