A late morning figure-of-eight walk round the lakes to avoid the mud! An adult Yellow-legged Gull was on E lake, and there were 2 Common Gulls on W lake, an adult and a 2nd winter. There were 2 pairs of GC Grebes, a pair of Gadwall and the usual Tufties and Pochard distributed between both lakes. Too cold to stand and count them!

Before the drizzle set in this morning, 3 Hawfinch flew back & forth over the trees behind the dragonfly pond but didn’t settle. A Green Woopecker was in the same area.

Bumped into local birders Mathew Meehan and Alex Bevan [not literally!]. Matt informed me that the Hawfinches were still around [now c.10 birds]. After a few minutes standing in the rain, 3 suddenly appeared in the tree tops, then dropped out of sight, then 5 more appeared and sat in the top twigs of a tall tree. I managed to fire off a few record shots. They were at the top of 40-50ft high trees and about 100 – 200m distant, and against a light sky. So 2 ‘as taken’ shots below and 2 mega crops from effectvely the same shots. Camera was at max Zoom [600mm DSLR equiv]. One crop shows a bird just as it dropped off its perch, showing the very distinctive broad white wing bars. The cropped perched in the open shot shows the charateristic short tail with a white terminal band. Apologies to those familiar but if you’ve not seen one before these are features to look out for if and when you get the chance. Also present on W lake were a pair of Wigeon, a pair of Gadwall and 2 pairs of Shoveler. Very thin sprinkling of snow.

Nothing too exciting but a nice sunny walk. The House Sparrows in the clifftop bushes were enjoying the sun, and a Common Gull flew by as we walked along the esplanade. So clear that both bridges were visible – the first time in ages.

Late morning before the rain. No show by any Hawfinches this morning, although I didn’t linger very long. Couple of Rooks in field beyond far end of W paddock was a year tick. W lake had 1 drake Wigeon and 1 drake Gadwall by the posts and a Common Gull on the posts. Little Grebe was whinnying frequently. There were 40 Pochard – 35 on E lake and 5 on W lake, all drakes exc 5. It was sunny, but dark clouds to the NW had a rainbow which was reflected in the dragonfly pond.

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Walked along Sully shoreline to walk the dog. There were 17 Curlew feeding on the sports field, and 15 confiding Turnstone amongst the seaweed at the top of the beach. About 15 distant Shelduck on Sully Island topped up my year list [as did the Curlew as it happens]. The grassy path is very muddy so we walked back along the rocky shore and came across a smart tail-less Pied Wag which I’ve named Short-tailed Wagtail [Motacilla alba brevicaudatus :-)]. A couple of Rock Pipits and normal wagtails were on the cricket pitch and as we got back to the cricket clubhouse start point, a smart male Stonechat was posing on top of the concrete posts there.

Nice surprise this morning, when I met Graham Smith and Matt Meehan. They’d seen a Hawfinch, found earlier by Alex Bevan. Not showing when I arrived but after c.20 mins Matt refound it and I got flight views until it landed at the top of a tree. It then almost immediately flew back again and was joined by two others at the top of a tree in the eastern fringe of Cogan Wood. Viewing was from by the muddy track beyond the dragonfly pond. Also in the same trees a Great Spotted Woodpecker flew out and a Green Woodpecker showed briefly. A pair of Great Crested Grebes displayed briefly on W lake, where there were the usual Tufties and 32 Pochard, plus a drake Shoveler hiding in the edge of the reed bed.
Lavernock Road was very busy and there must have been at least 80 cars, probably more, in the car park, so not many people are obeying the exercise from your front door rule.

There were 40 Pochard in total this morning, split roughly 50/50 between the two lakes – my highest count of Pochard here since a count of 37 in Feb 2019. The Tufted numbered about 200. There was 1 drake Wigeon on W lake, calling quite frequently and a couple of Teal skulking along the reed edges. In the snipe enclosure a pair of Bullfinch flew across one of the cut ‘rides’, a new bird for 2021, and there were 2 Green Woodpeckers there too. Loads of Blackbird in the park [I got up to about 20] and there were around 50 Redwing in and around W paddock.

On 10th a walk round and complete list produced 31 species. I added Reed Bunting for the year, and other highlights were all 5 thrushes incl 2 Song Thrush, 4 Mistle Thrush, lots of Blackbirds and a sprinkling of Redwing and Fieldfare, and 6 Greenfinch. Green Woodpecker as usual in W paddock, 13 Pochard, and a Common Gull on the W lake posts. The S end of W lake was partly frozen and had a bunch of Black-headed Gulls sitting on the ice.
On 11th there were 23 Pochard with the Tufties on W lake.

On 7th we walked along Penarth clifftop starting in sunshine and then the fog rolled in. I did get a first of the year Kestrel, and a Wren and the usual House Sparrowds were active in the clifftop bushes!
Today, 8th Jan we went back to Cosmeston. There were 2 Green Woodpeckers in W paddock [looked like a pair but couldn’t get close enough to be sure]. Heard 3 Nuthatches in Cogan Wood but not a single one showed! The lower Dovecote sloping field had a pair of Stonechat [new for year] and about 10 Fieldfare, and in the car park, Redwing were on the central grass area, and another new bird in the form of a Siskin was with Goldfinches in the car park trees. Siskin are a bit of a rarity there these days. A Song Thrush posed nicely in Ivy by the exit.

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On 4th Jan a Snipe flew out of the fenced in enclosure beyond the dragonfly pond [what I call the snipe paddock]. Then on 5th Jan there were 245 Tufted Ducks [230 on E lake and 15 on W lake], 26 Pochard [19 on E lake, 7 on W lake], the most this winter so far. Today, 6th Jan an adult Common Gull was on W lake for a short while [they have been in short supply this winter, even in Cardiff Bay], and a drake Wigeon was skulking around the reedbed fringe of W lake. Pic below of fem Blackbird in Cogan Wood and the ad Common Gull.

On W lake this morning, there were 10 Teal, a pair of Wigeon, 9 Pochard, 100+ Tufties, and a Common Gull. A Cetti’s Warbler sang near the bird table and there were around 10 Chaffinch there. Someone has put up a couple of feeders and there was seed on the ground. In the total of around 120 Tufted Duck on both lakes, I would estimate that around 80% at least of them, are drakes.

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New year’s day dog walk. A good selection of wildfowl – 120 Tufties, 16 Pochard [7 E lake 9 W lake], 3 Shoveler (2m 1f) on E lake, a pair of Wigeon and a hiding drake Teal on W lake, plus Mallard, Mute Swan and Canadas. Other watefowl were Coot, Moorhen, 3 Little Grebe, 2 GC Grebe, 1 Cormorant, Water Rail heard in the snipe paddock. Gulls – 1 Common Gull on W lake posts, plus LBBG, HG and Black-headed Gull. A smattering of common birds including a Green Woodpecker made the total in just a 45 min walk, 32 species.

There were 120 Tufted Ducks [100 on E lake and 20 on W lake], 12 Pochard [3 on E lake 9 on W lake] and 1 drake Wigeon well hidden in the edge of the W lake ‘island’.

Highlights [such as they are] at Cosmeston this morning: best was an adult Common Gull initally on W lake then in the SW corner of E lake. There have been very few this winter. A couple of drake Pochard were hiding in the reed edges on W lake and about 20 Fieldfare were in trees near the small pond in the dip by the N corner of W lake, and feeding on the ground to the right thru the gate. Couple of Mistle Thrushes with them too.

From yesterday there was a remarkable record [and photo] of a Red-breasted Merganser well inland on the lower lake at Clydach Vale CP. They are scarce enough in E Glam [maybe 1 record a year, if that]. Possibly due to storm Bella.