Of 31 kittiwakes around the pier, 22 were sitting on the artificial ledges this morning.
Also 24 Med gulls at Bracelet, 2 female eider flew into the bay (these appear to roost offshore / maybe on the outer head), and shags at Bracelet, the Outer Head and Rams Tor.

Bittern reported seen crossing a cutting in front of the southern hide and an otter on show out in the lake for over 2 hours today.

Bearded Tit calling in CBWR at 10.45am and 2 showed very briefly at 11.00am flying into the reeds opposite the dipping pond (with Steve Strutt).
Fem Black Redstart catching flies on the sea-facing rocks in the outer harbour at 12.40-12.55pm and on the adjacent cliff face; last seen perched on the green railings at the top of the cliff.

1st year Little Gull in Cardiff Bay this am. Occasionally close to the barrage but mostly out in the middle of the bay. Far fewer Black-headed Gulls today than recently!

 

 

 

 

2 reminders: Alan Rosney & I are off to Sri Lanka tomorrow morning. In the absence of any volunteers re my prev notice on Facebook dated 12th Feb about the Forest of Dean field trip on 13th Mar, then this shd be regarded as cancelled unless interested folk wish to get together and go. Also the indoor meeting for this Tuesday [4th Mar] is also cancelled as Paul Denning has to work that evening. 

150+ golden plover and 3 pair of Stonechat were the highlights. On the haul road were 2 Puffin corpses and a Kittiwake corpse and another Puffin corpse was on the beach.

Indoor meeting tomorrow – David Rich will be giving a talk on Gulls in the Environment Centre, Swansea tomorrow evening. It will be appreciated if you could turn up before the expected start time 19:15 – £1 on the door to cover room hire

 

The rescheduled Whiteford trip will now take place on Saturday 8th March – meet at Cwm Ivy car park at 09:00 – The day at Whiteford will be followed by a roost watch at Llanrhidian.

The regular meetings at the Blackpill Visitor Centre will be on Sunday 9th March – High tide roost and the chance to meet other members of GOS and RSPB

A field trip to look for Great Grey Shrikes will take place on Sunday 16th March – Please get in contact with me if you are interested in coming on this trip. Numbers are likely to be limited. 

8-Goldeneyes 4m,4f

Male Blackcap continues to feed from fat balls on a daily basis.

In case you didn’t spot the notice on Facebook, please note that the GBC indoor meeting scheduled for next Tuesday (4th March) has had to be postponed. Apologies for any inconvenience.

Fulmar briefly seen overhead whilst surfing Col-Huw point this morning

A classic and very showy “tristis” Siberian Chiffchaff was around the East Pool Marsh and later the northern boardwalk this morning. Also three Common Chiffchaffs, two of which were briefly in song. A mini influx of 2 Great Crested Grebes, 3 Goldeneye and 3 Tufted Ducks, unbelievably made it my best count of diving birds on the pool since the 5th January…

Mediterranean Gull at Barry Docks waterfront this morning, another (possibly the same bird) earlier at Knap Lake along with the Long-tailed Duck. Liitle Egret and Curlew at the Old Harbour. Skylark singing in the Docks.

Goldcrest in the pines on the way out.  Good numbers of Sanderling, Dunlin and Ringed Plover with large flocks of Oystercatcher and Turnstone.  Skylarks singing. One dead Kiitiwake on beach unfortunately.  Very large numbers of Brent Geese from the hide with at least 20 Eider.  The Eider were in small groups and diving regularly making counting them tricky.  Stonechats on the way back.

Colour-ringed Common Gull J0Z9 seen again today on the buoys near the barrage (first seen on 4 Feb) ringed 1240km away in Norway at Torderød, Moss, Østfold  59°26’07″N 010°38’02″E on 15/06/2012.

Female Blackcap in the garden this afternoon. First time (ever) that I’ve seen one here – I must be doing something right with the bird feeder.

Reasonable photo at

http://andyburnsphotography.zenfolio.com/local/h353f1579#h353f1579