Despite the rather wet start to the day, 10 participants attended the field trip to Parc Cwm Dare. We were rained on for about 45 minutes but we were soon observing breeding activity with juvs of Chiffchaff, Blackcap and Bullfinch being fed by adult birds. Other highlights were 2 immature Peregrines chasing each other around the face of the Tarren Y Bwllfa cliff, several Green Woodpeckers including some juvs, and lots of Siskins. Two adults and an immature Little Grebe were on the lower lake and a Great Spotted Woodpecker flew over. House Martins and Swallows were around the lower parts of the park. The absence of any Swifts over the distant houses was worrying and we’ve never previously failed to see any there. Fine ‘scope views were had from the top viewpoint of one imm Peregrine sitting up on the cliff [well done Alan for carrying your ‘scope all the way]. Thanks to all who came despite the weather. Sorry no photos – weather wasn’t conducive for taking the camera! John Wilson
Click here for the full list.

On a quick walk round, down to the old searchlight building and back, I was lucky enough to initially flush a Cuckoo in the second field, which did a circuit and disappeared.Fortunately it was still present on my return leg and after foraging in the dense ground cover, sitting briefy in the open on the dirt path, flew around and settled in a tree. There were many Ringlets on the wing and one settled nicely for an underwing shot.

A small group [just 7 of us] had a successful trip to Ham Wall RSPB in the Somerset Levels yesterday [25th]. The heat wasn’t too bad as there was some shade, plus the afternoon cloud and stiff breeze helped. 51 species were logged with highlights being 4 or poss 5 fly-by Bitterns, a Hobby, a Cuckoo, many Marsh Harriers and Great White Egrets [outnumbering Littles]. Also a Bearded Tit was seen by Alan Rosney and a few others were heard. There were very many dragon & damselflies, the best of which were Red-eyed Damselflies alighting on the floating vegetation [as is their habit] and a Lesser Emperor dragonfly flying back & forth in front of the Avalon hide. Thanks to all who came along. Click here for the full list. Images below L>R: female Marsh Harrier, Whitethroat, Great White Egret, Red-eyed Damselfly, 4-Spotted Chaser, Common Blue Damselfly.

From today GBC walk at Ham Wall

Not overly birdy at Cossie at the moment, so amongst the birdy pix there are some invertebrates. The GC Grebe ‘humbug’ is now as big as the adults. Two adult Herons were in a tree near the main bridge. Managed to grab a shot of the Jay which was very busy in the grove of trees behind W lake. The day-flying moth is Pyrausta purpuralis,always nice to see. The pair of Damselflies ‘in cop’ were by the dragonfly pond [either Common or Azure – not sure you can tell from the image]. The hoverfly is Leucozona laternaria [confirmed on the Hoverflys FB page] – a new sp for me. Finally the Comma was one of two seen near the Medieval Village.

A – White Spotted Bluethroat

35 speice seen, 3 Airborne Birds of Prey – Red Kite – Buzzard and Kestrel with snake – 58 Canada Geese & 6 Juvs and a Black Tailed Godwit around the pond

Small red-eyed Damselfly also Common Blue Damselfly + Emperor 4 Broad-bodied Chaser 6, Mute Swan 88 Great Crested Grebe 1

Wednesday am. Redstart 1 juv Tree Pipit 2 Jay 3 Curlew heard

Dragonflies: Emperor 2BroadBodied Chaser 6 Four Spot Chaser 4 Golden Ringed Dragonfly 3 Large Red Damselfly 1 Azure Blue Damselfly 10 Beautiful Demoiselle 1

I visit RSPB Ynys-hir, walking to Salting hide look out on river mouth, when this rapter made airborne pass, just say i never been so dispointing with Peregrine, for a second i hope a Osprey. Ynys-hir is a lovely reserve, i manage Saltmarsh trail, Wetland trail and bit of the hard up and down woodland walk, Redstarts, Pied Flycatchers, saw spotted flycatchers, everywhere Canada Geese with all size of Goslins and some mad horses – Than dash up the boardwalk at Dyfi Osprey Project, well bit of lie, after 5&i/2 walk and sitting in hides around Ynys-hir my walk to hide was a hobble and got this years Osprey tick – My Airborne competition between buzzard and Red Kites tried at 6 each on both leg of the drive.

On a sunny day 12 members enjoyed a walk around the beautiful Dinas RSPB reserve, north of Llandovery. We logged 38 species including all the ‘targets’ of Pied & Spotted Flycatchers, Common Redstart, and Wood Warbler, with Garden Warbler, Marsh Tit and other common woodland species thrown in for good measure. Adult Wheatears were feeding juvs by the access road to Llyn Brianne reservoir. By the afternoon it was getting pretty warm and folk were wilting, and the leader succumbed to an ice cream cone and then an ice lolly after watching the Wheatears! A few record shots by yours truly below. Thanks to all for coming. John Wilson. Click here for the full list.

A pair of Blue tits having successfully raised a brood and all have fledged from a nest in an outside cigarette butt bin. Swallows have again nested in the garage/workshop ( this time on a ledge of plywood I screwed to a crossbeam ), another pair are investigating the ladies toilet through an open window and a pair of pied wagtails have a clutch inside the gubbins of a contractors dumper truck! ( a sign is up to stop it being used). Also House sparrows are nesting all over the place, at least 20 pairs.

Spotted Flycatcher

One of several fledgling Great Tits from the nestbox in my garden. Amazing to watch the parents working non-stop all day.

Today was pretty quiet but I noted a Green Woodpecker near the dragonfly pond and a Great Spotted Woodpecker calling by the Mile Road next to W. paddock but not seen. A Chiffchaff was feeding in a tree there and a WIllow Warbler has been singing from a tall bare tree near the snipe enclosure for several days. One Great Crested Grebe pair has a single well grown ‘humbug’ [usually on E lake] and this morning I saw that the other pair have at least 2 small chicks, still being carried on the adult’s back [1 visible in the pic below]. There’s a Moorhen with 3-4 young on the dragonfly pond. Yesterday a Stock Dove was in W paddock then flew obver to feed just beyond the dragonfly pond. Was pleased to see and whole lot of Honey Bees nectaring on the mass of Alexanders near the dipping pond this morning [there’s been a noticeable absence of bees & hoverflies up til now]. Whilst there I saw a Reed Warbler singing in the ‘open’ amongst the Alexanders and took a couple of shots for the record [see the pix to see the difficulty through swaying vegetation]!

On Friday, at the very edge of Porthkerry woods near the Millwood Bowling Club, this obliging Tawny gave me time to go home and fetch my camera, for this cropped shot.

Male White Tailed Eagle – on Poole Habour Safaris, the highlights 3 sight of 2 Eagles – Well worth missing the cuckoo on Sunday trip – Well worth 155 miles drive – Well worth getting lost in RSPB Arne day before, end up on the part which being use for Spring Watch next week, 3 1/2 hours (God it was hot) made it back in bad way but Brittern 2022 still walking, just – Well worth suffering overnight Premier Inn Bed to have a White Tailed Eagle as my 200 British Bird since starting July 2021

It was a beautiful Spring morning for our birdsong ID walk on Saturday. The wildflowers were putting on a lovely show. Eight folk came along, welcome all, and in spite of there being some notable exceptions, we saw/heard 37 species. The highlights, besides the many singing warblers, were – a close fly -over of a Sparrow Hawk, a Kingfisher, and Martin took an excellent photo from the hide of two Great White Egrets passing over , while the rest of us were having a great view of a very vocal Reed Warbler.

Full List-

Woodpigeon , Collared Dove, Coot , Great Crested Grebe , Herring Gull , Lesser Black-backed Gull, Cormorant , Grey Heron 

Sparrowhawk , Buzzard, Kingfisher , Great Spotted Woodpecker, Jay , Magpie , Jackdaw , Carrion Crow , Blue Tit , Great Tit , Swallow 

Cetti’s Warbler, Willow Warbler , Chiffchaff , Reed Warbler , Blackcap , Whitethroat , Wren , Treecreeper , Starling, Song Thrush 

Blackbird , Robin , Stonechat , Chaffinch , Bullfinch, Goldfinch , Greylag Goose, Mallard.

Many thanks to Dave Carrington for leading

The feeder dock in Cardiff Bay just before Porth Teigr is now busy with Sand Martins claiming holes in the dock wall. The photos were taken on Sat 20th, when there was also a House Sparrow pretending to be a new species – Brown Wallcreeper! There were also a good number of House Martins inspecting nest sites at Penarth Marina, although it was disappointing to see that the residents in an apartment that faces the lock control room, had obviously hacked off several HM nests from last year from their roof facias. Sadly no Swifts were seen at all.

21 GBC members enjoyed a visit to the Castell Nos upland area near Maerdy this morning. Ceri Jones led us round this new location for a field trip and Mike Shewring of the Lost Peatlands project gave us an overview of this important project. Being upland the number of species is not huge, but we logged 36. Highlights were 2 Cuckoos seen from the parking laybay, and 1 or poss 2 later on. Several Whinchats were seen and 2 Stonechats. Tree Pipits and Willow Warblers were singing and 2 Crossbills came down to a puddle to drink. We eventually overlooked the Tarren Y Bwllfa cwm cliff at the top end of Parc Cwm Dare and managed to ‘scope up a Peregrine sitting on a ledge. A selection of my photos below. The bird ones pretty poor as they were always quite distant, plus a couple of interesting invertebrates. The images are individually captioned. Here’s the list [updated 22 May]. John Wilson