Enjoying a cuppa on the patio – looked up and there were 3 Peregrines circling quietly above – we watched them for the best part of 10 minutes before they drifted off East. Also 1 burst of Green Woodpecker call early morning.(7ish)

Evening Cycle Llanmaes Area

1 singing Greenfinch, 4 singing Yellowhammers, 1 Song Thrush, pair of Wrens heading in same direction carrying food, 2 Whitethroat, Chiffchaffs still singing away, a brief burst of Blackcap song (although our resident Blackcaps stopped singing last week) and some Linnets, Goldfinches, Chaffinches and Swallows.

Llanmaes

3 singing Yellowhammers within a mile of Llanmaes this afternoon. At 2120 at least 10 Swifts flying silently over our Boverton house evidently catching lots of insects – up to tonight it has usually only been 2 or 3.

Boverton/Llantwit area

Good to see Blue Tit fledglings being fed noisily near our house (having mysteriously lost a nest boxful of 9 freshly-hatched chicks a few weeks ago) Also 50 or so Swifts along with some House Martins and Swallows not far from the Aston Martin factory and yesterday morning 7 Swifts circling low over Llantwit Town Hall.

2 Fulmars circling around the cliffs. 1 Kestrel hovering just inland from them, and a few Linnets,Stonechats and Whitethroats about and Bullfinch heard near the cafe at Llantwit.Good to see lots of Tadpoles entertaining the children and adults by the cafe also. ( also 1 Grey Seal spending the afternoon about half a mile off Atlantic College and 2 Brimstones seen along the path)

Greenfinch seen and heard calling from tree by the bridge over the stream with tuneful backing from an unseen Willow Warbler. Then very close to the above junction 3 Swifts flew low and silently over the field for a minute or two.

Pair of Bullfinches in shrub above cafe 1245 Weds also my first Swift of the year doing a solo flight above said cafe (which is open) at 1300 hrs.

Only a pair of Robins collecting mainly centipedes together as I turned my allotment yesterday and today. The new thing for me was that they were communicating with tiny squeaks: in all my (many) years of gardening and birdwatching I have never come across(or noticed) this before.

Tawny Owl hooting briefly small hours of Tuesday morning from beside railway.

Kestrel hovering over Marcros. Green Woodpecker flying west to nearby St. Donats and then heard calling. 1 Yellowhammer heard near Frampton and 4 Greenfinch and 6 Chiffchaff heard on the cycle ride.

Red Kite over house 1000 Hrs. Also Blue Tits bringing nesting material into nest box.

Single Redwing feasting on Ivy berries 1700 hrs. Earlier (1430) Kestrel over Boverton / Eglwys Brewis traffic light junction.

Watched a Firecrest for about 15 secs. as it worked its way through the ivy-covered hawthorn at the bottom of the garden. I often see a pair of Goldcrests in the same location.

On a walk from Boverton to Llanmaes and then through fields to Frampton this afternoon saw the following:-

Pair of Bullfinch beside the B4265 – the male was hovering above a Hawthorn / Ivy / Bramble branch dropping down now and then to apparently pick things off the tops of the leaves – at one time he was doing a good imitation of a Hummingbird as it picked things off the side of said branch.

Flock of 21 Skylarks disturbed in a stubble field, also 1 Reed Bunting and 2 Yellowhammers and a few House Sparrows in a nearby hedge.

Single Redwing feeding in a grass field- I have never come across one completely alone before.

On return journey 1 Little Egret flying west and later a single one stood in the Colhugh (?) stream just S of Llanmaes.

Barn Owl seen hunting two nights running (Sunday and Monday) about 2100 hrs. in the vicinity of the roundabout junction of B4265 and the new road to Aston Martin.

Pair of Bullfinches, 2 pairs Yellowhammer, single Little Egret flying over, single Fieldfare, single female Reed Bunting, single female Stonechat.

Came across a flock of 12 confiding Siskins, mostly females, feeding just above our heads, in the Alders by the river 1430.

Same location as post of 18th and over a period of no more than 5 minutes :- 1 female G.S. Woodpecker, 1 fem. Bullfinch, 1 m Chaffinch, 3 fem. Chaffinch, 1 Robin, 1 Dunnock, 2 Great Tits, 2 Coal Tits, about 10 Blue Tits, 2 Goldcrests, 4 fem. Blackbirds, I Pigeon, 2 Magpies and a few Herring Gulls over.

Another first from my garden: Treecreeper finding plenty of insects in one of the ivy-covered Hawthorns along the railway 10am.

Sunday afternoon – lone male Yellowhammer and lone male Stonechat ( a first for me in that area) and a Grey Wagtail on the Colhugh near Eglwys Brewis railway bridge.