West Williamston

Brief visit to WW - softening it up in advance of the osprey season.....curlews and 8 whimbrel on the salt marsh, 4 little egrets roosting in tree on the far side.

The Gann

c13 Ringed Plover, 8 Dunlin.2 Common Sands, 7 Barwits, 1Wheatear, c20 BH Gulls. New arrivals on the lagoon - 1 Little Grebe, Kingfisher.
Yesterday at Blackbridge 20+ Redshank.

Lower Fishguard

Had this large dark mantled gull this afternoon. After posting this pic on gulls of the Western Palearctic Facebook site..the thought is it is Greater Black-Backed x Herring Gull hybrid. Which kinda of fits if you look at its size, structure and mantle colour. Aren't larid great!

Yellow-legged Gull - Newport

Highlight of a afternoon visit was a 3cy Yellow-legged Gull (flushed by two kayaks before i could get a photo), 2 Med Gulls, a Whimbrel and two Common Sandpipers.

Radford Pill to Carew Mill

A record 7 common sandpipers in Radford Pill, and masses of gulls (mostly herring). 9 shelduck round the corner on the Carew River.

The Gann

High tide this evening - 9 Ringed plover, 5 Whimbrel, 3 Sanderling, 3 Dunlin, 2 Bar-tailed godwit, a juv Wheatear and a Common gull among the 40 BH gulls.

Skokholm

Single Sooty and Balearic Shearwaters this afternoon.

Breeding Water Rail - Teifi Marshes

Water Rails are difficult to prove breeding due to their secretive behaviour and early post breeding movements. Surely this juvenile had not wandered too far from the actual nesting site...?

We caught this juvenile during our CES - (Constant Effort Scheme) ringing at our site in the Pembs part of the Reserve on 25th July. We did see an adult earlier in the week.
See Acros in the Autumn on the Teifi Ringing Group blog for summaries of recent activities.

Skokholm

Fully spooned Pomarine Skua west off Lighthouse 0740 this morning. 20 plus Common Dolphin and masses of Pembs breeding seabirds.

Lamphey

An unseasonal visitor to the feeders this tea-time, only usually see them in the winter time. (taken through the window)

Newport today

4 Whimbrels, 4 Common Sandpipers, a Green Sandpiper flew under the bridge, only 1 Curlew on the estuary but 43 on the roost. 2 well grown broods of 6 & 7 Shelducks. A 1st year Little Egret.
Just 1 juv Med gull, but also a 3cy Michahellis. 3 ringed gulls; Herring Gull Blue EUX has been a regular since 2011, GBB Red W:055 (from Skokholm) has been a regular since 2014, & BHG black 2BVJ, ringed as a pullus near Coventry on June 7, has been a regular since July 17.

North Pembs sightings

Saturday ;-
Black Guillemots - Fishguard Harbour,....Three breeding plumage  birds and maybe a fourth.
Sightings regularly now of birds near the ferry berth and near the Fort. Since 2007 when we suspected breeding and from 2008 when we proved breeding, we have started to wonder if we have another pair and even a second breeding site around Fishguard......
 Newport - 2 Med Gulls and 6 Common Sandpipers.
(Sightings Bernie Beck)

A Green Sandpiper was flying around the Teifi Marshes during the early morning yesterday, small numbers of Common Sandpipers are everywhere, including 2 calling from the cliffs beyond the Cliff Hotel last night. A juvenile Med Gull was opposite St. Dogmael's Quay yesterday and 2 Med Gulls at the Webley this morning. Nice to see 2 Stock Doves opposite St. Dogmael's yesterday too.
Dunlin numbers were down to 30 this morning with 96 Oystercatcher. Whimbrel are also moving daily, 3 this morning roosting on a boat at high tide.
(sev obs)

Blackbridge again

23(?) Redshanks roosting on the old slipway, just 2 Med Gulls.

Blackbridge Pill - Milford Haven

A total of  11 Med Gulls this morning relaxing at low tide, in various ages / states of moult.
A dozen or so BH Gulls & 5 Redshank.

Chough - Deer Park

From Mike Bates:  Friday morning I had the pleasure of watching a group of 22 Chough feeding near Wooltack Point on the Deer Park at Martins Haven.

A Coot for the Teifi

A Coot last night from Creek Hide was the first this year..
..and the Dunlin flock is up to 95 today

Skokholm

The first Green Sandpiper of the year today. Wader variety has been good over the last few days.

Med Gull - Lower Town, Fishguard

First s Med Gull this morning.

The indoor cuckoo

Cuckoos are on the move now, as shown by some recent postings, and one was recorded on a fence post on Stackpole Warren last week by Stewart Ryan of NRW.  A cuckoo indoors, though, is more likely to be a cuckoo clock!  

However, a couple of days ago Madeline Tasker in Llangwm heard a thud, and then found a juvenile cuckoo in her living room - it had probably hit the glass door with a glancing blow and was slightly concussed.

A few hours later it was showing no inclination to leave, and was making itself at home.

Madeline says - the Cuckoo.....paid no attention to water or garden worms (Madeline couldn't find any caterpillars in the garden) ...... hopped onto a chair and then vanished.......and then came back on the chair......and some time later heard some birds out side and flew  into the window from the inside.....but it must be pretty robust, it just sat on the windowsill, so we picked it up from behind and put it on top of a hedge and straightaway it flew off, a bit rocky at first, but soon in a high powerful sweeping curve.......

Water Rail and waders - the Teifi

We haven't seen or heard a Water Rail for a couple of months, so great to see an adult wander out from the reeds at Kingfisher Pond this evening.
Wader numbers and variety peaked around high tide with 60 Dunlin, 4 Sanderling, 4 Redshank amongst the roosting Oystercatchers and Curlews opposite St. Dogmael's Quay. 3 Greylag amongst the Canada Geese too.
(Wendy J and Rich D)

Newport

c20 mins by the gull gathering at the bridge this morning. The Czech 2cy med gull redZKU0 has now been around for c10 days, as have 2 Whimbrels. 6 Redshanks flew in "carrying" a Dunlin.
Lots of unringed Oystercatchers.
I haven't seen the Caspian Gull since the day of reporting; has anyone else?.

The Teifi

This evening the 1st large flock of returning Dunlin with 42 opposite St. Dogmael's Quay with a new Greenshank. 76 Oystercatchers and c50 Curlew too. Flocks of Oystercatchers were flying high sw down the coast today including a nice V flock of c35 birds. The only new birds on the marsh this evening was a flying flock of 5 juvenile Goosanders.

Skokholm

Another cracking day (feeling like autumn now). 185 Sand Martin east was a new July record and a nice variety of waders included a moulting male Ruff. No sign of the Cattle Egret.

Gann

c30 Dunlin this evening, 5 Redshank, 7 Barwits. Near Easterly gale.

Gann

At the Gann this morning, 7 Dunlin, 3 Summer plumage Blacktail Godwits. Last night 1 (juv?) Wheatear, no green ring.

Colour Ringed Waders - Gann

Oystercatcher
01 - ringed 10/03/15 - re-sighted 7 times
06 - ringed 23/08/16 - 1st re-sight
24 - ringed 04/01/17 - 1st re-sight
28 - ringed 16/05/17 - 1st re-sight
A2 - ringed 14/03/16 - re-sighted 3 times

Curlew
06 - ringed 10/03/15 - re-sighted 4 times

Thank you as always for the information

Pemb's Ringing Group

Skokholm

Cattle Egret on North Pond this evening. Our sixth first for Skok this year! And it's a stunner.

Where do (some of) our B H Gulls come from?

In the last couple of days there has been a mini influx of juv Black Headed Gulls. One today was ringed, & is from the Brewood ringers who operate in the Birmingham area.

The Gann

The 7 Bar-tailed godwits still here, 5 Common sandpiper, 5 Redshank, 5 Dunlin, single Whimbrel and a single Greenshank. A few ringed Oystercatchers included 01,06,24,28 and A2. There were 3 others with just metal rings. Also Curlew 06.

Pembrokeshire Bird Report 2016

The 2016 Pembrokeshire Bird Report is now available as a free download - please click here to download. The report is also available by clicking on the Reports section at the top of this blog. Once open click on the Download arrow  and choose the option to open with Adobe Reader. The document will open (assuming you have Adobe Reader installed on your computer) as a PDF file which can then be saved to your computer for easy access.

Congratulations and thanks to the editorial team of Jon Green, Steve Berry and Adrian Rogers for compiling an excellent report.

Black Guillemots - Fishguard

Two adult Black Guillemots showing well in the port side of  Fishguard Harbour this morning.
One juv Med Gull at Newport from the iron bridge. Last night c300 Starlings went to roost in the Teifi Marshes reedbed.

Skomer

Otter, Risso's and Common Dolphins, cuckoo and the first juvenile Willow Warbler of the year in the last week. See Recent Sightings for details.

Newport - Med Gulls

No joy yesterday with Sam's Caspian Gull. 2 Black-tailed Godwits, 3 Common Sandpipers, 1 Whimbrel, 7 Dunlin, 3 Redshank, 1 Little Egret and 4 Med Gulls (2 juvs).

Colour Ringed Curlews

Three at the Gann this evening, one was the same bird present on the 4th July, one had a Silver alloy ring on left ankle, the third had three rings, one Orange above the knee - left leg. Right leg, looked like a White ring above the knee -  possibly lettered, with a White ring on left ankle. Not the best photos but maybe the combination is good enough for ID

3 Common Sands, 3 black bellied Dunlin, 7 Bartails & a juv Med Gull.

Skokholm Wheatears

There have been over 60 Wheatear colour ringed on Skok this year, and they are on the move. We have had birds ringed as chicks at one end of the Island reappear at the opposite end. It thus seems likely that this juvenile dispersal must have seen birds arrive to the mainland. If you're out and about on the Marloes or Dale coast (or anywhere else really), then please keep an eye out for green rings with unique white alphanumeric codes. A scope or decent camera is generally required to read the combination, but the presence of an unread green ring would still be interesting. Starting to feel a lot like autumn, with 26 Black-tailed Godwit yesterday a new Skok day record.

Caspian Gull - Newport

The Caspian Gull is still present at 1930pm, watching from the iron bridge. This is the Ceredigion Caspian Gull first seen in March 2017...
(Wendy J and Rich D)

Caspian Gull at Newport

This afternoon I reported what looked to me like a 2cy Herring Gull with a yellow ring X290 with the preening/moulting flock of large gulls downstream from the bridge at Newport.
The report has already come back. It is a Caspian Gull, Larus Cachinnans ringed last June near the German/Polish border.

Mediterranean Gulls

The first juvenile Med Gulls of the season - three were in the Teifi high tide gull roost at the Webley tonight.

Teifi waders and bits...(Monday)

15 Passage Black-tailed Godwits in the morning had reduced to 1 by the evening high tide. 8 Redshank and 1 Common Sandpiper were also present in the morning..
During the evening we counted 1 Whimbrel along with 42 Curlew and 2 Greylag Geese feeding with the Canada Geese. 31 Juvenile Black-headed Gulls were found in the total of 185 Bh Gulls.
c100 Starlings went to roost in the reed bed on the Marshes where c10 Swifts and c100 mixed Swallows and Sand Martins were feeding at dusk.
(sev obs)

Where do they go?

Lesser Black Back gull, Blue 380, was ringed as a subadult at a Gloucester landfill site in Nov 2005. It was seen again in the same area each Winter till Nov 2008. Then vanished till it turned up at Newport yesterday.
Also at Newport 2 juv Med gulls.

Skokholm

Our first adult Mediterranean Gull of the autumn was off the Lighthouse with Common Dolphins.

Newport ringed gulls

The Czech Med Gull of yesterday was again at the bridge this afternoon. It had been ringed as a pullus in June '16 in Moravia, on the eastern side of the Czech Republic. This was the first resighting.
Also present an adult BH Gull white 26L0, which was ringed as a pullus at Hosehill Lake, Berkshire in June '13. There have been several subsequent sightings at Newport & on the Teifi.

Newport am

(Not very) high tide. 25 Curlews, 16 Oystercatchers, 8 Redshanks, 5 summer plumage Blackwits, 4 black bellied Dunlin. Lots of weird looking juv Black headeds. The 2 Shelduck broods still intact.

Martin's Haven

Last night a very vocal Common Sandpiper calling at around 2230. One of the Musselwick flock, or indications of a broader return passage of non-breeders?

The Gann

Still much the same as the past few days, 3 Redshank, 1 Common Sandpiper, 1 adult Med Gull, 7 Bartails, 15 BH Gulls inc. 1 juvenile. Just 3 Curlews.

St Bride's Bay and around Ramsey

We had a good trip north this afternoon, and went out from Dale up to the Bishops & Clerks, around Ramsey, and pottered in St Brides Bay, before coming back to Dale.

Going across St Bride's Bay what was most noticeable was that Puffins (and pufflings!) were by far the most numerous bird: perhaps 80%+ of all birds seen away from the coast. The Razorbills and Guillemots are clearly flying further offshore at present.

Around the Bishops and Clerks the most interesting birds were Kittiwakes, with several feeding groups of 30-50, and roosting groups of up to 100 on many of the smaller islands. Plus a flock of 6 Curlew.

 A nice female Peregrine was a treat on North Bishop, as was a feeding blitz by Gannets just north of Ramsey.

At Musselwick Sands, a group of 4 Common Sandpipers, very vocal when flushed.

Moving slowly along the coast between St Brides and Martin's Haven, the consistent distribution of Fulmars still on nests was striking: I think we see fewer than one third of these birds from the Coast Path.

Very few Manx Shearwaters seen during the day (3?!) but hundreds crossing Milford Haven Heads at 2000h prior to rafting near Skomer and Skokholm. The views from St Anne's Head must have been terrific.

Non-birds: astonishing numbers of jellyfish: over 100 huge Barrel Jellyfish, and thousands of Compass Jellyfish and Moon Jellyfish. It can only be a matter of time, surely, before the turtles follow?

Deer Park SEO

A Short-eared Owl hunting over the Deer Park this morning about 10 mins before the end of the Lions match. It methodically quartered up along the Rath before moving back towards Skomer.
Lucky I was listening to the match rather than watching it, or I would have missed the owl.

Newport pm

With the gulls at the bridge, 2 scruffy (moulting) 2CY Med Gulls. one with a Czech ring.

Newport am

Still 2 Shelduck broods, 5 & 7. 28 Curlews, 19 Oystercatchers, a Whimbrel & 3 Little Egrets.

The Gann

A Cuckoo flying along the beach in front of me was a pleasant surprise, taking frequent rests, I wondered if it was a tired juvenile - always just out of reach for my camera - though I managed a poor record pic.

Curlew numbers increasing, now 42+ including this colour ringed bird, Yellow Left, Red Right but no visible numerals / letters

A smart Blacktail Godwit on the lagoon, with 7 Bartails on the low water line. 5 BH Gulls, 1 Redshank.

Willow tits - Llangloffan Fen

From Kev Shales: 2 willow tits at Llangloffan on Sunday

Pufflings..

Picking up on Sash's post, I was lucky to be leading a trip to Skomer today.  First Monday in July is usually my last day trip of the year, and I can't remember seeing Pufflings so easily as I did today...at least 3 venturing right to the burrow entrance in easy view.  Special!

Med gull - Hazelbeach

From Steve Ward - Lovely view of adult Mediterranean gull on slipway at Hazelbeach @ 2pm today

Marloes and around

At least three pairs of Chough have fledged 3-4 young each in recent days, with family groups feeding very noisily from the Deer Park to Marloes Sands. I felt pretty worried for the fledglings on Friday: several just sat around, getting increasingly wet and miserable, and barely moving when approached. But the weekend's sun seems to have rescued almost all of them.

Which, alas, is more than can be said for one pair of Peregrines, who seem to have lost three half-grown fledglings in the awful weather a few weeks ago.

Further away, an extended run around the Islands on Saturday produced few surprises other than several pufflings popping in and out of their burrows on the Wick of Skomer: I cannot remember ever actually seeing a puffling in broad daylight before.

On the way back from Grassholm to Skomer, 2-3 Risso's Dolphins, one a very large, almost white, male.

Castlemartin Corse

Loads of family parties and juveniles this morning - stonechats, reed buntings, whitethroats and sedge warblers, meadow pipits, linnets, skylarks and more - and a female sparrowhawk hunting over the fen meadow. Still intermittent reed warbler song in the reedbed and along the watercourse to the beach, and even snatches of grasshopper warbler still singing 100m west of the hide. A single Cetti's sang. Lots of sand martins feeding low over the Corse.

Returning waders ....the Teifi

The high tide roost counts include 49 Curlew and 59 Oystercatchers, numbers rising rapidly.
The 1st returning passage Redshank with a new Black-tailed Godwit was opposite Curlew hide on the marsh yesterday.
The drake Tufted Duck is still on Mallard Pond and 3 Greylag Geese with the Canada Geese.

Starling breeding....

Starlings seem to have had a good breeding year around Milford 5 pairs have fledged 18 young.
(John Bearne)

Whinchats - The Preselis

Paul G and I had a look around a couple of sites on the Preselis this morning (primarily with dragonflies in mind). We also checked out Brynberian Moor for Whinchats and managed to find a pair. One was seen carrying food items, so it looks like one of our scarcer breeding birds continues to do so. A couple of Red kites including one bird chasing a Kestrel over Waldo's Stone near Gors Fawr. The Kestrel managed to take cover in a hawthorn. And it was good to hear my first Willow tits of the year at Mynachlog-ddu common.

Photos: Paul Grennard.