Any thoughts on the ID of this gull, seen at Cosmeston this morning?  Unfortunately I was late for work and on my way back to the car so couldn’t stick around.  I didn’t get to see the legs.

Many thanks for any help.

At Cosmeston this morning, an adult winter Med Gull was on East Lake.  Some large flocks of other species around – several hundred Tufted Duck spread across both lakes, approx. 60 Magpies on the western side of West Lake, and approx. 1,000 Starlings leaving the reedbed at first light.  Approx. 30 Pochard on West Lake and 8 Gadwall.

Three Redwing and a female Bullfinch were in hedges along the northern paddocks, and a Nuthatch was amongst large numbers of tits in Cogan Wood (no sign of the Marsh Tit though).

 

23-Goldeneyes on the river,4-Goosanders,3m1f-also on the river.11h00-14h00

Goshawk near the Ford this afternoon

1x Female hen harrier quartering marsh- Trevor Cheeseman

1x Short eared owl quartering marsh- Trevor Cheeseman

2x Great white egret

A short seawatch off Porthcawl early produced little of note to boost my patchwork challenge totals, but there were 6 Mediterranean Gulls roosting at Rest Bay at high tide (4 adult winter and 2 second winter plumaged birds) in among the 50 Black-headed Gulls. A walk out to Pink Bay yielded 184 Golden Plover roosting in the fields just off the coast path. Later at Wilderness Pools there were 7 Shoveler (3m/4f), 16 Coot, 21 Moorhen, a Great Spotted Woodpecker, 2 Goldcrest and a Coal Tit. Nearby at Pwyll-y-waun pools were 156 Black-headed Gulls with several Mallard, Coot and Moorhen. (PWC 49 sp=52pts)

BTO NEWS survey in the heavy showers am today with Tim Adcock.  Total of 38 Fulmar was higher than expected. They were mostly resting on the cliffs between flights.  Other surprises were a flock of 12 Yellowhammer flying in and out of a hedge near the lighthouse including some cracking males plus shortly afterwards a group of 10 Grey Partridge at the edge of a field nearby.  We picked up the Partridge up as they flew in a group from one part of the field to another.

Quiet on the canal with Moorhen(2) and an immature Cormorant perched in a tree. One Dipper by the Tawe whilst a single Goosander(male) braved the fast flow. Towards Glais two Bullfinch(males),two Jay and a scattering of Mistle Thrush(3),Song Thrush(2) and Blackbird(9) and a couple of calling Great Tit.On the field next to the Mond works were two Green Woodpecker feasting on the anthills and a Great Spotted Woodpecker in the boundary trees. There was a large flock of Pied Wagtails here again with at least 70 birds but only two Starling.

Bittern took a short flight at 4.25pm from one part of the reedbed to another and then perched up in the reeds (from the hide without a door). DJJ/GJJ.

West lake – 13 Pochard, pair of Wigeon, 5 Gadwall (3m 2f), Little Grebe, Treecreeper [by the ‘dip’] in the path; 5 GC Grebe [4 E lake 1 W lake], 3 Redwing, 1 Mistle Thrush & 1 Fieldfare seen, plus the resident flock of Tufties.

Birds seen on four BTO NEWS sector surveys this morning for Swanbridge/Sully Island included 15 Oystercatcher, 1 Great Black-backed Gull, 3 Shelduck, 20 Greenfinch and a Raven. At Cosmeston earlier a Sparrowhawk at the south end of Cogan Wood.

Thursday afternoon at Garwnant I couldn’t find the Great Grey Shrike but did see around 20 Crossbill just after leaving the car park and turning north along the forest road. Also a flock of 100 or so Fieldfare in the field adjacent to the exit road from the Garwnant car park.

24 mute swan 28 tufted duck 6 pochard 24 Canada geese 3 male and 2 female goosander at the amenities tip were 31 magpies 50+starlings 250 black h gulls in the general area +est 150 herring gulls smaller numbers of lesser b b gulls and a few commons

Black Redstart ad.male and Chiffchaff passed through my garden this morning in Penarth Road/North Street at 11:10.

250+ oycs, good numbers of common,herring,bh gulls, 1 med gull

.. 2 lesser bb’s, 2 gc grebes, 2 bar tailed godwits, 1 knot, 1 redshank, flock of 20+ lotties.. And more b*****y dog walkers than you could count who all ask if there is anything rare you are watching while their mut is running amuck through the flock.. So frustrating

1-Great Grey Shrike perched on dead tree at the northern end of the north cleared area.

A flock of,at least 25 Crossbills in the pine trees just past the giant’s seat. Also a little later on,slightly nearer to the car park a flock of 19-Crossbills flew into the pine trees.These were probably birds from the bigger flock but maybe not as they seemed to fly in from a different direction.Perhaps someone else could check out the Crossbill numbers.

Great northern diver off the point actively foraging, 7 great crested grebe in the bay.

Scoter flock present, but distant and no count as a result.

16 Brent Geese were on the beach at the rivermouth by Aberthaw power station about two hours after low tide. At Barry Docks 2 Stonechat were on wasteground just beyond the eastern end of the Waterfront homes, and a Kestrel was on a streetlight nearby. On Sully Island a Shelduck (first I have seen here since last June) was with 30 Oystercatcher, and in Penarth Marina this afternoon a male Black Redstart was on the roof of a house in Plas Taliesin.

This is now on the Gower Ringing Group blog at:

http://gowerbirdringinggroup.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/oxwich-ringing-report-2015.html

A further more detailed report can be accessed by following the link in the summary (above).

An excellent year at Oxwich with almost 4,000 unique birds processed including large numbers of migrant warblers and finches.

A very showery Kenfig Pool this afternoon had 24 Gadwall, Great Black-backed and Common Gulls, a 1st winter drake Scaup, 90+ Tufted Duck, a pair of Goldeneye, 1 female Pochard, an overwintering Chiffchaff and several Great Crested Grebes.

A short seawatch this morning was enlivened by a Great Skua feasting on an unfortunate auk species between 0900 and 0930 after which it flew off down-channel. Also noted were 7 Red-throated Diver u/c, 3 Guillemot d/c, a Shag on the rocky shoreline and 4 Oystercatcher and 10 Turnstone up on the very wet lawns by the shelter. Later a quick check of Pwll-y-waun pool on the outskirts of Porthcawl yielded 3 Mute Swan, 2 pairs of Shoveler and a few Coot.