This time last year i walked around roath park lake and counted 17 occupied Coot nests.Today i repeated my walk and this time i counted 28 occupied Coot nests.

1-Red Kite between St.Nicolas and Bonvilston 10h30.

A good mornings birding today from an early visit after dropping my daughter to the airport.

Chiffchaffs seen and heard,Blackcaps heard,several Cetti’s from various spots heard.To cap it all off,a flock of 40 or so hirundines around the bridge area included an even mix of Swallows,Sand Martins and at least two House Martins.08h40-10h20.

A pair of Grey Herons are nest building on the south side of the island.I haven’t known Herons to nest here previously only to roost.As the nest is on the island,human disturbance should be near to zero.I will monitor developments.

5-Shovelers,4m+1f don’t see this species here very often.Also 1-Ring Necked Parakeet in the trees on the railway side.15h40-16h10.

there was at least 51-Common Gulls in the river in amongst Black Headed and Herring Gulls.

7-Goldeneye,4m3f and 4-Goosanders 1m3f.11h00-13h00

This morning there were 5-Wigeon 3m+2f on the west lake,an unusual sighting for this location?

7-Goosanders,4m-3f,on the river just above Radyr Weir.11h00-12h00.

17-Little Egrets flew from the island roost at first light.This afternoon 9-Snipe on the east side of the peninsular.

On the river;8-Goldeneyes 3m5f,3-Goosanders 2f1m,1-Common Sandpiper

From the heritage path;3-Choughs,1-Peregrine.

Whilst on a visit here to hopefully get some autumn foliage photos,a Buzzard flew into the wood

landing on a branch.I took a few photos of it,i didn’t check the photos until later.I noticed it had a very unusual tail colour.

The only Buzzard i can find in Collins with a similar tail colour is a Steppe Buzzard,surely it couldn’t have been one of these.Comments please.

A Hobby flew over today.17h30

Whilst walking to my car,parked next to St.Davids hotel,i noticed a number of Starlings on the hotel roof.Then something spooked them and to my amazement there were at least 1000 birds.They flew towards the reserve but i couldn’t relocate them.I’ve never seen a murmuration in the summer before!! 21h30-21h40

Not a bird sighting but i saw an Otter today just above the weir at Radyr.

An amazing number of Swifts,Swallows and House Martins over the bay this morning.The majority were Swifts,maybe several hundred.

5-Yellow Wagtails,1m-Whinchat and many Sand Martins

The Mute Swans have eight cygnets,one fewer than last year.

20-25 Swallows and a single Sand Martin this afternoon.Also at Goldcliff 20 or so Swallows earlier in the day.Lots of reports from both counties today,nice to see them back.

2-Swallows and several Chiffchaffs,late afternoon.

During a walk around the lake this afternoon i counted 17 occupied Coot nests along the fringes of the lake and islands.