Of interest at Cosmeston this morning, a Wheatear was in the west paddock near the central hedge, and whilst watching 30 or so Sand Martins over W lake a Swift appeared briefly then headed off over E lake and was lost to view.

Had a flock of Long-tailed Tits in the garden today and yesterday – pretty unusual for us. Also a lone Goldfinch on our seed feeder today.
At Cosmeston this morning a Chiffchaff was in the snipe paddock, a male Bullfinch by the mile road adjacent top of W paddock, an ad Little Grebe with a fully grown juv on W lake and about 20 Sand Martins feeding there.

Had a v brief view of a Redstart on the W paddock hedge on a quick walk round before my weekly game of tennis in Newport this morning.

Pretty quiet bird-wise on a walk out to Sker Pt then back via Sker Farm & golf course. Couple of Common Whitethroat on the way out and a good show of butterflies on some Hemp Agrimony, with 10 Red Admirals, 2 Comma, 2 Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock and a few Meadow Browns. Also had a fem Common Blue [I think]. At Sker there were a couple of Wheatear and some Linnets, and near Sker Farm a few Stonechat incl a young male, a Meadow Pipit, and a Kes on the telephone wires.

Cosmeston a.m. I thought this was a tree full of Swallows and grabbed a few shots, but when I zoom them in they seem to be mostly Sand Martins and one or two juv Swallows. Never seen that many in a tree before. This was in the field that has the Medieval Dovecote. Further along in the next field there were 3 Common Whitethroat, 3 Stonechat, male Blackcap, 1 Raven and 1 Buzzard over and a couple of people had seen 2 Tree PIpits. I also had a calling fly-over Yellow Wagtail. There were 2 Whinchat there y’day apparently.

Pretty quiet on a walk through E and W paddocks this morning. The Silver-Y moth was nice to see [see pic]. A Sparrowhawk was circling over E lake when I arrived and another was with 1 of the 4 Buzzards of the other day, over the Dovecote field. Buzzards very vocal again today. A Jay was in the edge of Cogan Wood at the southern entrance. There were a lot of Swallows circling high above the Dovecote field. In the pouring rain yesterday there were about 20 Sand Martins and a couple of House Martins flying around just above the surface of W lake.

Fem Blackcap seen at Cosmeston this morning and a couple of Chiffchaff but no other interesting passerines apart from the currently resident Linnet flock. Did manage to grab a couple of Sparrowhawk shots, when a couple were doing a bit of airborne combat. Rubbish pix as I had to leg it from the lee of some trees too see them then get the cam in the right mode! Whilst in the edge of Cogan Wood I heard a lot of Buzzard ‘mewing’ and when I emerged there were 4 circling together over the wood, poss a family group – no pic. The Common Darter was on the fence by the dragonfly pond.

Did a delayed WeBS at the Rhymney Estuary {Green Point} this morning [was raining y’day]. Main show was 500 Redshank and the bizarre and surprising sight of a Sanderling flying in off the channel, flying a short distance upstream then going up fairly high and circling around randomly over the near edge of Lamby landfill before disappearing off in the direction of Rumney Gt Wharf. Only other countable birds were 5 Shelduck, 4 Teal and 55 Mallard, plus 150 Black-headed Gulls sitting offshore. A Peregrine oversaw my count sitting up high on the pylon opposite Green Point.
Decided on a late afternoon stroll around E & W paddocks at Cosmeston. Met Graham Smith who had seen a Redstart and Tree Pipit. Couldn’t find those but had a nice little feeding flock of LTTs plus Blue & Great Tits and two Willow Warblers. There was also a flighty flock of around 40 Linnet in W paddock. They’ve been around for a few days now.

A Spotted Flycatcher and a fem Blackcap were high in trees 100 beyhond the dragonfly pond this a.m. Apparently there were 3 in the park y’day plus a Whinchat. An amazing report on tgwitter this a.m. – A Brown Booby was seen briefly off Port Eynon on Gower!!

Went to Goldcliff in the vain hope of seeing the Pectoral Sandpiper in what turned out to be v diff conditions – the wind was coming straight at the viewing platforms – scope shaking like fury! However managed to ID 1 Little Stint and 1 v brief Curlew Sand, then there were 100’s of Ringed Plover, Dunlin, plus 4 Knot incl 1 in almost full breeding plumage, a few Turnstone, 100+ Blackwit, Redshank. An imm Peregrine flew in and sat on the deck.

In the light on-and-off spitting rain, some activity in the ‘snipe paddock’ this morning: 1 poss 2 Spotted Flycatchers, several imm Common Whitethroat, Chiffchaff, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Linnet, 1 Reed Bunting, Blue Tit & Great Tit. Pair of Bullfinch by back entrance to Cogan Wood and a single in the W paddock hedge. 1 Green Woodpecker in the Lower Dovcote meadow.

The first of some trial GBC field trips to locations where social distancing is feasible [as announced on the <Events><Field Trips> page, this one had 7 participants plus myself and Alan Rosney as leaders. We were lucky with the weather. Kidwelly provided a good selection of waders with Common and Green Sandpiper, a juv Ruff, several Greenshank, Dunlin, Ringed Plover and 2-300 Redshank. A couple of us saw a high fly-over Marsh Harrier being mobbed by a crow. At the old ‘harbour’ at Burry Port there were many Sandwich Terns with a few Common Terns amongst the huge flock of gulls on the beach, which included a good number of Mediterranean Gulls, all the ones we noticed being adults. Along the tideline there were 20 or so Sanderling, plus Ringed Plover and Dunlin. A successful first trial then, with a total of 46 species seen. A few photos below.

Best find in the soaring temps this morning was this Jersey Tiger moth on Hemp Agrimony by the upper end of Mile Road near the kissing gste into W paddock. The Black-tailed Skimmer was one of many by the ‘golf course’ shore of E lake. Graham Smith had seen Lesser Emperor there earlier too.

Too hot for serious birding at Cosmeston this morning. Whilst in the shade of the car park trees with our coffee I noticed this Wren which was hopping around in front of the parked cars, right in the open. At one point it spread its wings and ‘sunned’ for a short while but I wasn’t quick enough to get a shot. I did carefully get up and grab a few other shots and on looking at the pix it’s a very bedraggled individual. On the cam I thought it was a fledgling but on cropping on the laptop, in these shots you can see the almost bald head and throat, and the very poor state of the main feather tracts. It hopped around, sometimes going underneath the cars then flew up onto a tree by us and eventually entered the nest box. It stayed there for a few minutes and then suddenly exited and flew down into the bushy landscaping by the parking bays.

A tad late posting, but walked from E. Aberthaw round the front of the power station to W Aberthaw on Sat 8th. There was a nice breeze coming up the channel. At E. Aberthaw lagoon a pair of Mute Swans with 4 fully grown cygnets, several Coot, a Moorhen. On the power station buildings, about 400 Starlings, and in the grounds a flock of 250 resting Gulls, mostly Herring. A rather dusky looking male Pied Wag was on the beach [coal dust??]. On the shoreline pools, 2 Litte Egret and 2 Grey Heron, plus 30 Oystercatcher. A flock of c.20 Linnet were flitting around and by the Leys, and female Wheatear and a feeding flock of Goldfinch.

Not much birding today but 5, poss 7 Tufted Duck on E lake was a sure sign of early autumn. Of most interest was a large number of Autumn Lady’s Tresses orchids [40+] in and adjacent to E paddock. A Lesser Emperor dragonfly was at the N end of W lake but I did not check for that but it was seen.

In our garden this afternoon, heard a Chiffchaff calling and then saw it briefly bathing in the bird bath. A couple of Swifts were flying high over.

6th Aug: 4 Common Whitethroat in bushes in the snipe paddock, 30 Linnet, 10 Goldfinch, and 3 Greenfinch in W paddock area, and 2 adult Little Grebes with the 1 small chick on W lake
7th Aug: 1 juv Common Whitethroat in bush by the Mile Road kissing gate into W paddock.

A fem Blackcap was feeding on Elder Berries at the far end of W paddock this a.m., and 2 Common Whitethroat were there also. 2 Green Woodpeckers present [1 E paddock, 1 W paddock], and a Great Spotted Woodpecker was on a treetop near the dragonfly pond. 30 noisy Swallows flew over the lower dovecote field, heading towards the coast.