Llanishen: As part of the WeBS count, I walked (with permission of Celsa) through the basin of Llanishen Res. Highlight was smashing the Llanishen snipe-count record with a minimum of 123 common snipe, illustrating what an excellent wetland habitat it is becoming. Most of these were around the South Pool -at one point the air was full of snipe, with the count of 123 likely to be a bit of an underestimate to avoid the risk of double-counting birds that had already been flushed from further along the shore. No jack snipe were seen, however. Also present were 33 teal (another good count) 26 mallard, 5 coots, 1 water rail, 1F reed bunting and 18 linnets.
Lisvane seemed quiet in comparison: 42 Canadas, 18 mallard, 9 L grebes, 99 tufties, 21 Pochard, just 1 coot, and a female sparrowhawk.
Glamorgan Bird Club 
Excellent count Rob. It is the 2nd highest Cardiff count (150 at CBWR Dec. 2003) & 8th highest East Glam (220 at Cadoxton 21/01/1956). Well done.
Rather baffling how there are so many at Llanishen, when they seem to hard to come by at places you’d normally expect them. For instance, I’ve not yet seen one Common Snipe during my Foot It campaign, despite endless trudging through what should be suitable habitat. I’d assumed that the wet and mild conditions had meant they were very widely but thinly spread out through the countryside, and therefore not concentrated in the usual hotspots. Maybe I was wrong?