some more migrants around this morning including 3 wheatear, 2 alba/white wagtails (males),

5 chiffchaff, 1 male blackcap, 12 swallow , 1 sand martin and 1 osprey moving north over the bay,which was a great sight. 3 kestrel (1 male, 2 fem.) and one further male along at mewslade.

Egyptian Goose [per Ceri Jones & Lol Middleton] still present 10:30 – 12:00, also Swallow [my first] and Sand Martin, and Willow Warbler singing by golf course and another [per Lol] near W lake.

Two singing in Grangemoor Park. Single Reed Bunting singing.j

Common Sandpiper and Egyptian Goose earlier this morning on the East Lake boardwalk very near the gull-feeding area. At the south end of Cogan Wood 2 singing Blackcap, and a singing Willow Warbler along the path around the west side of the West Lake.

Singing blackcap….

Flock of 15 linnet… 2 superb singing males

I was so excited this afternoon as a Peregrine, first seen flying away, returned to spend some time patrolling and circling over my garden and neighbouring gardens and the school field. Luckily, I had binoculars to hand, and as it was pretty low I had excellent views against the clear blue sky; it was really well lit. If only I’d had a DSLR in the garden… but it’s one of my best garden ticks since I moved here in 1995.

Willow warbler and siskin among 42 birds caught on the marsh yesterday.

Some interesting news about Cetti’s warbler controlled on the marsh in late 2014 as well

More here: http://gowerbirdringinggroup.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/oxwich-marsh-6-april-2015.html

c6 Swallows over the reserve.

An Osprey went up river at 19:00, hovered briefly near Portobello, before turning and flying purposefully north.

2 Wheatears on a ploughed field. Fulmars over the cliffs.

First Wheatear of the spring today in the fields adjacent to Ruperra Castle with at least 8 singing Chiffchaff  and a lone male Blackcap in the woodland

A single swallow at Ogmore By Sea at 8:45 this morning and a single sand martin at Portabello at 9:30. Very quiet at Portabello where the island was covered at high tide.

Some migrants at Rhosilli this morning included 6 willow warbler couple of chiffchaff, 6 swallow, 5 wheatear. 3 pair of stonechat, a couple of singing song thrush, numerous dunnock, skylark and meadow pipit. Approx 45 linnet in weedy field and 2 RT diver on sea.
At upper Loughor, 1 little ringed plover, 20 teal, 12 Canada geese, pairs of gadwall and mallard

Belated news from the weekend outside of the Burry Inlet.

The highlight was watching hunting Kestrel, Buzzard, Peregrine and Red Kite in the region. There was some evidence of migration in both directions with 2 Teal, 2 Chiffchaff and a Willow Warbler at Llangennith Burrows. At Broughton Bay single Swallow, Sand Martin and Chiffchaff were seen. The Oystercatcher flock that ranges from Burry holms to Broughton is still around max 170 at present and there were 147 Common Gull roosting on Broughton beach with 12 Dark-bellied Brent Geese. Many species are getting in the mood and there were many pairs of Meadow Pipit, Linnet and Stonechat noted today in the calmer conditions.

2 pair of tufteds on the run off pool 1 coot a swallow over otherwise ouiet

Brunel dock ,a pair of shelduck 10 redshank 3 oyster catcher and a female bullfinch

Belated post from yesterday: Winter birds still predominate, though 3 dapper summer plumage Slavonian Grebe at Wernffrwd prove Spring is indeed here. Also there were still 180 D-b Brent in these estuary (plus others still out at Whiteford), 34 Eider at Landimore, 7 R-b Mergs at Wernffrwd and the week saw an influx of G.C. Grebes in the estuary with 51 in one area. Chiffchaffs seem to be everywhere now, but I’ve only heard 1 Blackcap and other than the odd Wheatear, a flock 6 Swallows and 12 Sand Martins on the 2nd, things remain uneventful on the migrant front.

Siinging Skylark, Meadow Pipit, Greenfinch and first Willow Warbler at south shore of the Pool at Kenfig this morning, 38 species overall.

28 species this morning.. 8 singing chiffies.. 2 little egrets… First wheatear of the year

At the end of a challenging Breeding Bird Survey visit to ST1576 (Victoria Park area – two sections of my transect are now gated and inaccessible) this morning, my very last bird was a Common Sandpiper – a major surprise and the only one I have ever seen in that square. The preparation works for the Wiggins Teape Ely Paper Mill site redevelopment have left a deep scrape about 225mx30m parallel to River Ely, which has filled with water.

I saw the bird fly across perhaps 100m from my end point (but in my square) and disappear behind some vegetation. I immediately thought it was CS, but slowly moved nearer till it reappeared on the muddy bank and I could see it well to confirm. By next year, this site will probably be housing, so I’ll probably will never see this bird on ST1576 again, unless by the Ely.

Aslo saw 1 sparrowhawk, 1 blackcap (gathering nesting material) and heard 1 chiffchaff. Other than that, the usual jackdaws, gulls, feral pigeons etc. Finches represented by only one goldfinch and one (heard) greenfinch, whereas there always used to be good numbers of each, plus chaffinches, wrens, dunnocks and robins, before their scrubby home was turned into a new school. Of course, the greenfinches have declined in general.