6 hawfinch  by the bridal path at 1 15  myself and Bob anderson

Not quite what I expected to see creeping around my garden pond in the middle of Cardiff today!

Pretty quiet. W Lake had 1 Common Gull and 17 Teal that I could count. There was a Water Rail in the open in one of the ‘corridors’ cut in the snipe paddock [beyond Dragonfly Pond]. The drake Pintail was on E lake as was the ad Yellow–legged Gull. Three Bullfinch nr the dragonfly pond [2f and 1m], 2 redwing in W paddock tog with 2 Mistle Thrush. Also poss 4 Green ‘Peckers in total. 2 Very vocal nr E paddock fields and 2 feeding in W paddock.

Tawny Owl perched on lamp post just past the roundabout.

8-Bullfinches,4m/4f 1-Green Sandpiper,2 Kingfisher sightings could have been same bird and woodpecker drumming.All 15h30-17h00.

Two Red-throated Divers and 8 Purple Sandpipers were the high tide highlights at Sker this morning with 750 Golden Plovers, 100 Oystercatchers, 32 Curlew and 35+ Turnstones present, as well as a Mistle Thrush in off the sea that landed on Sker Point… Kenfig Pool was half frozen and numbers of wildfowl continue to increase with counts of 76 Tufted Ducks, 19 Gadwall, 10 Goldeneye and the long staying female Pintail.

The male Pintail was still present this afternoon and also a Little Egret which was perched in a tree on the island at the West Lake with 4 Grey Herons. The adult Yellow-legged Gull was on the East Lake this morning.

1 Grey Plover, 13 Brent Geese, 18+Ringed Plover, 2 Turnstones, 1 Oystercatcher

The reservoir is half-frozen today, forcing the Long-tailed duck into the SW part of the res, often diving along the ice-edge off the car park, giving fantastic views. Ideal for the big-lens boys to get the definitive photos, as opposed to these digiscoped efforts…

Also, very good numbers of other wildfowl; a pair of gadwall were a good record for here (bringing my Patchwork Challenge total to 52), 9 shoveller, 44 pochard, 98 tufties, 28 coots, 2 GC grebes, 7 little grebes, 19 mallards, 25 Canadas and a common gull. Nearby, 2 chiffchaffs and a jack snipe.

2-Green Sandpipers 09h30.

7 red-throated divers, 16 great crested grebe (12 close inshore off Nicholaston Pill) and female eider present.  Scoter flock very distant.

A summary of yesterday’s ringing session is here: http://gowerbirdringinggroup.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/oxwich-marsh-7-february-2015-nice-pecker.html

A Green Sandpiper was on the Ewenny just downstream of the castle and a Common Sandpiper was on the Ogmore upstream of the confluence, this morning. There were plenty of birds around Norton Farm, including a Mediterranean Gull with Black-heads, 100+ Lapwings, 15+ Ravens and a few Yellowhammers.

Chiffchaff singing loudly in my garden, [Dinas Powys], this afternoon.

I have just received further info re the purported Lesser Pecks that have apparently been visiting the feeder. My informant had not actually seen the birds herself but was reporting info received from two different sources, although I don’t know what these were. So it could just be a mis-ID of a very close GS Pecker – who knows? Anyway whatever, at least it got Jake and Mike there to find the Little Bunt! 🙂

Little egret seen this morning at Sully Brook. First at Cossie for a few years.
http://andyburnsphotography.zenfolio.com/waders/h26d3797#h26d3797

Also the male Pintail was very near the bridge and a lot easier to photograph.
http://andyburnsphotography.zenfolio.com/waterfowl/h123121ee#h123121ee

The Little Bunting performed well this morning – here’s a quickly picked out one of the loads of pix I took. Light was a bit glary at times. The straight, even slightly concave, culmen shows well.

Glaucous gull still prent. Also 5 purple sandpipers, 2 grey plover, over 600 golden plover and a peregrine.

can you tell me the difference between a little bunting and a reed bunting, because i think i had one in my garden ages ago

A Little Bunting was found at Forest Farm Reserve Centre, Cardiff ST 135805 this am and was present in a damp area feeding on grass seeds next to the bird-feeders. It was present from about 11.30 until 12.58 when it flew off over the feeders. It was viewable down to less than 10 ft. from the hide. This is only the third record for VC41 Glamorgan and the first for East Glamorgan.

A Jack Snipe this lunchtime. Also, Sparrowhawk, Green Woodpecker and good numbers of Redwing & Starling.