Cuckoo heard calling in Clyne Woods towards direction of golf course.

Caught up with a spring passage Whimbrel this morning during our walk. Tide was out but the bird flushed from just in front of me like a Jack Snipe, as I crept up the banking to look at the beach. A few Oycs around but couldn’t locate any Ringed Plover or Grey Plover that Ceri Jones has seen recently, but only had bins and tide was way out. Had a nice Common Whitethroat in amongst Alexanders growing on waste ground between two of the bungalows. Plenty of Swallows too.

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Finally caught up with Swift this morning, with 3 circling around over Cosmeston, seen from Lavernock Rd. Also 3 house Martin and a few Swallow.

A pair of Mute Swans with nine cygnets.Also two pairs of Great Crested Grebes both with two juveniles.

Grangemoor Park: Lesser Whitethroat singing, Common Whitethroat singing, Cetti’s singing.    Ely River Trail : Reed Warbler singing.

Several swifts from early evening. Mon 4th May.

Regular nesters here.

Sparrowhawk cruising , 3rd day running.

The Great Crested Grebe pair were a little closer today, and they have 4 chicks – this is the largest hatched clutch I have seen here – previously it has been max 3. Managed to see a Reed Warbler scrambling around in the W lake reeds. Also flying around W lake was a Common Sandpiper looking for somewhere to land.

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Hurray! first Swifts of the year. 3 over just as the 4 o’clock train went by.

Sat 2nd. My one local weekend walk up to the plateau and back down via Nant hafod. Theres now at least 3 Lapwings in the field at the top, Stockdove, Stonechat 2 prs, many meadow Pipit, several Linnets, Skylarks, a distant calling Cuckoo over in Glynfach.Willow warblers, Mistle thrush, Greenfinch and a singing Redstart as I followed Nant Hafod. A couple of very vocal song thrush and several Swallows around Nyth Bran and as I returned to Porth @ 12 Sand Martin swooping around the small colony nesting in weep holes of bypass.

On what is now our ‘Sunday walk’ – up the road and through the alley then out to the front and through Windsor Gardens, then drop down onto the esplanade by the pier and back along the seafront. A short list – 2 Collared Doves, Woodpigeons, Dunnock, House Spadger, Lesser Black-backed and Herring Gulls, then a nice photographic Blackbird amongst daisies and a v smart male Greenfinch posing nicely and occasionally wheezing. Also a pic of the empty closed pier too, tide falling.

On our daily walk it was a nice surprise to see Cuckoo flying over the moat calling. Sand Martin 20 Grey Wagtail 2 Swallow 3.

Female Hen Harrier flying low and being bothered by other birds.

Had a ‘lifer’ today – a pair of Little Grebes mating at Cosmeston this morning. I’ve never seen this before. The photo is a big crop as they were quite distant. Also unusual in that they’ve apparently made a nest [on which they are performing], in full view in the edge of the reeds. Usually it’s impossible to see where they’ve nested. A GC Grebe pair have 2 ‘humbug’ young – that pic is an even bigger crop. Also Moorhen and Coot chicks on view. Also 2 Kingfishers, one carrying a fish from W lake to E [poss breeding again?], the other bird was perched in the middle of w lake reeds.

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1st May
Nice to see two Tree Pipits feeding on the ground, Garden Warbler 1 Blackcap 6 Willow Warbler 1 Chiffchaff 2 Jay 1 Mistle Thrush 1 no sign of any Dragonflies yet.

A friend reported to me she had been watching a male Bullfinch taking a bath in her birdbath yesterday: also a G.S Woodpecker ascending a Maple tree.

Lovely walk early this morning, so many birds made it a joy. Mistle and song thrush singing, blackbirds a plenty, usual woodland and scrubbland birds including 2 ,presumably male, tree creepers having a right old scrap, chiffchaffs,willow warblers, blackcaps & Whitethroats. Tawny owl hooting (at 8.15!), a Cuckoo calling in the distance, Buzzard ,Jay,Raven & Rooks and 3 male Bullfinch that alighted on a tree together and flew off together. Also a male Great spotted woodpecker harassing a Green Woody. The Greens nest hole was literally a couple of mtrs below the G.S.Woody so not a lot of “love thy neighbour” !

A handful of common birds on a pleasant stroll through Windsor Gardens overlooking the channel.

Whitethroat numbers now building up, with 4 or 5 singing – but a pleasant surprise was a Lesser Whitethroat singing loudly right above our heads at the north end of the Common. Good to hear Green Woodpeckers in at least 3 different areas (they have become very scarce in this area) and hear one lone Goldcrest singing, our first anywhere locally in months ! The Redstart was singing again only 3-400mtrs away north of Beddau Rugby Club, a location we have never suspected before – in complete contrast to 2 days ago at our closest known location, Caerau Llantrisant, where we drew a complete blank on Redstart (or, indeed, anything else – mind you, it was a mid-day “exercise walk”

Tawny Owl calling 4am