V brief visit this a.m. Saw just 2 Fieldfare in W paddock with a few Redwing. 6 Pochard on W lake and 3 Teal and the usual mass of Tufties.

After many recent failed attempts I finally saw my Barn Owl again – it flew across the Aston Martin road not far from the B4265 roundabout at about 2000 hours this evening (Saturday).

8 Goosander have now joined the usual waterfowl. 4 x redheads, 2 x 1st year males (adult plumage starting to show through) and 2 adult males. The 2 old boys looked particularly good in yesterday’s sunshine.

This afternoon at the wetland reserve boardwalk the female Ring-necked Duck was on show, although a scope was needed as it was about halfway along the stretch of water. Also the 2ndW Caspian Gull found yesterday by Gareth Stamp, was out in the bay [scope definitely needed!]. Fortunately Gareth turned up and got me on to it – pure snowy white head and long parallel-sided bill and some grey on the upper parts. Couple of noisy images below [the light was fading] to give some idea. The second image is cropped from the first and post processed a fair bit!

On the river;8-Goldeneyes 3m5f,3-Goosanders 2f1m,1-Common Sandpiper

From the heritage path;3-Choughs,1-Peregrine.

Kenfig Public Walk, Saturday 20th November 2021

We welcomed 11 folk to our walk, good to meet to old friends , and a new GBC member, Martin. In spite of the overcast sky giving poor viewing conditions, the rain held off, and we saw/heard 45 species! The highlights being a Scaup, a distant Kingfisher and a large number ( 20+- Dave will give us a more exact number …) of Common Gull all on the pool. 2 Cetti’s Warbler were calling, as were Chiffchaff, Redwing flew overhead, while we were pleased to find a Fieldfare. Some of us saw a small flock of distant Golden Plover towards the coast, while Barry found us a last minute raptor, a hovering Kestrel.

Full list.

Canada Goose, Greylag Goose, Mute Swan, Gadwall, )Mallard, Tufted Duck, Scaup, Feral Pigeon, Woodpigeon, Collared Dove, Moorhen, Coot, Golden Plover, Black-headed Gull, Common Gull, Herring Gull, Cormorant, Grey Heron, Kingfisher, Kestrel, Jay, Magpie, Jackdaw Carrion Crow, Coal Tit, Great Tit, Cetti’s Warbler, Long-tailed Tit, Chiffchaff, Wren, Starling, Mistle Thrush, Redwing, Blackbird, Fieldfare, Robin, House Sparrow, Dunnock, Pied Wagtail, Meadow Pipit, Chaffinch, Bullfinch, Greenfinch, Linnet, Goldfinch. total – 45

With thanks to all who came, and to Dave Carrington for leading

Nothing too notable but those worth noting all began with ‘b’ – Blackcap (f), Bullfinch (m), Buzzard, oh and Blackbird!

Also a few Redwing by the lower Dovecote field by Sully Brook and there were 10 Moorhens out of the water foraging by the Swan area. John Wilson

16.10 This afternoon, Female Hen Harrier over fields adjacent to A4106

A lap of Cardiff Bay yesterday produced 41 species.

Off the ice rink boardwalk: Female Ring-necked Duck, 83 Tufted Duck and a drake Goosander.

River Ely embankment: Common Sandpiper, 2 Redshank, 9 Turnstone and a Grey Wagtail.

On the foreshore south of the barrage: 104 Shelduck, 3 Redshank and a Great Black-backed Gull.

Across the barrage to the skate plaza: Raven, 39 Cormorant, Rock Pipit, Linnet flock and a few Starling.

Near Norwegian Church/Mermaid Quay: 5 Goosander, 5 Little Grebe.

At the Wetland Reserve: Water Rail, Shoveler, Cetti’s Warbler, Kingfisher and 240+ Black-headed Gull.

A month ago I saw 4 choughs on Locks Common Porthcawl, and a couple of weeks ago two flew along the seafront. This morning there was a single bird, making a lot of noise, on the cliffs. Could they be thinking about breeding here? There is a lot of disturbance with walkers and dogs, but there are areas of the cliffs which are inaccessable.

Fields adjacent to zigzag Lane – 20 Curlew, 70+ B.H.Gull, 5 Common Gull, a very indifferent Buzzard atop a hawthorn with several rabbits scurrying below and also a Peregrine that flew in low, just clipping it’s unidentified target and producing a puff of feathers before flying off.

Five Goosander 1 male 2 immature male and two redheads. Coot 50 Black-headed Gull 80

A tad late (been doing other stuff). Cosmeston a.m. – 2 Raven over W paddock, Water Rail squealing in the snipe enclosure, 37 Tufties & pr Gadwall W lake, 20 more Tufties E lake and 1 eclipse Shoveler, and 1 Grey Wag on path nr bird table. There were 5 Pochard on W lake y’day.

A group of 12 participants on a GBC outing spent 4 hours visiting 3 sites in Cardiff Bay – the boardwalk by the Ice Rink, the wetland reserve, and then the Penarth Marina area and the south end of the barrage. At the Ice Rink boardwalk we had excellent views of 5 Goosander, which comprised 3 adult males an adult female and an immature male in a plumaghe most of us had not seen before. A large raft of Tufted Ducks was up towards the yacht club but despite a lot of scanning we couldn’t find the recent Ring-necked Duck, and there were plenty of Great Crested Grebes on show. A Grey Wagtail flew in and a Kestrel was hovering nearby. At the Wetland Reserve we added several Little Grebes, and heard Cetti’s Warbler and Water Rail. Four of us then went round to the Penarth Marina area and walked to the south end of the Barrage. A single Turnstone was along the R. Ely embankment by the marina, and 2 adult Common Gulls were on the orange buoys by the inner barrage sluices – a regualr spot for them but in much reduced numbers in recent winters. A total of 36 species were logged. Below are the Goosanders, left to right: imm male, adult female and adult male. Click each for a full size image. Click here for the full list.

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Did my WeBS count this morning on a very high tide – most of Green Point was under water. Main counts were c200 Dunlin and a big roosting flock of c2500 Redshank. The only other waders were 11 Oystercatcher. Pintail numbers were low, with just 24 present with 45 Mallard, and surprisingly just a couple of Shelduck that I could see. There were about 30 Shoveler and a few Teal. A flock of 50 Fieldfare flew over the Lamby landfill, 6 Canada Geese flew in and there were single Kestrel and Buzzard.

The hightlight tho’ was a large lump noted in the water offshore as I scanned for Shelduck, which turned into a very large bull Seal.! It dived and surfaced a few times and lazed with its head pointing skywards but then after another dive it disappeared and I could not relocate it.

Whilst on a visit here to hopefully get some autumn foliage photos,a Buzzard flew into the wood

landing on a branch.I took a few photos of it,i didn’t check the photos until later.I noticed it had a very unusual tail colour.

The only Buzzard i can find in Collins with a similar tail colour is a Steppe Buzzard,surely it couldn’t have been one of these.Comments please.

On a high and falling tide impressive nos of redshank, dunlin, plus curlew, lapwing, oyks, plus a group of 12 ringed plover (notable as the first ringed plover I have seen within Cardiff boundaries this year despite lots and lots of looking), pintail, teal, wigeon (wigeon just in gwent), also kestrel, sparrowhawk, redwings, nearby flock of fieldfares (first of year for me), chiffchaff, stonechat

A few Redwing around, some in trees by the bird table and others in trees just beyond the dragonfly pond. A Mistle Thrush and 2 Green Woodpeckers were in W paddock. On W lake there were 24 Tufted Duck sticking v close together with a flotilla of Coot, and there was a pair of Gadwall, all very distant. Whilst I was on the Mile Road and flock of 10 Skylark flew over, calling and quite low, and at the exit of W paddock near the Mile Road there were 2 Goldcrest that avoided being photographed!

Small movement to the ssw on 4th November of 3230 birds in one hour over Leckwith.

No less than 3 blackcaps in our Cardiff suburban garden feeding on berries. I guess the winter shift have arrived