Some migrants at Rhosilli this morning included 6 willow warbler couple of chiffchaff, 6 swallow, 5 wheatear. 3 pair of stonechat, a couple of singing song thrush, numerous dunnock, skylark and meadow pipit. Approx 45 linnet in weedy field and 2 RT diver on sea.
At upper Loughor, 1 little ringed plover, 20 teal, 12 Canada geese, pairs of gadwall and mallard

5 pale bellied Brent geese were present this afternoon. Best of the gulls were 4 1st winter Med gulls

after trying twice yesterday, gave it one more try on the way home from Whiteford\Broughton this morning and the GG shrike was perched-up adjacent to the minor road to Lunnon.It then flew from perch to perch between both sides of the north gower road, even got a few pics. They seem a pretty rare site on Gower itself, so was most happy to connect.It looked stunning, especially on a gloomy an. morning. At Whiteford, approx. 245 sanderling the only birds of note

The bay was again quiet apart from 3 distant flying RT diver. Only several common scoter on the water. 6 grey geese sp. fly by the cliffs and out toward the worm, before being joined by 2 cormorant( approx same size) , and then came back in and headed east along the coast. Through the bins, caught a couple of the birds whose bills looked smallish and relatively dark. Not big orange hooter of grey lag. I haven’t got much detail of upper parts , only at distance going toward sun. They only called a couple of times, not the harsh honk of grey lag, so on probability, prob grey lag seen awkwardly, but may? Be pink foots.
A red kite was quartering low over the fields putting most birds up. Seemed to be same numbers as recent.
At Overton, only 3 woodlark seen, so , in all likelihood by GCSE maths, 6-3 gives 3 which were prob there last week, not 6…I was duped!
Over and out

Upper loughor first thing a.m 125 lapwing, 2 greenshamk
Overton, prob 6 woodlark, 3 flew off while just starting to scan the first field. I didn’t see any birds fly back into the field, and was watching a further 2 on the ground. There were good intermittent views, but not easy to get any decent photos. A kestrel then flew low over and flushed most species from that area, of which a further 3 woodlark flew off in the same direction as the first lot. Applying my GCSE maths, that should be 6(unless the orig. 3 snuck back in)
Elsewhere, common cliff, approx 65 mead pipit, 8 rock pipit, 3 snipe, red kite and peregrine
Pen clawed pill, 2 greenshamk
Llanrhidian at dusky, ringtail hen harrier and 2 GW egret

1 fem./imm. Black redstart on the church opposite Tescos

Had a walk out to Whiteford point Sat to catch high water. Approx 150 Dunlin, 80 sanderling , 35 ringed plover, 75 turnstone, 7 grey plover. Out on the water was fairly quiet, 1 common scoter and 1 juv goldeneye with 26 eider. Out by the hide, approx 80 linnet and 25 skylark feeding on the salt marsh
Rhossili today was again quiet out in the bay, but fair numbers in the fields. Approx. 75 skylark, 25 meadow pipit, 8 house sparrow, 4 yellowhammer, 7 reed bunting, 8 stonechat.
Approx 500 knot were off Daltons point along with smaller no.s of regular species
S

Did a walk from Overton , just west of Port Eynon , to Paviland . Highlight was 5 Woodlark seen in flight and a few times on ground in the first field west of Overton as you join the top coastal path. Managed to screw up the photos by rushing to take them, they were too dark.
Also, 6 reed bunting, 6 mead pipit, approx 35 chaffinch , 10 linnet, 8 pheasant.
These were all in the first 2 weedy, cabbage stump fields. The fields further west were poor with only 14 skylark and a couple of yellowhammer. 2 golden plover and 24 lapwing also.
Shame about the rugby, pity the game doesn’t last 65 mins only!
Wrk

Some fair no.s of birds feeding in the vile.the last field by the coastguard lookout being quite productive.50 plus skylark, 45plus meadow pipit, 60 plus linnet, 4 reed bunting a whopping 6 yellowhammer (2 m, 2 f, 2 imm.).6 goldfinch, 4 song thrush and 1 confused swallow. Only 6 comm scoter in the bay.
Middleton lane, blackcap,2 chiffies and several gold crest.
Overton valley, 3 blackcap and more gold crest.

Good to see plenty of species and fair numbers of birds using the vile.not much in the way of vis-mig, most birds grounded , or flying around the general area.
Plenty of forbids at Rhossili, 6 raven, 11 carrion crow, 60+ jackdaw, highlight 12 or poss. 17 chough (depending if 5 flew past me after counting initially). Managed 2 with rings; yellow over green left leg , and white left leg. Probably local, but would be nice to know.
Other species, mead. Pip (72), dunnock(14), robin(9), magpie(8)..o.k ,also a corvid,
Pied wag. (18), chiffchaf(1), blackbird(8), greenfinch(2)….the first I’ve seen in months around Gower…goldfinch(8), linnet(120+), stonechat(1).
2 sacrificial dwarf?barley fields provided 42 skylark, 6 reed bunting, 1 fem. yellowhammer and 7 house sparrow…..the latter 2 quite scarce out here. These 2 fields( east side of Vile path) could be worth a look.
8 swallow and 2 house Martin over , and 2 peregrine and a sprawk keeping all passer ones honest.
Mewslade: pretty quiet, apart from a merlin over, and juv. Dartford warbler

Good long plod around Rhossili,Mewslade first thing produced 8 raven and numerous carrion crow probably enjoying the number of dead rabbits (myxomatosis?).5 whinchat was good for the vile, only 3 wheatear, and only 3 more wheatear up on the down.12 stonechat showed signs of a small influx from elsewhere.fair numbers of meadow pipit and linnet.
Mewslade valley had around 8 blackcap, a few chiffchaff,4 stonechat, 1 white throat,3 song thrush,5 blackbird.more blue tit,great tit around in the valley.
Pen clawed pill had 1 juv curlew sandpiper , 2 green shank and 1 common sandpiper.4 commic tern were off salt house point.

4 juv curlew sandpiper and a juv little stint were down at Whiteford sands around 9.00 mixed in with approx 160 Dunlin and 110 ringed plover.
I went out to Weobley for the high tide expecting plenty more waders.only a handful of Dunlin/ ringed plover.prob the main reason was 2 rather healthy looking peregrine plus a few piles of feathers here and there.Though numbers of Dunlin and ringed plover seem less so far this year…whether smaller flocks are dotted around other parts of the estuary?
Approx 180 pintail and 30 wigeon on the edge of the salt marsh/ burry pill.first golden plover of the autumn.nice sight of 4 whinchat feeding along the top hedge/fen area at the base of the castle.single sedge warbler and 2 sandwich tern also………..plus castell du Thursday evening, 134 pied wag, 6 white and 1 ad yellow

First light down at rhossili proved initially quite quiet, with not much passing over.meadow pipit starting to build up with approx 40.single yellow wagtail tagged on.3 tree pipit flyovers plus flyover snipe.small no.s of long distance migrants with single whinchat,wheatear,chiffchaff and twos of willow warbler and white throat.18 pied wagtail miling around,and flock of 95 linnet on recently ploughed field.minor influx of robins passing through/ setting up winter territory with 16.3 chough and a peregrine plus kestrel

A walk down through the farm fields to the cliffs had only a few long distance migrants.2 spotted flycatcher , 1 willow warbler , 4 white throat , 1 fly over tree pipit which 1 of the few birds passing over. 5 yellowhammer ( 2 male) and a further 2 fem/ imm. Was good to see, but about average for along here. 400 plus herring gulls milling about the recently stubbled fields.

A trip out to Weobley at high tide this morning to see what wader numbers were around gave approx. 350 ringed plover, 320 Dublin , 6 knot, a few sanderling.Martin Bell had a mobile flock of approx 11 curlew sand, which had moved on. I managed a couple of distant views toward Llanrhidian.Martin also had 1 , poss 2 little stint , of which 1 was feeding quite close. A rather cracking adult pale Arctic Skua passed west along the high tide line giving brilliant views.A peregrine and distant Osprey at Llanrhidian gave a good mix.

Groups of 4,7, and 9 common tern battling into the wind going up toward Gowerton pill.All looked to land further up from 19.10 to 19.30

Some migrants on the move this morning with 1 sedge warbler and 1 swift near the lapwing breaking area.30 sandwich tern with 8 juvs. Also on the beach mixed flock of Dunlin (30) , ringed plover(35) , sanderling (12), and 6 turnstone. 1 kestrel hunting the edge of the beach. 

Around the middle pines/ dunes 2 yellow wags, 5 tree pipit, 2 spotted flycatcher, 1 lesser white throat.

good to see plenty of juv song thrush, mixed tits, gold rests, in with some juv willow warblers and chiffchaff.

65 redshank plus 1 greenshank in peclawdd pill. 10 sandwich tern (3 juvs) and 2 juv med. gulls at port eynon

Good numbers of swift feeding on flying ants over the house ties evening, about 55, great to see.the local gulls were enjoying the feed also

A walk around Slade and Oxwich  had lesser white throat  just west of the sands, family party of  Stonechat ( 2 juvs)  just east of the sands, male Kestrel.

A Tawny owl had his rest his  rest interrupted by the local blackbirds giving him both barrels. Good, but brief views of him flying from perch to perch.

painted lady in my back garden