The juvenile Redstart was in the southern boudary hedge of W. Paddock again, on the outside of the hedge facing W lake. This was about 11:45. It dropped down into cover on the scrubby slope facing W lake. At teh far end of W paddock by the fenced ingrazing area, I had a Garden Warbler briefly, before it flew into brambles. An ad GC Grebe was on W lake accompanied by 3 still insistently squeaking, fully grown young. 3 other ads were present.
Author: John Wilson
Birder and traveller
Cosmeston
Before the rain this morning, on the large bramble bushy clump in the plantation above Sully Brook, there were 2 Whinchat, 1 Stonechat, about 6 Whitethroats, a Greenfinch and some Goldfinches, flycatching from the top of the bushes. It looked like the Whitethroats were a family group as I could see at least 2 imm birds there.
On 1st Aug on a walk across the Barrage, there were 2 Grey Wags by the exit of Penarth Marina and still a good number of occupied House Martin nests on the houses there. The once occupied Sand Martin nests now seem to be empty so the young have flown.
July 2023
Highlights: Seawatching efforts at Lavernock were rewarded with three Roseate Terns (1st), Sooty Shearwater (30th), Arctic Skua and several Storm Petrels. A Storm Petrel was also noted off Sker. A drake Ring-necked Duck turned up at Lisvane Reservoir (10th) and subsequently lingered until at least the month end. A Cattle Egret was briefly at Kenfig Pool (14th), joining a Great White Egret, with another of the latter species calling in at Ogmore Estuary. A Hobby was seen over Bridgend. A couple of juvenile Yellow-legged Gulls appeared at Cosmeston. Waders included a flock of 25 Black-tailed Godwits over Lisvane Reservoir, seven Black-tailed Godwits and two Little Ringed Plovers at Kenfig Pool, plus a Little Ringed Plover at Ogmore Estuary.
Summary by Paul Roberts
Upcoming field trip
Field trip alert. There’s a field trip to Goldcliff, E of Newport, next Sunday, 6th Aug. High tide approx 10:30 so meet at Goldcliff at 9 a.m. Parking on LH verge opp the entrance track, or along the track over the hump back bridge but it can be v muddy there. Waders are the target. Poss also visit Uskmouth wetland afterwards. Poss pick up at St Margaret’s Rd at 8:30 but limited spaces – I need to know in advance both re attendance and lf lift req’d. John Wilson johndw1948 at gmail dot com.
Cosmeston
There was a juvenile Common Redstart in the hedgerows in west paddock this morning, moving around with a juv Robin. In the dovecote field there was a flock of around 100 Starlings in the trees & bushes – a mixture of adults and juvs. There were quite a few Sand Martins and Swallows feeding over the field there, with one or two House Martins in with them and a Comon Whitethroat was scolding from the brambles near the Medieval Dovecote itself. A couple of Reed Warblers were calling from adjacent the dipping pond.
Llanilid field trip cancelled
Attention all. I’m afraid after watching the 6 o’c forecast I have decided to cancel the field trip to Llanilid tomorrow. It’s an open site and there there’s no shelter or hides, and it would be pretty much a dead loss anyway. Sorry to disappoint. John Wilson
Upcoming field trip
There’s a local field trip next Saturday, 22nd July, to the old Llanilid opencast area, which is located south of Bryncae, betweeen there and the M4. It’s a site for passage waders and some breeders such as Little Ringed Plover. It’ll probably only be a half day unless we decide to go somewhere else. Meet at 9 a.m. at the bottom end of Enterprise Way which runs south from the roundabout in Bryncae which is a few hundred yards east of the Bryncae Arms pub [to your right]. Just beyond the pub is the roundabout sign on the left, which on Google streeet view, does show the right turn [last exit] as Road Closed. You can go down the road but it eventually comes to a dead end which is where to meet. If it continues to be wet, wellies or waterproof boots are advisable.
As usual let me know if you intend coming. Map of location below.
AGM minutes now available
The AGM minutes have now been finalised and agreed and are viewable from the <About><GBC documents> menu . We are grateful to Trustee Strinda Davies for taking the minutes and writing them up.
Broken Twitter feeds
Users may have noticed that the Twitter feeds in the RH column on some pages [including the home page], and also in the footer, are not working and contain a cryptic message. This is a global problem caused, thought by some, by the Tweet viewing limit imposed by Twitter itself. Solutions are being sought. John Wilson
Parc Cwm Dare – 4th July 2023
Despite the rather wet start to the day, 10 participants attended the field trip to Parc Cwm Dare. We were rained on for about 45 minutes but we were soon observing breeding activity with juvs of Chiffchaff, Blackcap and Bullfinch being fed by adult birds. Other highlights were 2 immature Peregrines chasing each other around the face of the Tarren Y Bwllfa cliff, several Green Woodpeckers including some juvs, and lots of Siskins. Fine ‘scope views were had from the top viewpoint of one imm Peregrine sitting up on the cliff [well done Alan for carrying your ‘scope all the way]. Thanks to all who came despite the weather. John Wilson.Full list on the trip lists page.
Ham Wall RSPB – Somerset – 25th June 2023
A small group [just 7 of us] had a successful trip to Ham Wall RSPB in the Somerset Levels yesterday [25th]. The heat wasn’t too bad as there was some shade, plus the afternoon cloud and stiff breeze helped. 51 species were logged with highlights being 4 or poss 5 fly-by Bitterns, a Hobby, a Cuckoo, many Marsh Harriers and Great White Egrets [outnumbering Littles]. There were very many dragon & damselflies, the best of which were Red-eyed Damselflies alighting on the floating vegetation [as is their habit] and a Lesser Emperor dragonfly flying back & forth in front of the Avalon hide. Thanks to all who came along. John Wilson. Full trip list on trip lists page
Dinas RSPB – 4th June 2023
On a sunny day 12 members enjoyed a walk around the beautiful Dinas RSPB reserve, north of Llandovery. We logged 38 species including all the ‘targets’ of Pied & Spotted Flycatchers, Common Redstart, and Wood Warbler, with Garden Warbler, Marsh Tit and other common woodland species thrown in for good measure. Adult Wheatears were feeding juvs by the access road to Llyn Brianne reservoir. By the afternoon it was getting pretty warm and folk were wilting, and the leader succumbed to an ice cream cone and then an ice lolly after watching the Wheatears! A few record shots by yours truly are in a sightings blog post. Thanks to all for coming. John Wilson.Full list on the trip lists page.
Llanwonno – 1st June 2023
28 Club members gathered at Llanwonno on the evening of 1st June, in the hope of seeing and hearing Nightjars. It proved a difficult night however. A stiff north-easterly breeze seemed to have kept the birds down. We did hear some churring and many of the group had brief views. We did get good views of Tree Pipit, Kestrel, Buzzard and Swift however. Summary by Alan Rosney who led the trip.
Castell Nos 21st May 2023
21 GBC members enjoyed a visit to the Castell Nos upland area near Maerdy this morning. Ceri Jones led us round this new location for a field trip and Mike Shewring of the Lost Peatlands project gave us an overview of this important project which GBC have donated money to from our ‘green offset’ collections made on field trips. Being upland the number of species is not huge, but we logged 36. Highlights were 2 Cuckoos seen from the parking laybay, and 1 or poss 2 later on. Several Whinchats were seen and 2 Stonechats. Tree Pipits and Willow Warblers were singing and 2 Crossbills came down to a puddle to drink. We eventually overlooked the Tarren Y Bwllfa cwm cliff at the top end of Parc Cwm Dare and managed to ‘scope up a Peregrine sitting on a ledge. List on the trip lists page.
Cwm Claisfer – 11 May 2023
10 Club members enjoyed a trip to Cwm Claisfer near Llangynidr, and an afternoon visit to Llangorse Lake. The walk back up the long drag from the lower part of Cwm Claisfer was marred by persistent rain but we soon dried off. The Cwm is not as good as it used to be but we had nice views of a male Common Redstart and brief views of a female. Tree Pipits were active in the open areas but sadly no Pied Flys or Wood Warblers were seen. A couple of lucky folk saw 2 Cuckoos on the open moor and whilst having our snacks up by the moor, an unexpected visitor was a Little Ringed Plover that dropped in to feed on the grass in front of us, plus a male Wheatear. At Llangorse the resident Barnacle Geese were very vocal. A Common Sandpiper was seen and a Reed Warbler collecting nest material gave good photo opportunities [see sightings post 15th May]. A cuppa and a cake at the cafe were most welcome! 48 species were seen – full list on the trip lists page.
Goldcliff – 25th Apr 2023
The weather was good for our trip to Goldcliff today. It was quiet birdwise but there were some highlights. The long-staying Spotted Redshank showed well, now in breeding plumage. Just one Little Ringed Plover was seen. The Avocets were great to watch and the evocative sound of displaying Lapwings was a treat. Some of the group also saw a Great White Egret.
On the foreshore were Wheatear, Whimbrel, Curlew and Oystercatcher. Passerines weren’t great in number but Reed Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Whitethroat, Chiffchaff and Blackcap were all added to the trip list. Thanks to John Wilson for leading today and for all the club members that came along. Alan Rosney
KNNR monthly walk 15th Apr 2023
Pleasant stroll around Kenfig National Nature Reserve this morning on our monthly public walk. There were plenty of Willow Warblers, Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps there, plus a single Whitethroat. Sand Martins were plentiful over the pool with a scattering of Swallows and House Martins amongst them. A pair of Sparrowhawks put on a great display. The trip total was 49 species.
Forest of Dean – 5th Mar 2023
Successful [mostly] but chilly trip to the Forest of Dean today with another big group [22 participants]. It was too cold & still, apparently, for raptor soaring so just a few Buzzards seen from the viewpoint despite patient waiting and scanning. Highlights were Crossbills at the viewpoint, Hawfinch up in tall trees by the sportsfield in Parkend, Marsh Tit, Goosander [9 redheads] and Mandarins at Cannop ponds. 45 species in all. Full list on trip lists page.
Ogmore Estuary 26th Feb 2023
An amazing 25 GBC members enjoyed a trip to Ogmore, Sun 26 Feb, on a sunny but cold day. Despite ‘dipping’ on Purple Sandpipers along the foreshore rocks [which were fully occupied by anglers] we totted up 43 species, during an outing which included a walk up the estuary as far as just short of the water treatment works bridge. Highlights included a group of 9 Brent Geese offshore of the rivermouth, 3 Goldeneye, 4 Goosander, Wigeon, Teal, Gadwall, a Common Sandpiper and others to make up a total of 42 species – full list on the trip lists page.
Chew Valley Lake – 5th Feb 2023
It was a lovely day today for our trip to Somerset to visit Chew Reservoir. Six members scanned the vast expanse of water from Herriot’s Bridge and Heron’s Green Bay. Nearly all common wildfowl were seen and sharp-eyed Alan Rosney picked out the much wanted ‘redhead’ Smew at Heron’s Green Bay – this tiny ‘sawbill’ was pretty distant, with a group of Coot and a Black-headed Gull, but scope views were OK. We dipped on the reported Scaup. It was good to see many Goldeneye, the males often displaying. Several Great White Egrets were seen including one dwarfing a Little Egret. Blagdon Reservoir was also visited for a reported Ring-necked Duck but we didn’t find that although there was plenty to see. Finally we dropped in at Barrow Gurney ‘tanks’ by the A38 and eventually found the reported male Long-tailed Duck [well spotted David Rich!]. A good day out with by my reckoning, 56 species. Full list on the trip lists page. John Wilson
Glamorgan Bird Club 
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