Rob Davies from Llanunwas managed to get an unusual flight-angle photo of a fine, and apparently very obliging, male ring ouzel at Morfa Common yesterday. He noted some wheatears there too.
Down in the south, we had a walk around Penally yesterday and Manobier to Lydstep this afternoon. It was good to see rooks busy in a wooded area at Penally that they have been mostly absent from for the last few years, and at a possible new small rookery at Skrinkle.
A few swallows were passing along the coast yesterday and also today. A male was back in a breeding territory near Skrinkle – visiting a likely nest site and singing on a nearby fence. There were no obvious females in the area though.
Like Rosemary's observation, a bit early here too but not especially so. Having noted passage in North Pembs in the first few days of March, presumably they have been arriving earlier in some other places too.
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| This male swallow spent several minutes singing on a fence near a building it also visited this afternoon, where there has been evidence of breeding in previous years |
Kestrels were back in likely breeding areas; an adult female/immature male noted at Penally yesterday and a fine adult male at Manorbier this afternoon.
It was also good to see a few starlings at likely usual breeding locations at Manorbier. Their breeding populations are quite scattered in Pembs. but, in south Pembs, the area between Manorbier Newton/Jameston to Tenby and to Pentlepoir seems to be a regular breeding zone.
Choughs seem to be settling in too at most expected places in south Pembs. At this time of year, we often see courtship feeding, where the female will sometimes call a bit like a recently fledged juvenile, and raise and quiver her open wings, to encourage her partner to feed her.
We've been observing some pairs doing this at a few places in recent days, but at one location yesterday a lone
individual (probably a female) was behaving this way with no obvious male
around at all. This very approachable bird landed in front of one of us (Bob)
and, from only a few feet away, started to call and wing-quiver as if it was
expecting to be fed! Whilst I probably do know the choughs quite well along
the south Pembs coast, having been observing them regularly during the breeding season
for more than 40-years, this is possibly the first time that I seem to have been singled out
and solicited by one of them!
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| This chough definitely seemed to want my attention from only a few feet away! |
Watching this bird as it came closer to me, I had immediate recollections of similar chough behaviour on Islay, in the Hebrides, from some photos sent to me by Eric Bignal who monitors choughs there. He used to regularly feed (possibly still does) a small flock at a winter-feeding station. They waited for him and started wing-quivering as soon as he got out of his vehicle. I wondered if this bird was also used to being fed by someone. Future visits will hopefully reveal if it does have a feathered partner somewhere. If not, with any luck it will have one soon. Choughs are very intelligent birds and their individual behaviour is sometimes unpredictable but always fascinating to watch!