Every year for a brief period around early March, stonechats seem to become suddenly more noticeable. This passage is presumably of birds that have chosen to winter elsewhere returning to join those who have stayed the winter. As well as those reported on the coast, they also appear inland, including in improved dairy pasture farmland, where they never breed. This morning a total of five were seen along a two-mile stretch of minor road running north from Llanycefn. They seem to be drawn to hedges that have been flailed to within an inch of their life, where bracken and willow-herb are the tallest vegetation on the banks.
The kestrel pair in the Marloes area have bred at Rainy Rock annually since 2013, one of the very few remaining regular breeding pairs in the county. They have been successful every year to 2016, with the outcome unknown for 2017. Any sightings of this pair (or any others) would be very gratefully received by the Welsh Kite Trust who are currently researching the reasons behind the population decline in welsh kestrels. No need to send sightings directly to WKT - this blog is the perfect place for reporting Pembs kestrels.
