Ad and imm Herons on W lake, 3 Tufted Duck E lake, 5 GC Grebes, 10 B-h Gulls, 1 Swift over W lake.
Leps: Speckled Wood, Gatekeeper, Small White, Red Admiral, what I assumed to be a Common Blue, Ringlet.
Odonata: Emperor, Common Darters, couple of Black-tailed Skimmers.

An Avocet was seen by the R. Rhymney by Lamby Way this afternoon.

A Wood Sand has been seen at Goldcliff today – first reported on BirdGuides as present this morning, and seen again this eve by Alan Cripps, from 1st hide.

Not much bird wise apart from a few Blackcaps singing and a couple of Green ‘Peckers. Biggest surprise was a large, presumably adult, Eel, swimming about in the muddy water by the cafe boardwalk where people feed the ducks. Never seen one at Cossie before.

Only birds of any significance were willow wblr, Chiffchaff and Blackcap. Small and Large Skippers were about. Also 50 B-h Gulls on the beach as St Mary’s Well Bay.

Hamadryad – Ad GC Grebe with fully grown juv, Coot sitting, Grey Heron being mobbed by LBBGs, Reed Warbler singing.
CBWR – Whitethroat singing by Yacht Club, several Reed W seen, 22 GC Grebes and a fem Tufted Duck with at least 6 ducklings in the lagoon. No sign of Red-cr Pochard reported on the Twitter feed.
CBWR is getting more and more overgrown. The small lake on the LH side is now a fraction of its former size and by next year or the year after will be completely invaded by Reed, if left. Also the ditch on the RH side that used to be good for Dragonflies & Damselflies is now completely overgrown with reed and other vegetation. Not sure if this is due to cuts or whether suitable habitat management is planned.

Users may notice a change in the New Post options form that comes up when you select New Post.Now it goes straight to the form without the ‘Text’ etc options. Also the post form now does not have the old “Insert an Image” option. Instead you will see “Drag & Drop files here to Create a Gallery”. I just did a test of this and you can drag pic files from your computer to the box and then click Publish and they shd appear, along with any text you have entered in the message box.
John Wilson

10 Black-headed Gulls on the W lake posts is a sure sign of approaching autumn. Other than that pretty quiet. Still many Ringlets and also a few Large Skipper, Emperor dragonflies at the Dragonfly Pond, plus Black-t Skimmer and Common Darter.

forgot to mention [although not v exciting!] a sum plum Black-headed Gull was on the posts on W lake, 1st one back since the spring departure.

V quiet bird-wise but nice show of Ox-eye Daisies in the meadow, and lots of Ringlets on the wing.

A Great White Egret flew in seen from the 1st hide. It landed somewhere out to the left but dropped into a ditch and could not be relocated. Also a moulting Ruff on the far shore from the second hide and 2 Blackwits there. Lots of Redshank, and other waders and chicks of various species. There were quite a few Shoveler and a drake Wigeon was seen from the sea wall hide.

At Uskmouth there was a fem Pochard with a single duckling, a pair of Tufted Ducks with around 6 ducklings and a pr of GCG with 2 young. Cuckoo heard but not seen. Several Cett’s heard and one seen briefly in flight.

I have just learned that the Night-heron was still present tuesday eve, still in the conservation area of W Lake.

Apparently the Night-heron was still present yesterday morning, seen by one of the rangers doing his rounds, sitting well down in the base of the willow of t’other day.

No show sadly by the Night-heron this morning, so missed it the three times I managed to get down there. Lots of activity from 3-4 Herons this morning including this one involved in a chase with another.

No sign of Night-heron so far this morning – one or more observers present from 5 a.m. and a couple still present at 8 a.m. when I left.

Please do not venture into the ‘conservation area’ at the back of W lake [which requires agreement from the rangers in any case], to avoid disturbance of [a] the heron and [b] other species breeding in that area. The best viewpoint is the grassy ‘beach’ at the S end of W lake where you can view with a ‘scope into the trees into which it went this morning.

PS this afternoon best viewing point was from the viewing area on the left halfway along the central path about 50m before the main bridge.

Lesser Whitethroat singing this morning. A lot of dragonflies at the pond including a pair of Emperors in cop and a number of Black-tailed Skimmers & Blue-tailed & Large Red Damselflies. Several Brimstones seen and a few what I took to be Common Blues.

A pair of Shelduck flew u/c at St Mary’s Well Bay. 

Struggled across the barrage this morning with new dog in tow. Just a Common Sand on the inner shore. C.300 Swift over the Bay plus all three hirundines, and plenty of House Martins around Penarth Marina. Nothing seemed to be passing out in the channel although holding bins with one hand and dog lead with the other in a howling gale didn’t make looking easy!

1 hr at Lavernock mid-morning – naff all. I shd get up earlier! Did see a Pere fly along the shoreline.