1 short eared owl over Llangenith moors and 1 red throated diver off Burry Holmes. smallish no.s of scoter at distance in

Rhosilli bay.

A Little Egret was on the beach between Blackpill and West Cross at 1 p.m.

Highlight [sadly for only 3 participants] of this mornings GBC monthly walk was a Bittern seen from south hide, having flown in from the east. The pool had 8 Gadwall and 4 Mallard as the only ducks. Gulls included 2 Common and 1 ad and 1 1stW Great Black-backed. Overall total was 42 species. If you click this link http://tinyurl.com/osex5zw you will see the full list.

Walk along the beach this morning and came across these characters.

Lots of flooding on Sully Moors currently. Friday afternoon 3 Grey Heron, 1 Little Egret, 4 Mute Swan, 43 Mallard (which may explain why the Cosmeston count was lower), several hundred gulls (HG, LBBG, BHG), 2 Buzzard and 30 Pied Wagtail.

On Sully Beach 15 Ringed Plover.

Red Kite seen over Dowlais at 2 and 2.15 p.m. (or 2 different ones). C. 50 Canada Geese on Cyfarthfa Park Lake.

1300-1800 starlings,maybe more at this afternoon’s murmuration.

A Short-eared Owl well seen by Graham  from  4.00 – 4.30pm.

An interesting 90 minutes – Three Pomarine Skuas within 20 minutes of arriving, followed by two bruising Bonxies – and it hardly stopped raining for a minute – hence the poor (but interesting) record shot. Shame the rain meant Andy Burns had to leave his camera in it’s case.

Not bird news but pleased [and relieved!] to announce that the 2014 East Glam Bird Report is now with the printer. Just awaiting a costing before giving the go ahead to print but I took away a proof copy which he prepared while I watched him in action. Impressive.

19-Little Egrets flew from the island roost at first light

I was astonished to see a black redstart hovering around my bird feeder yesterday morning… it flitted onto roof tops and then lost it… hopefully it will be back. A first for the garden….

A rainy two hours between 10am and noon saw us taking refuge in the old shelter at St maryswell bay – Graham Smith and I were rewarded with decent views of two Bonxies, a dark phase Pomerine skua, a Little Egret and a handful of Kittiwake.

 

Delayed WeBS from Sunday. 180 Pintail, 3 Wigeon, 35 Shoveler, 80 Shelduck, 30 Teal, 200 each of Redshank & Dunlin [low figs], 1 Jack and 1 Common Snipe, 15 GBB Gulls, just 3 Lapwing. Pretty horrible conditions! A pair of Stonechat were near the boatyard.

2 Little Egret, 3 Great Black-backed Gull, 2 Brent Geese, 1 Kingfisher and 23 Wigeon at Breaksea Point/Aberthaw Rivermouth late morning/early afternoon today. A Kestrel over the tip behind the beach, and a Grey Partridge flushed from scrub on the track between the beach and the tip just east of the rivermouth.

I joined several hardy souls at 1000h (MHi, AB, MJB, AGS et al). A strong westerly eventually pushed in a Leach’s Petrel picked out by Mark Hipkin, which all got on to eventually as it flew fairly close in past the shelter. Also seen 1000-1215, mainly down-channel were 1 Shag, 1 GC Grebe, several Fulmar and Gannet, 3 Common Scoter, several Kittiwake and Common Gull, a few Oystercatcher, 1 Golden Plover and 8 Turnstone. Two Mediterranean Gull flew right over the shelter mid morning (Adult and 2nd winter – same regular birds I think that I saw earlier at Salt Lake car park).

Seawatch 0815-1115. The undisputed highlight was my first Leach’s Storm Petrel, but there were plenty of other species of interest. Guillemot (1), Great Skua (1), Common Scoter (3), Kittiwake (25+), Gannet (3), Curlew (7), Oystercatcher (18) and a number of Common Gull. Most, apart from the oystercatchers, were heading down channel.

Good numbers of med gulls this morning.. 25+ (no ringed birds)

Several auk moving west — probably guillemots

2 shag fishing in the bay..

No sign of the little gull or GND…

An AdW Med Gull was in the middle of E lake this morning. Filmed hand held at 50x optical in the rain!

https://youtu.be/5Ki6CBY-PJU

11-Little Egrets flew in to the island roost at Hendre Lake at dusk yesterday,13th.