Disappointing 45 mins at the searchlight shelter [admittedly late morning], produced just a single Manxie down channel and a Whimbrel, plus the usual gulls. Obviously I need to get up earlier! I did see a Painted Lady in the first field.

River Ely/Bay from corner of Jeffcott Place/John Batchelor Way – Common Sandpiper, Grey Wagtail and 3 Turnstone on the wall near water’s edge. Sand Martins and Swifts overhead.

From boardwalk near old ice rink – Great Crested Grebe with 1 juvenile on its back and 2 more in tow. House and Sand Martins nearby.

Wetland Reserve – at least 20 Great Crested Grebe including 2 juveniles, Swifts and Sand Martins low over boardwalk

At Hensol Lake yesterday a Grass Snake was chased off as it swam across the lake by a Coot who pecked at it to encourage it on its way. I took a very brief video but it would not down load on to the site so have put on pics of the snake.

Early morning, low tide visits in the sunshine:

Barry Old Harbour – 1 Whimbrel, 1 Curlew, 1 Great Black-backed Gull, 2 adult Mediterranean Gulls (now rapidly losing their black hoods) in with 75+ Black-headed Gulls.

Bendrick Rock/Cadoxton river mouth – 1 Kingfisher looking superb in the bright sunshine – perched on a rock in a tidal pool. Also 3 Oystercatcher.

Sully beach – 2 Whimbrel, 5 Oystercatcher and a young fox sauntering along the beach.

Sully Island/Swanbridge – 2 Whimbrel on the causeway, 6 Oystercatcher, Herring Gull busily dismembering a crab

an adult med gull was taking fisher men’s waste off the pier late afternoon

56 sedge warblers, 33 reed warblers, 23 willow warblers, 2 grasshopper warblers among 181 birds this morning.

For a report of the ringing session, follow this LINK

Yellow Legged Gull adult quite confiding, probably the bird we saw earlier in the year.

Last night (Monday 24th July) 21:50 – 22:30

Nightjars – churring and wing clapping heard from 2 different locations, 3 birds in total.

Also Grasshopper Warbler reeling and observed.

20th June:

Short morning walk in Craig Y Nos country park – Dipper, yellow wagtail (3), blackcap (M), firecrest, long tail tit (4) .

The Caspian tern has reappeared this morning…

90+ Canada geese 33 mute swan 30 +mallard 40+ herring gull 20+lesser b b gull 15 black h gull 2 juv pied wagtail .

swansea vale 2 adult mute swan with 2 cygnets 4 adults and 9 juvs coot lots of sand martins and swallows.

This morning Ringed Plover, Turnstone, Dunlin and Oystercatcher on Sully Island, adult Mediterranean Gull on Sully Beach and a Common Sandpiper at Bendrick Rock.

Whimbrel 1, common sandpiper 8, redshank 2, and little egret of note. The goosander family still present.

Just a heads up that WTSWW are having an open day at Lavernock WT Reserve on Sun 6th Aug from 12:00 midday to 4 p.m. Guided walks will leave on the hour throughout the afternoon.

Looks like the kittiwakes on the pier are having a good year again on whats left of the “temporary ledges”.. Is this South Wales’ only kittiwake colony on man made structure??

late post from yesterday evening- single Little Egret.

A bit belated I’m afraid. Here’s the trip list from the GBC trip last Wednesday courtesy of Gareth Jenkins:

Total list 62 species; Little Grebe, Cormorant, Little Egret, Grey Heron, Mute Swan, Canada Goose, Shelduck, Teal, Mallard, Pintail, Shoveler, Tufted Duck, Buzzard, Kestrel, Moorhen, Coot, Oystercatcher, Ringed Plover, Little Ringed Plover, Lapwing, Knot, Dunlin, Black tailed Godwit, Curlew, Redshank, Common Sandpiper, Wood Sandpiper (seen by 1 ! ), Turnstone, Mediterranean Gull (1 seen), Black headed Gull, Common Gull, Herring Gull, Wood Pigeon, Collared Dove, Swift (1 seen)Great spotted Woodpecker, Green Woodpecker (heard), Skylark, Sand Martin,Swallow, House Martin, Meadow Pipit, Yellow Wagtail, Pied Wagtail, Wren, Dunnock, Stonechat, Blackbird, Cettis Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Reed Warbler, Whitethroat, Blackcap, Willow Warbler, Magpie, Carrion Crow, Starling, House Sparrow, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Linnet, Reed Bunting.

One other notable sighting was a Water Vole swimming across the reen at Goldcliff.

There were 7 participants on today’s GBC monthly walk at Kenfig NNR. Meeting at 9am at the car park, we decided to head for the coast at Sker to look for waders around high tide.

En route, in light rain, birds heard or seen included Willow Warbler, Whitethroat, Starling, Linnet, Bullfinch, Dunnock plus Herring, Lesser Black-backed and Black-headed Gulls. The highlight though was a group of 9 Stonechat on the edge of the golf course including a number of juveniles.

Around Sker House there were 5 Lapwing in a field, and nearby another 4 Stonechat along with Goldfinch, Meadow Pipit, Skylark and a flyover Cormorant. As we moved on from Sker House, and with the weather deteriorating rapidly, some in the group saw a Snipe.

We pressed on to Sker rocks for a brief look in by now heavy rain. We managed to add Oystercatcher, Ringed Plover, Turnstone, Curlew and Rock Pipit, but the combination of wind and rain was too much to allow a thorough search.

Many thanks to Strinda Davies for leading today’s walk and to all those who came along.

We saw or heard 30 species. Full species list: Cormorant, Oystercatcher, Ringed Plover, Northern Lapwing, Common Snipe, Eurasian Curlew, Turnstone, Black-headed Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Herring Gull, Feral Pigeon, Magpie, Carrion Crow, Skylark, Swallow, Willow Warbler, Common Whitethroat, Wren, Starling, Blackbird, Song Thrush, European Stonechat, Dunnock, Pied Wagtail, Meadow Pipit, Rock Pipit, Goldfinch, Linnet, Bullfinch, Reed Bunting.

Hello,

Sorry for the non-sighting post, but I thought that some people may be interested in attending this year’s Unknown Wales Conference, held in the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff. Stephen Roberts will be presenting a talk about Honey Buzzards.

The date this year is Saturday 28th October.

It should be a very interesting day- along side Stephen’s talks, there are talks about marine life, rivers, seagrass meadows, natterjack toads and polychaete worms. More details, the programme and booking form are online here https://www.welshwildlife.org/unknown-wales/conferences/unknown-wales-2017/

All the best,

Rose

UnknownWales 2017 flyerCYUnknownWales 2017 flyerEN

15 (fifteen) Common Sandpipers this morning. At one stage they were all perched low down on dead branches on one of the islands. Also 2 Little Egrets and a Kingfisher.