Regular readers of the BLOG may
recall that someone (I've no idea who) found a dead ringed merlin and hung it
in a bag at the Bosherston car park back in April (10th). Having examined and
identified the emaciated corpse, I forwarded the ring details etc to the
BTO. It has taken a while to come through, but I can now report that the merlin
had been ringed by the Northumbria Ringing Group as a nestling (a male) on
30th June 2013 up in Durham.
If the
original finder of this bird could get in touch it would be great to have the
proper finders name and actual finding location for the record.
This week,
Annie and I have been enjoying the fresh burst of summer as many others have. Up at St David's Head on Wedns., we noted quite a few terns (mixed
"commics" and sandwich) passing through. Probably in excess of 100
during a few hours whilst we were there. It was otherwise fairly quiet for
seabirds, other than a small flock of common scoter heading south and
usual gannets etc feeding close offshore near up to 8 porpoises - always a delight to
see here.
Later in the
day we checked for possible chough roost locations in the general St David's
Head area with Jane Hodges who, the night before, had recorded c. 35 going to
roost in the Strumble Head area. Numbers found near St David's were much lower
but at least 6 roosted at Trwyn Dduallt and c.10 headed from coastal fields at
dusk towards a nearby quarry. Last night I checked out Giltar Point to determine
where the Tenby golf-course choughs are roosting. A small flock (9 birds) moved
across to roost on St Margaret's Island - I hadn't been aware of this
roost-site being used previously.
The
golf-course and coastal grassland in general was heaving with flying ants -
attracting many aerial feeding gulls and corvids. Swallows too were clearly
enjoying the feast - with hundreds feeding over the greens and rough areas. There
was a similar spectacle along the coast at St David's Head the night before. Last night Tenby beach, popular as ever with dog-walkers etc, had at
least 23 ringed plovers along with several sanderlings and dunlin feeding at
low tide below Giltar Point.