per Graham Tierney: flocks of Redwing over today. Flocks counted so far :- 60+ , 8, 7, 5, 32.

From Green Point: 1000 Redshank, 1 fly-by Dunlin, 235 Shelduck, 80 Pintail, 18 Shoveler, 2 Snipe. Just 11 Teal on the river by Lamby Way. At the Heliport Bay, 6 Curlew & 15 Oyc, and another 200 Shelduck.

Just rec’d a call from Alan Cripps. He’s got a Grey Phal in the pool by the block house at Sluice Farm just over the border in Gwent. The block house is an obvious cubic structure on the seaward side of the sea wall to the W of the path that leads up to the sea wall by Sluice Farm.

At Cossie this morning a Snipe flushed from grass about 50m beyond the dragonfly pond – the first for me this autumn. Also 2 Chiffchaff, & Green ‘Pecker of note.

Lavernock 4:15 p.m. – the Firecrest found by Phil Bristow this morning showed very well in the Field Maple tree by the road, in the garden of Church House, until about 4:30 when it poured with rain. A stunning, very bright bird.

The Glamorgan Bird Club first indoor meeting of this autumn/winter period is tonight 7:45 p.m. at Kenfig Nature Reserve Centre. A stills and video presentation by Paul Bowden on the little known [at least bird wise for most of us] Nakhchivan Autonomous Region of Azerbaijan, and the Lesser Caucasus Mountains. Should be good.

Lavernock this morning:

Reserve: 50 Goldfinch feeding on dead Scabious heads, 1 Jay, 1 Chiffchaff, 1 Kestrel.

Lavernock Pt and fields: 3 Stonechat in the coastal paddock by the house, plus 2 Reed Bunting, 30 Linnet, 2 Jays over, 1 Sprawk, 1 Buzzard, several Chiffchaff by Church House. Also a fair few Swallows and House Martins overhead.

Penarth > Norwegian Church via the barrage. 1 juv Wheatear and 1 2nd S Med Gull, N end of barrage; 6 Meadow Pipit son weeds by the new path; 1 Kingfisher just beyond Dr Who; 2 Clouded Yellows on the planted wild flower beds; Lesser Scaup cd be made out over by St David’s Hotel. A few House Martins still about.

Jays in evidence with 6 along the fringe of Cogan Wood and 2 from the edge of W paddock. Also 2 Green ‘Peckers. Cetti’s Warbler singing near the cafe.

light vis mig of Swallows and Mipits over the reserve and the coast path to the west this morning. In the fields to the west [Rowland’s Well fields], around 50 mipits were feeding, tog with 10 or so Pied Wags and 20 Linnet. Coffee by the Captain’s Wife pub and there were 32 Oycs at roost on Sully Island at high tide. 2 Chiffchaff by the Lavernock sea watch point and a Heron was at the small pond on the reserve.

PS Lol Middleton was pretty sure he saw a juv Turtle Dove on the road, together with a Wood Pigeon and a Collared Dove, however he was driving and it flew off. Worth keeping a lookout for tho’ if you are there.

Too many people for there to be much bird-wise but a fem/imm Pochard on E lake was the first I’ve seen this autumn.

pretty quiet this morning: flock of 40-50 Goldfinch above the dragonfly pond, 1 Jay & 1 Green ‘Pecker there too, and a scarce species for Cossie, a single Stock Dove stopped in to drink at the dragonfly pond and then fed on the plateau behind.

Lavernock reserve – Pheasant 2 fem in first field margin, Willow Warbler 1, Jay 2, Bulffinch 1 juv;

St Mary’s Well Bay – 1 Heron on the beach

Coast path W of ST Mary;’s Well Bay – Jay 6, Linnet 50, Mipit 100+ [feeding in the two ploughed fields], Pied Wag 3, Blackcap 1 m, Chiffchaff 1, Goldcrest 2

Swanbridge [Capt Wife pub] – Ringed Plover 3 that I cd see, and 1 Turnstone.

In case anyone missed this in the comments on my post yesterday. I met a guy who, seeing I was a birder told me about building plans for the site of the old Hamadryad hospital. I’m assuming it’s the same person, who has found our site and commented. It’s yet another area of greenery being removed for the sake of it. I have seen good numbers of Greenfinch using these trees as a roost in the winter. Anyway here’s what he posted: feel free to respond or submit objections.

Good morning bird watchers. Great to see you round our place! Not sure if you’re aware, but Cardiff Council are looking to overturn preservation orders on the trees behind Hamadryad hospital, clear the site of all greenery and build 75 properties there. There is significant opposition by local residents, and we’re in the process of submitting objections. If you could let us know of any sightings of rare species in the area, we could incorporate those into our objections as well. We’ve got a Facebook pagehttps://www.facebook.com/SouthDocksButetown?ref=hl and a Twitter account https://twitter.com/SouthDocks. We’d appreciate any help you could offer. Many thanks, and happy spotting. Iwan (On behalf of South Docks Residents)

From Facebook [which some people don’t use and therefore miss news] per Steve Howcroft:

Hayes point. 2 blackcap .2 whitethroat .1 wheatear. Plenty of swallows and house martins .
Lavernock. Vis mig quite good plenty of mipits a dozen or so skylarks linnets and phylloscs also stonechat and 17 jays. Spot fly seen earlier by Wayne strong and lol Middleton.

Nice little session at these two this morning. Probably counts as a ‘fall’ of passerines, but not up to E coast standards!

Hamadryad – Chiffchaff 10+ in trees around the pool, also 2 Little Grebe and 4 Tufted Duck, and 12 Goldfinch

CBWR – 10+ Reed Bunting in bushes by the ‘mountain’, 3 Whitethroat, 2 Blackcap {m + f}, 20+ Chiffchaff, 2 Wheatear, 1 fem/imm Redstart, 1 Reed Warbler, 4+ Cetti’s calling, Lesser Scaup drake [distant], 11 Wigeon, 70 Canada Geese, 8 Little Grebe, 21 Gt Crested Grebe.

Plus this odd hybrid? Pposs has been reported b4 but can’t remember if anyone suggested it’s ID.

Chiffchaff and a Goldcrest in the church yard. Vis mig albeit of just Swallows and Mipits. The latter around 50 per min perhaps more, for a couple of hours at least. Meadow Pipits not so many but a couple of flocks of 30 flew over and 100 flew up from the N end of the big stubble field. 1 Kes and 1 Buzzard, and a few House Martins with the Swallows.

Reserve – 1 juv Whitethroat.
Churchyard – at least 6 phylloscs in the big Sycamore, mostly chiffies but 1 definite Willow Wblr. Also 2 Blackcap. Steady but light continuous passage of Swallows with a few Sand and House Martin mixed in. No sign of y’day’s Firecrest.

Highlights – Lol Middleton, Andy Burns & Steve Young! 🙂 A few Chiffies in the big Sycamore by Church House, light continuous passage of Swallows, Buzzard, 3 Mute Swan f/o, 1 Heron f/o, loose flock of Linnet & Goldfinch and small nos. of Greenfinch, Willow Warbler and Blackcap at the N end, and 1 Stock Dove.

Now 37 Tufted Ducks present [17 W lake, 20 E lake]. Also 4 GCG, about 20 House Martin and a light passage of Swallows. 3 Buzzards over the S meadow.

Apart from the very noticeable police presence [2 ribs with armed officers, 3 launches, 7 hi viz officers on mountain bikes], there were 4 GBB Gulls [all adults], about 20 House Martins at the Cardiff end, and 14 Pied Wags, and that’s about all in the horrible drizzle.