A black redstart was found this afternoon by Jez Smith, on the roof of the Sir Martin Evans Building (School of Biosciences), between Park Place and Museum Avenue.

A female pintail was present at the “wild” end of the lake today (my 1st pintail at this site), along with a pair of wigeon, 7 shoveller, 5 teal and a GBB gull.

Lisvane Res 9/10: 1 little egret and a good count of 18 pochard.

Llanishen Res 8/10: 15 redwings, and 8 wigeon among the regulars.

At Roath Park Lake on 5/10: 17 teal, 17 shovellers and 1 wigeon.

Male redstart seemingly fresh in today (not here yesterday), on NE fringe of Coed y Bedw. No sign of any pied flys here this year (again) though lots coming in further north.

Delighted to find a drake lesser scaup cavorting in front of Lisvane Res car park at 15:15, chasing and courting a female tufted duck in company with various male tufties. Still present when I left at 15:45. The Cosmeston bird was absent this morning, apparently, so presumably the same bird.

Highlight of today’s WeBS survey were 1 adult Y-L gull and 3 Jack snipe among 58 common snipe. Other grand totals were: 8 mallard, 61 tufties, 26 moorhens, 118 coots, 29 little grebes, 11 GC grebes, 3 mute swans, 29 herring gulls, 89 LBBgulls.

At dusk, impressive murmurations by approx 2,000 starlings, with 4 pipistrelle and 1 noctule sized bat hunting along the reservoir banks.

An odd record of a dipper at Lisvane Reservoir this morning -initially perched on the steel security fencing at the car park, then flew off high to the west! This was my first record at the reservoirs. Also (probably of interest only to Lisvane aficionados) 14 moorhens on Lisvane res was a personal best.

Combined totals for the N Cardiff reservoirs over the weekend: 1M red-crested pochard (31st), 1 wigeon, 1 shoveller, 6 pochards, 57 tufties, 173 coots, 11 moorhen, 30 mallards, 55+ common snipe, 26 little grebes, 6 GC grebes, 2 mute swans, 76 Canadas, 2 chiffchaffs.

A nice surprise on Sully Island today (1st) was hearing 2 water rails calling from “the bog”. Also 1 chiffchaff.

The shoveller flock here is now 15-strong, with 9 teal and a wigeon.

Around the N Cardiff reservoirs and Roath Park Lake over the weekend: 1 male Red-crested pochard, 5 wigeon, 10 shoveller, 6 teal, 2 snipe, 1 kingfisher and the regulars.

1 redwing over Llanishen at dusk on 1st Sept.

Plenty of wildfowl around at the moment, including 10 teal and 9 shoveller on Roath Park Lake, another 2 shoveller on Lisvane Reservoir along with 150 Canada geese, and a red-creasted pochard in the area too.

News from James Vafidis of a female eider at Blackpill.

News from me of a crossbill over Lisvane.

No sign of the black terns at Lisvane yesterday lunchtime.

The 2 black terns remained on Lisvane Res until dusk. Also 1 wheatear, 1 white wagtail and 2 noctule-sized bats around the reservoirs.

Roath Park Lake now has 5 shovellers, and 14 teal. The recent wigeon seems to have moved on.

Despite the mini-heatwave, plenty of winter wildfowl around N Cardiff. Today at Roath Park Lake there were 13 teal, 3 shovellers and a wigeon. At the reservoirs, a sub-ad mediterranean gull and a clouded yellow were the highlights.

1 green sandpiper on the E shore of Lisvane Reservoir this evening. Also around the reservoirs over the last few days; 1 common sandpiper, 2-3 kingfishers, 1 sedge warbler, 1,000+ swallows and hundreds of sand martins, 1 swift, 4 teal, 2x broods of GC grebes (including one brood hatched on the new floating platform), c30 little grebes (including youngsters), good counts of 141 coots and 206 tufties, 8 pochard, 19 mallards, 12 Canadas, 2 mute swans, 70 BH gulls, etc.

8 goosanders (a good record here) arrived at dusk from the south, stayed a few minutes, and flew off south again! Lots of other wildfowl; 109 tufties, 5 pochards, 126 coots, 83 Canadas plus the two hybrid geese. 15 mallards of assorted ages, 3 moorhens, 3 GG grebes (including a pair now nesting on the new platform), 1 little grebe, 2 mute swans and 1 common sandpiper.  Approx 100 swifts and 200 swallows coming very low as the rain came in. A fox was touring the reservoir banks as darkness fell.

On Roath Park Lake, a female tufted duck was escorting a single tiny duckling. Also, a colour-ringed black headed gull, white 24H9 (right leg).

Back from my own summer wanderings to find some evidence at the reservoirs of migration / post-breeding dispersal just beginning: yesterday (1st) 1 greater black-backed gull, 8 BH gulls (7 ads with 1 juv), juv kingfisher and today 2 common sandpipers. Also good numbers of wildfowl building up, with 88 Canadas (plus the two Canada-greylag hybrids which often turn up here in late summer), 124 coots, 48 tufties, 4 pochards, 18 mallards (plus a farm duck), 2 mute swans, juv and adult moorhen, 2 gc grebes (nest building again!) and a little grebe. The water level has dropped over a foot in the last few weeks, leaving several coot nests stranded high and dry on the banks! Also of interest, the Llanishen silver jackdaw made a brief visit to the corvid roost.

1 whimbrel (calling) and 5 curlew over this evening, heading NW. Garganey also in the N Cardiff area.

A hobby went through at 4pm (Mon 11th) -my 80th species at the reservoirs so far this year. It looked briefly at the numerous swifts around the reservoirs but did not linger, heading steadily northwards. I didn’t get a photo of the hobby, so instead here is a photo of the new nesting raft being launched onto Lisvane Reservoir by Dave Palmer and crew, now safely anchored off the East bank (the raft, that is, not Dave).

Also a tawny owl being mobbed in the car park (photo of the same bird from the other day), 2 mute swans and lots of swifts (c40) coming very low.

Iceland gull still present, asleep on the railway bridge at lunchtime.