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:

In addition to Ceri’s birds, there was 1 drake Gadwall and 3 Wigeon [1m 2f] on W lake mid-late morning.

Not much of ornithological interest apart from a few Common Gulls, but a large bull [I believe] Seal was just off the barrage rocks just beyond the sluices. I’ve posted a vid clip on my FB wall. Can’t insert video clips here but here’s a link to the clip on YouTube: https://youtu.be/V7g534bnx40

Some sea watching was done at Lavernock Pt this morning. Earlier arrivals than me had plenty of Kittiwake [still passing in small nos. the I arrived at 11:40] and a couple of Bonxies. Luckily for me a Pom Skua was sitting on the water when I arrived – thanks to the lads for putting me on to it. It drifted d/c then flew up again when I had nice views in the scope – it was a pale phase bird. Also around 20 Common Gull were sitting on the water and others flying by,. Apparently 3 Skua sp were seen from Cardiff Bay [presumably the barrage] – Bonxie, Arctic and Pom – by Peter Howlett.

Don’t forget there’s a GBC indoor meeting TONIGHT at 7:45 p.m. at KNNR. Club member Richard Smith, who many of you will know, will be giving an illustrated talk on the reserves of central India – Tadoba, Pench, Kahna and Satpura. Should be very interesting.

A fairly brief session in the shelter this morning [dog Poppy was very spooked by the huge iron door banging against the concrete], just produced a Diver sp going down channel – too far out in the murk to ID to species.

Can’t better Peter’s efforts with my equipment but here’s my contribution. Nice find by Peter t’other day 🙂 A cracking bird and probably my best ever views of Firecrest.

1 Common Gull on the football field in Hamadryad Park the morning. At CBWR 14 Tufties, 3 GC Grebes and a fem Goldeneye. No sign of Firecrest of y’day. Also what appeared to be a very confiding fem Goosander right by the boardwalk, but then I got a better look. She seems to have a damaged R wing  which is drooping down – see poor phone photo below. Hope she survives but it might hamper diving for food.

Successful trip today with 23 participants on a nice clear crisp day. Nothing very unusual but a good selection of what would be expected plus Little Stint, and Ruff among the waders. Full list can be seen here – click here.

Highlight [sadly for only 3 participants] of this mornings GBC monthly walk was a Bittern seen from south hide, having flown in from the east. The pool had 8 Gadwall and 4 Mallard as the only ducks. Gulls included 2 Common and 1 ad and 1 1stW Great Black-backed. Overall total was 42 species. If you click this link http://tinyurl.com/osex5zw you will see the full list.