An imm Iceland Gull was on the sea off Blackpill this evening around 16:45.

Great Crested Grebes are still in good numbers in the bay. 153 off Aberavon Beach, 106 off Crymlyn Burrows & 67 off Blackpill.

 

Lesser Scaup still on the west lake this morning…looking very settled in with the other tufties. It came a bit closer so I managed to get a couple of better shots.

http://andyburnsphotography.zenfolio.com/p544547808/hbea5f51#h9762762

http://andyburnsphotography.zenfolio.com/p544547808/hbea5f51#h21d9ea0

 

A quick walk round Cossie this morning: drake Lesser Scaup showing v well by shoreline on W lake together with c.180 Tufties and a drake Pochard. Also 3 Wigeon there [2m, 1f] and 6 Gadwall. A further 40+ Tufties on E lake. Grey Wagtail in the new wet area by the Med Village access boardwalk and several Reed Bunt and a couple of Redwing.

7 Red-throated Diver, 3 Little Gulls and a Bonxie all west. Also around 300 Kittiwakes, with as many lingering and resting on the sea as were moving west. 100 or so Herring Gulls, 60 Common and 50 Black-headed Gulls feeding very profitably amongst the spume over the rocks on the incoming tide. 2 Chough flew over west.

Male Lesser Scaup was at Cosmeston again this morning (thanks to Lol Middleton for spotting it again). I managed to get some reasonable ‘in flight’ shots but at the limit of the cameras range. There are 5 shots at:

http://andyburnsphotography.zenfolio.com/p544547808/h8cf77e2#h8cf77e2

It was on the east lake with the tufties and obliged by taking off for the photos – and then landed on the west lake. It was there when we left at 11am, over the far side again with the tufties.

 

 

Female Blackcap present in Canton garden again.

66 Canada geese 75 black headed gulls 25 herring gulls 15 lesser b b gulls1 little grebe 5 curlew 2 redshank 5 mallard 4 wigeon 1 cormorant 25 jackdaws 10 carrion crows 

A smart adult Yellow-legged Gull was present this afternoon, taking my footit total to 99.

I have had some information back from the project that GPS tagged the Brent Goose, still present of the lower estuary. They were able to download data from the bird’s logger when it stopped off in spring 2013 at the Frisian Island of Schiermonnikoog, where it was originally tagged. In the 2012 breeding season it was on the fantastically named October Revolution Island, the largest island of the Severnaya Zemlya group in the Russian Arctic. It spent last winter in Bassin d’Arcachon (Bordeaux) and at a site in northern Brittany. Quite why it has turned up at Ogmore Estuary on its own in the middle of winter is anyone’s guess.

drake Lesser Scaup on west lake amongst tufties – also two pair Wigeon and two drake Pochard. Was about to get a record shot when the driving hail convinced me that sitting sipping coffee behind some decent double glazing has some advantages. Which reminds me, any luck with the lesser whitethroat John?

Lol

late news per BirdGuides – drake Lesser Scaup was apparently on W lake this afternoon.

Female goshawk chasing redwing in fields nr sewage works also 2 chiffchaff along river

female present in Canton garden all day.

Managed to properly read the rings on the Dark-bellied Brent Goose today, once the gloom had eventually lifted a little (red ‘F’ left leg, black ‘4’ right leg). The bird was ringed at Schiermonnikoog – an Island off the Dutch coast – on 10/05/12. It is carrying a GPS logger which can be downloaded using a radio antenna from a distance of a few hundred metres. This is the first of the GPS birds to have been recorded in Wales.

following up on the belated news of waxwings tweeted yesterday.. Looking this morning… Several berry laden trees but only starlings, house sparrows, 20 collared doves, and a lot of dog toilet!

Posted for Sarah Wadsworth.

Seen in her Killay garden yesterday (25th), Blackcap female, feeding at length on fat balls, later joined by a male.

22 mute swan 30 coot 48 Canada geese 10+tufteds 12 Pochards 4 grey lags at the nearby amenites tip were 26 magpies 

at swansea vale behind axis court were 9 Canada geese 11 mallards 2 moorhen and 2 jays 

At Forest Ganol this morning,at least 25 Hawfinch seen from main track and top road including flock of 17.

Black-necked Grebe still at Cardiff Bay off Windsor Quay just south of river bridge.

Jeff Slocombe,Peter Morgan,Wayne Morris.

Newton Rocks/Trecco Bay – 1 Brent Goose (Light-bellied), 6 Redshanks, 3 Grey Plover, c.30 Ringed Plover with 1 Sanderling and 10 Dunlin.

Porthcawl seafront between Hutchwns Pt and Irongate Pt – 1 Purple Sandpiper, 10 Turnstone, 1 ad Med Gull.

Two Brent Geese present this afternoon at Ogmore – the Dark-bellied still on its lonesome on the lower estuary and a Pale-bellied with the Canada Goose flock. No chance of checking the rings on the Dark-bellied in the horrendous weather conditions, but I have heard it is one of seven birds equipped with a logger by a Dutch scheme.