Cossie this morning. Not much to report. A fem type Scaup was sleeping on W lake and there was a drake Shoveler there too. A Peregrine shot through over Cogan Wood. Other than that Chiffie, Willow Warbler and Blackcap singing. Grabbed a couple of shots of a Chiffie, incl in full song, and a Buzzard overlooking W lake. Noted a Coot on a nest on E lake.

Cossie – 20-30 Meadow Pipits around the place incl car park and swan feeding area. Scaup still E lake. Flock of c.50 Redwing by golf course. Only 1 Fieldfare seen. 3 buzzards. Also 6 Sand Martin trying to feed low over W lake. 3 Shoveler W lake bay.

Penarth – flock of 30 or so Redwing flew up Westbourne Road and the odd sight of a Meadow Pipit walking along the pavement opp our house.

a.m. 3 Sand Martin desperately trying to catch insects over W lake. Lonesome Stonechat in the middle of W paddock and 2 Mistle Thrush thrush there.

Cossie News from the past couple of days:

Today – 1 male Wheatear in W paddock not far beyond the kissing gate with a Mipit. 1 Kingfisher W lake by the grassy [muddy] beach near the wooden bridge. 2 Teal flew over W paddock and then Cogan Wood. Drake Scaup still present, E lake by the cafe. Green Pecker calling incessantly in Cogan Wood and Nuthatch singing there. Also probably 100+ Frogs in the dipping pond and quite a lot of Toads too – see pix below.

Yesterday a Chiffchaff was flycatching near the dipping pond and the day before 3 Sand Martin over W lake.

A pair ofBuzzards have been active a vocal over the wooded area near the dipping pond.

A Chiffchaff was flycatching near the dipping pond this morning and there was 1 of a pair of Buzzards that has been frequenting and calling in that area in the last few days. A pair of Little Grebe are very active on W lake – lot of whinnying going on. The drake Scaup was apparently still present although I didn’t see it. Graham Smith had 8 Sand Martin early on. A Mistle Thrush was in W paddock. Also of interest there were a lot of Frogs in the dipping pond and also some Toads.

Slow walk round this morning – 3 Sand Martin over W lake and a 2nd cal yr Yellow-legged Gull on E lake. A pair of Buzzards were very active over the E lake boardwalk area. Pr of Little Grebe whinnying on W lake.

Managed a slow walk round this morning. Highlights – drake Gt Scaup still present, in W lake ‘bay’ seen from the bridge, Med Gull seen by Jeff Curtis, an ad Yell-legged Gull in middle of E lake and pr Gt Crested Grebe displaying.

My first visit, after getting back from a mega trip to Guatemala at 12:30 a.m. today! Highlights were a drake Greater Scaup on E lake, a male Stonechat on the snipe paddock fencing and a single Snipe seen briefly there.

A nice sight this morning was a Merlin which flew overhead over W paddock heading towards E paddock and the golf course. The Bullfinches were still in the same place as the other day, this time with 3 Goldfinch, all feeding on the ground at the far end of W paddock. A Common Snipe flew around the snipe paddock.

At Cossie this morning 1 Kingfisher across W lake, 1 Mistle Thrush W paddock and 3 Bullfinch at RH far end of W paddock feeding on the ground, 2 Buzzard over Cogan Wood, 1 Greylag Goose W lake, and Gareth [The Tax] Jenkins by the cafe!

Goldcliff p.m. – low tide and first hide only – 3 Greenshank, 2 Spotted Redshank, 5 Common Redshank, 3 Little Egret, 1 fem Marsh Harrier, 1 Kes, c200 Lapwing, 2 Snipe, 3 Stonechat plus Teal & Shoveler. Of interest was that one of the Common Snipe was bouncing up & down just like a Jack Snipe, but it was definitely a Common as it showed its bill fully. Never seen a Common Snipe do this.

A drake Scaup reported on the lake this morning [Bob Mitchell].

Saw the male G S Woodpecker on Cogan Wood again this morning, but no luck with Marsh Tit.

The fem type Black Redstart was flycatching at 4:45 p.m. and onwards at Penarth Marina his aft. Seemed to concentrate on the roofs of the houses around the small ‘private’ square that faces on to the marina.

A kingfisher flew across W lake this morning and landed in a tree by the middle viewpoint. Otherwise much the same as recently. Pochard number around 25 or so, many hiding in the reed edges.

Yesterday 12th Feb per Phil & Sandie Hardwick. 97 Lapwing & 5 Golden Plover in a field at the above at SS869858.

An AdW Med Gull was off Penarth seafront this afternoon, with the BH Gulls, occasionally using the roof of the pavilion to rest. I think this bird has been around for a while.

The GND of y’day was apparently still n E lake at 9 a.m. today but I and several others could not find it on either lake late morning. Ditto the Pintail. The imm Iceland Gull on E lake this morning was a nice find by Mike Pointon [see photo in his post below], before it flew off just before I got to where he was standing!. The Redpolls haven’t been seen for a couple of days.

per Wayne Strong – GN Diver and Pintail W lake this morning. Nice one Wayne.

Exc. GBC trip today with 21 participants. Total of 62 species seen with highlights of 2 v smart Med Gulls, 1 AdW at Portobello and 1 Ad with almost full hood at Ogmore-by Sea, 13 Goldeneye, no Purple Sands on the rocks sadly, Slav Grebe at Kenfig Pool and finally 2 Short-dared Owls seen flying in the dunes observed from a high point not far from the reserve centre. 1 was seen to circle up very high in the company of a Kestrel [apparently also seen to do this yesterday by Dave Carrington]. The full trip list is available as a pdf from the <Sightings><GBC Trip Lists> menu item on the main web site – here’s a link – http://www.glamorganbirds.org.uk/gbc-trip-lists.html

There were at least 3 Lesser Redpoll feeding on Alder cones on the RH side of W paddock this morning, about 200m up from the kissing gate, found yesterday by Annie Irving. Also 2 Green Woodpeckers flew up from the path between E paddock and the golf course.

Just a quick reminder that there’s a GBC indoor meeting tomorrow eve  7:45 p.m. KNNR [Tues 6th Feb]. Rio Grande Birding – Dave Rich has been to the United States on numerous occasions. This talk covers a visit to the deep south.