With DCB – 117 Oystercatchers, 38 Curlews, 26 Turnstones, 2 Grey Plovers, 100+ Golden Plovers, 3 Purple Sandpipers, 1 Redshank, 1 Shag, 3 Rock Pipits, 1 Little Egret, 1 Kingfisher.

Male in Canton, Cardiff garden this morning.

Male Merlin on fence post at midday. Usual suspects included 20 Golden Plover and close views (down to 50 yards) of Red Kite quartering bog.

a pair of Blackcaps feeding together in garden hedge this morning

A morning jog took in the shores of the Ogmore river. The river level was high, almost bank full. Nevertheless, I was delighted to see a Kingfisher perched up in some dead Himalayan Balsam stems. Plenty of activity in the adjacent area and woods though, a pair of Mallard, 1 Buzzard, 1 Sparrowhawk, 1 Grey Wagtail, 1 Pied Wagtail,  3 singing Song Thrush, 10+ Blackbird 4 Redwing, 3 Nuthatch, 2 singing Goldcrest, 2 Long-tailed tit and several Goldfinch.

4 Hawfinch this morning. Large Chaffinch flock was unfortunately flushed by walkers so couldn’t really check for Brambling.

Drumming Great Spotted Woodpecker at a damp Aberdare Park this afternoon. Redhead Goosander on the park lake.

Water Rail and 3 Teal at Pwll Waun Cynon reserve, and a Dipper on the River Cynon.

25-Little Egrets flew from the roost this morning.Also,it seems Magpies are roosting there too.Must have been more than 30 there.

Hundreds of gulls at Portobello this morning. A quick scan as the rain set in produced nothing unusual in terms of species, although a leucistic Herring Gull was present. Earlier 12 Purple Sandpipers were at Ogmore-by-Sea.

Spent New Year with the family in North Yorks. A couple of nice garden visitors

GNDiver present again this morning swimming close inshore from the ‘sails’ down to the CHA rubbish clearing depot and sailing centre 10.30-11.00am.It was nice to bump into Gareth Jenkins from Pontypridd for the first time in over seven years-unfortunately he left just before the diver appeared. Police divers at work by Clarence Bridge.

An early start this morning at Cosmeston produced a count of 46 Pochard, most I have seen there so far this winter. Also 10 Teal, 8 Gadwall, a vocal Raven over Cogan Wood, showy Water Rail again at the start of the reedbed boardwalk, 2 Nuthatch on the carved dragon in Cogan Wood, Sparrowhawk through the wood, 5 Bullfinch, 1 Common Gull and 1 adult Yellow-legged Gull.

No sign of the Great Grey Shrike at Coed Taf Fawr this afternoon. However, good views in the afternoon sunshine of 6 or 7 Crossbills (part of a flock of 14 in total) perched/feeding at the tops of trees mainly in the northern half of the clearfell. Parking for a few cars roadside at SN992115 (this location is quite central within the clearfell).

 

2014 was a really good year at Oxwich with over 3,500 unique birds captured.  These included some local scarcities such as wood warbler, yellow-browed warbler and firecrest (3), but more importantly good numbers of reedbed warblers and other long-distance migrants.

A summary of the year is available here: http://gowerbirdringinggroup.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/oxwich-marsh-ringing-report-2014_6.html

If you follow the link from the ringing blog, you can download a detailed report in PDF format from the BSG Ecology website.

Lsr Scaup and hybrid still present around 3-3.30pm. Hybrid not only has a darker back but also has a large black nail.

from Facebook – 1 Brambling in Chaffinch flock this arvo.

Great Northern Diver showed well from the Barrage by the fish pass for awhile around midday. Close enough to get a record shot.

Lisvane: highlight was a lapwing going over -scarce here. A good count of 122 tufties and 23 pochard, 34 Canadas, 8 mallards, 3 GC grebes, 3 cormorants, 6 L grebes, 38 coots, 1 heron, etc.

Roath Park Lake: 7 little grebes and a common gull, no sign of any shovellers or teal today.

Cardiff City Hall: male peregrine viewed from the Winter Wonderland ice rink, every 45 seconds from 4pm until 4:45 when a spectacular nosedive ended my birdwatching for the day.

Just another quick reminder – the first indoor meeting of 2015 is TODAY [Tues] 7:45 P.M. KNNR. Member’s Own – a sort of ‘bring and show’, where members can do short 20 min talks on a  topic of their choosing. I’m doing a 20 min Powerpoint on highlights of 3 visits to Extremadura. Do come along.

1 little egret feeding in field just off road near margam park entrance .

At 3:30 p.m. the GN Diver was right over by the barrage, seen from Ice Rink car park looking towards the southern half of the barrage.

In CBWR Lesser Scaup seen at around 4 p.m. and what must have been the hybrid just glimpsed skulking off into the reed ‘island’ – thought I had briefly seen a Gtr Scaup at the time, but it must have been the hybrid bird. Also 1 drake Pochard with the 50 or so Tufties. A good number of starlings flew in to roost but not enough to constitute a proper murmuration.