Amazing turnout for our mid week trip to Goldcliff and Newport Wetlands today – 29 participants!!! Must have been the weather. Full species list yet to be ratified but is a little over 50 I think. Nothing outstanding as water levels in the lagoons at Goldcliff were too high for waders apart for a small group of resting Lapwing and some Curlew. 10 Grey Plover were on the beach with a few Dunlin, and there was a large if distant wader flock offshore at Newport Wetlands which contained Curlew, Black-tailed Godwit, Dunlin and a few Knot. Thanks to all who attended. Substantive list will go on the web site soon.
Author: John Wilson
Birder and traveller
Ogmore 19th Oct
per David Rich – 2 Great White Egrets flew down river at about 2 p.m.
Cosmeston
Another abortive attempt to find the Hobby late afternoon so no joy, although it was apparently seen briefly this morning. On W lake a drake Pochard and a drake Shoveler, and amazingly two pairs of adult Gt Crested Grebes displaying, and three Little Grebes [distant but looked like 2 ads and an imm]. Edit… Forgot i had a fly- through Stock Dove uncommon for the site.
Cosmeston
2 Ad Green Woodpeckers in W paddock and a Kingfisher W lake were the best of the bunch in a quick walk this morning. No sign of the Hobby seen recently by Graham Smith and Wayne Strong, but it wasn’t a concerted effort to look for it tbh. Only raptors were a Sparrowhawk over near the golf course and a very dark Buzzard drifting over. ….. also male Stonechat in W lake reeds. Hobby was seen again today by Graham.
East Glam Bird Report 2018
In case anyone is wondering, the 2018 East Glam Bird Report is being proof read at the moment. All content is now complete so it’s a matter of me putting together the complete pdf with colour pages, to send to the printer, once I have had the proof read text back and made any necessary adjustments. It’s all getting a bit tight for getting it out and in the post, but it is a big job, and I’m very grateful to everyone who has helped in its production.
Cosmeston & environs
A Hobby has been active by the W lake conservation area and nearby St Marys Well Bay Road (1st field on left past the railway bridge) for the last 3 days or so – per Graham Smith and Wayne Strong.
Sully shoreline
In a howling gale, 8 very tame Turnstones at the top of the beach near the cricket pitch, but nothing else. A Green Woodpecker flew up from the lawn of one of the shoreline bungalows.
Cosmeston
A little activity this morning. The W paddock hedge produced 4 fem and 1 male Blackcap, 4 Blackbird, 1 Song Thrush, 1 Chaffinch, 1 Reed Bunting, and a Goldcrest and a Coal Tit, both unusual species for that stretch of hedge. There was a light passage of Swallows overhead and over W lake I had a House Martin in with some Swallows. The usual suspects on the water. The recent pair of Pochard seem to have departed.
KNNR
A Yellow-browed Warbler was heard calling this morning with a tit flock 100m down from the reserve centre. Not seen. Also Marsh Harrier over S pool hide.
GBC films with Weatherman walking
A little while ago we were approached by the team who film Derek Brockway in his ‘Weatherman Walking’ series, which they are in the process of filming for a second series to be shown sometime in 2020. He was in the process of covering the Heritage Coast and they thought it would be good for him to meet some local birdwatchers, particularly with the interest of the resident Choughs. So six of the GBC committee them at Cwm Nash and some filming was done on the path at the top of the west cliffs. We were very fortunate in that we were entertained by three Choughs flying back and forth whilst we were there.
Cosmeston a.m.
A pair of Pochard were on W lake with 5 Tufties. 4 House Martins were over W lake although I subsequently learned that there were another 15 over E lake. 2 adult Green Woodpeckers in W paddock. Approx 130 Canada Geese on E lake. Then the horizontal drizzle/rain set in ….
September 2019
Highlights by Paul Roberts: A Wryneck at Ogmore Estuary, initially found there in August, lingered until the start of the month. A Grey Phalarope flew past Sker (28th). A Garganey was at Llanilid (10th). A report was received of both Richard’s Pipit and Woodlark at Ogmore-by-Sea (17th), but without confirmation. A Storm Petrel was off Lavernock. A Hobby was observed hunting near Ogmore Castle. Sightings from Kenfig included Bittern, Little Ringed Plover and Greenshank. Further Greenshanks were noted at Ogmore Estuary and Rumney Great Wharf, with a Merlin at the latter site, also. Firecrests were seen at Hensol Forest (two) and St Mary’s Well Bay.
Cosmeston
Uncannily calm at Cosmeston this morning [compared to the howling gales a group of Glamorgan Bird Club members were subjected to at Portland Bill the last couple of days!]. A Green Woodpecker posed nicely on one of the ‘snipe paddock’ posts albeit in poor light, and a juv Moorhen posed similarly on lily leaves at the dipping pond. There were about 50 Goldfinch feeding around W paddock.
Two upcoming events
Just a reminder that the first indoor meeting of this ‘winter’ is tomorrow evening at KNNR reserve centre starting at 7:45. Steve Roberts, an expert on the subject, will be giving a talk on Honey Buzzards.
Another upcoming event – there’s a field trip to Steart Marshes reserve near Bridgwater on Sunday 6th Oct. High tide at around 12:40. We shd see lots of waders either on the reserve or by the nearby shore. Leave Cardiff at around 8 shd get us there at 9:40 or thereabouts. Good to get a rising tide as the tide comes in very quickly there. Google Maps will find WWT Steart Marshes for you – the car park is in Stert Drove [that’s not a spelling mistake]. Let me know in advance if you want picking up at St Margaret’s Road.
A few images from GBC at Portland Obs
Clockwise from top L: Black-tailed Godwit at Lodmoor, Ruff at Lodmoor, 2nd yr Mediterranean Gull at Radipole, Kestrel at east cliffs Portland Bill, and part of a resting group of c.140 Great Black-backed Gulls on Portland Bill.
Cosmeston a.m.
Sparrowhawk flew across Sully Brook near the Medieval Village/Mile Road junction. c.30 House Martin high above there. Kingfisher flew under main bridge and along the shoreline of E lake. 4 Linnet W paddock and light Swallow passage over, plus a single Raven.
Cosmeston
During a quick walk round this morning, east paddock had a Clouded Yellow, female Blackcap, 20-30 Goldfinch, and a Jay. A light passage of Swallows overhead, the ad Little Grebe still has 1 fully grown youngster in tow and the fully grown but still stripe-headed GC Grebe seems pretty independent now.
A request from Gower OS
Colour marked Curlew
WWT has been running a captive breeding project and have colour marked 50 captive bred CURLEW with a yellow colour ring on one tibia and a white one on the other. Please report any sightings to GOS secretary Jeremy Douglas-Jones on this email address [jeremy@douglas-jones.biz] throughout the coming winter and he will make sure the data gets back to people who are running this project. Please include in your report date, time and place of sighting: photos would be an added bonus, but might be asking too much.
Safari browser problems
This site does not seem to work properly on Safari which is the default browser for Mac users. Even if you are logged in to WordPress the bar at the top of the screen which has the ‘Write’ button on the right and ‘My sites’ on the left, does not display. This seems to be a general problem. Google Chrome and Firefox are OK. I assume Internet Explorer is, although I don’t have it as I’m Mac only. John Wilson
Cosmeston
A few House Martins were over W lake this morning. The ad Little Grebe is still feeding a youngster and the young GC Grebe is now full sized but still with a striped head. Quite a few Emperors at the dipping pond.
Glamorgan Bird Club 
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