Drake garganey still in pond Hamadryad park, Cardiff bay this evening. Loiters in rushes at the back of the pond near the swans nest. This morning on RGW lesser whitethroat, 4+wheaters, countless whimbrel – they seemed to be everywhere. Another lesser whitethroat at CCReen and a third at Rumney Est

Pretty busy by the time we walked across, but not too bad. No sign of the 6 Yellow Wagtails that Peter Howlett had seen on the barrage earlier, but I soon relocated them in the grassy area behind the green chainlink fence opposite the swift tower. Never very close but I managed a few record shots through the fence. At least three Whitethroat were singing a bit further along and an obliging Song Thrush was singing by the swift tower. The Sand Martins are now visiting holes in the old feeder dock. On the way back a female Wheatear was on the outer barrage rocks.

Dozens of House Martins have now joint the large swarming flock of Swallows and Sand Martins feeding in Cilfynydd. It really is great to see and hear literally hundreds of birds swooping and swirling above my head. I hope this carries on through the summer, they’ll certainly keep the gnat population down 🙂

5-Yellow Wagtails,1m-Whinchat and many Sand Martins

Pair of Bullfinches in shrub above cafe 1245 Weds also my first Swift of the year doing a solo flight above said cafe (which is open) at 1300 hrs.

60 – 100 + Swallows feeding over the filter beds at cilfynydd sewage treatment works. There’s a plentiful and welcome supply of small flying insects on a cold on dreary day. There’s too many Swallows to count. A few sand Martins have also joined in with the feeding frenzy. I’ve just returned home and checked out the video I took, more like 150 – 200 Swallows.

The Mute Swans have eight cygnets,one fewer than last year.

3 little egret over (with PH), 2 sedge warblers have joined the contingent of reed and cettis w in CWBR, swifts overhead. Whitethroats singing in various sites around bay. (4 goosander on T Taff en route)

Only a pair of Robins collecting mainly centipedes together as I turned my allotment yesterday and today. The new thing for me was that they were communicating with tiny squeaks: in all my (many) years of gardening and birdwatching I have never come across(or noticed) this before.

After getting back from Garwnant , took the dog for a walk over Hailey Park . Female Redstart in the middle of the top field in a tree with a singing Whitethroat and Blackcap . Also Common Sandpiper on the Taff .

A pair of Pied Flycatchers at the north end of Llwyn-Onn was the highlight this morning . Also flyover Red Kite and 3 Ravens . Swallows , Sand and House Martins and a single Swift over the res and 3 female Goosanders on it as well as a couple of Common Sandpipers . At least 2 Dippers on the river as well as Grey and Pied Wagtails . Lots of Chiffchaffs and Willow Warblers everywhere ! No Tree Pipit for me but bumped into Graham Powell who had seen one in the car park .

Alerted via Twitter to the presence of 10-12 Little Gulls in Cardiff Bay, so went down to Penarth Marina at about 6:45 p.m. to have a look. Many B-h Gulls sitting on the water way out mid bay and couldn’t really find any Littles with the scope. But during a scan a group of gulls suddenly took off and there was the tell-tale black ‘W’ across the wings of a 2nd yr bird. Others then popped into focus as did the black underwings of some adult birds, the total in the flock being 10. They flew up very high, then drifted eastwards and I lost them to view beyond the barrage, so assumed they’d left. Still scanning around for another 20 mins or so and then suddenly there was a 2nd yr bird feeding over the water, then another, then 2-3 adults. Whether these were from the original group I couldn’t say, or maybe they were different birds that had still been sitting distantly on the water. Some observers did report 12 birds but maybe there were more? Nice sight tho’ – the most I’ve seen together in the UK.

Heard or seen from my garden in Porth this morning , Red kite soaring overhead, male Bullfinch in the cherry tree, blue tits back and forth the box, Hen blackbird collecting wet leaves and grass for her nest in the hedge, Wren singing its heart out from same hedge, Robin flitting about, blackcap singing over the road and house sparrows making a racket next door. All while I’m cleaning the gutters and fascias of winter grime in glorious sunshine. I love springtime :D.

Quite a productive morning. A Common Whitethroat was singing by the dipping pond, enabling some pohotos albeit distant. By the main boardwalk in the E lake reeds there was a singing Reed Warbler, singing Sedge Warlber and singing Cetti’s Warbler, and two Reed Buntings, although none of them showed, and another Reed Warbler was singing near where the hide used to be. Saw my first Speckled Wood of the year, which reminds me 2 days ago I had my first male Orange-tip, and also my first odonata in the form of a female Large Red Damselfly. On the Blackthorn blossom was a Tapered Drone-fly [Eristalis pertinax] and a common Honey Bee. A Cormorant was wing drying on the W lake posts.

Finally one of the Great Crested Grebe pairs has started to build a nest. On the same day I saw a Coot pair with 9 small chicks, an adult Moorhen with at least 1 chick in the dipping pond, a Little Egret was sitting in a tree at the far end of W lake, a Common Sandpiper flew across W lake in the afternoon. A Ring Ouzel had been seen early morning. A Reed Warbler sang briefly by the E lake boardwalk and 2 Reed Buntings were singing there too.

First singing Reed Warbler this morning (same date as 2020!); one Cetti’s singing.

8+ wheatear on RGW plus whimbrel and whitethroat. 2 more wheatear at Cardiff bay but too late for the y wagtails that had been seen earlier

Tawny Owl hooting briefly small hours of Tuesday morning from beside railway.

A bit late posting this, but I nipped down to Cardiff Bay on 19th Apr to see the immature Boonaparte’s Gull that had been found the day before. It was out with the Black-headed Gulls, viewed from Plas Taliesin – Penarth Marina., too far out for decent shots. At the Cardiff end of the barrage there were 2 Rock Pipits on the outer rocks, one of which was singing [never heard that before]. A few showy Greenfinch were near the old dock, where 50+ Sand Martins were busy choosing holes in the walls for nest sites. One obligingly perched on a jutting out twig on my side of the dock, to give a good photo opportunity. One image shows how far away the Bonaparte’s was! – spot the gull!