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.

Two Egyptian Geese late afternoon viewed from the minor road north of Flemingston. Also present a Raven, 3 Shoveler, 5 Grey Heron, 10 little Egret, 12 Mute Swan, 24 Wigeon, 24 Greylag Geese, 27 Lapwing, 48 Mallard and 320+ Canada Geese.

Late afternoon/dusk visit and the Moor is holding lots of surface water – the most I have seen there so far this autumn. Highlights – 2 Bar-tailed Godwit, 2 Raven, 2 Shoveler, 15 Little Egret, 17 Lapwing, 19 Wigeon and 26 Greylag Geese.

Rather damp for our walk to Rumney Great Wharf this morning. However it cleared up enough for 8 participants to do some decent birding. We logged 47 species in all. Difficult to pick out highlights but Peregrine, Sparrowhawk and Kestrel were all seen along with Fieldfare, Redwing, Curlew, Pintail, Sheduck, Redshank, Turnstone etc on the foreshore. 3 Ring -necked (Rose-ringed) Parakeets were very vocal around Lamby Lake. Many thanks to all those that came along, despite the weather. Click here for the list, courtesy of Nick McNeil-Watson who logged them on eBird.
Edit: PS many thanks to Alan Rosney for leading in my absence.

Male black redstart sitting on railings at the Ham Lane comprehensive school. Seen at about 1:30 while driving by.

Movement to ssw over Canton/Leckwith this morning; 3,000 birds in half an hour but largest numbers probably missed between daybreak and 9am.

A Short-eared Owl, first seen at Lavernock yesterday afternoon, hunted briefly over the field shown in the map below, roughly along the area of the line shown, between about 4:30 and 5 p.m. this evening. It dropped into ground cover as the rain was arriving,. Pretty poor light so surprised that I got a few half decent shots out of the 70 or so I took – albeit after some post processing. The bottom left pic is arguably the best as the bird seems to be eyeballing me [and Wayne Strong who was with me].

The male Mandarin Duck is still at Pwll y waun, looking resplendent in the autumn sun, constantly showing off and very often giving the resident mallards a ticking off.

Yesterday there were c.130 Canada Geese on E lake and nothing much else to shout about apart from 2 Grey Herons in the W lake ‘heron resting tree’ near the main bridge, and a party of Long-tailed Tits aka Bum Barrels from way back when. As usual they were pretty active and difficult to get decent shots of. I’ve posted 1 heavily cropped shot which shows pink eyelids.
Today, some of the Canadas had gone but there were still a lot present. In the lone Willow on the right by the E lake boardwalk a Chiffchaff was feeding, and 2 others were heard callihg elsewhere. Also by the Willow a constantly calling Cetti’s Warbler which typically wouldn’t show. A Water Rail called briefly there too. Just beyond the main bridge by the Mile Road there were 3 Goldcrests feeding together with a Wren, too high up for pix. There were 2 Stonechats on the W paddock hedge. The lakes were calm so there were some nice reflected images, esp of the Mute Swans, and a pair of Pied Wags were in the swan feeding area by E lake.

Curlew numbers are starting to pick up in the fields north of A4106 , Porthcawl with 17 this morning in the donkey field off zigzag lane and 23 ( probs same birds + 6 ) this afternoon in fields of Manor farm.

” The GBC monthly walk at Kenfig NNR on a Saturday 21st October 2023 attracted 4 participants and was lead by Dave Carrington. The intrepid 5 set off from the visitor centre and spent some time at Sker point, where a chilly wind straight off the sea awaited them.

The group then made their way to the South Hide, where they spent further time before returning to the visitor centre some 3 hours after setting out.

Thankfully, the weather, despite the wind chill, stayed dry and 38 species were recorded. Highlights were a Wheatear at Sker, along with a flock of around 50 Golden Plover and at least 2 Kestrels seen hovering for long periods over the dunes.

Overall, a productive and enjoyable morning.

The full list of birds recorded is as follows :-

Black-headed Gull, Blackbird, Carrion Crow, Cetti’s Warbler, Chaffinch, Common Gull, Coot, Cormorant,  Curlew, Dunlin, Dunnock, Gadwall, Golden Plover, Goldfinch, Great Tit, Grey Heron, Herring Gull, Jackdaw, Jay, Kestrel, Magpie, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Mediterranean Gull, Mistle Thrush, Mute Swan, Pied Wagtail, Robin, Rock Pipit, Siskin, Skylark, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Stonechat, Turnstone, Wheatear, Woodpigeon,  Wren. “

Many thanks to Dave Carrington for leading, John Western as deputy and for submitting this article and list.

This is specially for Dave and the three others who joined the Kenfig Monthly Walk, when i stay sitting in hide my goal was the Water Rail, Osprey or Hen Harrier Sorry i failed

But would a Bittern do !