A few Swallows passing through. The W lake GC Grebes now are 2 fully grown stripey imms [from a clutch of 4] and 3 half grown [from a second clutch of 4 of a different pair]. They were all just too far off to get decent photos. A few punky Coot chicks still around. Also had 3 Song Thrushes and a couple of Chiffchaffs singing.
Only birds of note were a couple of Swifts and a Buzzard … and this Cormorant which had caught an Eel in ther middle of West Lake.
The Pyramidal Orchids are doing very well in E paddock and 3 Mistle Thrush flew out of there this a.m. Met a friendly juv Robin in W paddock, where a Grey Heron flew over. O/W the 2 GC Grebe families are doing OK except I think the 2nd pair have now lost 1 of their 4 humbugs – the first pair had 4 also, and lost 2.
Downside – the car park is now open again as is the cafe for take-away drinks [not sure about food]. Car park pretty full but park in general OK with plenty of space. Incredibly I saw three people with looked like a kayak on the far shoreline of W lake, in the Conservation Area. I called the ranger who I know, and when she eventually went to investigate they were out on W lake paddle boarding! They were told to leave. Also idiot young lads jumping into E lake by the bridge despite the warning signs. Silly season!
After some discussion on committee and at a Commttee meeting just before lockdown in March 2020, Glamorgan Bird Club agreed a Climate Change Emergency Policy, by which we could commit to various actions to try and reduce the Club’s affects on climate change by virtue our activities. The policy document can be seen & downloaded here.
At the Cardiff end towards Roath Dock, Song Thrush, 1 Oystercatcher on the environment building docking ramp, 1 Common Sandpiper across flew from the direction of the Norwegian Church onto the shore somewhere by the new path, juv GC Grebe playing hide & seek, quite a few Greenfinch which seem to like that end of the barrage. No Swift, and the Swift tower call system making a weird croaking noise so the repair not successful. Lots of Sand Martins at the Roath Dock nest holes. Count the resting Sand Martins in the twiggy bush – they like perching up there. I reckon there’s 18 or 19.
Very pleased to see that a second pair of Great Crested Grebes have also hatched a family of 4 chicks. Let’s see if they can all progress to adulthood. The first cluthc of four are now down to 2 almost fully grown juvs now so they shd be safe. Yesterday there were 2 immature Herons by the far side of W lake but they weren’t there this morning. This morning there were a few House and Sand Martins over E lake and a Green Woodpecker near the dragfonfly pond. The drake Tufted Duck was also present on E lake yesterday but I couldn’t see the female.
Very quiet at the moment bird-wise but here’s a few Corvid pix. A juvenile Crow was ‘anting’ in the empty car park [3 images of the bird by the kerb stones]. You can see the ants on the plumage if you look carefully. And the remaining two are portraits of a Cosmeston regular who hangs out around the entrance and car park and by the ‘swan feeding’ corner of E lake. He’s known to afficionados as ‘Beaky’ due to the extra long hook on the tip of his upper mandible. I say ‘he’ but of course its impossible to sex them on outward appearance as far as I know. For good measure there’s a nice photo of a confiding female/imm Blackbird I saw by the coast parth at Sully on Saturday 6th.
Alan Rosney has now completed the latest newsletter – well done Alan. Due to the current situation we were not able to produce a printed version so if you normally receive it by email that will happen. If you don’t then there’s a copy online which you can get by following this link: click here
It should be noted that there are quite a number of hyperlinks in the newsletter. Unfortunately these are not clickable and nor do they work if cut & pasted [only possible if the link is on a single line alone, although that is academic]. This is because the pdf is a compressed file [otherwise it would be too large with the images it contains]. So, in order to visit the hyperlinked locations it’s necessary to laboriously manually type in the address in your browser. We’re sorry about that but circumstances predict.
I have had a message concerning a strange unidentified and unfamiliar bird song/call heard from a thicket by J.32 Coryton by someone called Jonathan Harris and forwarded to me by GBC member John Aggleton. Jonathan did two recordings the links to which are below. They are stored on our Google drive so these links should work. The recordings are .wav files. Turn the volume up – it’s a piping call on some occasions with a descending trill at the end
First one: click here
Second one: click here
4 Green Woodpeckers seen yesterday [5th] in a wet walk – 2 in E. Paddock and 2 in W. paddock. Today, 6th, small nos. of House Martin, Sand Martin and Swallow over W lake and the NE corner of E lake. There are 100’s of spikes of Pyramidal Orchid in E paddock – I don’t understand why these are doing well but the Bee Orchids have suffered or not appeared at all in the dry weather.
First visit yesterday to the barrage since lockdown started. Managed a shot of a pair of House Martins doing some refurbishment on a house in Penarth Marina. By the water taxi embarcation jetty a Mute Swan with 6 cygnets. At the Cardiff end of the barrage a Common Whitethroat was singing at the top of a tree and a rather tatty looking male Blackbird was on one of the old mooring posts. A Cetti’s Warbler was singing just before the old Roath Dock. Plenty of Sand Martins nesting in the holes of Roath Dock. No sign of any Swifts at all.
Highlights: A breeding plumaged male Grey Phalarope stopped off to refuel for a day at Sker Pool (29th). A Hoopoe was seen over the A465 near Hirwaun (4th). A male Golden Oriole was reported over a Cardiff garden (10th). A Long-tailed Duck lingered until early in the month at Kenfig Pool. A Quail was calling at Mynydd Eglwysilan. Two Little Terns and a Storm Petrel were off Sker Point. Hobbies were noted at Ogmore Estuary, Bridgend (singles at Island Farm and near the town centre), Garth, Cyncoed, Roath and Porth. A Cuckoo was at Merthyr Mawr Warren. Four Greenshanks called in at Ogmore Estuary, where two Little Egrets appeared late in the month. A Little Owl was at Old Castle Down. Hawfinches were observed at two locations in the vicinity of Bridgend. Some Crossbill dispersal was observed, including 11 at Bridgend (28th) and five over Lisvane Reservoir (29th). Summary by Paul Roberts
Rather hot walk this morning and not much excitement. There were 19 Canada Geese, a lot more than in recent weeks [no-one to feed them!] and 8 Mute Swans, Great Crested Grebe pair still have the two remaining young which are now 2/3 their size, 2 Little Grebes [no sign of any young as yet], 1 Cormorant [there were 4 y’day], a pair of Tufted Duck on E. lake, 3 Swift over W lake. Not many small birds – 2 Blackcap heard, 1 Reed Warbler seen brifely from a distance, at the dipping pond.
Managed a few shots of a Reed Warber this morning, in the small reed fringes by the now defunct first viewpoint as you exit the wooded path that passes the bird table. A few Swallows over the lake and the Gt Crested Grebe pair that had a record 4 chicks now only have 2, which are now about 2/3 adult size. I saw a KIngfisher briefly over W lake yesterday. Have not encountered the three juvs again but I expect they are around.
On 19th there were 2 juv Mistle Thrushes near the dragonfly pond. Ads were frequenting this area earlier in the year so I suspect they have bred poss in the edge of Cogan Wood. Also 1 Buzzard over.
On 20th E lake had 11 Canada Geese.
Finally I have now received confirmation that the Stonechat breeding success is the first recorded breeding of this species at Cosmeston. Also to update the record, they were in fact first discovered by local birder Graham Smith, so well done Graham.
There were around 10 Swifts flying around this morning, so I experimented trying to get some flight images. Other birds this morning were a male Stonechat feeding 2 juvs near Cogan Wood. I was alerted to their presence yesterday by my friend Wayne Strong. Couldn’t find them y’day but succeeded this morning. Am currently making enquiries as to whether this is a first for the site. Also in the same area, 2 Linnets, unusual at Cosmeston in the summer, a Reed Warbler seen singing in the reeds by the adjacent Sully Brook and a Common Whitethroat there too. Leps seen were Common Blue, Dingy Skipper and Brimstone.
Cosmeston this morning. A Small Copper butterfly was very nice, and a pair of Hairy Dragonflies were over the dragonfly pond plus a Large Red Damselfly nearby. At the main bridge I saw a first, then a second Kingfisher whizz round into the small adjacent inlet on the E. lake side. I crept round and found them sitting in the shade over the water, and then noticed a third. They were in deep shadow but I took a couple of photos with the cam zoomed out to 600mm, and they are young birds, so the pair have had three young this year! I saw one adult carrying a fish a couple of weeks ago. One pic shows all three birds almost as taken [small crop] and the second, the two sitting together – much bigger crop. Also 2 Swift feeding over W lake, and the 4 GC Grebe chicks still doing well. Finally the park is now officially re-opened to pedestrians and cycles. Quite rightly the car park remains closed. The boardwalks are closed as they are too narrow for safe spacing.
Also a nice Dog Rose from the othe day.
2 Jays, 1 Sparrowhawk having a right old barney with a Crow, 20-30 Sand Martin, 3 House Martin and 2 Swift, 2 Goldfinch, 4 GC Grebe chicks growing well, several Blackcap singing and other usual suspects. Mute Swans still staying away, although 6 present today and a couple of Canadas.
Complete list of 23 species. Common Whitethroat 1, Dunnock 1, Blue Tit 1, Blackbird 1, Jackdaw 20, Carrion Crow 4, Magpie, LBBG Gull, Herring Gull, Coot with young, Little Grebe 2 ads, GC Grebe 2 [just the pair on a nest – couldn’t see the ad with 4 chicks], Reed Bunting 1m, Cormorant 1, Mute Swan 3 [no-one to feed them so I guess they’ve all gone to the Bay or Knap Lake], Canada Goose 3, Buzzard 1, Sand Martin 10, House Martin 1, Swallow, Woodpigeon, Feral Pigeon, Robin [heard only].
On the way home, Lesser Whitethroat singing in trees to the right of the entrance to Glamorganshire Golf Club.
Along the coastal path by Sully sports grounds there were 3 Whimbrel, and there were 9 Oystercatcher initially on Sully Island beach but then flew along by Sully Bay as the tide began to fall.
Glamorgan Bird Club 
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