Thirty five species noted this morning, highlight being two Hawfinch. Best of the rest:  Sparrowhawk, Buzzard, Raven, Snipe x2, Kingfisher x2, Dipper x2 and good numbers of Bullfinch.

Oxwich: great northern diver off the point and two great crested grebe in the bay.  47 teal on the South Pond my highest count of the winter.  7 shoveler also.

Port Eynon: red-throated diver west.  7 shag.  At HW mixed wader roost included 45 oystercatcher, 1 purple sandpiper, a grey plover, 2 curlew and small numbers of ringed plover and turnstone (couldn’t get decent counts of last two species).

Couldn’t find much at all off Mumbles Pier first thing.

Wern Ddu- close view of peregrine which eventually hunted down and killed a magpie.Lots of siskin and tit flocks around the area too.

Rudry Common-150 redwing

Caerphilly moat-A kingfisher

Doing the Patchwork challenge on foot (Green League), 51 species for year so far.Mainly based around Rudry but taking in Caerphilly moat at one end and a little bit of Rumney River at Waterloo .Think it will take a fair bit of stanking to get a reasonable year total!

Decided to have a go for the Hawfinches despite the wind. Nothing doing by the white cottage but walking along the bridal path in the wood a flock flew up from low down [no doubt sheltering] and headed down valley. They eventually came back and flitted around in the tree tops up towards the top road. I reckon the flock was about 20 strong. Managed a couple of heavily cropped record shots in appalling conditions [trees shaking around and buffeting me]:

On the River Ely west of Peterston this afternoon, 2 Green Sandpiper, 1 Cormorant, 1 Grey Wagtail and 21 Canada Geese. At Cosmeston today 54 Pochard, 10 Gadwall and 2 Shoveler on the West Lake, a singing Goldcrest near the hide and a Kingfisher on the Sully Brook.

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.