34 species on the Saturday morning monthly walk-humid and overcast- including 4 Whimbrel flying towards the sea, lots of juvenile Whitethroat, linnet in the car park, 3 Grey Heron around the pool and a Great Spotted Woodpecker near the feeders. Also- a slow worm, frog, lizard, a rabbit family, lots of dragonfies/ damselflies including a very close female emperor, red admiral, gatekeeper, burnet moth. Thanks Strinder!

Pencoed- After seeing only 3 swift here this year – a party of 9 over Coychurch Road- phew!

With Will W-D

Crofty marsh – amongst mixed gull flock, 2 Mediterranean Gulls, 40+ Common Gulls
                     – Common Sandpiper in pill
                     – several Gannets flying down channel
                     – lots of Swifts, Swallows & House Martins, also 2 Sand Martins feeding over marsh

Fairwood Common – Yellowhammers – 3 male, 1 female
                               – Stonechat – 3 male, 2 female
                               – Whitethroat

Ilston River – Grey Wagtail, Nuthatch, Buzzard

A pair of noisy Oystercatchers with a singe small chick still surviving next to the Bosphorus Resaurant, Mermaid Quay, in this precarious location.
Red-Crested Pochard still present in CBWR very close to the boardwalk – comes to bread, seems very tame.

6 chough back on the course this morning.. And a flock of approx 30 linnet

A single Ad.summer Med Gull among c.300 Black-headed Gulls at about 4pm on the playing fields.
The R-C Pochard (?) still present in CBWR off the boardwalk.

Poss.Red-Crested Pochard juv/fem (?) close off the boardwalk with Mallard flock.

Several hundred Manx shearwaters flew up channel around 8am and 13 common scoters flew down channel. 21 oystercatchers, 3 whimbrel and 2 ringed plovers were at Sker Rocks. An adult common gull was on Ffynon-wen rocks.

Lisvane: 1 GBB gull was my first here since May and a moorhen diving into cover at the stream was my first of the year. Also 111 tufties, 2 pochards, 59 coots, 2 mute swans, 39 Canadas, 6 GC grebes, 4 mallards.

Llanishen: Better views of the little grebes today, confirming 3 large young being fed by 2 adults, with another 2 adults on site. Also 1 GC grebe, 5 tufties, 21 Canadas, 1 mallard, 2 adult moorhens with 2 new chicks and a large juvenile. Quiet on the gull front here, until 140 BH gulls flew in at 5pm.

Colour-ringed LBB gulls at Roath Park Lake over the last few days are: Red 5YF, Black S+S, black L+B and White F+P.

Here are the flight shots Andy asked me to take – looks interesting 🙂

Med gull E825(2012 Antwerp bird)…seen at Bracelet many times

Id’ing 1st Summer gulls (12 months old) is always difficult this time of year when their feathers are bleached and moulting. Have a look at this one

http://andyburnsphotography.zenfolio.com/p12189958/h21a5d145#h21a5d145

and again on the following two shots. Looks like it could be a YLG but no help from the feathers. The head was big and square, although not shown too well in the shots and the bill was big. The bird itself was big hence not a LBB. The Jizz was very different from the LBBs and HGs. Perhaps a hint of darker mantle feathers coming through suggesting not an HG.

Any support for a YLG?

Andy

Further to my “Info” post recently, the New Post form has changed again. Instead of the drag & drop instruction I referred to, the form now has an “Add Media” link on the left just under the title field. Clicking this will take you to another form where you can upload a photo [or two].

Ad and imm Herons on W lake, 3 Tufted Duck E lake, 5 GC Grebes, 10 B-h Gulls, 1 Swift over W lake.
Leps: Speckled Wood, Gatekeeper, Small White, Red Admiral, what I assumed to be a Common Blue, Ringlet.
Odonata: Emperor, Common Darters, couple of Black-tailed Skimmers.

Red-billed chough on Lock’s Common, Porthcawl at lunchtime today.

Rock pipit feeding juvenile perched on the stone walls of the marina.

Plenty of wildfowl, though nothing too spectacular. Lisvane: 134 tufties, 4 pochards, 47 coots, 54 Canadas, 2 mute swans, 2 GC grebes, 6 mallards.
Llanishen: 5 little grebes -hard to pin down among the willow swamp but it looked to me like the 2 adults still have 3 well-grown young. 1 GC grebe, 7 tufties, 22 Canadas, 1 juv moorhen, 11 coots (including small young).

Green woodpecker with 2 young, mistle thrush family party, nuthatch, several jays

Recently fledged raven making a noise.. Must be one of the lighthouse family

Aberdare Park, approx 10am. One single Bar-Headed Goose. As there are Egyptian Ducks, African Geese, Greylags here also I’m presuming an escaped domestic gone wild, or maybe even let loose in the pond, but its not ringed. Picture Link:

http://www.spookspring.com/Tirfounder/barheadedgoose%2012.7.14.JPG