A Little Egret, perched up in a tree on one of the islands, was the highlight of today’s Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS) at the lake. Also there: a female Goldeneye; Teal (7); Tufted Duck (94); Pochard (11); Mallard (65); Coot (58); Moorhen (11); G C Grebe (3); Mute Swan (56); Canada Goose (36); Cormorant (10) and Grey Wagtail (2).

1 Blackcap today (but silent) in the wood near the heronry. 4 Snipe at Forest Farm.

Radyr Floodplain- 1 Meadow Pipit and 1 Small Tortoiseshell (first of the year).

Good birds from the door less hide today. 17 Snipe present – a record for me here, 2 Water Rail, 1 Kingfisher, 4 Moorhen, 2 Mallard and at least 3 Reed Bunting. Also a Little Grebe on the canal. (GJJ)

Drake Goldeneye on the lake this morning. Also 6 Teal, 10 Pochard and 121 Tufted Duck amongst the usual suspects.

Good variety of birds today. From hide without door 10 Snipe, 1 Water Rail, 1 Fox and a few Moorhen present. Also 12 Grey Herons in the marshy area near the hide.

At the Coryton hernonry there are plenty of Herons already repairing nests and displaying.

200 Black-headed Gulls flying around the field at Glantaf on the 21st was a record for me here. (GJJ)

 

2 Snow Buntings were still present at Whiteford, more towards the lighthouse than previously seen (SS444956). We also had 8+ Great Northern Divers (3 on the north shore and 5+ on the south shore) and 2 Slavonian Grebes. Also of note: 2 Jack Snipe on the walk out to the Point.  We had a good selection of other waders and wildfowl and, later, at Llanrhidian we had Great White Egret, 2 ringtail Hen Harriers, 3 Short-eared Owls and a female Merlin on a post. (DJJ/GJJ/RSPB Cymru staff).

Bittern took a short flight at 4.25pm from one part of the reedbed to another and then perched up in the reeds (from the hide without a door). DJJ/GJJ.

Apologies for the non-sighting, but I’m looking to drum up support for a BTO survey to be held this December/January.

How do you fancy a walk on the Eastern Glamorgan coastline, counting birds & doing your bit for conservation? What’s not to like? Please visit the East Glamorgan BTO blog for more information: bit.ly/1Mc98Gm

A nice variety of wildfowl present this afternoon, highlights being the Ring-necked Duck, Lesser Scaup (from the Ice Arena), 30+ Tufted Duck, 3 Teal, 1 Shoveler, 1 Pochard, 1 Goosander, 10+ Mallard plus large numbers of Coot, Canada Goose and Black-headed Gull. (GJJ)

A female Firecrest at ST139803 was a nice surprise today. Also present were 10 Fieldfare, 7 Chiffchaff, 1 Reed Bunting, 6 Meadow Pipit, a Blackcap plus many Redwings and Song Thrushes.

At Forest Farm there were 4 Snipe, 1 Kingfisher, 13 Moorhen and a Dipper(!).

A bit more action this morning, although quality not quantity: Whinchat (1); Lesser Whitethroat (1); Redstart (1); Whitethroat (1); Chiffs and Blackcaps (GJJ).

Visible migration picked up a bit this morning at Radyr Floodplain: Tree Pipit (4); Meadow Pipit (2); Redstart (1); Reed Warbler (1);  Blackcap (c.20); Chiffchaff (c.8); Willow Warbler (1); Whitethroat (c.10) and Siskin (4). Jays (8) more visible and noisy too.

There was a report of a Black Kite flying north over Radyr towards the A470 at 3pm yesterday (via Twitter: Rare Bird Alert/Roo Perkins).

Also of note, a Greenshank was heard calling high over our back garden in Whitchurch last night. (DJJ/GJJ)

A Redstart, a Tree Pipit, 8 Whitethroat and a liberal sprinkling of Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps this morning.

2 Spotted Flycatchers this morning + an autumnal roving flock of Great, Blue, Coal & Long-tailed Tits, Goldcrests, Treecreeper, Nuthatch and Chiffchaffs.

At Radyr Floodplain, a flock of c.30 Siskin flying over was unusual, but there was nothing else of note. (DJJ/GJJ).

A slow start to the autumn, but warmed up a little bit this morning with 4 Tree Pipits, a Spotted Flycatcher and a Redstart.

2 Tree Pipits and 1 Common Swift this morning.

A Cuckoo was calling at Cwm Rhydymilwyr near Brynna this morning and 2 Garden Warblers were singing at Llantrisant Common.

Apologies for a non-sighting, but since it’s such a wet day and there’s so little to report I thought I’d jump in with this request.

The British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) is running a House Martin survey this year. We know surprisingly little about House Martins despite the fact that they breed alongside us. Critically, we do not know why this species is in rapid decline in the UK. Currently, it is ‘Amber listed’ in the Birds of Conservation Concern listings, compiled by the UK’s leading conservation agencies. Here in Eastern Glamorgan we have lost 46% of our breeding House Martins since 1989.

We need to discover more about House Martins to help us identify why they are declining and to provide evidence which will help inform policy decisions that could reverse the declines.

We need volunteers to take part in a really simple survey. All you’ll need to do is carry out two or three visits to a randomly selected (i.e. pre-selected) 1-km square between late May and mid-July, to look for House Martins and their nests. Can you please help?

For more information about the survey and to find out where your nearest 1km House Martin Survey square is, please visit the East Glamorgan BTO blog http://bit.ly/1G7Z14e

Thanks

Dan Jenkins-Jones, BTO House Martin Survey Organiser, East Glamorgan

A Spotted Flycatcher this evening on a piece of land earmarked for a housing development near Whitchurch Hospital.

On behalf of Neville Davies: one turtle dove flew into an oak tree for a short while at Rudry Village yesterday (May 9th), then flew out across to the direction of Rudry Common.