An early morning visit to Flemingston to do the Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS) count before the rain got serious.

Waterbirds present were 7 Lapwing, 7 Wigeon, 48 Mallard, 1 Water Rail, 2 Moorhen, 4 Grey Heron, 6 Little Egret, 22 Greylag Geese, 199 Canada Geese, 11 Cormorant and 13 Mute Swan. Gulls present were 102 Herring gull, 1 Lesser Black-backed, 1 Great Black-backed Gull, 60 Common Gull and 60 Black-headed Gull.

In all we saw or heard 43 species, and others present included 2 Stock Dove, 70 Fieldfare, 30 Redwing, 2 Mistle Thrush, a singing Song Thrush, 2 Stonechat, 2 Raven, Green and Great Spotted Woodpecker and a Kestrel.

Pretty quiet this morning – filming for ‘Casualty’ by the far end of W lake didn’t help. However sitting in the cafe having coffee with my ‘last of the summer wine’ pals, I was fortunately facing the windows and a female Goosander flew in and settled on E lake for a short while then few off and headed towards W lake and poss beyond.

At Cosmeston on 5th Dec, my first Treecreeper for a while, in the wooded area on the right, 50m beyond the main bridge.
On 9th Dec a circuit of the lake at Parc Tredelerch just gave 45 Tufted Duck and some Coot and a pair of Mute Swans.
Today, 10th Dec, at Cosmeston, east lake had 122 Tufted Duck in amongst which were 2 female type Scaup, and there were a further 45 Tufted on W lake. Also a fem Pintail was reported. I also logged 2 Little and 2 Great Crested Grebes. There were c.30 Redwing feeding around the conservation area and a small flock of Goldfnch were there too.

On a short visit yesterday morning (8 December):

Watermill – 1 Redshank, 38 Teal, 3 Grey Heron, 1 Cormorant, 1 Little Egret, 31 Mallard

Ogmore Moor – 20 Curlew (field adjacent Ogmore Castle), 170+ Canada Geese, 1 Sparrowhawk, 6 Teal, 23 Mallard

Ploran Mawr/Waterworks bridge area – 10 Little Grebe, 1 Little Egret, 1 Redshank, 12 Teal

River below Portobello – 7 Gadwall, 14 Wigeon, 15 Goldeneye, 1 Redshank, 4 Great Black-backed Gull, 4 Goosander, 1 Turnstone

From RSPB Ham Wall – 01 Dec 2023

This morning, a Snipe flew out of the snipe enclosure and there were a good number of Redwing feeding in the bushes and flying back & forth across W. paddock. There were 2 pairs of Gadwall on W lake and 35 Tufties.
On Monday [4th] there was a pair of Pintail on W lake plus 2 female type Scaup with the Tufties, and a Common Gull, the first one I’ve seen in the park this winter.

There’s still extensive flooding on the moor and birds present late morning on Tuesday 5 December included 63 Lapwing, 42 Wigeon, 7 Shoveler, 21 Greylag Geese, 7 Little Egret, 2 Grey Heron, 13 Mute Swan, 43 Mallard, 150 Black-headed Gull, 180+ Canada Geese and 10 Fieldfare.

8 folk braved the rain and mist on our our second ‘Walks For Women’, and were rewarded by seeing 36 species – not bad for such a dismal day! Thanks for coming along, and special thanks to John Wilson for the route map and birding suggestions and Mary Gallagher for being deputy leader and keeping the list!

The highlights were – lots of Goldcrest in different areas, showing well, a Kingfisher, several Redwing , a Jay, 3 Greenfinch, a Kestrel, and several species of woodland bird very close up on the dragon tree.

Full List

Canada Goose, Mute Swan , Gadwall , Mallard , Pochard, Tufted Duck, Woodpigeon, Moorhen , Coot , Little Grebe
Great Crested Grebe, Herring Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull , Cormorant , Buzzard , Kingfisher, Kestrel , Jay , Magpie
Jackdaw , Carrion Crow , Blue Tit , Great Tit , Cetti’s Warbler, Long-tailed Tit , Goldcrest , Nuthatch , Starling,
Song Thrush , Redwing, Blackbird , Dunnock , Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Goldfinch

V v cold and pretty misty this morning. Main highlight was a Little Egret just about discernible in a tree by W lake. There were 38 Tufties on the water but I was unable to find the Pochards or Gadwalls from the other day. There were plenty of Redwing & Fieldfare flying about but none settling anywhere decent for photos apart from one Redwing by the lower dovecote field. I walked through Cogan Wood but had no luck with Marsh Tit, just the usual Great, Blue & Coal Tits and Nuthatch. Other common birds were Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Long-tailed Tit, Goldcrest and a couple of Bullfinch, plus I managed a couple of shots of Blackbird and Mistle Thrush.

Caerphilly Castle Moat

This morning 1st December 2023 Goosander 4 Teal 1 Grey Heron 1

Goosander 4 Teal 1 drake

Though arriving at wrong place for Portbury wharf NR on Sunday which gave a very long 40 min walk loop left to the hide, i manage the Black-neck Grebe, the Grebe did spend most of the time diving or hiding behide a bank. Even better i was able to get back to car just before the rain open up on the grey/black afternoon skies, so win, win

From Poole Harbour – Winter Boat Safari –

Regular Cardiff Bay birder Gareth Stamp had an amazing 3 Firecrests together this morning, in scrub & trees near the old Custom House along the Cardiff side of Penarth Head. They had moved on to feed somewhere else by the time I arrived although I did check all the trees up the hill to Paget Terrace. As I walked back to the car park area, a Wren was scolding away from the top of a vertical twig stuck in the rocks of the outer harbour, so I got a few nice portraits.

Very quiet this morning, the highlight being a Sparrowhawk that did a couple of circuits above the dipping pond area, trying to spook some Goldfinches which were feeding in the Alders there. A Cetti’s Warbler gave a quick burst of song there, and a Water Rail squealed.

This morning’s WeBS count in showery, blustery conditions produced 331 Canada Geese, 26 Greylag Geese, 13 Mute Swan, 40 Mallard, 28 Wigeon, 3 Shoveler, 22 Lapwing, 3 Grey Heron, 11 Little Egret, 2 Moorhen and a Cormorant. Gulls comprised 160 Herring, 7 Lesser Black-backed, 1 Black-headed and 1 Common.

Other species included 6 Fieldfare, 1 male Stonechat and a swirling flock of 200+ Starling.

Sixteen Little Egret flew south from Flemingston Moor at dusk. Earlier, other species present included 300+ Canada Geese along with 26 Greylag Geese, 61 Mallard, 41 Wigeon, 35 Fieldfare, 28 Lapwing, 10 Stock Dove, 4 Grey Heron, 3 Shoveler, 3 Moorhen, 2 Teal, 2 Cormorant, 1 Raven and a calling Water Rail.

A damp walk at Cosmeston this morning, mainly on the main paths. Incredibly muddy in the paddocks! Only birds of note were a flock of about 10 Fieldfare flying over, calling, in an easterly direction. The Tufted Ducks number around 30.

Walked across the barrage this morning, coffee at Coffi Co shipping containers, then checked out Porth Teigr waste ground and succeeded on the Black Redstart, a very smart adult male. It’s usually pretty distant on the rock piles in the middle of the area. It did once come to the piles of bricks near the fence but I was in the wrong position. There was a fem Goosander in the bay off the path that goes past the Swift tower. Also with the Redstart was a MIstle Thrush which had a bathe in a puddle. Also impressive in the dock were 2 adult Mute Swans with 7 fully grown young.