Snow Bunting ..& ...nr. Porthgain

Who says Atlas work is boring !!
Went to SM 73W this afternoon - it's on Annie & Bob's list of Tetrads with no records and must have just about the smallest land mass of any Tetrad in Pembs.
(it's the very western end of the headland that is immediately to the north of Traeth Llyfn, Yns Barry nr. Porthgain)

It produced :- 1 smart male Snow Bunting, a very confiding female Black Redstart plus a pair of Chough with a supporting cast of 2 Rock Pipits, 32 Wigeon on the sea, a male Goldeneye plus the usual chorus of gulls, Auks and Cormorant sp. a total of 14 species for about a 1/4 acre of dry land!
Then on the way back to the car at Abereiddy - a juvenile Merlin on a fence-post 30 metres away !

Terry Allen

Tresinwen (31 Dec 10)

The Turtle Dove stayed around the garden all day and from what I can tell went to roost in the garden. Between its arrival at 1030 and 1330 it did nothing but sleep, preen, move branch, sleep, preen....... Looks like it had just arrived from where? Started feeding late afternoon.

Penberry reservoir

Nice variety of waterfowl on Penberry res this morning 250 wigion (400+ on boxing day) 6 Tufted, 2 drake Pochard, 1 drake Goldeneye with a few Mallard, Teal and Shoveler.

Broad & Little Havens

The Slavonian Grebe at the south end of Broad Haven around midday, quite close to shore but after initial sighting I couldn't refind it. Two Black-throated Divers - 1 at the N end of Broad Haven (from coast path), the other from Little Haven point. 2 Great Northerns & at least 8 Red-throats in the general area (the latter quite mobile), a single Velvet Scoter amongst a total of 65 Common Scoter in small, scattered flocks. An adult Mediterranean Gull on the sea just offshore (they really are scarce at the moment), and a flock of 6 small, nondescript waders flying N of Broad Haven, viewed from a distance at Little Haven point, could only have been Purple Sandpipers - they seemed to land somewhere around Black Point but they were specks by then! Anyone hoping to get their 2011 year list off to a good start could start off in worse places than the southern half of St. Bride's Bay tomorrow. Also a Red Kite drifting N at Broadway on my way to Broad Haven.

(ps forgot to add yesterday, a visit to Monk Haven produced only one Chiffchaff at the sewage beds (a nominate collybita) - perhaps the big freeze has had an impact. On the beach a dead seal pup (quite a large one), along with a Redshank & a Kingfisher).

Bosherston

Goosanders have returned to Bosherston in good numbers with the disappearance of the ice - 33 there today. Also 8 Goldeneye. I didn't go down to the reed bed to count the wildfowl there but clearly plenty of Wigeon and Coot and a few Tufted Duck.

Divers & Grebes

Broad Haven - Slavonian Grebe, Black Throated & Great Northern Divers.

Fishguard, middle breakwater - Red Throated diver and Black Necked Grebe.

Tresinwen (31 Dec 10)

A Turtle Dove has just come down to drink from my pond and is now roosting in the bushes behind the pond - currently fast asleep! Where did he/she come from??? (Hope it stays for tomorrow!).

Red Kite

1, Above the fields between Sandyhaven chapel & St Ishmaels junction, around 1:15pm today.

More about swans

At Kete late afternoon 4 (adult) Whooper Swans and 2 Bewick's - an adult & a 1st winter bird. The report of a young Whooper at this site earlier in the week is most likely to have been the Bewick's. Quite amazing that before Christmas the same field held 5 Whoopers & 1 Bewick's, so quite by chance a Whooper departs and a young Bewick's arrives! Pic of the young Bewick's.

Marloes Mere pretty empty of duck: 5 Pochard (4 drakes), 3 Tufted (1 drake), 2 Gadwall (1 drake), and I only could see around 20 Teal, 5 Shoveler, 2 Mallard & 5 Wigeon. No doubt more were hidden away, but it seems the numbers prior to the cold snap have yet to return. In a seedy field 2 Reed Buntings, 5 Skylark & around 30 Chaffinch. 35 Lapwing in the field bordering the eastern end of the mere.

At the Gann 3 Great-crested Grebe, 10 Little Grebe, 10 Goldeneye, 8 Bar-tailed Godwit, 6 Grey Plover - no Brent Geese at all (interesting to note just the one dark-bellied bird at Angle today - have they moved on since the 25 at the Gann on Christmas Day?). Yet again a very poor showing in the gull roost - around 70 birds in total.

Jays at Strumble Head

Yes to Richard Stonier's question, Jays have turned up at Strumble periodically in the autumn, usually in years when the local acorn crop failed. A more widespread crop failure in 1983 triggered a large scale passage across southern Britain in October and November which included 127 flying West past the Lookout on the 19th of October.

A couple of other points arising lately: in response to Richard Dobbins posting of 27 December, there is a previous record of a Little Egret at Llys y fran reservoir on the 2nd of January 1997. On the other hand have found no Black Guillemot records for the Gann Dave A, though there is an interesting record of one way up the Cleddau Estuary at Hook Quay on the 31st January 1971.

Newport & Common

10.00; Carningli Common (north) - birdless.
But the adjoining hedge/tree line was more productive - Woodcock, m Kestrel, 6 Siskins and 2 Redpolls, and ten minutes of watching a male Merlin hunting.

15.00; Newport - 1 Knot, 20 Dunlin, 10 Redshank, 1 Greenshank, 2 f Goldeneye, 5 Bar Tailed Godwits and a Kingfisher.

Martin's Haven area: Swans, finches, Snipe & Woodcock

A lovely calm day with a great range of birds in the valley and on the Trehill Farm fields. With most of the fields near Martin's Haven being stubble, and with light grazing by sheep, there are good-sized flocks of Skylarks (100+, mixed in with similar numbers of Starlings) and finches (mainly Chaffinches, well over 100, but also smaller numbers of Linnets and the odd Goldfinch). Half a dozen Reed Buntings by the car park and a Lapland Bunting over. 40+ Lapwings scattered across all the fields, and a solitary Golden Plover. A real surprise was a group of a dozen Teal flushed from a damp corner of one of the fields, a long way from Marloes Mere, where I would have expected to see them.
The main field to the South of the NT car park had large numbers of snipe: I flushed a dozen walking across a small corner of it. Late in the afternoon, 3 Woodcock in the valley by the Deer Park gate.
A single long distance auk off Wooltack at high tide, but 4 Whooper Swans flew across St Bride's Bay and seemed to land on Skomer. They appeared to be immature birds, with fairly coloured plumage and very dark bills.
Only a single pair of Chough seen on the Deer Park, and a female Kestrel.

Red-throated Diver at The Flagpoles, Fishguard

Presumably the returning bird by it's behaviour?
(photo Tommy Evans)

Strumble (30 Dec 10)

4 Teal (1M, 3F) in the field behind the house this afternoon and only a few Snipe left. Earlier I had a Jay fly over the road at Pontiago. Rather rare up here. Graham any other records from Strumble???

Black-necked Grebe

I saw it quite close to the Stena side of the inner breakwater in Fishguard Harbour around 12:00.

Newport Thurs am

Back to normal
Highlights were 3 Rh Goosanders upstream, a Knot, 2 Barwits (no rings, 1 with an injured leg) & a Kingfisher.

Angle Area

At Angle Harbour late morning a good selection of birds as the tide rose - Bar Tailed Godwit 46, Knot 40+, Redshank 5, Greenshank (pictured) 2, Curlew 12, Dunlin 100+, Shoveller 8, Gadwall 6, Wigeon 100+, Brent Goose (Dark Bellied) 1. Little Egret 1. A Peregrine also flew over.
At Kilpaison soon after midday 3 Pale Bellied Brents, Dunlin c.130, Ringed Plover 50+. Little Egret 1. As I drove back up to the main road a female Merlin was perched on a post then flew off to attack a flock of Starlings.
I drove onto Freshwater West and as I went over the bridge just before the car park, wandering whether the Bittern reported a few days ago was still about, one flew over the road over towards the beach! I followed it in the car as it flew over the sea just out from the shore, over the oblivious surfers, past Little and Great Furzenip before it flew out of sight into Frainslake Sands.
Another Merlin seen over Castlemartin Corse.

Black-necked Grebe

Nice to find a Black-necked Grebe in Fishguard harbour this morning. It was feeding close in to the inner breakwater on the Stenna side.
Also 10 Red-throated Divers from the fort.

Gann - Black Guillemot & Slavonian Grebe

Although it doesn't look much like one in Derek's photograph, there really was a Black Guillemot at the Gann late afternoon (the first record there?). John & Janet, along with Derek, had it in the 'scope when I arrived and asked me to identify it - I was not expecting to see that, least of all with a Slavonian Grebe in the background, which there was! The Black Guillemot was on the sea but not very far from shore. It was actively swimming about, although I never saw it dive.

The Gann was a completely different vista to the frozen waste on Christmas Day, and consequently a lot less wildfowl - only around 7 Teal, 70 Wigeon (& no Gadwall, Shoveler or Tufted Duck). Still a good selection of waders, including a Greenshank, 2 Knot, 4 Barwits, 8 Grey Plover, 2 Ringed Plover, 10 Redshank & 20 Dunlin (but no Lapwing). The Goldeneye (11) and Little Grebe (10) had found their way back on to the ice free lagoon.

Trefin & Castlemartin

E mail Info:-

From Terry Allen - Whooper Swans - Trefin - 12.10 hours - 4 Adults heading East over the village at abt. 100ft altitude. Teal - 11.45h -20 (3 female) on the sea at Pwll Olfa (N. of Trefin). Also 2 Peregrines in vicinity.

From Dave Levell - 1530. Good view of Bittern, Castlemartin Course. Flew from reeds upstream of FWW road bridge, languid flight up the Course into reeds opposite Starman's Hall.

Black Guillimot at the Gann

Found by John Pierce & Janet Pritchard,not the best of pics, if you squint & use some imagination, it might work!

Waxwings - Spittal

Hi guys, no rarities, but a new garden (fly over) record for here.
3 birds calling flew low over the house 10:50 today.

Seasons felicitations to all,
Trevor

Whoopers & Harrier

2 Whoopers at Kete this morning - in the same field, interestingly, one was an adult, the other was an immature.

1 Ringtail at Marloes mere.

Pembroke Millponds

main pond still has 50% ice cover but reducing. all the birds are up at the eastern end.
Tufted duck increased to 95, Pochard up to 16, Little Greb 29, Coot 60, Gadwall 7.

Upper pond
black-tailed Godwits 27, Teal 45, Little Egret 1, snipe 7.

Barnacle Geese on the Teifi

A look from Cemaes (Pembs) towards Cardigan Island / coastal fields late this afternoon, found the Barnacle Geese flock loosely associating with Canada Geese.
Nothing unusual in that, and the Cardigan Island post breeding flock numbered 46/47 birds late summer.
This scan across the river though did produce a surprise, not a decrease in number, (birds may have moved to Marloes Mere?)..........but an increase!!
A drive around the estuary and what a sight -- several attempts to count but ....105 Barnacle Geese.

Origins ?
Barnacle Geese have been seen moving down the Ceredigion coast since the cold spell started, and none left on the Dyfi?
The latest sighting 58 on the sea off Llanrhystud yesterday, and last Tuesday, flocks of 87 & 47 south past Newquay (per John Davis)

Llys-y-fran.....who can do tomorrow?

Following yesterday's nice counts !! some even more impressive figures today;-

Pochard -71
Tufted Duck -95
Coot - 90
Wigeon -c100, but only flew onto the water once, then off.
Goosander, 3m, 1 rh. c20 birds gone from resr. since last night.
Goldeneye, 2m 4 f, a different sex ratio from last night.
c15 Great Ctd Grebe, c15 Cormorant,

Also 1 Black-necked Grebe, & 1 Little Egret (new for site?)
2 Grey Herons, & c4 Little Grebes.

Newport; 14.00.

Iron Bridge - c400/500 Wigeon, 1 m Shoveler, 1 m Gadwall, 1 Barnacle Goose, 1 Coot,
6 Dabchicks.

Tennis Courts - 2 m Goldeneye, 1 Black Tailed Godwit, 4 Bar Tailed Godwits, 8 Redshank,
1 Greenshank, 2 Ringed Plover, 20 Dunlin, 10 Redwing.

(Janet & Karen)

Teifi Ducks

Whilst birding from my bedroom window (between the 2 bridges in Cardigan):

7 Goosander, 6 Tufted Duck, 1 Pochard, 1 Little Grebe, 2 Coot, Red Kite

Here and There

A round up of sightings received by e mail -

From Barry Potter:- Pembroke River - Just a quick hour this morning (26 December)before I resume family duties, lots of wildfowl on the top of the tide, including wigeon, mallard, teal, 3 tufties, 1 gadwall, a few mute swan, 6 great crested grebe and suprisingly 17 coot on jacobs pill below pennar. Plenty of thrushes mainly song with the occasional redwing but no fieldfare. Waders included dunlin , oystercatcher, redshank, curlew, lapwing, and a single greenshank. seasons greetings to all

From Hugh Wood:- 24th Dec. - 100+ Snipe on cliff top between Stackpole Quay and Stackpole Head and 7 Woodcock (4 on cliff top, 3 in nearby woods). Bosherston Lilyponds: about equal (big) numbers of Blackbird, Song Thrush and Redwing.

26th Dec. Black Redstart at 16.00 in middle of estate at Gwilliam Court, Monkton, near Pembroke.

From John McIntyre:- Plenty of Dunlin feeding in the harbour this morning (c120) with Oystercatcher, Redshank and Shelduck on the Spit, and a Snipe on the track by the wooden bench. This Curlew pictured seemed oblivious to anything that was going on - over indulgence Christmas Day maybe!!

Llys-y-fran Resr... & tomorrow ??

An almost passing, brief visit under the darkening sky -16:15-16:45 this afternoon,
(after a stunning visit to Cheddar Resr!!)

Llys-y-fran Resr;-
23 Goosander (6m), 7 Goldeneye (4m), c50 Tufted Duck, 2 Pochard, 2 Shoveler, c300 Wigeon, 4 Mallard, 1 Grey Heron, 1 GBB Gull amongst c1500 Gulls mainly Black-headed standing on the ice. There seemed plenty of Great Ctd Grebes to count tomorrow too!!

Considering the light, I think a careful look tomorrow could pick up something different??
Surprisingly ice only in the western arm and for c100m in front of the dam (the deepest water!)

Tresinwen & Strumble (26 Dec 10)

Another Woodcock flushed from the garden today. Also several Snipe around the garden. 2 Lapwings on the front and back lawn are extremely approachable which is not a good sign. The field behind the house is full of Snipe - possibly in excess of 30 birds. A Red Kite was hanging around the house for a couple of hours this morning and there was another Woodcock half way down Porthsychan valley.

Wigeon at Newport

Follow on to Lyndon's post - this morning I counted 425 on the estuary, of which the flock in his foto was > 300.

Gulls and stuff

On Christmas Day a huge concentration of feeding gulls in Broad Sound. Visible from West Dale and in a line from south of Skokholm to near Skomer Head with the majority of birds in the middle of Broad Sound there was a feeding frenzy involving many thousands of birds. Impossible to tell what species but many BHG's on Marloes Beach too - one of the largest concentrations of gulls I have ever seen.

Today around the Gann probably c.500 LBB's with other large gulls but rather few BHG's. In the river lots of ducks - mainly Wigeon and Teal but also a few Mallard and Shoveler. Six Little grebe in the lower reaches of the Gann (where fourteen a few days ago) and a number of Redshank and a few Curlew and six Grey Plover.

Altogether a nice concentration of birds but perhaps not as many as you might expect given the cold weather. Pickleridge Pools had half de-frosted by lunchtime.

Newport Iron Bridge

At the iron Bridge early afternoon lots of wildfowl and waders including loads of Snipe and Wigeon also Mallard, teal, gadwall, 1xm Goldeneye and 1xm Pochard. The Wigeon were not happy when a Red Kite passed by but 'everybody else'ignored it - it is difficult to say how many Wigeon are present but certainly many hundred.

Pembs Bird group

The Pembrokeshire Bird Group Indoor meetings are normally on the first Monday of the month during winter months. Just to avoid any confusion the next meeting which would have been the 3rd of January 2011 has not been scheduled into the programme as it is a Bank Holiday. e.g. There is no meeting that night Confirmation of future meetings will be posted on both the Pembrokeshire Birds Sightings Blog and the Pembrokeshire Bird Group Blog site as normal.

Lyndon

Newport

Parrog 08.45 - 1m Goldeneye, 3 pairs Gadwall, 25 Dunlin, 1 Little Egret, 1 Coot.

Tetrad-bashing in Herbranston - Hasguard Cross area

As usual in recent winters, Annie and I spent Christmas Day recording tetrads that have few records. We visited several areas between Herbranston, Hasguard Cross and an area to the east and north of Walwyn's Castle (mostly in SM81 and SM80).

Throughout the day snipe and lapwing were pretty well everywhere we walked, feeding in fields and on grassy verges/under hedgerows. Until today, there had been no records yet of woodcock in SM81 10 km square. Numbers of snipe and woodcock were truly impressive across several tetrads we walked through. Jack Snipe were also flushed in a couple of locations.

It was nice to see two red kites (no tags) perched on a fence along side a merlin near the frozen pool south of Hasguard Cross. Small numbers of teal were found feeding in ice-free streams sheltered by overhanging vegetation. A moorhen up a tree may have been taking avoiding action as a sparrowhawk passed through. A single kestrel also put in appearance late in the afternoon. In a stubble field north of Hasguard Cross there was a nice flock of skylarks (about 280 estimated). Thrushes (notably song thrush) were fairly numerous but finches were rather thin on the ground. A single yellowhammer was found near Hasguard Hall.

Overall SM81 now has exactly 100 species recorded in it. However we may not yet be up to the 90% plus of the total number of species recorded in the first winter Atlas. Species still not recorded for example, include grey plover, ringed plover, any owl species, brambling and dipper! Where are dippers likely to be seen in this 10 km square - near Broadhaven? If you see any of the missing species in SM81 then please add them to the Atlas.

Merry Christmas

Bittern, Woodcock and Snipe everywhere! (Merry Christmas)

Visited Bosherston today and found 3 Bitterns in the main reedbed (just noticed that someone reported one yesterday). There were at least 3 birds (seen at the same time) and they were reasonably active on the front edge of the reeds. Pics of 2 of the birds.

Also at Bosherston a Woodcock flew over me, as did a female Goosander - although there was no open water. There were Snipe everywhere from the car park to the beach.

On the way home I had two Woodcock fly parallel with the car along the A40 just before the Spittal turn off.

Back on the Strumble peninsula I had a Woodcock fly over the car just by the Jam Factory.

Back at Tresinwen I had over 20 Snipe and a Curlew in the field behind the house and on the back lawn 2 Lapwing and yes you've guessed it........another Woodcock! See pic below.

A present from America

For the second time in 19 years, I managed to find a vagrant American duck in Pembs - this time a fine drake Green-winged Teal on the Gann Estuary at low tide (4pm). The bird was with Eurasian Teal, feeding in the shallow flowing water of the River Gann across the 'beach', viewable from Pickleridge. Across the bay at low tide more wildfowl than I have ever seen at the Gann (not accurate counts): Teal 300, Wigeon 150, Gadwall 20, Shoveler 20, Mallard 10, Tufted Duck 3 (on sea), Brent Goose 25 (1 dark bellied), 6 Goldeneye, 6 Little Grebe. Also nice to see 4 Little Egrets still surviving, and 2 Grey Heron.

Earlier a lovely Christmas walk from Blackpool Mill towards Slebech, woods very quiet but a Kingfisher & a Little Grebe on the river - which was largely frozen, creating a scene that I have not witnessed in my 22 years in Pembrokeshire.

more whoopers

Yesterday between Slebech and Picton Point, 5 adult whoopers sounding their trumpets as they flew in from over Picton Castle direction at sunset and settled on the estuary - winter at its best.

Christmas dinner - see below

Seasons Greetings

Happy Christmas to all Bloggers and Viewers of Pembrokeshire Birds. Enjoy the festivities and good birding in 2011!

Richard Crossen & Richard Dobbins

(Picture of a Lapwing at the Nevern by Peter Seaton)

Marsh Tit

Frequent visitor to our feeder this afternoon

St. Bride's Bay

Newgale: nothing on the sea but at least 8 Teal & 5 Mallard on the river (no doubt more hidden). Two groups of Lapwing (8 & 5) came in off the sea.
Nolton Haven: 2 Wigeon on the sea, 4 Red-throated Diver, 12 Common Scoter & the biggest icicles I've ever seen on the north facing cliffs!
Druidston: 6 Pochard on the sea (5 drakes), c.95 Wigeon roosting on the beach (!) in two groups - never seen that before. A total of 45 Common Scoter offshore (33 distant and flying about, heading north towards Nolton), & a group of 9 Red-throated Diver also lifted off & flew north.
Broad Haven: 2 Velvet Scoter flying about eventually settled to the south, and another 16 Common Scoter brought the total in St. Bride's Bay to 73 (assuming no double counting).

The Gann / Kete

The tide was out a long way, so far in fact, the blue & white bouy was high & dry, so everything was spread out. What I did pick out were - 17 Brent, 3 Little Egret, 1 Heron, c150 Wigeon (from the low water mark to Mullock bridge) Teal in good numbers too. 1 Tufted Duck, 2 Gadwall &13 Little Grebes, 7 Shoveler & about 10 Goldeneye. I`m still obsessed with Whoopers at the moment, trying to track 10 of them down, but after a fruitlless search, I went up to Kete to satisfy the yearning, yes, 5 Whoopers & 1 Bewick, looking relaxed in the snow, complete with an escort of 17 Wigeon.

Newport Fri am

Absolutely magical.
Sunny, still, not too cold, floating ice, more birds, numbers & diversity, that I've ever seen there.
And large flocks on the S facing fields.

Snipes Hayscastle 24th Dec.

Took my trusty camera to work in the hope of getting a few pics of the Woodcocks that had been so obliging the day before , they didn't show but numerous Common Snipe & 2 Jack Snipe ( one of each pictured ) made up for it.

Marloes

An early walk around the tundra like area, produced very little - much the same as previuos posts, however my spirit was lifted by 2 Chough on the cliffs. Also 25 Fieldfare over our house looked nice in the sunshine.

Newport (Early am)

1 m Shoveler, 1 m Goldeneye, pair Gadwall, Curlew roost c200, 1 Barnacle Goose.

News.......

Bittern on Eastern arm of Bosherston Lily ponds yesterday
(Pembs wildlife)

Jack Snipe, Adrian's latest work tick this morning -- nr. Hayscastle.

Goosander, 2 pair on the river(yesterday) nr. Morrisons Haverfordwest,--- for those out shopping !!
(Paul M)

A day on the snow-covered Range

Jon Hudson and I (doing some CCW business) had the privilege of being allowed to visit parts of Castlemartin Range West today. Numbers of waders/waterfowl were generally unremarkable, apart from the tiny Frainslake millpond, surprisingly ice-free, with about 26 wigeon, a few tufted ducks and not less than 22 little grebes on it. It was interesting to see small, scattered flocks of lapwings and curlew feeding (where they could) in softer parts of the Brownslade and Linney dunes (mainly on the south-facing slopes).

There must have been hundreds of snipe on the Range though, judging by the numbers we frequently saw feeding out in the open but mostly snow-covered grassland. Also (as yesterday at Stackpole) quite a few woodcock were pretty obvious, and in places feeding right along-side snipe.

Song Thrushes were also quite numerous along the fore-dunes at Frainslake. They were clearly finding plenty of snails, birds occasionally flying on to the beach where there were numerous large pebble anvils along the strand-line to help them extract the food.

Other species of note included brief sightings of a merlin panicking a flock of linnets (probably about 100 or so) in the dunes and a red kite hunting over the middle part of the Range (no wing tags).

After a couple of hours we eventually came across a single pair of chough feeding in the dunes, but a lot of the coastal turf was still pretty solid and generally unsuitable for them to probe into. Viewed from the Range, the south-facing Angle peninsula coastline seemed less snowy and cattle were grazing the coastal slope in one often quite good chough area. Hopefully that is where most of the chough are feeding/surviving. If not, then I wonder where they can be, as there have been few seen on the Castlemartin peninsula recently. (BH).

Newgale

At around 4pm today 8 Teal on the sea and the rather pathetic (and, for me, unprecedented) sight of a Lapwing sitting on the sea, having been harried by an adult Herring Gull. The marsh was totally frozen so I doubt that the Bittern Graham saw last week is still around, but you never know. On the way up to Roch at 4.15pm, a Woodcock flying along the roadside whilst it was still quite light.

Newport, 16.00

1 m Shoveler, 6 Herons, 15 Lapwing, 1 Greenshank, 2 Redshank, 4 Bar Tailed Godwits. Plus a lonesome Barnacle Goose grazing in the field behind the lime kiln.

Fishguard Fort and Flagpoles.

1 Red Throated Diver, 2 Ringed Plover, 1 Grey Plover, 1 Great Crested Grebe, 12 Dunlin, 3Redshank, 1 Curlew, 5 Turnstone, 2 Shag, 25 Cormorant.

Newport Thurs am

Very spectacular in the sun, with much of the upper river frozen.
An amazing 280 Wigeon (though most of these later departed).Still 5 Barwits, including the ringed one, the Greenshank, a pair of Gadwall &, rarest of all for here, a coot!.
57 Dunlin. Snipe (in the open) & Lapwings scattered around.
Oddly I've seen no Golden Plovers or Fieldfares & v few Redwings this winter.

Whoopers & Bewick

Still present at Kete this morning. Couldn`t locate the other 10 I saw last night - they must be somewhere I suppose.

Another Bittern

A message via Ian Bullock that a friend of his saw a Bittern between StDavids and Fishguard at about 2pm on Monday 20th by the roadside at the 'Sloop Junction' No doubt another sighting and in that location due to current weather conditions.

Winter is beginning to take its toll - how are the relatively recent colonists faring?

The very cold weather continues and it is nice to see large concentrations of winter thrushes, waterfowl etc. Today at Bosherston Lakes for example, c.95% frozen with just two open water patches remaining where there were 100+ wigeon, 29 tufted ducks, 41 gadwall, 17 pochard (incredibly this is the highest number for more than a decade), c.150 coot (divided into two flocks upper eastern and upper western arms), 3 woodcock (all feeding in an adjacent field at lunch time on the fringe of a badger sett where the ground was softer in the sun). There were at least 2 firecrests and a few goldcrests also trying to feed on small insects amongst areas of fairly sheltered but sun-drenched ivy. Possibly because they were anxious to search for food while the good conditions prevailed, they seemed to ignore passers-by.

However, it is not all good news! Later in the day whilst doing a timed-tetrad count near Goldborough Pill, Pembroke River, I came across no less than three dead little egrets (the third to fifth dead ones I have personally seen in the last 2-3 weeks). One accessible enough for me to examine was along a small stream, tucked under some tree roots (probably where it had been trying to seek shelter overnight or perhaps feed in adjacent shallow but still running fresh water). Needless to say it was thin and had starved. The mud and saltmarsh along the nearby upper shore of Pembroke River being completely frozen up.

So what, I wonder, will be the the fate of other little egrets and other relatively recent colonists such as dartford warblers, if the very cold weather continues? It will also be interesting to see next summer, just how many choughs we will have breeding in the County. Numbers were already reduced this year, following last January's cold snap, and an overall poor breeding season, especially in the south of the County. (BH).

Those Whoopers

The Whoopers also seen landing on fields above Mullock Farm somewhere around 1400hrs.

On the Deer Park around 0800 about 70 Chaffinches heading for Skomer but nothing else around except a hopeful Buzzard.

On a field between Mullock Farm and Mabsgate (on the corner at the top of the hill) there are very large numbers (1,000 plus) of finches, mainly Linnets, and probably in excess of 100 Skylarks plus loads of thrushes and Wood Pigeons. It a field left with the remains of a crop and clearly there are lots of seed available.

St Brides Bay etc

A few sites visited by Paul G. and Kevin S. today -
Druidston - a male Hen Harrier quartering the stubble fields.
Newgale - 7 Red-throated divers flying south and another on the sea. Only 3 Common Scoter between Broadhaven and Newgale.
Dowrog - juv Hen Harrier, Merlin and a Little Egret.
Porthclais - 3 Woodcock.
Also some Woodcock at Penycwm and Newgale.

Whoopers at the Gann

10, flew in just as I was about to drive off around 4:10 pm. I managed a quick snap on max zoom. They landed on the sea close to the river mouth - looked like 7 adults & 3 young birds. As I was walking the dog, I didn`t have my scope. Hopefully they`ll still be there tomorrow.
Also other birds - 1 Greenshank, 8 Shoveler, c100 Teal, Wigeon, a few Dunlin, 1 Redhead Merganser on the sea, c35 Fieldfare over and a similar amount of Lapwing on the low water line. A male Peregrine made a distant kill - as it flew back overhead towards the coast I could see it was a "blackbird" I was hoping it was a Starling (one less to dominate my feeders) rather than a Blackbird.

Camrose area, Wednesday 22nd December

Walked the Western Cleddau below St Catherines Bridge. A single female shoveller just below the bridge, 20 teal, dozens of snipe, mallard and moorhen and a kingfisher. River edges frozen, very little soft ground. I saw snipe probing under water. Also found the carcass of what appeared to be a goshawk.

Later in the bird crop fields there were high hundreds or more? of linnet, chaffinch and reed bunting with numerous brambling a few green finch and the single snow bunting still present. A flock of at least 30 stock dove was a treat. In the adjacent pasture 4 lapwing scratching for food.

Request for dead fulmars

Please note the following request from the BTO, and if you do find dead birds to send in, please do follow their packaging instructions!

As part of a European wide project documenting the issue of marine plastics pollution, we would like to ask observers to keep an eye out for dead Fulmars over the festive period and next year.

Any dead birds found in reasonable condition (as it is the stomachs that need to be analysed) should be collected and kept safe from scavengers until they can be sent on to the BTO in the New Year - in these freezing conditions there shouldn’t be any problem with storage! If you find a large number of birds, please contact Bob or Annie as BTO reps.

As long as they are in good condition, dead birds should be sent FIRST class to:
Lee Barber
Fulmar Study
BTO,
The Nunnery,
Thetford,
Norfolk IP24 2PU.

They must be sent frozen, triple-bagged and with the notification ‘Biological Specimen’ clearly written on the package.

More information on the project can be found online

Thanks for your help with this important project

Scoter at Landshipping, and other records

Unusual sight at Landshipping Quay this morning - two common scoter diving as they floated downstream on the ebbing tide. Also a merganser further upstream on the Eastern Cleddau.

Yesterday there were fifty or so black-tailed godwit on Cosheston Pill, the second successive winter for good numbers of this species at this site.

Great northern diver still on Carew River - has been there for about a month.

At least 200 redwings on field between Saundersfoot and Kilgetty, many blackbirds coming into hedgerows and gardens.

Freezing feathered friends

To follow on from the previous post, I found this on the BTO ringing blog:

As the cold weather continues we are finding that birds are still having a tough time trying to cope with the temperature. We are currently on day 6 for England and Wales of cold weather and Scotland has a statutory suspension of wildfowling. The current cold weather situation can be found at our new website.

As we reported previously, birds of prey, especially Barn Owls are being found in poor condition or dead due to the lack of food. Last week we had 39 reports of dead Barn Owls, 3 Buzzard (one of which was 24 years old) and Kestrel, ET51185 which is in care at the moment due to "snow and ice" and is 12 years old. With many water bodies now frozen, wildfowl are finding it particularly difficult and recoveries included 4 Mute Swans and a Grey Heron.

We haven't seen a big increase in reports of small passerines yet, but this could be because their bodies are covered in snow. The reporting rate might increase when things defrost but we'll see. Next summers Breeding Bird Survey and CES will be interesting to analyse for sure.

Note that these are reports and cold weather might not be the exact cause of death.

Cruel cold.

Sightings of note today were of Raptors .
Two Red Kites on the way home from Haverfordwest around lunchtime. One wheeling over fields adjacent to the A40 near the Sealyham turnoff, another ten minutes later, over fields opposite the junction of the A4219 and the A 487 St Davids Road, between Panteg and Manorowen.
On the way up our hill a smallish looking (probably juvenile) male Sparrowhawk struggled to fly with a dead male black bird it had evidently killed. I had to keep stopping for it to catch its breath before it found a gap in the hedge and escaped with its much needed prize.
I love the song of the blackbird but its a natural prey item of the sproghawk . I fear this cold spell will claim many more victims both songbirds and raptors before we hear blackbirds singing again.
PS. water for birds is as important as food especially if they are feeding on seeds etc. Strangely, hot water freezes quicker than cold...

Gann

Scrape lakes totally frozen. It was comical watching a flock of Widgeon trying to land on the ice, even if ironic. In the reeds nearest the car park a Bittern emerged for a few seconds before skating back in.

Newport Tues am

No sign of the Bittern. Spectacular numbers of Teal (80) & Wigeon (185 - 1/2 at bridge & rest at the Parrog)
5 Bar T Godwits (including the ringed one which was ringed in Holland on Sept 13 2010 & not reported again till it reached Newport) & 1 Black T.10 Snipe on the mud.
Yesterdays Bittern was a mythical bird which Newport watchers have been expecting for several years since Adrian & my friend Jen seperately glimpsed a large bird flying low over the reeds - too glimpsy to identify. So thank you Paula & Cliff (& messenger Richard) - a lifer for me.

Milford - Black Redstart

From Peter Seaton - A female Black Redstart seen very fleetingly across from Angler's Corner, Milford Haven.

New arrivals?

There were 20 light-breasted Brent Geese at the Gann this afternoon. A quick look back over the blog suggests these may be new but perhaps someone knows differently.

Swans still at Kete,

Orielton Woods

A few snipe in the woods this morning, and this one that was on the lawn. Also, a Brambling on the bird feeders here. Not a good time to be a bird I fear....

Heathfield GP

Good numbers of duck today: c140 Wigeon, 33 Tufted Ducks, 3 Pochard, 4 Gadwall, c30 Teal, 3 Shoveler and a Goosander. Also c30 Mallard including a black individual.

Bitter- n nothing!

I was having a nice time watching dabchicks, snipe and a ringed plover with Sam and Paula Lewis when Paula said whats that? I binned it and was extremely pleased to see a bittern stood in the open on a sand bank just on the curve of the river above the Iron Bridge. Interestingly, along with a grey heron and a little egret , it made up a trio of herons within a few yards of each other.
As we watched it, it slowly wandered over to the reed fringed riverbank which is where it was when we left, (2.30ish) just after a female merlin overflew us carrying prey! I must have been there hundreds of times and seen nothing much, but occasionally this lovely little estuary delivers the goods!

Bittern -- Newport

1 showing well just above the iron bridge,
(news from Cliff B)

Brambling at Summerhill Amroth

Nice to see Brambling in the garden this morning

St Florence

With a fair amount of snow here in the south this morning local birding seemed sensible. In the garden male and female Brambling, the regular Great Spotted Woodpecker and a Snipe and a Black Tailed Godwit flew over.
Along the Ritec in the village the Green Sandpiper still present together with 15 or more Snipe and a Water Rail and Grey Wagtail. Plenty of Song Thrushes about but no Redwings or Fieldfares.

Narberth

When my car refused to start this morning I decided to have a good look around locally, and I don't think I've ever seen such a variety of species in this area (48 seen within a mile of Narberth). Like elsewhere, snipe were obvious, and a party of seven were seen to drop into a town centre garden. So did a buzzard and it flew out with a blackbird and an entourage of agitated jackdaws and magpies. A little egret was at the sewage works, but it looked like it was on it's last legs, just sat there hunched up and doing nothing. The sprinklers were covered in starlngs (and a few snipe), but there were no chiffchaffs or small passerines there apart from a wren. A dozen or so woodcock were flushed mainly from boggy woodland, but two were out on a sunny hedge bank. A steady trickle of lapwings flew west and a few were sat in fields but they weren't feeding. Compared to the earlier freeze, there were considerably more redwings (40+seen today) but only one fieldfare. Other species flying west were common gull, skylark, stock dove and woodpigeon.

Bosherston

Nice photo of a Jay at Bosherston sent in by Elwyn Davies 

WEB's St Davs

Whilst doing the Webs count today I was struck by the number of Snipe and Song Thrushes by the roadside and in the roadside ditches. Many were huddled in pathetic postures clearly struggling to combat the cold as were many Golden Plover and Lapwing in the short grass fields. A good count of wildfowl including Teal, Mallard, Wigeon, Gadwall, Pochard, Tufted Duck, Shoveler. Also I can’t remember seeing so many day time flying Woodcock and Snipe as in the last few days (without a dog that is)
Luckily we are without snow so far.

Plumstone Mountain

A male and ringtail Hen Harrier roosted. Also a Red Kite, Kestrel and an impressive Starling roost.
Later, a Barn Owl on Thomas Parry Way, Haverfordwest.
(Paul G)

Black-n Grebe ......& ...WeBS in the North

Before our "super Strumble" (see below), the WeBS tour;-
Llys-y-fran Resr;-
1 Black-necked Grebe, 6 Great Ctd Grebe, 1 Little Grebe, 10 Tufted Duck, 7 Pochard, 9 Wigeon, 40 Canadas the highlights
Rosebush Resr:-
6 Goldeneye, 6 Tufted Duck, 5 Little Grebe, 10 Mallard, 10 Coot, 1 Water Rail.
Fishguard Outer Breakwater;-
2 Purple Sandpipers, 1 sp Guillemot the only WeBS birds of note, But unusual for the o/bw, 1 Skylark, 7 Song Thrushes, 1 Blackbird, 2 Dunnocks, 1 Chough.

Lower Town;-
The now resident winter Red-breasted Merganser (rh) & male Gadwall.
The Flagpoles;-
In addition to Ray's Wigeon, we saw 9 fly in earlier, 1 Teal, 5 Great Ctd Grebe, 1 Little Grebe.
Gulls, c60 Common Gulls, & c6-700 Black-headed Gulls were good counts.

Near both resrs & along the roads several groups of C. Snipe flying along, a couple of groups of 10 seen. Also 1 Woodcock nr. Llys-y-fran.
The G G Shrike was looked for at Ty-rhyg & Pantmaenog yesterday with no luck.
(Fishguard BG)

Hook, Monk Haven & Dale area

My WeBS at Hook/Sprinkle was also eventful, with a total of 1,981 waterbirds recorded. 3 drake Pochard on the river were unusual, plus good counts of Canada Goose (683), Dunlin (531), & Teal (425). A quick look at the 2 ponds at Bicton produced 7 Gadwall & 2 Mute Swans, both ponds being largely frozen. At Monk Haven, the probable Siberian Chiffchaff still on the sewage beds with 5 Chiffchaffs (2 collybita, 3 abietinus types) and another Chiffchaff by the pond, where 3 Woodcock were flushed. The Bewick's & 5 Whoopers still at Kete, St. Ann's Head (on right c.200m beyond entrance to Brunt Farm), one of the pics showing the difference in size between the two. A male Hen Harrier flew NW towards the airfield. A look at Dale Airfield revealed 75+ Skylark in the first field on the right beyond the parking area (Woodlarks in Wales today so worth checking any fields with larks in carefully), also a few Lapwing & a single Golden Plover. Finally at the Gann gull numbers well down on yetserday (e.g. c.75 LBBG), but 2 pb Brents, 2 Great-crested Grebe, 10 Goldeneye and a Little Grebe all on the sea, and 62 Wigeon on the unfrozen part of the lagoon (80% ice today, much more than yesterday).

Fishguard Harbour

There were c50 Wigeon in the harbour this afternoon and, a little earlier, a Red Kite circling Haverfordwest Aerodrome.

Newport Sun am

An excellent Webs day. At the bridge 52 Teal & 2 Shovelers. Scattered along the estuary 64 Mallard & 158 Wigeon (a record?).
The long stayers - M Gadwall & Goldeneye, 4 Bar T Godwits, including the ringed bird, & the Greenshank & Sanderling.
45 Dunlin but only 11 Ringed Plovers & only 1 Snipe.28 Lapwings.
In the bay 3 Gt Crested Grebes & 3 RT Divers. A small flock of Skylarks on the mud near the boat club.
Gull, Oystercatcher & Redshank numbers down, But earlier Karen had 160 Curlews, 4 Golden Plovers & a Kingfisher.

Snipes , Song Thrushes & a Little Auk !

After braving Llys Y Fran , Rosebush & the Breakwater doing the Webs ( more later ) , a round the lanes drive to Strumble had Snipe feeding in fields with Lapwings & Song Thrushes everywhere. The short watch at Strumble produced a Black Throated Diver & a Little Auk , good numbers of Razorbills & Gillies going through with a large number of Gulls ( mostly Black Headed ).

Castlemartin Corse

I did the Webs count at Castlemartin Corse this morning with Morris North. Things got off to an exciting start when a Buzzard took a Jackdaw off the road edge right in front of the car as we drove down to Castlemartin Church. It flew off into the trees with it's kill to much attendant commotion from the local Crows and Magpies.
Very cold down on the Corse and with the ground frozen we were quite surprised to see 500+ Lapwings. Otherwise there were 30+ Curlew, 50+ Snipe (no doubt many more hidden in the ditches), 1 Little Egret, 4 Moorhen and 1 Teal seen. As there is no ice free water the lack of wildfowl was to be expected. 2 Buzzards but no sign of the long staying Marsh Harrier.
Up on the top road to the south of the Corse halfway between Castlemartin and Freshwater West there was a good sized flock of Chaffinches, Skylarks and Reed Buntings in some long vegetation by the new footpath. 1 male Brambling seen but likely there are a few more there.

Strumble (19 Dec 10)

Lapwings and Golden Plover present as yesterday. Between Tresinwen and Porthsychan this morning - 2 Woodcock, 1 Water Rail, 25 Snipe and 2 Chough on the beach probing the only area of frost free ground - where the stream outflows onto the beach. Back at the house a Red Kite circling low over the garden at lunch time - eyeing up the bird feeders???

Dolphin update..

Full details of the fate of the Gann Dolphin on the Whales in Wales blog at  http://whaleswales.blogspot.com/
Thanks to Peter Horton and everyone else who rang in to tell us of this incident.
Ps. cracking shot of the polecat, The only ones I have seen in daylight have been dead.Well done Derek!

Strumble (18 Dec 10)

Lapwing scattered around the fields towards the head today - probably about 100-150. Also a flock of 42 Golden Plover in the last field before the lighthouse this afternoon.

Jackdaw (Nordic), Dale & Newgale

Newgale: 10 Common Scoter close in on the sea (9 males, 1 female), a pair of Shoveler on the fairly quiet marsh (c. 30 Wigeon seen earlier, flew onto sea), just a handful of Teal & Mallard visible (the Shoveler pic hopefully shows what can be achieved with a handheld £100 camera and a decent 'scope!).

Dale: at least 30 Redwings scattered around the fields in and around the village, also a number of Blackbirds & Song Thrush too. In the bay, good numbers of LBB Gulls as yesterday, plus more smaller gulls with at least 4 adult Med Gulls.

In my garden this morning 2 visits from the apparent Nordic race Jackdaw.

Newport, Parrog. 16:00

20 Curlew, 4 Ringed Plover, 42 Dunlin, 85 Wigeon, c5,000 Starlings over.

Siskins

Numbers building in the garden. 30 yesterday

Polecat/ Dolphin

Had a look for the Swans this morning - to no avail, but I did see a Polecat hunting along the hedgerow at Kete, a quick snap was all I was able to get.
I went down to the Gann, much the same as Dave`s post yesterday but + 2 adult Meds. there was a visiting couple from Exmouth who pointed out the sad Dolphin corpse on the high tide mark. Just as we were leaving someone pulled up from the Marine agency strandings to remove it.

Sandy Haven area

Near the top of Sandy Haven where the turkey sheds are a smart Red Kite this morning along with half a dozen Buzzards and quite a few Ravens. I guess the discards from the farm are attracting birds in this cold weather. I recall very large flocks of Ravens a couple of years ago.

On many fields in this area groups of Lapwing altho' largest flock only around 300. The garden area at Mullock Bridge is very quiet.

Dale update

I too saw the Bewick's & 5 Whoopers late afternoon in the same spot (4 of the Whoopers in one pic, poor effort of the Bewick's in the other - they were distant and it was windy!). At the Gann the Common Dolphin was a sorry sight, a rescuer walked it out into the bay (as far as he could) but it just swam straight back to the shore. It was clearly emaciated. When I left to check the gull roost, it was still alive and in the shallows with it's would-be rescuer, with the RSPCA on the way, most likely to put the poor thing out of its misery. More news later at Pembrokeshire Wildlife. At Dale an unsually high number of Lesser Black-backed Gulls, perhaps 2,000, nearly all adults. Also a handful of Herring Gulls, a lovely 1stW Yellow-legged Gull (on the rocks opposite Black Rock) and 100 or so Black-headed Gulls. Highlights at the Gann included 2 Barwits, 7+ Grey Plover, 60 Wigeon, 18 Little Grebe, 5 Goldeneye, several Ringed Plover, c.20 Dunlin, & 2 Greenshank.

Newport

Parrog 09:00;-
3 Redshank, 3 Ringed Plover.

Bewick's Swan and dolphin

The Bewick's Swan and five Whooper Swans were along the St. Annes Head Road again today. Visible from the second gateway on the right after the Brunt Farm entrance (not including the gateway directly opposite the entrance, where incidentally there were a number of Snipe feeding right out in the open in the recently muckspread field).
Back a the Gann spent about 1/2 hour wading in trying to refloat a 1.5m long stranded dolphin, but it kept swimming about 100 yards or so along the bay before coming back ashore, eventually ending up right at the left hand end of the bay. Passed it on to Cliff Benson at the Sea Life Trust, who was arranging to send someone out to help it.
After that my legs were too benumbed to walk along the Gann, so no information on the birds there unfortunately.

Bosherston

Between the Eight-arch Bridge and Grassy Bridge this morning - 16 Goosanders, 1 Wigeon and 1 Woodcock, with a male Scaup amongst the Goldeneyes and Tufted Ducks near the Grassy Bridge.

Also, the pale Common Buzzard (with a predominantly white rump) in the pic above has been around the Castlemartin Corse area over the past few weeks.

Origin of Barnacle Geese

Further to Dave's interesting speculations, happenings at the Dyfi may well be implicated. Davis & Roderick 2010 is worth consulting and maybe a little cross border consultation would be worthwhile in this context.

Those Barnacles

Interested in Wendy's post about the feral Cardigan Island Barnacle Goose population. I wonder if any of the Teifi watchers can provide further background on the history of the population, specifically what have they been recorded doing in the past during the winter? How far have they been proven or suspected of wandering? It really would be good to establish if the 17 at Marloes are definitely, probably, possibly, or not the Cardigan birds! If the Cardigan population is 40, and only 11 there currently, and assuming the Marloes birds are from Cardigan, where are the other 12? Has the flock ever split into 3 before? Questions, questions!

Looking back to the Birds of Pembs (Rees & Donovan, records up to 1993), Birding in Pembs (Green & Roberts, which covered records from 1994-2003) and the Bird Reports for 2004-2009, it seems that the Teifi 'population' built up pretty quickly from 4 in 2003 to 40 in 2009. The largest flock recorded away from the Teifi, since the Skomer/Marloes wintering population of 1981-1989 (which peaked at 130 birds), appears to be 8 on the W Cleddau in December 2004 - so the 17 at Marloes currently is the highest count away from the Teifi in the county in 21 years, and either represents an important wild flock or a significant movement of feral birds (from the Teifi or who knows where!). I would be very interested in any further thoughts or information that others can contribute.

Narberth

Male Brambling on garden feeder this morning

7 months later!

Over breakfast we were listening to a dawn chorus recording I made in May on Frenni Fach and my wife said "that's a gropper"! I admit to not even hearing it through the headphones, but there we are, a bird record some considerable time later!
Lesson learnt; if you want to know what is really about record it, or take your wife with you!

St Anne`s Head

Male black redstart by old lighthouse this afternoon

Tufted Ducks........& news

09.45 Llys y Fran – 7 Great Crested Grebes, 3 Goldeneye, 12 Tufted Duck.
13.15 St. Ann's Head – 5 Whooper’s, 1 Bewick.
13.30 The Gann – 2 Great Crested Grebes, 1 F Red Breasted Merganser, 1 Little Egret, 20 Oystercatchers.
14.00 Marloes Mere – F Hen Harrier.
(Karen)

Heathfield GP;-
5 Tufted Duck, & 1 Mute Swan.
Llangloffan Fen,:-
(yesterday)1 Barn Owl
(Adrian)

Teifi

4 drake Goosander at Cilgerran
(Steve B)
Downstream, the number of diving ducks had decreased since the peak at the weekend. There was just 1 Goldeneye and 2 Tufted ducks. 5 Goosander (2 drakes) from the river viewpoint.
The Teifi Barnacle flock seem to be missing a large number - only 11 were counted today on Cardigan Island - usually there are around 40 that stick together.

Swans

11.40 a.m. - 5 Whooper & 1 Bewick's at Hayguard Hay Farm, Dale. Two fields south of the farmhouse.
17 Barnacle Geese still at Trehill Farm; visible from the Marloes Mere car park.

BTO website

The BTO website is having problems at present - not the BTO's fault and nothing to do with the switch to the new revamped with the new logo. It is the server at UEA that isn't working properly.

Please don't give up on getting your data into the atlas, or birdtrack, or garden birdwatch etc. Just check the website once or twice a day and sooner or later it will be back running again.

Brief encounters on Sunday 12th and Monday 13 Dec

During timed-tetrad visits to the southern fringes of the Preselis on Sunday, chaffinches were fairly numerous but winter thrushes (redwings and fieldfares) relatively scarce. Small flocks of lapwing were obvious in several fields feeding with starlings and thrushes. The highlight of the morning being small flocks of crossbill (including at least 4 territorial singing males) on the edge of Glynaeron forest.

On Monday, during an early morning drive over the Preselis, on route to Rhos Lawr Cwrt, Ceredigion, with CCW colleagues Phil Newman, Mark Burton and Stewart Ryan, we were fortunate to see (all too briefly) a handsome adult male hen harrier just ahead of our car, flying low across the road in an easterly direction at Bwlch-gwynt. If we had been just a few seconds earlier or later, we would have missed it.

A bit earlier (0800 hrs) near Haverfordwest a few thousand starlings were much more obvious - they seemed to be coming away from the Dudwell roost area.

Newport am later than Karen

All the recent longish stayers. From the bridge down - F Goosander, 4 Bar T Godwits (1 of which had a complex of colour rings which hopefully I will be able to report back on), 1 ea Sanderling, Greenshank, M Goldeneye & M Gadwall (this latter with the Wigeon).

Swans

My friend will be pleased that the swans at Brunt Farm, St. Ann's Head, are still around and have been enjoyed by others, even better that one is a Bewick's (my personal favourite), a far more unpredictable species than Whooper in our county.

Swans, ducks, divers and more

A few sites visited around the south of the county today -
Llanstadwell - 1 Great Northern Diver, 16 Black-tailed Godwit, 1 Greenshank and 50 Dunlin.
The Gann - 12 Grey Plover, 2 Bar-tailed Godwit, 12 Goldeneye, 2 Greenshank, 30 Dunlin and 12 Ringed Plover.
Next on to St Ann's Head to see if we could check out the Swans seen last week that had been reported to Dave. A group of swans was soon found in a field adjacent to Brunt farm entrance. Immediately it was noticeable that one was smaller and was a Bewick's with 5 adult Whoopers.
At Marloes Mere a male Hen Harrier was scattering finches.
St Brides bay was very quiet with only about 40 Common Scoter. A Red-throated diver and a Great Northern diver were off Newgale.
(Paul G and Wendy J)

Bewick's Swan, ..& .....Bruant Farm

The adult Bewick's with the 5 adult Whooper Swans had moved from Bruant Farm, by 15:45 the flock was grazing 4 fields further towards St. Ann's Head, on the opposite side of the road.
(news of the swan id earlier from Wendy J.)

The Barnacle Geese were grazing in Trehilll Farm fields just beyond Marloes Mere.

Trichomonosis

This Greenfinch on our feeder today shows clear signs of having the Trichomonosis disease, there are also two Chaffinches showing the same symptoms. They are all fluffed up and lethargic and seem to be having problems with swallowing, and as the photo shows usually with seed husks round the bill. I am in somewhat of a dilemma about what is the best way to deal with the problem, we can carry on feeding and risk making the situation even worse by encouraging birds to feed from the same seed tray and becoming infected, or stop feeding all together in the hope that the disease will in time burn itself out. The only problem with latter solution is that in hard weather such as we are experiencing at present, many birds have come to rely on garden feeders to see them through the Winter.

In some ways I feel it's a bit of a catch 22 situation.

More Waxwings -- Cardigan

3 Waxwings in Napier St. near the Job Centre at 12:45.
(Dyfed J)

Must be some trilling away in Pembs somewhere???

Waxwing -- Cardigan

1, This morning, (Howard & Siwan, 08:30) between New Mill Road & Tescos, the same area as yesterday. See Cerebirds for details.

Newport

Parrog;-
09:30, 1 Gadwall, 1 Greenshank, 2 Redshank, 1 Kingfisher, c40 wigeon, 1 Little Egret.
(Karen)

Marloes (12 Dec 10)

Late news from yesterday - Female Hen Harrier showing very well all morning and on at least 3 occasions was seriously harassed by the local Peregrine. Also 17 Barnacles in fields at Trehill Farm.

Waxwings -- Cardigan

Murco Garage Penparc, same (or more), 6 on roadside hedge near Tescos.
(Wendy)

Firecrest and Marsh tit

A lovely view of a firecrest just a few feet away from me at Brandy brook today, along with a marsh tit.

Fishguard Harbour Breakwater

There was a Kingfisher making its way out along the breakwater this afternoon in front of a couple of dog walkers. Two very confiding Dunnock seemed to escape the notice of both people and dogs, and there were five Great Crested Grebe out from the Flagpoles. Earlier in the week I had what I thought were two rather strange birds for the breakwater: a Stonechat and a Song Thrush, both out near the end on a cold, late afternoon. Oh, and there are some advantages of having to walk slowly and look where I put my feet: I found 45 pence in loose change along the path!

Snow Bunting, Black Redstart -- Fishguard

1 Snow Bunting on the Outer Breakwater.
1 Black Redstart on the port buildings near the Lifeboat Station.

Fishguard Fort & Flagpoles;-
7 Great Crested Grebe, 5 Red Throated Diver, 1 Grey Plover, 5 Dunlin, the highlights.

Several observers -- with no one connecting with any of this morning's Waxwings.

Teifi ducks increasing

From the river viewpoint late this afternoon;-
13 Goosander, including 4 drake, 1 Goldeneye, & an exceptional count of 15 Tufted Duck, plus 1 female Scaup type -(difficult to get bill pattern at 16:50).
(Howard & Siwan T & Rich D)

Red Kite

1, quite low, circling above Sandyhaven Cottage at 13:30 today - it was still there when I passed by at 14:30.

Whooper Swans

A friend who is a vet visited Brunt Farm, St. Ann's Head on Friday, and saw 6 or 7 Whooper Swans (from the description I am confident they are Whoopers) - these had been present for "about a week" acccording to the landowner. Probably viewable from the St. Ann's road at the entrance to Brunt Farm, about 400m before Kete car park.

Black-necked Grebe, Yellow-legged Gulls

Newgale: a lot of activity on the nicely flooded marsh, with 2 Shoveler, 4 Gadwall, 20 Wigeon, c.200 Teal & c.60 Mallard. Plenty of snipe feeding in the open and generally flying about. A surprise on the sea was a group of 6 red-head Goosander - my first at this site if not the first? Also a Great Northern Diver and a distant group of around 6 Common Scoter.

Ty Rhyg: a Willow Tit called but no sign of GG Shrike or any Crossbills.

Coed Glynaeron: 2 Lesser Redpolls, again no Crossbills (but good cone crop).

Llys-y-fran Res: a Black-necked Grebe up near the hide (same bird as previous 3 winters?), 6+ Great-crested Grebes, 2 Goosander (red-head), 2 Grey Heron, 150 Canada Goose, 21 Coot, 10 Wigeon. Gull roost was slow to get going, but ended up with above average numbers of Black-headed Gulls (c.500), c.20 Common Gull, c.750 Herring Gull, but a poor showing of Lesser Black-backed (c.60 birds) and 1 Great Black-backed. 2 Yellow-legged Gulls (ad, 1stW) were picked out before the gloom descended before 4.30pm.

(Dave A & Paul G)

Newport Sun am

Gull, Oystercatcher, Curlew numbers down. But c 100 Wigeon, 20 Teal. Some longish stayers - the M Goldeneye, Greenshank, Sanderling, Little Egret, & 4, possibly 5 Bar T Godwits.Also 9 Redshanks, 12 Ringed Plovers, 5 Turnstones & 50 Dunlin.
A Kingfisher, 2 Snipe & 3 Herons upstream.

Finally reached Fishguard.

3 in the garden this morning.