c.300 Black-headed Gulls sitting on W lake in the drizzle this morning was quite impressive. In amongst them were 5 Common Gulls – a good count for the park. Otherwise a pretty dire walk.

Some good counts of Goosander in Porthcawl recently per Dave Bush:

15th Nov c.20 on Wilderness Pool; 18th Nov – 7 on Wilderness Pool and 10 on Pwll-y-Waun pond which flew off towards Wilderness as fishermen approached. Thanks Dave.

14 Pochard on w lake this a.m. and c10 Redwing a Mistle Thrush and a Green Pecker in W paddock.

Lavernock reserve late morning seemed virtually birdless, except for a Buzzard circling. Then as I walked back to the car the local Harris Hawk did a nice couple of circuits overhead. No camera sadly. On the coast path I was pleased to see a single Brambling with a few Chaffinch just past the big house.

c.30 Tufties present this morning. 2 Green ‘Peckers were in E paddock, and there were a few Redwing together with 6 or more Song Thrushes in the W paddock hedgerow, plus a couple of Meadow Pipits. A Bittern has apparently been reported recently, and there was apparently a decent Starling murmuration y’day eve at around 4:30 [per Jeff Curtis].

Also 2nd hand per Phil Bristow who I met at Cossie this morning – some decent migration at Lavernock Pt with many Chaffinch, some Brambling and also Hawfinch and Crossbill over.

Just a heads up that the 2016 bird report files are with the printer. I have seen a proof and it looks good. I’m away now for 2 weeks so not sure when we’ll get it posted but bear with us. John W

V v wet this morning but there was a Med Gull on the W lake posts. Haven’t seen one in the park fo quite a while. Difficult to see detail but could have been AdW or poss late 2ndS [thought I could make out 2 v small black spots in the primaries]. Graham Smith had a Med/B-h Gull hybrid on Penarth beach recently but I don’t think this was it. Bill looked fully Med Gull weight and size was full Med Gull.

News just in via Twitter – a Rock Thrush has been found at Pwll-du Quarry just E of The Blorenge. Instructions are to park on the road at SO244119 just NW of the Lamb & Fox pub, then walk north then NE along public footpath for 1/2 mile.

Merlin was seen by the wartime emplacements at approx 16.30 by Matt Binding. Poss a juv

Have just rec’d a report from Sat 7th of Redwing feeding on yew berries at St. Peter’s Church by Old Cogan Hall Farm – thanks Christine Dunn our contact for Trinity Church – Penarth, where we are measuring up for the installation of Swift boxes.

There were c.30 House Martins feeding over W lake this morning for abut 10 mins, then the moved on. A Coal Tit feeding in trees by the Med. Village was fairly unusual, and a Goldcrest there. There were 3 Mistle Thrush in W paddock and a Kingfisher at the dragonfly pond. Also along by the Med Village concrete path there were quite a few Red Admirals and 1 Painted Lady amongst them and a Comma, plus a few Ivy Bees. Also Common Darters and Migrant Hawkers still around.

Some birdies and one of many dragonflies out in the sun this morning at Cosmeston. The GCG young were resting by the sluice on E lake. There were 4 Buzzards playing and mewing all the time, Green Pecker as on the ‘snipe paddock’ posts, and there were many Common Darters. Also 2 Kingfishers were at the dragonfly pond. PLus osme ringed gulls, all Lsr Black-backs – Blue F:300 [Ad], Blue F:466 [1st yr} and White with black letters OLF [Ad].

Don’t forget the first Glamorgan Bird Club indoor meeting of this autumn/winter TONIGHT! [Tues 3rd] eve.7:45 p.m. at KNNR. Paul Bowden is giving an illustrated talk on Birding around the Arctic Circle, which will be very interesting I’m sure.

Short a.m. walk. 2 Pochard on W lake, my first of this winter. 16 Tufted Duck, 2 Little Grebe, 2 Buzzard, 4 separate feeding flocks og Long-tailed Tits, 2 Goldcrest with them, and the usual suspects. generally.

News from Gower [main details only on Twitter]. A Booted Warbler plus Yellow-browed & Firecrest have been seen in sycamores over School Lane, opposite Middleton Farm, near Rhossili yesterday and today.

1 Common Sandpiper, 1 Grey Wag, and 2 Rock Pipits on shoreline of S Cardiff Bay by Plas Taliesin [Penarth Marina] late morning.

The GBC trip to Goldcliff and Newport Wetlands today gave us 77 species including 14 species of wader. Highlights of the latter were 6 Little Stints, 2 Ruff, 2 Spotted Redshank, and at least 8 Greenshank. A male Marsh Harrier performed well and we had Pere, Kes and a large fem Sparrowhawk plus the impressive white Buzzard. Migrants included 3 Wheatear, a few Yellow Wags seen by some, and at Uskmouth we had a brief Sedge Warbler. All in all a good trip with 18 participants.

Just a heads up:

Want to know more about Brazil’s Pantanal? Richard Smith will be giving an illustrated talk to the Gower Ornithological Society this Friday 22nd at the Environment Centre – Pier Street (on right hand side of Morgan’s Hotel) Swansea at 7 p.m.

Highlights of the GBC monthly walk this morning were a Blakc Tern feeding over the pool for some time, a brief visit by an Arctic Tern, a Firecrest in bushes as the south end of the pool [seen earlier by Neil Donaghy – an also yesterday]. Unfortunately I was the only one who saw the latter reasonably clearly – it flitted in a Sycamore then flew across the path into dense Willow and wouldn’t show again. A Wigeon was also on the E Pool shoreline. Other than that there were plenty of Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs. Over 40 species seen.

Just a quick walk this morning. 3 sightings of Kingfisher involving 2 birds, 1 by W lake grassy ‘beach’ and the other flew under the main bridge E lake > W lake. 8 Tufted Ducks, Little Grebe with 1 imm, GC Grebe with large imm, good number of hirundines [Swallow and House Martin], ad Heron in W lake trees, 1 Mistle Thrush in W paddock.