Decided to have a go for the Hawfinches despite the wind. Nothing doing by the white cottage but walking along the bridal path in the wood a flock flew up from low down [no doubt sheltering] and headed down valley. They eventually came back and flitted around in the tree tops up towards the top road. I reckon the flock was about 20 strong. Managed a couple of heavily cropped record shots in appalling conditions [trees shaking around and buffeting me]:

from Facebook – 1 Brambling in Chaffinch flock this arvo.

Just another quick reminder – the first indoor meeting of 2015 is TODAY [Tues] 7:45 P.M. KNNR. Member’s Own – a sort of ‘bring and show’, where members can do short 20 min talks on a  topic of their choosing. I’m doing a 20 min Powerpoint on highlights of 3 visits to Extremadura. Do come along.

At 3:30 p.m. the GN Diver was right over by the barrage, seen from Ice Rink car park looking towards the southern half of the barrage.

In CBWR Lesser Scaup seen at around 4 p.m. and what must have been the hybrid just glimpsed skulking off into the reed ‘island’ – thought I had briefly seen a Gtr Scaup at the time, but it must have been the hybrid bird. Also 1 drake Pochard with the 50 or so Tufties. A good number of starlings flew in to roost but not enough to constitute a proper murmuration.

70+ Tufties and 27 Pochard W lake. Also 8 Gadwall and 4 Teal. No sign of Pintail. 1 Green’Pecker. 6 Bullfinch [4m 2f] 3 nr dragonfly pond and 3 in conservation scrub area, 40+ Redwing and 10+ Fieldfare [again nr dragonfly pond], 2 Common Gulls W lake, 4 Cormorant, 1 GC Grebe and 1 Little Grebe, 1 very showy Water Rail by the cafe end of the boardwalk [prob the one that Andy Burns got some shots of t’other day].

G N Diver has been reported again in Cardiff Bay this morning, and the Lesser Scaup.

At least 17 Hawfinch at Fforestganol this morning; 2 Bittern Kenfig Pool south, and 2 Sibe Chiffchaff north pool; Bittern at Forest Farm; Spotted Redshank, 2 Greenshank and 8 Jack Snipe at Penclawdd; L-t Duck off Crymlyn Burrows; Jack Snipe at Morfa Tip.

12 Brent Geese were at the mouth of the R. Thaw at least 6 of which appeared to be pale-bellied birds – tide was out so birds distant and only had binos. 5 Little Grebe on the lagoon, a couple of Shelduck on the beach, couldn’t find any Snipe on the lagoon islands. Single Curlew and a few Oycs were the only waders.

2 Redshank on the rocky bay shoreline, only 1 Turnstone, and 1 Grey Wag. Only 1 Common Gull with all the Black-headed on the internal jetty. 1 GBB Gull on the yacht club jetties and 1 by the outer harbour. Saw one rooftop Black Redstart on the way back to the car.

230 Tufted Duck [nearly all W lake], 27 Pochard [all W lake], 2 Little Grebe, 1 Heron, and just single Redwing and Fieldfare by dragonfly pond, plus millions of people!

Happy boxing day all. I have already had some spreadsheets of 2014 records sent in. If you use the formatted spreadsheet that I send out or from the web site, please could you not leave blank rows in your list of records. I have to go through and delete them all otherwise they prevent proper sorting of the data, and also please could you make sure the species name, and your name, is entered in every row pertaining to it, again otherwise I have to go through the whole list and copy the info down the column of cells below, where it is missing, again otherwise the records can’t be sorted properly.

PS … and also the site name shd be entered every time where there’s a number of consecutive rows for a number of records.

from Twitter feed – it appears a Bittern has been seen at Cosmeston – either today or yesterday.

Hi all. With the end of the year approaching it’s timely for me to ask all observers to start thinking about making sure your observations for 2014 are up to date by the time 31st Dec arrives. It is also very important if you are a MapMate user, to make sure that you sync with your hub as soon as possible after 1st Jan, so that all records reach me by the time I do my final sync. Thanks in anticipation and have a good Christmas.

6 Black Redstarts still around the far end of Penarth Marina. I saw 2f and 1m and then met Gareth Pryce who had seen all 6 in and around Plas Pamir/Pals Taliesin/Llwyn Passat. Also 1 Redshank, 1 Turnstone and 1 Grey Wag on the rocky slope by the waters edge, and oddly, 2 Moorhens. 6 Common Gull by the orange buoys by the barrage, and 1 Rockit.

brief visit to see if my back was up to birding! Ad Yellow-legged Gull was sitting on E lake plus 1 ad Common Gull, and c.150 Tufted Ducks. Didn’t do a circuit so that’s it! Back seems OK.

highlights this morning – at least 8 Common Snipe in the snipe paddock, ad Yellow-legged Gull on E lake and Common Gull on W lake posts. Sparrowhawk over.

at Green Point today, Alan Cripps had at least 6 Jack Snipe, and excellent count for this site, and the highest I have known there. [I have databased this record].

India & Sri Lanka by Richard Smith. 7:45 p.m. KNNR Be there or be square!

No sign of the B-n Grebe from the mouth of the Taff back to the Clarence Rd bridge. At least 17 Little Grebes around the Cardiff Bay bridge and just upstream, and c. 40 Tufted Duck. 1 Grey Wag long the W side of the river, party of 10 Long-tailed Tit in trees by Clarence rd bridge and also a male Blackcap.

Don’t forget the indoor meeting tomorrow!

There’s an indoor meeting at Kenfig on Tuesday – Richard Smith is giving an illustrated talk on a trip to central India and Sri Lanka. Expect exc quality digital photos of the wildlife. 7:45 p.m.

6 Black Redstarts were seen today at Penarth marina, and at least 10 Hawfinches near Tongwynlais.