Over the last few days we have been to various places along the south coast, mainly in search of Choughs. It was nice to see a small flock of 10 non-breeders feeding on the Golf-course at Penally and to note an increase in Wheatear numbers in the last week - lots of them on the Limestone coast at Penally and at Castlemartin where we have spent quite a few hours in the last couple of days.
We've noted quite a strong passage of Whimbrels during the last few days: flocks varying between half a dozen or so to c.50 have been moving along the coast, some stopping to feed in the coastal grassland. We must have seen at least a couple of hundred or so in the last 2-3 days. Recent postings have suggested a good passage. Flocks in the spring in excess of 50-100 are not so unusual; the highest count we know of is of a spring max of 200+ at Whitesands on 6th May 2001 (Pembs Bird Reports/Avifauna).
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| One of the many small flocks of Whimbrel seen in the last few days - this one was near Swanlake Bay. |
There was a small passage of Sandwich Terns in Caldey Sound on Thursday, but probably only a dozen or so.
Back over at Landshipping we noted a couple of 2CY Med Gulls feeding in an arable field with a mixed flock of Herring and LBB gulls, resting in the field. A single White Wagtail was a slightly unusual bird at our end.
This morning, at Castlemartin we had our first Common Swift of the spring at Mewsford Point, but not an Alpine one of course that we saw briefly near here earlier in the month.
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| We don't tend to see many Med Gulls at our end of the Cleddau |
We were reasonably impressed to see the small Sand Martin colony on the Old Red Sandstone sea-cliffs near Manorbier the other day - probably around 14 nest-holes in use. It was reported last year but was a new colony to us. There seems quite a lot of similar potential nesting habitat in various places along the ORS coast between Manorbier and Freshwater East.
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| Sand Martins visiting some of the holes - there is plenty of room for expansion |
It is nice to see that Kestrels are back, and probably breeding, within Castlemartin Range, where there was a pair yesterday on the big Mount Sion cliffs. It also looks like a pair is back on the Angle Peninsula - the adult male was not at all happy with a couple of Ravens while he was hunting near Sheep Island this afternoon. A female/immature Kestrel was flying over Kilpaison later in the day.
A couple of evenings ago we visited Templeton Airfield where three Yellowhammers were singing. Otherwise, it was generally quiet, apart from a good population of Willow Warblers, a few Wheatears (probably passage birds) and a single Snipe also probably on passage.