Blackcap 1 male feeding in mahonia Tufted Duck 51 Teal 6 and colour ringed Black-headed and Lesser B/B Gulls.

There was a nice showing of thrushes in the newly mowed W paddock this morning, with a mixture of Mistle Thrush, Redwing and Fiedfare. Not large numbers and all very skittish in such an open location. Probably about 30 birds in all.

Flock of hundreds of Knot at Blackpill at high tide this evening. Not sure if I can upload video here, but there’s a clip of them in flight on my Twitter: NaturemanPhotoVideo (@NaturemanV) / Twitter

10 Grey Plovers, 8 Lapwing , 5 Wigeon, 1 Great Black-backed Gull + Curlew, Little Egrets among 19 species seen this afternoon at RGW high tide.

At around 8am there were c60 Redwings in the field behind Janet’s house and nearby trees – the most I’ve seen this autumn. Another group, perhaps 40 or more, flew over high and the ones behind the house all took off to fly in the same direction. Perhaps the group passing over were calling. I was excited to see so many of these beautiful birds fairly close up.

Apologies if this is rather trivial but this is a test post to check I can post here again, after a period of issues with my WordPress account. The new (to me) editor seems to be OK, but I’ve failed to add an image here (either ‘featured’ or ‘inline’), and I tried several including small file sizes.

Week ending Nov 21st

Flock of almost 100 lapwing in regular attendance in fields near coast.

Several buzzards ground feeding nearby.

Came across a flock of 12 confiding Siskins, mostly females, feeding just above our heads, in the Alders by the river 1430.

In spite of the blustery wet weather, everyone enjoyed the club birdwalk this morning, good to see friends old and new. Between us we found 41 species, and I think we all saw most of them- a bit tricky in the wind and drizzle. Highlights were 8 Turnstone at Sker, 4 Common Scoter wave hopping, visible with binoculars, 10+ Curlew over on the golf course- seen by folk with scopes, since they were quite far away, Tufted Duck and Great -Crested Grebe on the pool, 7 Lapwing over, and glimpses of an Otter at the far side of the pool. Some folk explored the back of the barn at Sker House, but couldn’t find the Little Owl today.

Black-headed Gull, Blackbird , Blue Tit, Carrion Crow ,
Cetti’s Warbler -heard, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff – heard, Common Gull,
Common Scoter , Coot, Curlew, Feral Pigeon , Fieldfare , Goldcrest ,
Goldfinch, Great Black-backed Gull , Great Crested Grebe ,Great Tit ,
Grey Heron , Herring Gull , Kestrel , Lapwing , Long-tailed Tit , Magpie,
Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Mute Swan , Oystercatcher , Pied Wagtail,
Raven, Robin, Rook , Shag , Skylark, Starling, Stonechat , Tufted Duck ,
Turnstone , Water Rail- heard, Woodpigeon , Wren .

Thanks to Dave Carrington for leading, and everyone for their cheerful company.

Same location as post of 18th and over a period of no more than 5 minutes :- 1 female G.S. Woodpecker, 1 fem. Bullfinch, 1 m Chaffinch, 3 fem. Chaffinch, 1 Robin, 1 Dunnock, 2 Great Tits, 2 Coal Tits, about 10 Blue Tits, 2 Goldcrests, 4 fem. Blackbirds, I Pigeon, 2 Magpies and a few Herring Gulls over.

A couple of Red Kites circling over fields near Lillipot farm, Bonvilston yesterday afternoon.

Another first from my garden: Treecreeper finding plenty of insects in one of the ivy-covered Hawthorns along the railway 10am.

12-Snipe,6 on east side of peninsular and 6 on the south-west corner of the island.

27-Little Egrets in fields south of the business park at 15h30.

We enjoyed being able to do our WeBS at last yesterday. Part of the site around the far side of the lake is closed at the moment due to Covid restrictions, so number of sightings are a bit short. Lovely views in the Autumn woodlands, and two brave Great Tits followed us till we gave them some crumbs.

Blackbird, Blue Tit , Buzzard, Canada Goose, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch , Coot Gadwall , Great Tit , House Sparrow Little Grebe, Magpie, Mallard, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Robin, Shoveler, Teal, Woodpigeon .

Rec’d via email. Black Redstart seen y’day on rocks below docks building at the Cardiff end of the barrage.

22-Little Egrets flew from the island roost at first light.

20-Little Egrets in the fields south of the business park.15h00

Pretty quiet but had my first Fieldfare there this winter, a lone bird in a dead tree in the W lake reed bed. In W lake bay a lonbe Gadwall and 5 Pochard with the Tufties on E lake. A few Redwing flying around and over W paddock.

A couple of crackers this morning, 2 Willow Tits ( a bit early to be paired up I think) attracted by recording and just a few minutes later at the other side of the site, a female Hen Harrier being mobbed by a crow just east of penderyn reservoir.