Best of this morning – flock of c.80 Redwing over W. Paddock and 1 Common Snipe from the snipe paddock. No sign of Lesser Scaup.

Couple of nice surprises in town today.  A small group of 6 Siskin feeding in Sully Terrace whilst we were walking up to the town centre for a coffee, then on the way back about 6 Redwing in Victoria Square, plus a Nuthatch calling. First time I’ve seen Siskin in the town.

Firecrest has been reported here this morning along the east boundary path with roving tit flock {TF}.

GBC trip today. Great selection of birds with 6 spp of wader, plenty of duck and common birds plus great views of Short-eared Owl

There was no sign of a Grey Phal on any of the docks at Barry this morning, either the eastern dock by the docks access road, or the main dock in front of the apartments by Morrisons. There was a Common Sand feeding along rim of the eastern arm of said main dock, accessed thro’ a hole in the chainlink fence, and a pair of Stonechat there. 3-4 GC Grebes in the main dock itself.

Whilst doing a low tide Rhymney Est count for BTO, I was rewarded for squelching about in the totally waterlogged Green Point by the river mouth, by the unexpected sight of a stunning Short-eared Owl hunting up & down the S side of the landfill overlooking the river, at about 3 p.m. Low tide counts there are a nightmare – the tide goes out miles!

Called in at Penarth Marina on way home and found the 1st yr male Black Redstart on roofs of Plas Taliesin by the small square overlooking Penarth Marina –  at approx 4:30 p.m.

Apparently Ceri Jones saw a Hawfinch this morning, in the trees on the right of the gravel path going towards the Med Village, after the end of the boardwalk there. Nice one Ceri ! Saw one there in Oct 2005 by W lake. I think this is the first record  since then.

Brief view of the Glauc flying along the beach towards Porthkerry this morning. A strong squall came in, which together with the very strong wind, was most unpleasant. Couldn’t relocate the bird at all afterwards, but I guess it’ll be back.

The Lesser Scaup was still present this morning, sheltering from the wind in the lea of the central path on E lake. 4 Bullfinch [1m 3f] were feeding together by the Med. Village concrete path. I put some seed by the dragon tree in Cogan wood and was immediately surrounded by birds, but no show by Marsh Tit during 20 mins sitting on the bench.

Cosmeston a.m. the drake Lesser Scaup was by the cafe boardwalk and a pair of Gt Crested Grebes were displaying. The Bittern was apparently seen in flight.

At the Knap, Barry late afternoon, Ceri’s Glaucous Gull was either flying up & down the beach or on the lake for a short while. Click on all pix for a bigger image.

GBC trip today in howling winds! Despite the winds we clocked a couple of Chough at Rhossili, a small raft of 20-30 Common Scoter in Rhossili Bay, several Fulmar off the cliffs, a Great Northern Diver just off the Worm ’causeway’ and a GC Grebe there, and Alan Rosney had a fly-by Kittiwake, and a flock of c.200 Linnet were in the stubble fields. At Oxwich, another raft of 20-30 Scoter, another very ‘contrasty’ GN Diver, several GC Grebes, 30 or so Sanderling, and a v distant flock of Ringed Plover on the beach.

Got a nice video clip of the Lsr Scaup this morning, off the cafe boardwalk – will upload in a bit. Other than that the usual suspects.

The Lesser Scaup was at Cosmeston this morning – apparently also present yesterday. I saw it in the middle of W lake where there were 350 Tufted Duck, but it was commuting between both lakes. Also present c.15 drake Pochard and about 5 ducks, 7 Gadwall, 2 fem Shoveler, just 2 Teal I could see, 2 Common Gull on the posts, 3 Little Grebe, pair of GC Grebe in full sum plum displaying. 10 Siskin were by the dog field board walk.

The Bittern showed briefly again behind the gull posts in W lake bay late afternoon and there was a reasonably good murmuration of starlings. Eartlier in the day, Poppy the dog flushed 5 Common Snipe and what I’sure were 2 Jack Snipe from the wet, at the time partially frozen puddles at the far end of W paddock by the corner of the fenced in paddock. The Jacks were ID’d solely on mode of flushing – quick, low silent and straight into cover again. There were 2 small flocks of Siskin, 1 by the Med Village boardwalk and the other by the sluice on the other side of E lake, both in Alders. Few pix below. Got a record shot of the Bittern but not as good as Lol’s.

No sign of the Lesser Scaup this morning on either lake [post below explains why!!]. W lake had 3 Shoveler that I could see [1m 2f] although 8 I think had been seen yesterday. Also 3 Gadwall on W lake, and 18 drake Pochard and just 2 females. Also 3 Little Grebe, 2 GC Grebe, 1 Common Gull and many Tufties although I didn’t count them. Also 1 Goldcrest up the central path and Lol Middleton had seen a Chiffchaff near the Medieval Village.

West lake – 13 Pochard, pair of Wigeon, 5 Gadwall (3m 2f), Little Grebe, Treecreeper [by the ‘dip’] in the path; 5 GC Grebe [4 E lake 1 W lake], 3 Redwing, 1 Mistle Thrush & 1 Fieldfare seen, plus the resident flock of Tufties.

Welcome to 2016!!! Many thanks to Alan Rosney, Graham Powell, Mike & Emma Cram, Steve Young, Laura Palmer, Neil Donaghy and Martyn Hnatiuk, who have already sent in their records for 2015 to me. If you are going to send in yours then it’s time to get your head down …. please 🙂 If you use BirdTrack there’s no need as I can download them from there, but make sure you’re up to date on there too. TIA John Wilson

PS if you use MapMate then make sure you’re up to date on that and sync with your hub ASAP.

A Little Gull was seen at Gileston yesterday. Might still be around.

Jack and Common Snipe this morning, flushed by our pooch from the large puddles outside the ‘snipe paddock’ [far end]. W lake had 3 Little Grebe, pr Gadwall, pr Pochard, and Common Gull on the posts. E lake 4 GC Grebes. The resident flock of Tufted distributed evenly between the two lakes. Loads of people and extremely muddy off the paths.

People seem to be receiving their 2014 Bird Reports in the post now so it is timely for me to highlight and apologise for a couple of errors. In the photos opposite p.8 the middle image of 2 Black-throated Divers was actually taken by Hayden Lack, and not Paul Denning. The original caption was correct in the mock-ups sent to the printer and I missed spotting the mistake in the proof so a public apology from me to Hayden. Also re Hooded Crow, p.44. This bird was only seen on 30th Apr and was actually found by Dean Bolt, and not Graham Roblin. Graham photographed the bird later on 30th but the date in his records that we received was erroneous [29th not 30th]. Again the non slipped through the net and should have been spotted. Both Hayden and Dean have been contacted personally. Also, photos opposite p.62, I think the Long-tailed Duck was in fact the one at The Knap – Barry, and not Porthkerry.