A Norfolk wing-tagged Marsh Harrier was hunting the marsh this evening (video grab below) and a Redstart was videoed by a camera trap set up covering a Kingfisher perch, which is a bit frustrating as I’ve not seen one on the marsh this year.

OOC at WWT Llanelli’s, the scrapes have been pretty busy over the weekend with counts of 4 Curlew Sandpiper, 140 Knot, 1 Spotted Redshank, 62 Greenshank, 146 Redshank, 3 Ruff, 712 Black-tailed Godwit and 2 Garganey.

Just received a text from Mike Cram who’s watching an Osprey eating a fish on one of the posts on the marsh at present.

This afternoon a male Eider was in Port Eynon Bay along with 4 Med Gulls, but there were no signs of any terns on or around the busy beach area. Observations in the upper part of the Burry over the previous couple of days have revealed a gradual increase in common species such as 75 Gadwall, 62 Teal, 63 Mallard, 45 Great Crested Grebe, 2700 Oystercatcher, 38 Ringed Plover, 36 Dunlin, 10 Snipe and 289 Curlew, with less common species noted being no more exciting than 1 Yellow-legged Gull and the odd Tree Pipit. Let’s hope the change in wind direction spices things up a little…

71 Sedge Warblers and 20 Reed Warblers were ringed yesterday morning. A Goshawk flying over was unexpected.

2 Marsh Harriers again present this morning, an adult female and a juvenile. Also a Pied Flycatcher, 26 Sedge Warblers and 7 Reed Warblers were ringed and a minimum of 11 Green Sandpipers.

Juvenile Marsh Harrier hunting first thing, which spooked at least 4 Green Sands. A little later Neil Edwards saw two juveniles in the same area SS4993.

Around Llanrhidian fledglings that have appeared during the last week have included a good crop of Little Egrets (Note, the Gowerton colony was abandoned this year, probably due to storm damage). I counted 63+ birds (adults and juvs) going into the Llanrhidian and Landimore roosts on Friday evening. Grey Herons have done well with young seemingly everywhere you look on the marsh. Broods of duck at Llanrhidian have included Mallard (~10 broods), Gadwall (5 broods), Shoveler (1 brood) and Shelduck (4 broods) though only single pairs of Lapwing & Redshank have produced young to fledging. Little Grebes are on their second clutch and are chasing off the young from the first brood, 17+ Moorhen chicks have been counted and Water Rails have been calling from the reedbeds, presumably breeding?

The start of passage has been slow with counts in the upper section of the estuary this week including Common Gull 6, Teal 8, Oystercatcher 369, Grey Plover 5, Black-tailed Godwit 9, Curlew 194 and Green Sandpiper 3. Gulls have been more conspicuous this week, but with so many Black-heads now being produced at Penclacwydd (246 chicks this year counted by Wendell Thomas plus the first successful Med Gull breeding), it’s difficult to detect if there’s been an influx, although counts of 24+ Meds there suggest additional birds have been arriving in number. Pleasing to finally see lots of Swifts feeding on the marsh this past week after what has been a very poor showing.

Observations between Loughor Bridge & Llanrhidian over the last week have included the following:

The Oystercatchers which were sitting on eggs for over two weeks on one of the WWII concrete blocks finally disappeared (presumably predated). A pair of Redshank at Penclawdd were more successful and this morning 3 well-grown chicks were pushed up into view by the high tide (VIDEO HERE). Also this morning I saw my first Shelduck chicks on the estuary, a small brood of five and with 50+ adult birds around I expect more will appear soon. Gadwall have reared young at Llanrhidian and Mallard broods continue to appear with 10 fresh chicks this morning. I saw my first Heron juveniles of the year on 2^nd, but there’s still no sign of the first Little Egret fledglings (hopefully there will be a good batch this year given all the adult activity at the regular colonies). Today I saw my first fledged Kingfishers of the year, providing proof of breeding at Llanrhidian and good to hear Yellowhammers singing at Frog Moor and Reynoldston.

Non-breeders and signs of what I suspect is early return passage include max. counts of 85 Mallard, 6 Teal, 260 Oystercatchers, 2 Grey Plover, 40 Whimbrel, 22 Curlew, 17 Redshank, 2 Turnstone and my first Green Sandpiper and Cuckoo of the year on the patch on the 11th. Herring Gull numbers are reasonably high with 887 counted yesterday evening and I saw my first Common Gull for a couple of weeks this am.

 

A pair of Yellow-crowned Weavers (also known as Bishops) Euplectes afer were seen by John Shepherd at Swansea Vale on the 25th. Relocated today by Alastair Flannagan – some pics HERE of these striking birds.

A Spoonbill was again feeding on the Glamorgan-side of the estuary on the receding tide this morning (SS5597), 9 Dunlin there the only new birds seen. Yesterday evening in the same area a Pale-bellied Brent was flying around with a Dark-bellied Brent.

All change at the bridge on the incoming tide this morning, no Avocets, no Whimbrel, no Curlew, or much else for that matter, however, a Little Ringed Plover that was flying around calling dropped onto the mud right in front of me. Unfortunately it was so close that when I moved to set my camera up it flew off. Nevertheless a very good PWC bird as this is only the 4th I’ve ever seen on my patch. 181 Black-tailed Godwits were the only other birds of note.

The 2 birds present in the HT roost in front of the British Steel hide at WWT this morning (found by Lyndon Evans & Alun John I believe?), were found feeding south of Loughor Bridge this evening. Between the bridge and Crofty the numbers of all other species have been down over the weekend, counts including 3 GCGrebe, 1 D-b Brent, 367 Oystercatcher, 2 Grey Plover, 33 Curlew, 6 Whimbrel, 1 Dunlin, ~30 Little Egret, 199 Herring Gull, 112 LBBGull, other odds and sods including Gannet and a regular Red Kite.

Up the Neath Valley, 42 active Sand Martin holes in a storage pile of coal duff was something I’ve not seen before.

This morning there was no sign of the Black, Common or Sandwich Terns seen on the south side of the bridge yesterday evening – the only new birds being a 2cy Med Gull, 33 Dunlin and Bar-tailed Godwit.

2 Arctic Terns at Dalton’s Point at HT were a welcome patchwork challenge addition in what’s been a very poor May so far. Further out 2 Gannets were the only other seabirds noted in the estuary.

Fulmar 33w, Guillemot 3w, Kittiwake 14e 123w, Manx Shearwater 3w, Red-throated Diver 2 on sea, Great Northern Diver 2w both full s/p, Gannet 5w, Arctic Skua 2 milling around, plus a few Swifts and Swallows in off.

Franklin’s Gull, Spoonbill and a Black Swan on the marsh at dusk, all Glamorgan-side. Black-wits up to 263, otherwise wader numbers down a little.

Of the 157 Black-headed Gulls on the south side of the bridge this evening, virtually all were immature. Also present was one of the two 2cy Med Gulls that have been around recently. Whimbrel numbers there are now up to 57, along with 2 Bar-wits, 1 Knot and 200+ Black-wits which have been feeding regularly in this area (these being feeding parties from the Penclacwydd roost of ~450). Earlier a Greenshank was in the pill at Penclawdd, other birds in the saltmarsh transition there including 2 singing Cetti’s, Sedge & Reed Warblers, Reed Buntings, Bullfinches, Song Thrushes, etc.

No sign of the funny Curlew, nor the Dunlin flocks, however there were 212 Black-tailed Godwit along a few Whimbrel and an estuary tick in the form of a Black Swan! Has one been seen elsewhere recently in the local environs?

In response to ludicrous suggestions that myself and others are deliberately suppressing or putting out late news of rare birds, you may be interested in the following:
If you sign up to Twitter and follow @welshbirders, you will get to hear news at same time as everybody else. This feed has been openly available for some time now, but it’s possible some of you may not have been aware of it. We have Mark to thank for setting this up and it is a great way of sending and receiving information quickly. If you’re not into Twitter then you can read the messages direct, without having to sign up, on the GRC blog.

A few more signs of waders on the move this evening with counts in the relatively small area south of the bridge including 123 Black-tailed Godwits, 306 Dunlin, 6 Whimbrel, 1 Grey Plover, 6 Ringed Plovers and 86 Oystercatchers. The most interesting bird however was one of four Curlew that flew in and landed, which appeared to have a dark rump in contrast to the obvious white rumps of the other three. It was a brief and distant view in dull light, so could just be soiled plumage or some other effect, however, the bird also had a strikingly long bill and was darker all over, so worth looking for if you’re passing.