No sign of the barnacle goose on Lisvane Res today, but 41 Canadas present (exactly the same number as were with the barnacle yesterday, per D.G.). 45 tufties, 18 pochards, 2 mallards, 13 coots, 10 little grebes, 1 kingfisher -fishing silently along the south shore, 1 heron plus the usual gulls.
Llanishen: a good count of 74 mallard, 18 teal, 2 coots, 1 tufted duck, 26 common snipes, buzzard, gold crest, mistle thrush etc.
I’ve been making a list and checking it twice –but there aren’t too many interesting birds on it…
Lisvane: 30 pochard, 49 tufties, 12 little grebes, 12 coots, no mallards, geese, swans or GC grebes.
Llanishen: water levels very high so lots of places for birds to hide among the willows: 6 teal, 1 coot and 34 mallards were visible.
Roath: 4 little grebes, the long-staying LBB gull blue AKZ, and a colour-ringed BH gull that stayed just out of readable range.
Happy Christmas and good birding to all 
Lisvane: 1F goldeneye, 36 pochard, 59 tufties, 3 mallard, 13 coots, 14 little grebes and 1 common gull among the other gulls. No geese, swans or GC grebes today.
Llanishen: 1 water rail (photo), 1M & 1F shoveller, 42 teal (my highest ever count here!), 32 common snipe, 2 moorhens, 36 mallards, 1 heron and 5 meadow pipits.
Roath Park Lake: 2M teal, quite a lot of disturbance due to scrub clearance on the islands today.
City Hall: 1peregrine
Llanishen: 2F shovellers, 27 teal, 2 moorhens, 15 mallard, 1 tufted, 1 common gull. Only 1 snipe visible and no sign of the recent water rails -but the water level is very low again now. 18 magpies among the big corvid roost.
Lisvane: 35 pochard, 87 tufties, 38 Canadas, 19 mallards, 12 little grebes, 12 coots, 3 common gulls and as dusk approached a mid-tone yellow-legged type gull, seemingly a 3rd winter.
Highlight was a great view of 2 water rails at Llanishen south pool –my first record of this species at the site! The water level has dropped again, exposing some mud. Also present on Llanishen were 33 teal, 1F shoveller, 13 mallards, 3 moorhens, 12+common snipe, 1 common gull and 4 pied wags.
Lisvane: 56 tufties, 18 pochard, 17 mallard, 15 little grebes but no GC grebes today, 39 Canadas, 12 coots and the usual gulls.
Roath Park Lake: 4 teal. Llanishen station: 1 “silver” leucistic jackdaw.
A yellow-legged -type gull was present briefly this afternoon, but stayed at the back of the roost and departed northwards soon afterwards. Also, 55 tufties, 26 pochard, 8 Canadas, 27 mallards and 9 little grebes. Just one (juv) GC grebe -presumably the others are all in Swansea Bay!
Roath Park Lake: water levels are currently very low to allow cleaning/dredging -exposing lots of mud and water weed. 1F shoveller and a pair of teal today.
Fox & owl survey: 1 fox and 7 tawny owls across 3 sites. Just 2 redwing calls in 60 minutes of timed counts.
A small influx of pochard over the last week; 13 present this morning, with 17 little grebes, 1 kingfisher and the usual regulars. No sign of the recent green sandpiper. Other bits and pieces over the last week included a red admiral at Llanishen Station on the 12th and a late chiffchaff briefly in my garden (Llanishen) on the 14th.
WeBS count this morning included on Lisvane: 1 green sandpiper, 2 mute swans (flew to Llanishen), 5 pochard, 11 tufties, 8 mallard, 5 cormorants, 1 heron, etc.
On Llanishen: 32 teal, 6 mallard, 2 coots, 2 little grebes, 13 Canadas, 42 common snipe, 8 linnets, c35 meadow pipits and 4 skylarks. The big counts of snipe and teal reveals how much remains hidden when counting from the perimeter fence!
Lisvane: a female goosander (unusual here) flew in at 14:20 and stayed for 15 minutes before departing south. 5 pochard, just 9 tufties, 10 mallard, 15 little grebes, 4 GC grebes, 1 kingfisher.
Llanishen: 1 common snipe, 2 little grebes, 17 mallard, 2 tufties, 1 coot, 1 teal, c20 linnets and c20 meadow pipits. Many hundreds of woodpigeons on the move.
Roath Park Lake: Kingfisher at the wild end, excellent egg on toast at the cafe end.
Lisvane: no sign of yesterday’s green sandpiper today, best of the regulars was 17 little grebes and 2 pochard.
Llanishen: the south pool seems to be slowly filling, and is now bigger than at any time since the reservoir was drained, extending about half way to the middle pools. 2 teal, 1 little grebe, 1 coot, 10 mallard, and 2 mute swans, also a white-winged jackdaw in the big corvid roost and a stunning female peregrine stooped low over the south pool at dusk, heading towards the Llanishen tax office tower where it presumably roosted.
This morning, 1 green sandpiper on NW shore (still there at dusk per Mike Powell), 1F sparrowhawk, 1M pochard, 26 tufties, 4 GC grebes, 14 little grebes, 15 mallard, 11 coots, 2 mutes, 1 heron, etc.
Lisvane: best bird was a very vocal green sandpiper on the SE shore, hopping to and fro over the fence to llanishen. 64 tufties, 4 pochards, 12 mallards, 2 mute swans, 7 coots, 4 GC grebes, 11 little grebes, etc.
Llanishen: 26 mallards, 3 teal (likely to be more hidden in the flooded vegetation), 3 mipits, c20 redwings, gold crest in a big tit flock, 4 pied and 2 grey wags, F sparrowhawk hunting.
Lisvane: 95 tufties, 4 pochard, 7 mallard, 7 coots, 7 little grebes, 4 GC grebes, 1 mute swan, 33 Canadas, 1 heron, 5 mipits, 5 redwing.
Llanishen: 2 wigeon, 58 mallard, 2 teal, 1 mute swan, 7 skylark over W.
Roath Park: all present and correct. Nothing unusual.
Fox and owl survey: 3 foxes & 3 tawny owls across 4 sites. 26 redwings over in 100 minutes of timed counts (= 15.6 per hour, up from 2.4 per hour last week)
Earlier today at Rhaslas, a male merlin was seen by Sophie-Lee Williams.
During a tawny owl / fox survey tonight, just 4 redwings called in 100 minutes of timed counts (= 2.4 per hour). Also, 6 tawny owls across 4 sites and no foxes!
Earlier, at Lisvane: 1 GBB gull among the lessers, 4 common gulls over heading S (first of the autumn here for me), 1 kingfisher, 15 little grebes, 8 GC grebes, 2 mute swans, 2 Canadas, 42 tufties, 5 coots and 20 mallards.
Llanishen: 1 jack snipe again watched feeding at dusk, 2 common snipe, 29 teal, 26 mallard and 1 little grebe.
Rhaslas with Mike Hogan & Sophie-Lee Williams: LB dowitcher still present this morning, though ponies at the NW corner had pushed the bird down to the SW shoreline. The other highlight was the first short-eared owl of the winter up here, flushed from the NE shore and flew over the bank into the moorland towards Fochriw. Also present were 28 wigeon, 7 teal, 5 mallard, 1 snipe, kestrel etc.
Yesterday around N Cardiff – Lisvane: 1 common sand, 49 tufties, 12 mallard, 11 little grebes, 8 gc grebes, 2 coots, 2 cormorants, m sparrowhawk etc.
Llanishen: 17 teal, 2 little grebes, 2 mute swans, 6 mallards.
Roath: 2 teal.
Lisvane: 1 kingfisher, 14 little grebes, 8 GC grebes, 35 tufties, 5 coots, 6 cormorants etc. A few late butterflies out in the sun; 1 small copper, small tortoiseshell and small whites.
Llanishen: 1 wigeon, 5 teal, 1 tufted duck, at least 121 mallards, 9 Canadas, 2 mute swans.
Canada geese on the move today -138 on Lisvane and another 103 on Llanishen made for a lot of noise! Also, 34 tufties, 30 mallard, 2 teal, 2 mute swans, just 4 coots, 9 GC grebes, 9 little grebes, c20 linnets, M+F sparrowhawk locking talons, raven and a few meadow pipits going over.
Lisvane: 1 kingfisher fishing from the E bank, 17 little grebes, 11 GC grebes (including 2 young, contra yesterday’s report!), 31 mallard, 32 tufties, 11 Canadas, just 4 coots, no pochards, 34 swallows, chiffchaff etc.
Llanishen: After yesterday’s influx of teal, just 2 remained today, with 17 mallard, 2 mute swans, 1 common snipe (first of the winter) and a male sparrowhawk.
A minimum of 29 teal on Llanishen was a good total for this site. On Lisvane, just 1 pochard among the tufties, and only 1 of the 2 young GC grebes seems to have survived. Nice to bump into Dan J-J doing the WeBS count.
Glamorgan Bird Club 
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