...still singing, in the same place in the woods behind the bench, on the Carding Mill path, as it has been since 16 February (qv). Our wintering chiffchaffs depart, presumably, and new ones arrive in March? I don't remember hearing one singing in February before.
Peregrine on the pylons this morning, looking golden in the early morning sun.
2 Black Guillemots, Great Northern Diver and Chiffchaff from and on the Breakwater.
From David Meanwell:
Female Black redstart on the rooftops in Puffin Way Broad Haven this morning David Meanwell
From Toby Middlemist:
I visited Fleming Crescent Woodland this afternoon and it was very productive. The Dipper that has spent most winter here was back, (not sure if it's one of the pair at Old Mill NR). Birds appear to be pairing up, and I found a pair of Robins who are nest building.
Not quite in the Kingfisher category when it comes to beauty, but I couldn't resist posting these photos of a Shag that was sat on the edge of Milford Marina this morning.
No sign of the Great Northern Diver that was in the Marina, but several Great crested Grebe out in the Haven.
A friend saw and photographed a Great Northern Diver yesterday in Milford Marina, along with a Great Crested Grebe.
Meanwhile, not that far from there, I was enjoying watching two Kingfishers, and especially seeing one of them repeatedly diving into the water. Although, it's quite blurry I especially like the photo below of one of them coming up out of the water,
3 Sand Martins over Trefeiddan briefly this evening before flying west,8 Whooper swans still
east of Croes-Goch lunch time today.
From David Ord: Normally I see only the rear end of these as they flush from the undergrowth. Today I was lucky enough to catch one on a camera trap I’ve had out for the last couple of weeks. The photo is not great but is a screen grab from the video footage. Great camouflage!
Green RN0X, at Newport yesterday, was ringed as a nestling, in the Vendee, W France, in July 2017. In Feb '18 it was in Faro, Portugal & in July & October that year in Brittany. In March 2020 it was at Langstone Harbour, Hants. & in May 20 back at it's natal site in the Vendee. By July 20 it was in Cornwall, in Dec Faro again & on Feb 1 was on it's way back via Asturias, N Spain before another overshoot to Newport.
From Peter Royle:
As I drove towards Screwfix at Merlin’s Bridge on Sunday afternoon, I spotted a Red Kite circling overhead and then, as I drove into the Screwfix car park, the Kite swooped down to collect something from the ground in front of the shop entrance, much to the surprise of an exiting customer.
After circling for a couple of minutes the Kite was set upon by two crows and after a short period of aerial combat in and out of the trees the Kite flew off with what looked like a number of sticks in its talons – a trophy from the Crows’ nest? Perhaps it had nesting thoughts of its own?
Today that Peregrine was again back on the favourite branch north of the town centre after being missing for a few days. Today, tea was around 4pm and apparently a Collared Dove, judging by the feathers below, and clearly enough to fill the crop.
A few minutes earlier a male Goshawk circled briefly over the woods and flew eastwards over Morrisons car park. This is presumably the same bird that was around yesterday and has been seen a couple more times in the last two weeks in the valley, on one occasion circling the hospital chimney.
Yesterday the town's pair of Dippers were apparently checking out possible nest sites. A Grey Wagtail was singing loudly nearby and a Kingfisher flew past as I was watching them - almost too much to look at.
Earlier on the Sunday walk a Chiffchaff was lurking in the riverside scrub at the end of the wall by the car park at Higgons Well, which should be a good location, when allowed, for any photographers who don't like carrying their kit, as a Kingfisher regularly poses nearby and various waders make it up as far as the gasworks reeds and gravel bank.
Walk along Pembs river today, 7 Cattle Egrets, 1 Little Egret Opposite Quoits pill in field of cattle,
From Toby Middlemist: On Sunday, a trip along the Druidston coastal path produced a single Merlin calling and a flock of 35 Common scoters with 2 Velvet Scoters. There was also a Stonechat and 3 Rock Pipits.
A dystopian view of two grey wagtails frolicking on the electricity cables this morning
In a brief lull in the deluge this afternoon I popped out into the back garden only to see a Goshawk cruising past - only the second one I have seen from the house in 16 years. Sometimes you get lucky!
Little egrets in the stubble field by Milton Water Works. We live in hope.....
Made the effort to get down to Amroth late morning/early afternoon despite the rain to check through the gulls as I didn't get a chance to yesterday. The tide was high and gulls were mobile but there was a decent gathering by the outflow at the east side of Amroth. Mostly Black-headed Gulls but a 2CY Mediterranean Gull and a 2CY Kittiwake were nice to watch closely dip feeding in the surf.
A quick glance out to sea and I immediately noticed a 2CY Little Gull flying in towards the beach. It flew west along the shore close in then turned south and headed out. Worth getting soaked for!
Also I was sent the detail about the adult Black-headed Gull yellow 'TUCC' present at Amroth on the 15th and 16th Feb today. The bird was ringed as an adult in Lubczyna, NW Poland on 14/05/20, 1,316km away!
Today’s wet and increasingly stormy weather has provided us
with a grim reminder that 25 years ago this week we were at the start of
a major marine pollution incident, when the “Sea Empress” ran aground near
the entrance to Milford Haven on 15th February 1996. Over the coming
days, it released 72,000 tonnes of crude and 480 tonnes of fuel oil into the
sea, much of which spread around the south Pembs coast and into Carmarthen Bay.
Over many weeks that followed, teams of people (professionals and volunteers, including some regular contributors to this Blog site) surveyed bird and other wildlife populations along large parts of the coast. For the bird surveys, we initially undertook daily WeBS-type counts of the Milford Haven Waterway and Cleddau Estuary system, plus checks of beaches and seabird colonies. Sea and air-based surveys also provided important information on where seabirds were congregating in largest concentrations.
Not many affected birds had been observed by 19th Feb., but this was all going to change very soon as the oil started to spread quickly around the coast, into Carmarthen Bay and beyond. By the spring bird casualties had been recorded over a wide geographical area of accessible coastline in south and west Wales, as well as from other areas such as Lundy and south-east Ireland. The true number of casualties probably being much higher than the c.7,000 birds that were known to have been impacted by the spring.
About 85% of the bird casualties were recorded in the first
few weeks. The period between 23rd Feb. and 4th March being
particularly hectic! Of 36 bird species known to have been affected, Common
Scoters bore the brunt of the impact, with just under 4,600 known casualties.
Many Auks were beginning to return to their colonies in late Feb. and, although
c.1,600 Guillemots and c.340 Razorbills were known to have been hit,
things could have been much worse had more of the oil spread farther out
towards the major seabird islands. Only one Manx Shearwater and a single Puffin
were known to have been directly impacted by the oil.
Collecting the records to help evaluate
the environmental impacts of the spill was exhausting work, but it was a tremendous
team effort. We shudder to think though, had “lockdown measures” been in place back
then, goodness knows what might have been possible, or perhaps impossible!
A large flock of Black-headed Gulls arrived on Carew Millpond, shortly after we had been speaking to Richard and Marilyn. Earlier, they had been feeding in a field being ploughed near Whitehill. We estimated at least 500-600 BHGs and not less than three Med. Gulls. These included an adult in summer plumage, one in transition to summer plumage and another still in winter plumage.
Earlier, at Lawrenny, there had been impressive numbers of waders in the Black Mixen area: 2,400+ Dunlin, 700+ Lapwings, 600+ Golden Plovers (including birds that had moved down from the Daugleddau area?), 150+ Black-tailed Godwits, 70 Shelducks, 70+ Wigeon and three Great Crested Grebes.
We met Bob and Annie on the north side of the Millpond: very little about apart from a distant small group of large gulls. Shortly after we parted, a flock of 300+ mainly black-headed gulls flew in from an easterly direction and dropped onto the water. I didn't count them properly - I thought Bob and Annie would probably do that - but did pick up a nice adult Med gull with full black hood in the middle of them, plus the odd common gull.
We did one of our longer circuit
walks this morning, from home to Garron Pill and back along the shore to
Landshipping. Spring was clearly in the air with many birds singing/displaying,
including a pair of Nuthatches that were checking out an old Greater Spotted
Woodpecker hole. A bit of renovation work will be needed at the entrance to make a snug
fit, but there is plenty of estuary mud nearby so it should not take them too long.
Along the estuary, there were about 160 Wigeon and a few hundred Teal feeding. Shelducks, in loose flocks, are clearly starting to pair up. Most of the Dunlin and Lapwings appear to have moved on in the last few days, with very few around this week. Small numbers of Curlew (less than 50) were feeding in a few places. We noted a partially leucistic bird that we have not seen before on the lower eastern Cleddau. Besides some white on its head and neck region it also has some white wing feathers.
We flushed around 30 Snipe and 30 Skylarks along the shore but no Jack Snipe today. An overwintering Common Sandpiper was feeding on lug worms (or something similar) on the shore near Sam’s Wood.
For much of the winter, most of the local Little Egrets have been feeding alongside cattle in pasture fields near Brickyard. Eleven were there a few days ago but only 7 today, the others were feeding along the shore. We don't see too many Med Gulls up this end, so it was nice to see an adult (already in full summer breeding plumage) resting offshore near Landshipping with Black-headed Gulls (still in winter plumage).
The large numbers of gulls around Amroth in the last week has provided a great opportunity to look for colour rings. Over the last few days I have seen 8 colour ringed birds, 3 Herring Gulls (red, green and black), 2 Common Gulls, 2 Black-headed Gulls and an Oystercatcher. Of the 8 I managed to read 4 of them.
On the 15th (and also the 16th) an adult Black-headed Gull yellow TUCC, from Poland but I am still awaiting the full details. Another adult Black-headed Gull on 16th, black 2AVL ringed as a chick in the West Midlands in 2016.
Also on the 15th an adult Common Gull white JE078 ringed as a chick in Rogaland, Norway in August 2018, 1,017km from Amroth!
The most exciting was the Oystercatcher yelloworange-white(KA) seen on the 15th. The bird was ringed as an adult near Selfoss, SW Iceland in May 2017, later that year, in August, it was seen in Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain. The following year it was back near Selfoss and again in 2019. In February 2020 it was seen again in Pontevedra then back near Selfoss in May last year. This is the first sighting of this bird in the UK presumably stopping off at Amorth on its migration back to Iceland!
The adult Mute Swans left the younger swans several days ago, 17 Mallard, 30-40 Wigeon, plenty of Teal and a male Shoveler on the pond now.
(Rob Johns)
This morning a single Purple Sandpiper was on the new lifeboat station ramp with 9 Turnstones with a further 3 Purple Sandpipers on the old lifeboat station together with 7 Oystercatchers.
On South Beach 14 Sanderling and 12 Ringed Plover, 3 Great Crested Grebe close in and a Great Northern Diver flew past.
A real surprise this morning was a Black Redstart - pecking along at the side of the road in an ordinary residential street at Glebelands, in Hakin, Milford Haven. Unfortunately, the bird flew off before I could get a photo.
This morning there were two Great Crested Grebes in Gelliswick Bay.
All the usual birds along the stream - lots of goldcrests, long-tailed tits, bullfinches, grey wagtail, etc. . A chiffchaff was flycatching at the edge of the dense wet woodland along the Carding Mill path and another was singing - between the square post and the bench.
From Debbie and Pete Head:
Over the last week we have been watching 30+ Gannets feeding off Musselwick Sands at Marloes. They are joined by lots of Cormorants, Shag, Black Backed Gulls and today 7 seals. The Wing Tagged Marsh Harrier was at Marloes Mere, Pintail, Gadwall, Shoveler, Wigeon, Pochard, Teal, Mute Swan have been joined by a pair of Shelduck. There was a single Barnacle Goose on the old airfield last Friday, quite happily feeding on the grass. We have seen a single Red Kite over the last week, but have not seen any lapwing. We had been having quite large flocks. (100-150 ) flying over.
A brief walk at Westfield Pill was rewarded with a great view of a splendid male Mandarin drake checking out the female Mallard rather forlornly. A Little Grebe in full breeding plumage under the tree cover was being tailed by what looked like a last years chick which looked a little strange.
Nice selection of singing and displaying birds in the sunshine - Goldcrest, Robin, Dunnock, Song Thrush and Great tit and more activity generally today. One well built Heron nest complete with Heron and another seemingly half built. Jane Hodges was there too and told me there were 4 nests in 2020 but 12 in 2019 - I wonder where they have gone as the Upton site only had 3 nests in 2020.
On a bike ride this morning I stopped near Lawrenny and had a look at the Cresswell/Carew River. Resting on the mud over on the West Williamston side there was a large flock of over a thousand Lapwing together with 120 Dunlin, and a few Redshanks, Teal and Wigeon. Also plenty of ducks and waders down towards Cresswell Quay but too far away to ID.
Here is the Pembrokeshire Bird Diary for January 2021. https://youtu.be/jRdSJTiBsgM
Strong winds a rough seas have washed up large amounts of marine invertebrates at Amroth again today. Rough counts 3,000+ Herring Gull (including an adult Scandinavian argentatus Herring Gull), 433+ Common Gull, 23 Lesser Black-backed Gull, 26 Great Black-backed Gull, 87 Black-headed Gull, 1 Mediterranean Gull (adult), 1 second-calender year (2cy) Iceland Gull, 1 2cy Yellow-legged Gull. And a Sanderling on the beach!
Snipe are quite obvious around Llanteg due to the cold weather 17 in fields around my house in recent days and 2 Yellowhammers feeding in the garden.
Since my attempts to see Blakiston's Fish Owl in far eastern Russia have all come to nought, I will have to make do with a Pembrokeshire Fish Owl - amazing footage. The pond seems to be lit - was this in order to try and find out what was taking the fish? I think it might be alllowing the Tawny Owl to see the fish in the first place. I was very pleased to see that it flew away with a fish in its talons. Rosemary Royle
Amazing video of an Owl (I assume it’s a Tawny) taking a fish from a garden pond near Saundersfoot.
Perhaps a sign of some weather movement with (unusually ) 23 Lapwing and 9 Golden Plover in the field at the back of my house in St Florence until they were put up by a Sparrowhawk soaring overhead.
Yesterday in Tenby 2 Purple Sandpipers with 3 Turnstones braving the waves on the old lifeboat station.
From John Whitehurst: Nice to see a small flock of Lapwing on a field down Dingle Lane, Crundale this afternoon. Some 30 or so but could have been more as well spread out and viewing limited. Slurry spreading in progress. Red Kite also wheeling round over.
The harsh weather is definitely having some impact. More birds in the garden searching for food and water, especially Blackbirds. Over at the Gann wading birds have seen a small but notable increase, in numbers and variety: Grey Plover have gone from 4 to 7, Bar-tailed Godwit from 0 to 4, Dunlin from 0 to 7, Ringed Plover from 0 to 11. Numbers of Redshank, Greenshank, Curlew and Oystercatcher seem stable, as do the ducks (although Teal peaked at 64 together yesterday).
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| Knot |
Two nice surprises during an early afternoon walk yesterday: an adult Whooper Swan on the sea just out from the parking area, honking frequently and not at all settled - after a few minutes it flew off high south. Closer to the house a Jack Snipe flushed from the edge of the reedbed. I have still yet to see this species on the ground in Pembrokeshire - time to invest in a thermal imaging device perhaps?!
The highlight of two walks in the Hubberston and Herbrandston area during the last two days was a Merlin flying over my head and dashing over the trees and bushes at the back of the South Hook LNG terminal today. Some Teal and two Grey Heron were in the small lake/large pond in that area, where Wigeon and Little Grebe are also sometimes present. Some Ravens were also making their presence known. It was good to see a pair of Mistle Thrush on the Golf course.
Yesterday, small groups of Lapwing were scattered across 2 fields next to the road between Herbrandston and Hubberston.
A mega walk yesterday did not produce anything new, but if anybody wants to see Redwings near town, then Cuckoo Grove is a good bet. There have been a few in the woods or in the fields by the solar farm on previous visits. Yesterday there were at least 80 in three separate groups visible at one time and probably more in trees further away. A Sparrowhawk was on the edge of the wood - probably no coincidence. At the top of the lane a Great Spotted Woodpecker was drumming on the highest exposed ash tree, despite it being only 1 degree and above any shelter.
On returning home just before sunset there were eight Red Kites hanging in the wind above Pelcomb valley and over Cashfield Estate before circling slowly and drifting towards Slade Lane, presumably roosting somewhere in the neighbourhood. There have been at least two and sometimes three or four througout the winter around Pelcomb valley. Two of them look like an established pair, often close together in ash trees and taking turns to feed on a sheep's carcass. I have yet to see any courtship or signs of nest building. The picture shows six dots, which I think are some of the kites, but there were a couple of crows and a buzzard around as well.
Iron Bridge - m shoveler, Kingfisher, Dunlin x 20, Bar T Godwits x 3.
Goodwick - yesterday in the lorry park behind Tesco was a stunning male Black Redstart.
52 species yesterday within a 2 mile radius of my Neyland home.Highlights,Redpoll,Kingfisher,Mandarin,Peregrine,Ring Plover and Greenshank.There have been several Black Redstarts on the Prom/lower marina car park area.
From Clare Ryland:
A male black redstart on the rocky hillock opposite our house, wonder if its the same bird seen in January (but not since Jan 7th). A few minutes later I saw a female.
On the same walk one red kite, one buzzard, one female kestrel and one female sparrow hawk with kill.
A bit of a walk and a visit to the St Ishmaels Sewerage Works (as you do!) was rewarded with at least six Chiffchaff on the filter beds with a Grey Wagtail and a couple of Pieds. All quite difficult to count as they foraged actively amongst the filter stones All the Chiff's looked like collibyta . Also nearby a couple of Nuthatch giving a Great Spotted Woodpecker some grief - so establishing territory probably. Lots of thrush activity and Jay's in the woodland with drumming Great spots.
Round the coast a load of badger activity and what seemed like more Song Thrush and Blackbirds than a week ago but basically fairly quiet. At the Gann maybe 10 Light bellied Brent Geese, a couple of Greenshank and a Bar-tailed Godwit which seem to be much scarcer than they used to be around the estuary. Up the river a large concentration of small gulls which seemed to be mainly Black-headed but clearly some Meds and a few Common Gulls (not so common as they used to be either). The Ravens are building their nest in the lone big pine on the east side of the river but the salt marsh was very quiet.
It was too cold to try and count the low tide waders but lots of the usual Curlew and Oystercatchers and a few Dunlin and 2 Little Egrets were evident. A small flock of teal on the Gann river above the footbridge too. Then in the garden the first Redwing I have seen since November and just hundreds of birds around the feeders with mostly Chaffinch and House Sparrow but lots of tits around too and a few more Goldfinch than in January. I wonder if there is much evidence of any cold weather movement from the east yet - or maybe its going to be too short lived to really move large numbers of birds to the west coast.
Lochvane Monday
A fine male Hen Harrier sweeping over the hedgerows towards Solva this evening.
From David Ord: At high tide today, 19 Knot accompanying the 5 overwintering Grey Plover on the spit opposite Millin Pill.
From Vanessa Mellor: Today I was introduced to Withybush Woods park (by Puffin Potatoes). (This is a well-managed ‘nature park’. Coppiced, lots of bird boxes, lots of small birds, lots of bits of interesting water, and a (man-assisted?) lake with a vegetation-covered island in the middle.) Pair of swans and mallards. There were two Cormorants happily sitting on the island in the middle of the little lake there – one posing, one diving. There must be fish in the lake? I have never been so close to one before – was surprised to see it (the poser) was brown not black. Seems it was a juvenile.
From Toby Middlemist: A visit to Higgons' Well this evening produced an interesting range of birds. An evening roost of 9 Redshank with 2 Cormorant (1 with an unusually white breast) were on top of the water pipe, and 2 grey wagtails were flitting around. A flock of 7 long-tailed tits were in the woodland and the wintering little egret was in its usual spot in the marsh.
Despite the cold easterly breeze, this afternoon was almost spring-like. A number of raptors were displaying over their usual breeding territories close to where we live, including several buzzards, and a couple of red kites. The local male goshawk was also getting in on the act displaying over the valley, gradually drifting towards the Daugleddau.
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| The much larger female was hunting in the area a few days ago, today the male was not going to be outdone by the displaying buzzards. |
A raven was carrying large amounts of nest-lining material to a nest further up the valley near Martletwy, a sure sign that spring is not far away.
The plurals are intentional. At lunchtime, two Dippers were back in town just below the weir, with some singing and chasing in the weak sunshine. Nearby were pairs of both Pied Wagtails and Grey Wagtails, as well as two pairs of Mute Swans , so love must be in the air. Later a presumably single Dipper was singly loudly but alone from a riverside tree stump in Old Mill Nature Reserve:
Earlier on the day's sanctioned exercise a noisy Peregrine was flying around Haverfordwest Castle. It circled a bit and gained height before flying north up the valley towards the reserve. A small collection of feathers on open ground next to the old records office suggested a kill, but not obviously recent. However, later a close look at a snatched picture of the departing bird showed some dainty feet, which do not appear to belong to a Peregrine:
On Tuesday's walk there was a Peregrine north of Haverfordwest town centre plucking feathers off a recently killed pigeon on a favourite branch. About half an hour later there was a Peregrine flying over Slade Lane fields back towards town. Interestingly, a further half later there was (still) a Peregrine with a full crop at the first location, so seems like a second bird is spending the winter in the neighbourhood.
Nice surprise from the bedroom window this morning, and no.135 for the Crabhall list, was a 2CY Marsh Harrier briefly causing mayhem before heading off NW up the valley towards Philbeach. It had orange wing tags (unread) so surely must be IL from Castlemartin / Marloes Mere. We had a Kestrel over yesterday, and a Peregrine was hunting over the Gann yesterday, so a good run of raptors.
This evening's gull roost contained an impressive 49 Mediterranean Gulls with a relatively high % of last year's offspring (29 adults, 5 3CY, 15 2CY). Earlier in the day the red-ringed 2CY Y168, which was first seen on Christmas Eve and now twice since. Managed to get a half decent photo, which is a tricky task at the Gann. This bird was ringed in Serbia, so will be the longest travelled of any Med Gull here, but we await the exact details.
We had a breeding plumaged Great-crested Grebe in the bay on 5th, our first record here since 25/5/2020. It has been an unusually lean winter for divers and grebes in Dale Roads. A pair of Shoveler put in an appearance yesterday (sparse here) and there were also 6 Shelduck too, at least 5 of them drakes.
From Toby Middlemist:
Plenty of Goldfinch today, they have increased dramatically here since the Greenfinch disappeared about 7 years ago. But today a pair of Greenfinch returned briefly, they are back, will the Goldfinch suffer?
One second calendar-year Iceland Gull appeared on the falling tide at Amroth again this afternoon before flying off east towards Telpyn. Lesser Black-backed Gulls now up to 54 and a Chiffchaff still along the stream at the east side of Amroth.
Offshore: 6 Eider, 2 Red-breasted Merganser, 9 Great Crested Grebe, 5 Red-throated Diver and several hundred Common Scoter.
A picture of the 2 Iceland Gulls from yesterday.
Phil Littler confirms that IL was indeed positively identified in Felixstowe on 30 October, so assuming he was the distant bird that Richard C saw on the Corse on 22 October, he really has crossed the country three times in his short life. This is by no means exceptional, Phil says, they are very mobile: in the early days of the project AD's movements were as follows:
Holme, Norfolk 24.08.2011
Sheppey, Kent 31.10.2011
Newport,
Monmouth 11.09.2012
Goldcliff, Gwent 16.09.2012
Chew Valley
17.11.2012
Blakeney, Norf 07.02.2013
Dale, Pembroke 01.04.2013
A grocery shopping trip to Haverfordwest provided a good opportunity to check the pied wagtail roost at Withybush Hospital at dusk. Numbers were impressive, and although difficult to count, couldn't have been less than 500, and probably closer to 600 birds. Large flocks noted on various roofs and nearby trees - pre-roost gathering - before going to bed.
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| A small proportion of the wagtails gathering in a nearby tree. |
A Black Redstart was within the Valero Refinery today. (Paul Warren)
Yesterday, a flock of 17 Cattle Egrets (seventeen) feeding with cattle at Hundleton, 10 Little Egrets closer to the river. Today only 1 Cattle Egret present with many Little Egrets (John Hayes)
These Cattle Egrets are only a short distance down the Pembroke River from the previous and regularly reported birds, presumably all sightings relate to a growing wintering population.......?
Nothing yet from our blackbirds either. Song thrushes are starting up, likewise blue tit, dunnock and nuthatch, but most notable along Paddock Lane between Carew Cheriton and Milton have been the goldcrests - lots of actual song from them. The team at Milton Water Works are doing a great job feeding the birds.
From Toby Middlemist: Not sure if anyone is keeping a record of this, but I just heard a blackbird singing in Haverfordwest, the first I've heard of the year. Have there been any earlier records this year?
Note from Rosemary Royle: Hi Toby, Our Blackbirds here are still quiet but this morning two novice Chaffinches were making the most extraordinary sounds during their practice sessions and a Song Thrush was gurgling enthusiastically from the ivy with just a few decent pure notes from time to time. It will be interesting to plot their progress!
From Robert and Jenny Briggs: Three Purple Sandpipers on the Ram’s Nose, Whitesands just after high tide this morning (Ram’s Nose is the promontory at the right hand side of the beach). A solitary Turnstone joined them briefly.
Over
the last week or so we have been observing the usual large mixed flocks of
Golden Plover, Lapwing and Dunlin moving around between the Eastern Cleddau and
the Daugleddau confluence. Today was no exception. As well as a few thousand
Golden Plovers and about a thousand Lapwings, estimated numbers of Dunlin were
at least two thousand - good numbers for this part of the upper Cleddau system.
With the large numbers of waders around, plus several hundred Teal and not to mention hundreds of corvids, it isn't too surprising that raptors are also hunting in the area. Today a magnificent adult female Goshawk came close as we walked down the road to the Quay, being hotly pursued by several carrion crows. Cameras were still in their bags and we only had time for a quick record shot as she moved away.
For only the third time managed to pick up and read a Black-headed Gull colour ring this evening: white J9LE. Ringed as an adult (female) in Oslo, Norway, in 2012, she has mainly been seen in Norway during the breeding season, except for one record from Germany and then 4 previous sightings in Pembrokeshire, all by Sam Baxter: Fishguard Harbour 24/10/2019, and the Nevern Estuary on 22/12/2019, 16/11/2020, and 22/12/2020. Another neat movement between sites in the County!
At least 28 Mediterranean Gulls, 2 of which were ringed (couldn't see most legs as they were in the shallow river water running across the beach), both seen before (one from Germany, one from Belgium). The Ruff was with a 200+ strong flock of Lapwing that eventually settled on the lagoon by Crabhall at dusk, and it was a surprise to see 3 Golden Plover on the mudflat, not far from the wintering mini-flock of 4 Grey Plover - a neat Pluvialis double act.
