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.

A pair of Wigeon were on W lake this morning. No sign of the Bar-Headed Goose which was still present at 3:30 p.m.m yesterday.

Apologies not a sighting, but no-one reads the Forum!

East Glam Bird Report 2014 update. I have just heard from the printer and the glue binding is in progress. Expected back at the printers poss tomorrow so there’s an outside chance we might get it posted b4 Christmas although obviously no telling when it might arrive. I do apologise for the delay.

Stop press!! Nick from CopyPrint has just delivered the boxes of 2014 reports to my house in person! That’s the afternoon sorted then #envelopes #stuffing 🙂

Delayed Rhymney WeBS count. At Green Point, 500 Redshank, 250 Lapwing, 1000 Dunlin, 2 Common Snipe & 1 Jack Snipe, 51 Pintail, 1 Wigeon, 6 Gadwall, 50 Shelduck, 8 Shoveler, 60 Teal and 1 Canada Geese – a better haul than of late. Had palpitations when I came upon a bird in the Dunlin flock with a bright clean lemon yellow wash on its belly – I did utter an audible “what the **** is that!”. It was a Dunlin in fact – the stain was so clean I though it might have been from a marking scheme but can’t find any such on the WWW.
At the Heliport bay and foreshore – 40 Shoveler, 68 Pintail, 36 Shelduck, 28 Oyc, 30 Turnstone. No gulls of any note.

Apart from the usual 100 or so Canadas and 70 odd Tufties, there was a pair of Gadwall on W lake plus 2 Little Grebe and a Common Gull on the posts. I had a report from a walking acquaintance of a brief view of a Bittern in the W lake reeds. 30-40 Redwing and 10 Blackbirds were around the W paddock area and 40 B-h Gulls were feeding on the very muddy ground there. 10 Long-t Tits by Med Village and 4 Goldfinch. The whole place is a quagmire off the main paths.

An update – apparently our printer encountered a technical problem with the machine which was part way through doing our print run this morning. A technician was called. Now probably looking to mid next week before it’s ready. As to when it is posted we will be deciding on action at a committee meeting on Tues.

Neil Donaghy had a Sandwich Tern this morning over the pool, and a Sibe Chiffchaff with 2 Common Chiffchaff by the south pool hide. Nice ones Neil!

Delayed low tide WeBS count. At Green Point there were a couple of Gadwall in with the Teal and Mallard. Redshank – 310, Dunlin – 70, Curlew – 10, and nice flock of 180+ Lapwing on the foreshore. Other birds very distant. At the Heliport could see c.36 Shoveler and about 20 Pintail on the distant tideline, 15 Curlew and 27 Oycs on the mud.

Late afternoon, among 50 or so Black-headed Gulls feeding on the outfall from the sluices, was this 1stW Med Gull: