2 sandwich terns perched on the Fairy Buoy 1/2 mile S off Porthcawl Breakwater and 2 gannets over Tusker Rock this afternoon

A family party of Choughs noted today. An impressive floral display included goodies such as Clustered Bellflower and Tuberous Thistle, plus the greatest number of Pyramidal Orchids I can recall down there.

A Great White Egret flew in seen from the 1st hide. It landed somewhere out to the left but dropped into a ditch and could not be relocated. Also a moulting Ruff on the far shore from the second hide and 2 Blackwits there. Lots of Redshank, and other waders and chicks of various species. There were quite a few Shoveler and a drake Wigeon was seen from the sea wall hide.

At Uskmouth there was a fem Pochard with a single duckling, a pair of Tufted Ducks with around 6 ducklings and a pr of GCG with 2 young. Cuckoo heard but not seen. Several Cett’s heard and one seen briefly in flight.

No sign of the night heron but there was a cuckoo in a tree very near where the NH was seen last week. First cuckoo of the year for me. A very poor record shot at

http://andyburnsphotography.zenfolio.com/p232890949/h107a4eca#h107a4eca

(it was 3-400 yards away)

Andy

Hummingbird Hawk Moth in the garden this morning feeding on Willowherb.

I have just learned that the Night-heron was still present tuesday eve, still in the conservation area of W Lake.

I would be grateful if the birder who used the initials RJK on the old Glamorgan Birds website and now uses this new website would contact me. My details can be found via the contacts page on the main website. Many thanks.

Like the lofty new hide- like being at Minsmere!    Bee orchids .  Highland cattle wallowing in  the reed bed by the lake-like water buffalo. 

Canada Geese with Goslings, Coot , Little Grebe, Mallard,

2-Kingfishers from the door-less hide.

Apparently the Night-heron was still present yesterday morning, seen by one of the rangers doing his rounds, sitting well down in the base of the willow of t’other day.

Superb weather this weekend at Broughton on West Gower. Many thanks to the large black cloud that stayed to our east most of today! Weathermen got that one spot on!

. The birds were having a good time, Breeding evidence:- Rock Pipit adult feeding large juvenile (beach); 3 pairs at least of Whitethroats feeding fledged broods of 2+ (burrows), 2 pairs of Stonechat feeding fledged broods of 2+; 1 adult Blue Tit feeding 2 fledglings (caravan park); 2+ pairs of Linnet feeding fledged broods of 2+ and 3+ respectively. I also picked up what appeared to be a Barn Owl feather. I also bumped into a Carmarthenshire based birder who told me he had seen an adult Glaucous Gull in the vicinity near Burry Holm yesterday evening – no luck with that one today. We also noted the remains of 2 Scarlet Tiger moths today on the cliff path and a few Cinnabar moths were about as well as Small Heath, Common Blue, Red Admiral, Speckled Wood and Large Skipper.

Observations between Loughor Bridge & Llanrhidian over the last week have included the following:

The Oystercatchers which were sitting on eggs for over two weeks on one of the WWII concrete blocks finally disappeared (presumably predated). A pair of Redshank at Penclawdd were more successful and this morning 3 well-grown chicks were pushed up into view by the high tide (VIDEO HERE). Also this morning I saw my first Shelduck chicks on the estuary, a small brood of five and with 50+ adult birds around I expect more will appear soon. Gadwall have reared young at Llanrhidian and Mallard broods continue to appear with 10 fresh chicks this morning. I saw my first Heron juveniles of the year on 2^nd, but there’s still no sign of the first Little Egret fledglings (hopefully there will be a good batch this year given all the adult activity at the regular colonies). Today I saw my first fledged Kingfishers of the year, providing proof of breeding at Llanrhidian and good to hear Yellowhammers singing at Frog Moor and Reynoldston.

Non-breeders and signs of what I suspect is early return passage include max. counts of 85 Mallard, 6 Teal, 260 Oystercatchers, 2 Grey Plover, 40 Whimbrel, 22 Curlew, 17 Redshank, 2 Turnstone and my first Green Sandpiper and Cuckoo of the year on the patch on the 11th. Herring Gull numbers are reasonably high with 887 counted yesterday evening and I saw my first Common Gull for a couple of weeks this am.

 

Not a lot of birds around, but a lot of scarlet tiger moths between approximately 100m and 300m west of Limeslade along the coast path.

No show sadly by the Night-heron this morning, so missed it the three times I managed to get down there. Lots of activity from 3-4 Herons this morning including this one involved in a chase with another.

No sign of Night-heron so far this morning – one or more observers present from 5 a.m. and a couple still present at 8 a.m. when I left.

Please do not venture into the ‘conservation area’ at the back of W lake [which requires agreement from the rangers in any case], to avoid disturbance of [a] the heron and [b] other species breeding in that area. The best viewpoint is the grassy ‘beach’ at the S end of W lake where you can view with a ‘scope into the trees into which it went this morning.

PS this afternoon best viewing point was from the viewing area on the left halfway along the central path about 50m before the main bridge.

Adult Night Heron roosting in trees near reed bed in west lake. Seen in flight a couple  of times earlier and has just disappeared from view in trees at 9.25 photo to follow when I get back home

Best of the heavily cropped photos from this morning. Glad others caught up with it later!