Stunning grey wag in stream @Wx.. Small flock of Redshank, turnstones, lots of BH gulls, Small number of oycs scattered over the beach.. Everything struggling with the high winds including me.!!

At least one Ring Ouzel remains in Pant Norton, also a Woodcock flushed from bracken at point blank range.

1 1st. yr. male Black Redstart, different from the others, on the rocks, railings and roof tops around Lock Cottage; no sign of any others. On the orange buoys, 12 Common Gulls. In Hamadryad ‘pond’, 2 Water Rails showed well for 4-5 minutes by the drain outlet. In CBWR, another WRail showed briefly, also  Kingfisher and Bullfinch. Otherwise, the reserve was almost bereft of water birds. In Prospect Place, 66 Tufted Duck.

Rhymney Est [Green Pt] – 1500 Redshank, 300 Dunlin, 100 Lapwing, 26 Shoveler, 3 Gadwall, 120 Pintail, 130 Shelduck, 2 Jack Snipe [first I’ve seen at Green Pt for quite some time], 1 Comm Snipe, 1 Peregrine over.

Heliport Bay – 16 Turnstone, 22 Oyc, 1 Curlew and 1 Little Egret. Just added this – forgot to mention at the Heliport I had a Clouded Yellow flying around. Seems v late …. ?

Lavernock-2-Peregrines m+f overhead for ages before flying off at great speed to mob a Buzzard.Also;100+Fieldfares
Cosmeston-lots of aliens about;130+Canada Geese and Grey Squirrels seemed to be everywhere!!

2 Black Redstarts (1 ad.m. and 1 1st.yr./ad.m  [?] with much fainter white wing bars) on the roof tops around Plas Pamir 12.05-12.40pm.

A female Common Scoter was on the pool this morning from about 1000h, but flew off at about 1115.  Approx. 750 Golden Plover were in a large flock flying away to the south in the Sker Point / Kenfig Sands area. Also on the pool were 1 Tufted Duck, 1 Little Grebe and an Otter in the south pool area and a 1st winter Mediterranean Gull with the Common Gulls and Black-headed Gulls at the south pool posts. Another unusual record was a flock of 17 Stock Dove flying NE over the pool which DGC also managed to see. About 500 Woodpigeon flew south as did 12 Fieldfare. There were several Mistle Thrush, Song Thrush, Redwing and Blackbird around the bushes of the reserve. As we left we noted much activity around the bird feeder just west of the reserve centre and counted 135 House Sparrow – not seen that many there before!

Mike & Emma Cram

We’ve also just seen a report of an Osprey over the pool at lunchtime (DGC)

Sully Beach – around 6 Turnstone [prob more], 2 Curlew, 6 Oyc, 1 Gt Crested Grebe just offshore, 2 Rock Pipits, 1 fly-by Purple Sand [per Lol Middleton];

Cosmeston – 1 pr Wigeon, 1 drake Teal and 4 Pochard [3f 1m] on W lake. Group of 4 Little Grebes in the W lake ‘bay’ – fam group?? – didn’t see any evidence of breeding this year but you never know, and 1 Kingfisher.

A Water Pipit was on the lower estuary this morning. WeBS count totals included Little Egret [3], Little Grebe [6], Gadwall [1], Goosander [3], Purple Sandpiper [2], Redshank [13] and Kingfisher [3].

A Ring Ouzel was in Pant Norton, feeding on Black Bryony berries.

Summer plumage GND still there feeding close inshore this morning.. Eating crabs & eels

At dusk,1-Barn Owl being mobbed by Magpies.Also at least 6-Little Egrets at the island roost.

One Brambling in with 60+ Chaffinch, 8 Mistle thrush, 30+ Redwing best of on a rainy , windswept Common this p.m

Six thrush species this morning with Ring Ouzel, Blackbirds, Redwings, Song Thrushes and a couple of Mistle Thrushes in the valley, plus a flock of about 70 Fieldfares over Norton Wood.

A ringing session on Wednesday resulted in a female brambling, 3 snipe, a stonechat, a blackcap and a kingfisher.  More here: http://ow.ly/DZmtW

Would all observers please note that there is no public access to Llanishen reservoir. There is a small authorised group who are allowed access to monitor wildfowl and carry our WeBS counts and Rob Thomas is one of that group. This access was specially negotiated with Celsa and the security people, and NRW. Any other access is not allowed and anyone doing so will be trespassing. The dog walkers get through a hole in the fence and are trespassing, and also risk disturbing the birds that do turn up there . The security people are authorised to request anyone other than those authorised, to leave immediately. Basically, it is impossible to view Llanishen Res without trespassing. Lisvane is still OK and as I understand it, you can view it from the car park. We would therefore ask that people do not attempt to get in to view Llanishen Res otherwise you will be jeopardising the limited access that has been negotiated. Obviously this is frustrating when a good bird turns up but this is the situation.

A long-tailed duck was a nice surprise this morning, associating with 14 tufties and the female goldeneye on the main lagoon. Also 3 shovellers, 1 teal, 12 mallards, 3 little grebes, 1 moorhen, 4 coots and a heron.

The Lesser Scaup was at Cardiff Bay Wetland Reserve again this afternoon, viewable from the boardwalk. Yesterday early morning at the same location, a Cetti’s Warbler and two Water Rail showed briefly, a Kingfisher flew across open water into the reedbed, and a small flock of Linnet and Goldfinch were feeding in the flower bed just up from the boardwalk.

At Nelson Wern late morning yesterday species included Willow Tit, Treecreeper, Green and Great Spotted Woodpecker, Siskin and Raven.

Two Lapwings being harassed by crows. Not seen Lapwing up here for several years.