c.300 B-h Gulls on W lake, and 3 Common Gull with them. O/W pretty quiet.

This morning: The 8 Scaup [4m 4f] were by the inner shore at the Penarth end and the Long-tailed Duck was about 1/2 way along. 27 Cormorant were sitting on the fish pass fencing. When we returned, a sluice was open and as per the other day, they were all diving and catching Lampreys. At least 4 Rock Pipits along the barrage, 2 Grey Wags seen [1 on the barrage and 1 on the old Penarth port authority building next to the Custom House].

The Long-tailed Duck was still present, plus 5 of the 8 Scaup by the inner shore, and Cormorants were catching eels at the barrage outflow.

Thx Alan for the news, and great find!. For those who don’t use Facebook and therefore haven’t registered for it and cannot see the SWB FB page, here’s the details of what Alan posted [hope you don’t mind Alan]:

Red-flanked bluetail at Wern Ddu Caerphilly. Park in coed Parc-y-van car park on the Caerphilly to rudry rd. Walk back 50 yds towards Caerphilly and you will see a lane on the left. Follow this lane over the railway bridge and then right to the Warren. Turn left here and follow the lane towards Cardiff for about 200 yds. There is a notice board on the right and a bridle path on the left. Take the bridle path and the bird was either side of this path but highly mobile.

At Cosmeston this morning – this Darvic ringed LBB Gull white with red 3NF – ringed on Flat Holm in 2011 – reported at Cossie in Apr 2012 and now again today. On W lake there were 5 Gadwall. A smart Fieldfare was on Glamorganshire Golf Club fairway adjacent the E lake path. O/W the usual suspects.

Sorry about this – just a heads up. I noticed when I posted my pix just now that the image storage allowance that we have, is 34% used so the GBC admin [usually me!] will have to keep an eye on it and at some point in the future it will be necessary to remove batches of photos from very old posts. We will always keep the prev years active in case of queries re unusual or rare species that are photographed and posted.

The Long-tailed Duck was showing well by the inner barrage this morning, following a pair of Mallard to and fro from the sails to the Penarth end, mostly v close in, except when a couple’s children thought it would be fun to throw stones at them! Had my dog with me which made taking pix a little difficult as she wanted to play with all the other passing hounds! Didn’t affect the LTD tho’. Water was dead calm so it was easy to follow the LTD under water. Tried a few under the water shots!.

Came upon the Black Redstart in Pen Marina on way back to car, flitting around on the roofs at the barrage end of Plas Taliesin.

a.m. 2 Mistle Thrush and a single Fieldfare feeding in W paddock, and a Green ‘Pecker also. 4 Bullfinch [2 pairs] in trees by the Med Village concrete path, and 1 Treecreeper near the central path by the ‘T’ junction.

Late afternoon dog walk. There were 57 Pochard on W lake, again nearly all drakes. 50 Redwing and a single Fieldfare in W paddock which suddenly flew up when a smart male Sparrowhawk had a go and nearly got one after doing a spectacular stall-turn.

Delayed WeBS count from Sunday. Not v pleasant in mist & drizzle, and large grassy area of Green Point at the Rhymney river mouth completely ripped to mud by quad bikes!

At Green Pt impressive flock of waders covering the end of the point – c.1000 Redshank and c.2000 Dunlin. Managed to find about 6 Knot in with the Dunlin [located in flight initially]. Also 100 Lapwing, 120 Shoveler [high count for there], 4 Wigeon, 35 Pintail, 120 Shelduck, 1 Snipe.

At the Heliport bay, 30 Shelduck, 75 Pintail, 5 Shoveler, 1 Curlew, 12 Oyc, 1 Redshank and 24 Turnstone.

4 Snipe, 1 Ad Med Gull on W lake, 1 Common Gull on the posts, 1 drake Teal on W lake and good count of 32 Pochard. There seem to be 120+ Tufties of which I reckon 80-90% are drakes. A few Redwing, a Fieldfare, Mistle Thrush and Green ‘Pecker in W paddock.

Went back this afternoon and managed a few shots in failing light and mega high ISO. They flew off at around 15:00 into v tall tree beyond KFC, possibly to roost. Plenty of berries left on the two trees at The Range car park so will prob still be there tomorrow.

The Waxwings were still present when I left at around 13:00. About 50 in two berry laden trees by the side of The Range outlet car park next to KFC.

Late news from y’day. A Waxwing was seen briefly from a car, in Morganstown adjacent to the main road through. Obs did a U-turn but bird had flown.

54 species seen on the GBC trip with 20 participants today. 3-4 Purple Sands eventually seen on the foreshore rocks at Ogmore-by-Sea, and the Dartford Warbler showed briefly but well, a couple of times, in the gorse behind the toilet block at Dunraven. There were 7 Goldeneye at Portobello and a pair pf Goosander up towards the water treatment works bridge. Other wildfowl were Mallard, Teal, Wigeon [1 fem], Pintail [1 drake], Gadwall and Shelduck, the latter 4 near the river mouth.

3 of us stopped by at Ty’n-y-Caeau Farm on the way back East and had a couple of Yellowhammer on the hedgerow and a fly-over Redwing.

Eventually found the L-t Duck over by Prospect Place with the 7 Scaup and Tufties there [having yomped along the barrage & back!]. Black redstart didn’t show in Penarth Marina, but Grey Wag, 2 Redshank and 2 Turnstone on the outer rocks by R. Ely. Thx to the couple from London who put me on to the LTD from the Prospect PL boardwalk [I had seen it briefly on arrival but could not relocate after a guy walking along the rocks by the waters edge had pushed all the ducks a way offshore] – then asked me if there was anything of interest and had I seen any rats!!??!!. The LTD eventually flew off right back to the S end of the barrage – I hope the London couple got a closer look when they got back round there.

I have had a report of a Dartford Warbler showing well this morning in gorse by the car park, from Kevin Hughes.

Incredibly busy – gave up waiting for coffee after our walk – not so surprising with a nice sunny day after a day of non-stop rain! Species list during a 45 min walk – LBB Gull, Herring Gull, B-h Gull, 1 Common Gull, GCG, 2 Little Grebe, 3 Cormorant, Coot, Moorhen, Water Rail heard, 14 Pochard, 80 Tufties, Mallard, Mute Swan, Canada Goose, Crow, Magpie, Blackbird, Blue Tit, Great Tit, LTT, Nuthatch, Chaffinch, Bullfinch [1 fem], Robin, Dunnock, Reed Bunting, Goldfinch, Wood Pigeon. 29 Species.

The Long-taield Duck was at the far [N] end of the barrage and made its way towards the sails. Moulting so now showing a fairly good tail spike, much whiter face and some pink on the bill. Hopefully it will stay long enough to show full drake plumage. The 7 Greater Scaup were at the extreme S end just past the fish run. Also a Cormorant in the bay trying to swallow a v large eel. Annoyed I didn’t take my camera as it was drizzling when we left home.

In Penarth Marina, the male Black Redstart was on roofs by the Plas Pamir parking area.

I’ve made this a ‘sticky’ post for a while – hope y’all don’t mind.

Not a sighting I know, but bear with me. Well done to Graham Powell for being the first person to send his 2016 bird records to me – no prize sorry! So, it is an opportune moment for me to issue a plea to all East Glam birders out there to get your records for 2016 in please. Most contributors already use the preferred spreadsheet but if you need one let me know, or download it from the Records page of the web site {http://www.glamorganbirds.org.uk/records.html}. My details are on the main web site contacts page. I would like to get all records in by the end of Jan as it takes quite a long time to collate them all into a single spreadsheet. Thanks in anticipation. Any birds requiring descriptions shd be sent to our Recorder, Phil Bristow, ASAP. The lists of description species are also on the above linked page. [These need updating due to recent changes, which will do shortly.