Still down at mum-in-laws. Did some birding today: Sandsfoot Castle (Portland Hbr) – 4 Slav Grebe, 1 Black-necked Grebe, 1 GN Diver, 1 fem Eider, c50 R-b Merganser, Shag; Portland Castle (Portland Hbr) – Black Guillemot and another 50+ R-b Merg. Portland Bill – 3 Purple Sand, 6+ Rock Pipit, 2 ad Gannets > E. Ferry Bridge – 50-100 Brent. v v cold & windy so didn’t stay to try & sort out Pale-bellieds.

The only things of interest in a shortish walk this morning were two very smart Greylags on E lake. Also there was the unusual sight of the drake Pintail wandering around on the footpath near the bird table by E lake. W lake had the usual Tufties and Pochard and some Teal hiding in the reed edges, and there were 2 Little Grebe and a total of 5 GC Grebe.

Not a sighting but significant news.The web-based East Glamorgan Bird Atlas is now live! Wayne Morris, one of the project sub-committee has just passed on the following message:

Highlights of GBC trip to Ogmore today – c20 Goldeneye by Portobello, fem Goosander, wonderful views of feeding Purple Sandpiper at Ogmore-by-Sea, 2 Yellowhammer in Pant Norton [where there was also a substantial bracken fire causing us to summon the fire brigade!], and c500 Lapwing by Norton Farm. 2 Buzzards were displaying over Norton Wood.

Pretty quiet. W Lake had 1 Common Gull and 17 Teal that I could count. There was a Water Rail in the open in one of the ‘corridors’ cut in the snipe paddock [beyond Dragonfly Pond]. The drake Pintail was on E lake as was the ad Yellow–legged Gull. Three Bullfinch nr the dragonfly pond [2f and 1m], 2 redwing in W paddock tog with 2 Mistle Thrush. Also poss 4 Green ‘Peckers in total. 2 Very vocal nr E paddock fields and 2 feeding in W paddock.

I have just received further info re the purported Lesser Pecks that have apparently been visiting the feeder. My informant had not actually seen the birds herself but was reporting info received from two different sources, although I don’t know what these were. So it could just be a mis-ID of a very close GS Pecker – who knows? Anyway whatever, at least it got Jake and Mike there to find the Little Bunt! 🙂

The Little Bunting performed well this morning – here’s a quickly picked out one of the loads of pix I took. Light was a bit glary at times. The straight, even slightly concave, culmen shows well.

I’ve just received some news that Lesser Pecker[s] have been visiting a feeder at the Forest Farm reserve in N Cardiff. Apparently there’s a new feeder been put up near the farm buildings [by a large double garage?] and they have been visiting there – seen today apparently. Thanks to Chris Trew of Pen-y-Fai for the call.

160 Tufted Duck E lake [didn’t count the west lake], and 1 Heron and the Ad Yellow-legged Gull. 2 Common Gull on W lake posts. 1 Green ‘Pecker. NO Redwing or Fieldfare that I could see, but I was too busy chatting to someone.

Heads up for GBC indoor meeting tonight. 7:45 p.m. at KNNR reserve centre. Hone your ID skills on Herons, Rails & Crakes. We will have DVD/Video/Audio media to illustrate their features. This is the meeting postponed due to bad weather in the 2013-14 season.

Highlights of GBC trip today. Blackpill – tide out so nothing too exciting but a Goldcrest in a tree near the nature centre; Mumbles – ad Med Gull & Turnstone and v nice coffee!; Oxwich in addition to Barry’s observations, quite a few Sanderling on the beach, 1 Shag on Oxwich Pt rocks, the GND was at RH side of the bay then flew across to the left, and we reckoned around 200 Comm Scoter when they all flew across the bay at one point; from the hide at Oxwich, Shoveler Gadwall Teal, 2 Little Grebe, 1 Heron, and in the air 1 Red Kite, 2 Buzzard, 1 Sprawk, and 1 Pere briefly; Overton – in the stubble field 1 Red-legged Partridge, 6 Song Thrush, 50 poss more Chaffinch and 1 Brambling, and quite a few Linnet and a Reed Bunt. A male Kes nearby and one of our group flushed a Snipe from the coast path there and Alan Rosnet had a couple of Kittiwake fly past. All in all a nice day out.

Common Gull on R. Taff at Hamadryad Park. Also amazingly a pair of summer plumage GC Grebes nest building in the lagoon.

At the Bay Wetland Reserve, drake Lesser Scaup present [all ducks at far end viewed from boardwalk] – couldn’t see the hybrid but no ‘scope. 2 Linnet and 2 fem Reed Bunts feeding on the grass. Forgot to say, nice to meet Mike O’Leary from Abertysswg – hope you got better views of the Lsr Scaup from the boardwalk Mike.

In the west paddocks a mixed flock of Redwing and Fieldfare totalling around 100, Redwing outnumbering the FF, plus about 6 Mistle Thrush with them. A single Snipe visible in the Snipe ‘paddock’ behind the dragonfly pond. No sign of Marsh Tit by the dragon tree in Cogan Wood, but Nuthatch there. On W lake 3 Wigeon, 8 Gadwall and in total on both lakes around 150-200 Tufted, ~30 Pochard, and 4 G C Grebe. Ad Yellow-legged Gull and the usual v pale imm Herring Gull middle of E lake.

An ad male and a female Black Redstart on the roofs at Plas Taliesin this morning. A 2nd yr Med Gull with some black spots in the primaries was around the entrance to the outer harbour of the Barrage, by Penarth Head. There were 2 ad GBB Gulls on the harbour wall there. North end of the barrage had 5 Rock Pipit, 1 Meadow Pipit and about 6 Pied Wags.  Didn’t go far enough round to look for the GND.

The Glaucous was still at Sker this morning on the rocks at the point [per DCB], but there has been no sign of the bird at Cosmeston all morning, until 12:30 at least. Just the aberrant Herring Gull there of interest.

There is a local midweek field trip to Cosmeston & Cardiff Bay next Weds, 21st Jan. I will be on holiday so if you are interested please contact Alan Rosney who has kindly agreed to lead it. Tel 01443 841555, 07906558489, or alanrosney at gmail.com.

Went back later and got some shots – bird still totally knackered – hope it survives.

At the end of a v cold, sometimes wet, and windy dog walk, this was a nice surprise when I got back to the swan area by E lake. [digiphoned pic]. 2nd cal yr Glaucous Gull

Quick shufty this morning revealed 21 Little Grebe in the river there. Meant to go to Hamadryad Park but impossible to park round by the old Hamadryad hospital/Clarence Embanment – whole road chock-a-block with commuters’ cars, as was Windsor Esplanade. No cash with me for St David’s Hotel car park. {commuters’ apostrophe corrected after chastisement from Dave Bush 🙂 }

before the rain. 1 AdW Med Gull [ta to Lol Middleton for the call], 1 Ad Yellow-legged Gull, and 1 Common Gull amongst the Herrings, Lesser B-b’s, and Black-headeds.