Made 2 visits looking for the GG SHRIKE today.. total 4 hours to no avail… Talked to the local farmer who is a keen naturalist(?) who said he hadn’t spotted it since the group was there on Sunday… Oh well.!

---

Anyway: Couple of pairs of stone chats kept me company. Along with a snipe, buzzard, pair of ravens, flyover peregrine, pair of bullfinches and several mobile reed buntings

Anonymous Report of a GG SHRIKE on BirdGuides last night.. So decided to get there first light.. Had good binocular views of the bird (Very white against the grey of the willows it was in) but decided I needed to get closer.!! IT flew as I was creeping up behind a convenient blackberry bush.. 2 hours of waiting around and no show… Never mind there’s always tomorrow…..

30 curlew on Royal Ashley G.C. with a lot of oycs + 2 mistle thrushes

12 med gulls in Bracelet Bay loafing in the surf

My first Dunlin this winter in West Cross with 7 turnstones & a redshank

Lots of common gulls mixed in with the usual herring & BH’s…..

Lovely male eider off the Pier Café

Couple of GBB gulls loafing with it.

Bracelet full of Med gulls… most I’ve seen (old favourite E825 was around again)

Gower bird hospital first winter ringed herring gull there too (02Y5)

20 CURLEW with large numbers of oycs & woodpigeons on University playing fields

1 common gull with 20 mixed bh’s & herring gulls on waste ground opposite Morrison car park in Enterprise zone

Good selection of farmland birds…

lapwing, skylarks, reed bunting, raven, house sparrows, mipipts, grey heron,

Highlight were a couple of cracking Yellowhammer

Despite braving the cold again this afternoon I dipped for the second time on the black redstart i St Helens road… Never mind! I did get a really smart grey wagtail on my patio though this afternoon… Lovely bird

4 Woodlark still in the Cabbage stubble field.. possibly their third week.?? Also present were 3 partridge

Stunning grey wag in stream @Wx.. Small flock of Redshank, turnstones, lots of BH gulls, Small number of oycs scattered over the beach.. Everything struggling with the high winds including me.!!

Summer plumage GND still there feeding close inshore this morning.. Eating crabs & eels

The summer plumage gnd still between pier and Verdi’s this morning. Also merlin flying back and fore hunting around the islands

Goldcrest, chough, little egret, pair of kestrel, linnet, stonechat,and loads of skylark…. Also distant views of large flock golden plover over Oxwich..

Still lots of skylarks flying around in small flocks this afternoon

7 dark bellied Brent geese opposite Norton House

4 curlew, 2 redshank, lots of oycs, mixture of usual gulls….

Several whitethroats’.. 2 singing chiffchaff, 2 different family groups of stonechats.. And several scruffy looking (post moult?) blackbirds… Oh and 1 solitary oyc on three cliffs beach

Willow tit calling in oak tree in street this afternoon.. Second time this year I’ve had one

10 chough, 1 kestrel

2 hour sea watch from the car to avoid the storms! 1 gannet, lots of kittiwakes as per usual, 10 to 20 med gulls mixed with bh’s.. No manxies which was a surprise… And usual mixture of herring/lbb’s floating around.. Ravens over the lighthouse