Martin's Haven: Gannets & Porpoises

Standing outside Lockley Lodge at about 1800 this evening during a break in the weather, we watched the spectacle of a group of about 30 Gannets circling over, following, and feeding amongst a much larger than usual group of Porpoises. We counted at least 6, and as many as 10 Porpoises feeding actively around the area of the entrance to the Haven; we normally only get 2-4 in Jack Sound. Several times the Gannets seemed to dive near-simultaneously almost on top of the Porpoises.
Also in Martin's Haven: a male Kestrel, a Stonechat, and a flock of about a dozen Linnets

Gann & Dale Airfield

Gann late afternoon, in very stiff winds: 19 Dunlin, 13 Ringed Plover, 1 Little Egret, 1 Grey Heron & 1 adult Little Grebe (my first of the autumn here).

Dale Airfield: even windier, unsuprisingly, habitat looks great still with cropped turf adjacent to the main runway and plenty of pools on the runway itself, but only birds were 2 Oystercatcher, 2 Curlew and a small flock of roosting large gulls. Will the 2000s fail to yield the much desired Buff-breast, following the glory days of the mid 80s and 2 records in the 90s? (All records at this site: 1 in 1983, 5 (or 6?) in 1984, 2 in 1985, 1 in 1994 and 1 in 1996). Upper pic is the '96 bird and lower the '94 one.

Green Sandpiper

Present at Sealyham, perhaps for a lengthy residence? (+ Eagle Owl Galera. Steve)

Newgale

It was fine at Newgale this morning, but very windy (WSW F5/6). There was a lone juvenile Sanderling and a single Curlew. Despite the boisterous weather there were many bathers, surfers and dog-walkers covering almost the complete length of the beach making it unattractive to birds. But as we left 2 adult Herring Gulls and 28 adult Black-headed Gulls flew in from the northern end of the beach and settled where the stream runs out by the Pebbles Car Park; perhaps the single juvenile BH has moved on.

Angle - Rain Stopped Play

Arrived at Kilpaison at 2:30 this afternoon - 2 hours before high tide with plenty of waders on the beach. As I stepped out of the car the first drops of rain fell but I managed to shoot off a few shots of Sanderling which were feeding high up on the beach near the old Pumping Station. Then the rain really set in but not before a quick scan showed c.30 Sanderling, 11 Turnstone, 8 Knot, 4 Redshank and "lots" of Dunlin and Ringed Plovers. So I headed for home, a couple of miles back inland it was dry! Don't you just love this "summer"!

Newport Mon am

Black T Godwit & juv Med Gull still present. 75 Canadas, & I was told c 100+ yesterday, so perhaps the Autumn influx is starting. Also c90 Mallard upstream.

Dale airfield this morning

Sandpiper 1 :- "Here comes one of those humans, looking for us."
Sandpiper 2:- "we`ve been flying non-stop for 3 days, I can`t fly anymore, I`m knackered"
Sandpiper 1:- "OK, quick - hide!"

Much the same as Sash saw the other day, but 1 Dunlin flying past did make the pulse quicken!

Strumble (31 Aug 09)

Time: 0600 - 1600
Weather: Cloudy, rain showers.
Wind: SSW (F7-8)

Balearic Shearwater - 9
Arctic Skua - 40 (25D, 11P, 4J)
Great Skua - 8
Sabine's Gull - 1 (Ad Sum)
Roseate Tern - 1
Black Tern - 1
Sandwich Tern - 4
Comic Tern - 28
Common Scoter - 6 (6M)

September 1984

Yes, Richard, some of us were around in 1984. Thought you might be interested in these. I claim no artistic merit for them; I had no sophisticated camera equipment. Just took a few archival pictures.

Pencarnan update

At long last we have Pencarnan to ourselves, the last of the holiday makers are departing, washed away, blown away, and may it continue - the bad weather of course!

With our responsibilities to family and grandchildren over for another year, at dawn on Sat 29th we headed down to Porthselau beach to find 92 loafing Curlew, a good count for such a small strip of sand, and then, struggling into the teeth of a gale, we carried on to Point St John where the real action began. Highlight here was a single Bonxie that flew directly over our heads before continuing down Ramsey Sound. Out towards the Bishops and Clerks a conveyor belt of thousands of birds sheared southward, Manx, Gannets, Fulmars, Kitties, Gulls, 2 Artics (other Skuas too far out to ID) and 6 Common Scoter. Great stuff and good to be birding again. We see that ex tropical storm Danny is due to hit our shores on Wednesday - we'll be out there again, wrapped in plastic.

Teifi & ...........1984......!

Teifi, late pm yesterday;-
34 Dunlin, 3 Sanderling, 12 Ringed Plover, 2 Turnstone all on Patch/ Poppit. 3 Sandwich Terns over.
Also (as they seem scarce in the North) 1 Knot v. early am! with 2 Redshank on Poppit.

2 September 1984

Glad to see Dale Airfield getting the grilling it deserves! 2 Sept 1984, was a red letter day for the Airfield, most birders who are reading this weren't around then.
2 Buff-breasted Sandpipers were found, followed by further birds 2 days later, until 5 were together with a Bairds Sandpiper!
Keep looking at the airfields,.... & if any golfer rings about seeing a strange bird whilst looking for his ball,...... go & take a look, at the golf course!

Looking in the 1984 report, I note NO records for Red Kite that year....that seems amazing now.!!!!
Perhaps more amazing was the only record of Little Egret,(1 at Newport) in circulation with BBRC for national (UK) acceptance!!!

The last one?

A lone Swift over Rickeston this afternoon.
Saw the weather forcast for the week ahead this evening, SW gales & rain on Wednesday, with the wind turning north on Thurs - could be good at Strumble. Or any where else!

Marloes/Dale Peninsular

It's been an odd weekend: the wind dies down for only 20 minutes and small birds start to move, and even sing: we had a Sedge Warbler in sub-song in Martin's Haven at about 1100 today, and 3 Willow Warblers and a Chiffchaff yesterday. Also a lovely Adder basking yesterday morning (and another reported on the Deer Park).

Wooltack Point has been pretty disappointing, with only one Manxie and a handful of Gannets and Fulmars, but 3 porpoises (2 adults, 1 immature) yesterday.

Marloes Mere: just a handful of Moorhens, a Dabchick and a Coot, but I heard a Whitethroat alarm call and saw a female Sparrowhawk flying across the mere.

Dale Airfield this morning: 4 Curlew feeding on the runway, a Skylark and 2 Wheatears. The farmer has cut down and broken up a huge amount of the gorse, which is a bit distressing in terms of the loss of habitat, but it attracted a lot of stonechats (10-15) even in all the wind.

A good day for Kestrels: 2 on the Deer Park, another 2 at the Airfield, and 2 Peregrines opposite Gateholm

St Bride's Haven: 14 Turnstone, including 1 in beautiful in summer plumage.

Strumble (30 Aug 09)

Time: 0600 - 1600
Weather: Rain
Wind: S (F5-6)

Sooty Shearwater - 5
Balearic Shearwater - 2
Storm Petrel - 1
Great Skua - 5
Arctic Skua - 6 (2P, 2D, 2J)
Common Scoter - 26 (1F, 25M)
Sandwich Tern - 3
Comic Tern - 10
Mediterranean Gull - 1 (1st W)
Whimbrel - 1
Redshank - 20
Dunlin -14
Knot - 3
Willow Warbler - 1 (In off and tried to roost on beams inside lookout)
Swift - 1

Sunfish - 1

Record day for sunfish yesterday with 9 in one day. Today another record day for sunfish.......

Sunfish can grow up to 4 metres across in warmer waters but the ones we get off Strumble and the UK tend to be circa 1 metre across.

This individual appeared very close inshore and we watched it dumb-founded. We estimate that this was a fully grown sunfish.....it was huge. The dorsel fin (pictured with buoy for size comparison) was at least as big as a basking shark fin and unlike the thin fins we are used to on "normal" sunfish it was chunky!

This was almost certainly a sunfish - it was moving quite rapidly against the tide and was flapping this fin as it moved in typical sunfish style. You can see from the pictures that it had a large chunk missing from the tip of the fin....try to fill in the missing bit and you can see how big this fish was. (You might think from the pics that this is a shark but it was flapping the fin constantly from horizontal to vertical as it swam - just like sunfish).

At all times we could see the body of the fish (all infront of the fin which helps to prove it was a sunfish).......in a different league to the sunfish we have seen off here in the past. I am not going swimming in the sea anytime soon! (Although I think they eat squid and jellyfish)

Why not look for....

...a juvenile Citrine Wagtail? It's already been a good autumn for them, and today one has been showing well at Marazion Marsh in Cornwall. We are well overdue one on the Pembrokeshire mainland, it just needs a dedicated birder to look hard, scan through all those Pied Wags, and claim the glory and adulation of us fellow Pembs birders! Be sure to 'gen up' before you head out into the drizzle. Need a suggestion of where to look? Try the 1) the Gann, 2) Angle Bay, or 3) anywhere that you might encounter a good few Pied & White Wags on autumn migration.

Angle

News in from Richard Dobbins - probably the only birder keen/mad enough to be out birding on such an abysmal day - At Kilpaison this afternoon good numbers of waders again 150+ Dunlin, 100+ Ringed Plover, 25 Sanderling, 15 Turnstone, 11 Knot, 2 Redshank. Quite likely these numbers a conservative estimate given the poor visibility.
Mr. Dobbins now on his way North for the high tide on the Teifi!

Photo from a couple of days ago.

Its an ill wind and Im sick of it!

Nice to see RS was filling his boots at Strumble as we more or less blanked on cetaceans on our now abandoned Dolphin-othon. On the other hand we did pick up a Great Shear within a big manxie flock a couple of miles off Strumble, may have been same bird....

Bonxies

2 more Great Skuas flew west past Pen Anglas point at 15:15 and 16:45.

Kite

As I was cleaning out the gutters on the house this afternoon, I saw a distant kite over Lindsway, (St Ishmaels) flying west. I did my best impression of a fireman & slid down the ladder to get my bins, when I managed to get back to soffit level, it had predictably vanished. That means it was probably black!

Strumble (29 Aug 09)

Time: 0600 - 1800
Weather: Sunny spells.
Wind: WNW (F5) (am), SW (F5) (pm)

Great Shearwater - 1 (@ 1130)
Sooty Shearwater - 16
Balearic Shearwater - 12
Storm Petrel - 1
Pomarine Skua - 1 (1P)
Arctic Skua - 20 (9P, 11D)
Great Skua - 14
Sabine's Gull - 3 (3 Ad Sum)
Little Gull - 2 (2 1st W)
Mediterranean Gull - 2 (2 1st W)
Sandwich Tern - 22
Comic Tern - 40
Common Scoter - 34 (28M, 6F)
Whimbrel - 14
Ringed Plover - 1
Dunlin - 12
Sanderling - 5
Turnstone - 2
Puffin - 6

Sunfish - 9

Teifi, Newport,.......&.......

Teifi ;-
Update, On Poppit, 20:00.19 Dunlin.
(Wendy)
Patch, 2 Sanderling, 2 Redshank, 1 Turnstone, 3 Dunlin, 9 Ringed Plover.
Railings, 30 Barnacle Geese, 5 Little Egrets.
Heron Hide, 10 Curlew 3 Moorhen.
Creek hide, 25 Teal, 1 Coot ! & 2 Moorhen.
CES ringing -- the last session this am, relatively quiet, but nice to be retrapping Cettis, & Kingfisher. Also adult Reed Warblers that we haven't seen since last August....migrants not locals!
13 new Blackcaps today, Green Sandpiper & Redshank over.
(Teifi RG)

Newport;-
The Juv. Black-tailed Godwit, Bar-tailed Godwit, feeding with 7 Redshank, just after HT.
The 1w Med. Gull still present nearby.

St. David's Airfield;-
2 Snipe this afternoon.
(Karen)

Strumble Head, (Yesterday )1 Swift.

Nevern Estuary

A single 1st winter Mediterranean Gull and a Bar-tailed Godwit from the iron bridge early afternoon.

Angle

Still plenty of waders at Kilpaison around midday, though Dunlin and Ringed Plover down a little on yesterday - c. 100+ & 75+ respectively, no Sanderling seen. Also there 1 Barwit, 22 Redshank, 9 Knot, 6 Turnstone. On the east side of the bay in the roost, c120 Curlew and out in the bay a lone Great Crested Grebe.

Goswawk, Bosherston

Sighting from Brian Southern - Goshawk being harassed by Jackdaws and Martins near the 8-arch Bridge at 8.00pm yesterday evening. Stalled over the lake before heading back eastwards towards Stackpole - the way it came. Excellent views at it stooped and climbed to avoid its tormentors.

Strumble ...... & .....

Yesterday;- friday

19 Sooty Shearwater, 3 Great Skuas, 33 Arctic Skuas, 12 Ringed Plover, 8 Dunlin, 1 Whimbrel,
9 Sandwich Terns, 1 Arctic Tern.
(sev obs)

Teifi;-
c50 Dunlin opp. St. Dogs Quay at c16:00.
(Wendy)

Skomer

There was a really nice dark Balearic Shearwater in St Brides Bay first thing this morning

Skuas

I headed straight out to the point on arrival at Pen Anglas because of the north-westerly and wasn't disappointed with a Great Skua and three light phase and two dark phase Arctic Skuas west close inshore between 18:00 and 19:30.

Angle Bay Drama

As the photo shows, at Kilpaison this morning a storm driven Manx Shearwater fell victim to a Great Black Backed Gull which repeatedly plucked it from the water's surface. Eventually the Manx was dropped on the beach where a pair of Ravens finished it off. Nature in the raw.

There were also good numbers of waders present although the strong wind blowing right into the bay made estimating numbers difficult. There seemed, however, to be similar numbers to a couple of days ago - 150+ Ringed Plover, 100+ Dunlin, with 1 Turnstone, 10 Sanderling, 8 Knot, c.50 Oystercatchers, 100+ Curlew and 2 Whimbrel.

Angle & Wooltack Point Yesterday

Info from Sue Lamb and Jenni Hood - Last night (Thurs) on Kilpaison beach: c 100 ringed plover c80 Dunlin 93 Mallard and 2 widgeon 1 barwit. 5 turnstone on Wooltack Point

North Pembs -- yesterday

Newport;-
1 Black-tailed Godwit, & 1 Bar-tailed Godwit still.
(Paul G.)

Teifi;-
Last night, 6 Sanderling & c6+ Ringed Plover on Poppit,
c20 Dunlin, & 2+ Turnstone on Patch.
& a delight for this w/e WeBs count c760 Canada Geese, & 1 Snow Goose.

Skomer today

About a dozen Grey Wagtails flew over heading west this morning, there was a Redshank in North Haven (a really good bird out here) and a Whinchat in North Valley

Fishguard & ....

Fishguard Harbour;-
15:30, Ad. Med Gull, an ad. Black-tailed Godwit, 2 Redshank, & c6 Turnstone & 2 Sandwich Terns
Strumble 17:00-18:00
1 Arctic Skua, 2 Common Scoter, 2 Sandwich Terns.
(Adrian)

Teifi;-
Patch c20:00, 35 Dunlin, 22 Ringed Plover, 1 Sanderling, 3 Turnstone.
Estuary, all the usual known hybrid geese amongst the Canada's, so a pretty static population at the moment, also 7 Little Egrets & c70 Mute Swans.
(Wendy)

Hummingbird Hawk

In our garden at St Ishmaels this evening

Dale Airfield

On the back of Hurricane Bill, good time of year, and armed with the knowledge that both Wexford & Scilly have recently recorded Buff-breasted Sandpipers & Ramsey a Dotterel, I headed up to Dale Airfield late afternoon. I had 2 new site ticks - 2 fly by Ruffs (not looking remotely like Buff-breasts) and perhaps more surprisingly a very tame Sanderling - why it was down on the sandy expanse of West Dale eludes me! Photos taken with a hand-held Samsung NV3 with a Swarovski ATS65HD with 20-60x zoom (at 20 zoom because it was so close!).

Saving Shearwaters

Hi all,

this afternoon I had a call from security at Stena asking me if I could rescue an "injured bird". It was as I supected, a young Manxie which I duly retrieved and on examination found it to be pretty fit and fiesty. Of course Manxies are unable to take off from level ground requiring a drop off, to get airborne.

Normally I would have done it later in the evening, or from the Stena Europe, but the weather seemed to have cleared the gulls and I took it to the outer breakwater of Fishguard harbour and flung it off the wall into the wind about 30 feet above the sea. It flew strongly, circled and headed out to sea , hopefully to embark on its journey to the south American winter quarters.

The odds are plenty more inexperienced youngsters will follow lights inland at night and end up grounded. As such they are very vulnerable to cats dogs rats gulls etc . They are relatively easy to catch, try and grab from behind so you can keep the wings in their naturally folded position. You need to hold them firmly so they can't thrash about and injure themselves. but try not to squash them. They will try and bite, Its nothing more than a nip but don't hold them near your or anyone elses face, a peck in the eye could be nasty.

The picture above of Captain Bob Wheel holding a manxie (prior to release in the middle of the Irish Sea) shows the correct way to hold them

If you find one the best thing to do is pop it in a smallish box so they can't flap about and injure themselves.

A wine box (6 bottle type not the one with the tap!) or shoe box is good. Make a bit of a nest in the bottom with kitchen roll or scrunched up newspaper, best to make a few holes in the top before you put the bird in so its got air, then secure the lid with a bit of tape.

I have just spoken to Jean Haines who has a good team ready and able to advise:

Jean Haines,Oiled Birds Sanctuary,West Williamston,Pembrokeshire.01646 651236

allthingsgood, walrus

Angle

After the wet and windy morning (just for a change!) I nipped down to Kilpaison early afternoon............. where it was still wet and windy but had at least cleared enough to see that there were good numbers of small waders on thje beach - 100+ Ringed Plover, 150+ Dunlin, 4 Knot , 2 Barwits and a few Oystercatchers and Curlew.

A little later at Angle Harbour the weather improved for a while and there were 4 Med Gulls (3 Ad. 1 2nd W), 4 Little Egrets, an obliging Curlew and a Blackwit flew over.

Newport & Little Milford

Yesterday;-
Newport at c18:00, 1 Juv. Black-tailed Godwit & 1 Bar-tailed Godwit present.

Little Milford;-
At HT , 4 Greenshank, c50 Redshank,1 Dunlin, 31 Curlew, & 4 Little Egret.
(Paul G.)

Arctic Skua

I saw a dark phase adult fly west off Pen Anglas at 16:00.

Ramsey Island - Dotterel

Juvenile Dotterel on top of Carn Llundain today

Teifi warblers ....&....

Yesterday am,
Ringing birds from the "acro run" still didn't produced the hoped for Aquatic but we did pass the 100th Chiffchaff ringed on the site this year.
Birds getting ready to depart are regularly caught at the moment, yesterday's star, an adult Sedge Warbler weighing in at a "nearly whopping" 16.5 g... most other Sedge's caught today were c10.5 g. (We have seen almost 20g birds in previous seasons) This bird had visible fat almost everywhere under it's skin.(fat score 7)

Other warbler totals --- ringed this year on the Teifi (not over yet!)
Blackcap -- ---------62
Whitethroat -------- 7
Garden Warbler ----17
Lesser Whitethroat -4
Willow Warbler -----41
Cetti's Warbler -----12
Reed Warbler ------138
Sedge Warbler -----312 (+14 y'day am)

With a good number of adults trapped, of other species as well (like Reed Bunting) we are investigating becoming part of RAS,(Retrap Adults for Survival) Scheme, as well as CES.

Waders over included 3 Green Sandpipers & 1 Snipe.
5 Turnstone, on Patch, c10 Dunlin & c6 Ringed Plover mobile around the estuary mouth.

Teifi RG

Newgale

Two juvenile Knot, a juvenile Sanderling and an adult Ringed Plover were feeding on the tide-line at low tide this afternoon, taking little notice of crowds of bathers and other holiday-makers.

Kilpaison Yesterday

Info and photo from Sue Lamb - Kilpaison yesterday was quite busy including a knot of 17 knot,100+ dunlin, 20 turnstone, 6 sanderling, 6 barwits, 3 blackwits, c20 ringedplover, peregrine very busy on the beach at the mo.,

Fishguard - Med Gulls

A quick look at the gulls roosting near the Ocean Lab in Fishguard Harbour this morning produced two Med Gulls - an adult and this 2nd Winter. Also there a Sanderling, looking a little out of place on the rocks, and a Turnstone

Newport Mon am

2 juv Moorhens at the bridge, present a couple of days, are unusual. Otherwise 5 Dunlin, 2 juv Med Gulls & 1 ea Bar T Godwit, limping Whimbrel,Sanderling & Ringed Plover. 17 Oystercatchers on the estuary & 25 more on the roost.

Skomer

A few migrants in the valleys this morning - about 25 Willow Warblers & a Reed Warbler & a couple of Whimbrel, a Snipe & a Ringed Plover flew over

Teifi

Yesterday;-
1 Green Sandpiper, calling as it flew around the marshes at dusk.
c40 Sanderling on Poppit feeding on the tide-line, c 1km out from the lifeboat station. at 7pm.
1 Bar-tailed Godwit feeding in the estuary, c10 Dunlin & c6 Ringed Plover found at high tide on Patch & Poppit. Also Whimbrel calling.

Carew Mill

3 Greenshanks
2 Bar Tailed Godwits

Strumble (23 Aug 09)

Time: 0600 - 1600
Weather: Rain.
Wind: S (F5-6)

Balearic Shearwater - 1
Arctic Skua - 2 (2D)
Storm Petrel - 13
Mediterranean Gull - 1 (1st W)
Sandwich Tern - 24
Comic Tern - 250
Black Tern - 1
Common Scoter - 137 (35F, 102M)
Teal - 4
Pochard - 1
Dunlin - 35
Ringed Plover - 1
Whimbrel - 15
Turnstone - 3

Sunfish - 1

North Pembs.

Fishguard Harbour;-
15:00, 3 Med. Gulls, ad, juv, & 2nd sum. 3 Turnstone.
(Adrian)

Strumble;- a good passage of Common Terns this am,
a fuller species account to follow later.

Teifi

This morning on Patch, 6 Ringed Plover, 3 Turnstone and 13 Dunlin.
Of the Dunlin, 6 were ringed which reflects the nocturnal activities of the Teifi ringing group with their latest project of wader ringing. By the size of the current Dunlin flock on the Teifi we now reckon to have ringed around 50% of them. Any counts of waders with metal rings on the Teifi would be of interest to us.

Wetland Bird Survey 2009-10

It's getting around to the season for WeBS counts again.

There are several sites that need new counters, due to the previous counters retiring. So, if you fancy doing a monthly count at one of the following sites, please let me know:

Western Cleddau - Hook to Sprinkle,
Eastern Cleddau,
Millin Pill,
Cosheston Pill,
Westfield Pill,
Pwllcrochan Flats
Trefloyne Pools.

If anyone wants to do a count in August, the official date is August 23rd - regular counters can enter their data directly, if anyone else does a site, send me the data and I'll input it. Dates for the regular season are as follows.

20th September
11th October
22nd November
20th December
17th January
21st February
14th March

Petrels & autumn

I'd call all 3 of those pics as Wilson's Petrels. Are the bottom 2 are the same bird?
(presumably -- Rich D.)

Feel free to follow me around Derek, but from 3-9 October I'll be in Cornwall and Ellie may get a tad miffed if you appear at the breakfast table! But if I do find something (in Pembs or Cornwall), you and everyone else will know straight away.

It`s official!!

Autumn is here!! Dave Astins was seen at the Gann with bins, scope & camera! forget Semi P`s & Pecs. White rump and Bairds are on the hit list. I go where he goes!!

Shark Fishing from Neyland

The 1st was taken last year, 2008

The 2nd & 3rd photos were taken on 5th Aug 2009.(presumably the same bird)

North Pembs

Teifi, ;-
Patch early am, 21 Dunlin 3 Ringed Plover, 3 Turnstone.
Jewsons pm, 4 Common Sands.
(Wendy)

Newport late am;-
1 juv. Black-tailed Godwit, with 2 Bar-tailed Godwits

Fishguard;-
Stena side this am, 1 juv. Med. Gull
Outer Breakwater this am, 2 Turnstone, 1 Whimbrel, 1 Dunlin, 2 Wheatear.
Harbour;-
Both ad. Black Guillemots present yesterday, & 1 Sunfish close to the berthing wall.
(Carl - Stena)
Thurs night, the juv. Black Guillemot still present.
(fledged 28 Aug last year)

Llangloffan Fen;-
A good walk to the Flash..... looks perfect but birdless... today!!
(Adrian & Rich D.)

Strumble (22 Aug 09)

Time: 0600 - 1800
Weather: Sunny (am), cloudy (pm).
Wind: S (F2-3)

Balearic Shearwater - 6
Arctic Skua - 11 (2P, 9D)
Great Skua - 4
Storm Petrel - 1
Sandwich Tern - 30
Comic Tern - 3
Mediterranean Gull - 1 (1st W)
Common Scoter - 72 (16F, 56M)
Tufted Duck - 1 (F)
Curlew - 2
Whimbrel - 25
Bar Tailed Godwit - 8
Black Tailed Godwit - 8
Dunlin - 118
Knot - 81
Turnstone - 2
Sanderling - 3
Golden Plover - 1
Common Snipe - 2
Puffin - 1

Sunfish - 1
Common Dolphin - c.15

Little Milford

HT this am;-
1 Greenshank, 15 Redshank, 2 Dunlin, 2 Common Sands, 40 Curlew, 4 Little Egrets, & Kingfisher.
(Paul G.)

Gann - low tide

5 Ringed Plover, 4 Dunlin, 1 Turnstone, 1 Redshank, 1 Whimbrel & 3 Little Egberts. And so begins my autumn birding!

Newgale

Two Sandwich Terns were plunge-feeding on sandeels (lesser sandeels, judging by their size) just beyond the breaking waves of the incoming tide and at times no more than ten yards from a crowd of swimmers and surfers at Newgale this afternoon. Could the sandeels have been disturbed by the bathers, making them easy prey for the Terns?

An adult Gannet, one of two fishing beyond the Terns, was harassed by a juvenile Great Black-backed Gull: when the Gannet surfaced after diving for fish, the GBB hovered over it, pecking at it. The Gannet tried to fly away but was pursued by the GBB and forced down onto the sea again, after which the GBB lost interest and flew off, perhaps realising that the Gannet had nothing to disgorge.

Dale airfield & Mullock bridge

At Dale airfield, a lone Ringed plover did get me wondering - having just looked in the Bird guide, I wished I took more notice of its feet! It did seem to have a darkish face, or is optimism getting the better of me?!
Several Wheatears (c12) 1 femail Kestrel.
At Mullock bridge c80 Swallows feeding above a very high tide.

Strumble Head

0800 -- 1400;-
1 Sooty Shearwater, 2 Balearic Shearwaters, 1 Bonxie, 7 Arctic Skuas, 1 Little Tern, 1 Arctic Tern 4 Common Tern, 5 Sandwich Tern, 120 Common Scoter, 1 Teal, 1 juv. Med. Gull, 4 Whimbrel, 6 Dunlin, 3 Turnstone, 16 Cormorants flying east, & 2 Sunfish.
Also today a Grey Seal watched eating a very young Porpoise.
(Sev obs)

Newgale

Two juvenile Sanderling on the beach this afternoon busily feeding on the edge of the incoming tide. They were unconcerned at passers-by, even tolerating a large, but fortunately docile and obedient, labrador within a few feet of them.

There were also five Portuguese Man of War jellyfish which the lifeguard collected to ensure bathers' safety.

Skomer - yesterday

Struggling to find any migrants on here at all at the moment but there was a Balearic Shearwater in St Brides Bay in the evening among the 1000s of Manxies.

Frainslake and Bluckspool areas

Wader passage evident. On 19th Aug around 100 curlew roosting at Frainslake and Bluckspool, also 5 bar-tailed godwits (4 of these were initially heading inland, then eastwards along the coast towards Carmarthen Bay area). About 70 dunlin, 30 oystercatchers, 30 ringed plovers and a couple of turnstone on the beach.

At least 5 Kestrels are now regularly feeding over the Castlemartin Range grasslands and dunes.

Crossen does it again

Wow, Birdguides Photo of the Week - again! Manx Shearwater again, this time with a big Whale in there too!

Strumble Head today

Over the course of the day;-
Storm Petrel -- 4
Balearic Shearwater -- 1
Sabines Gull -- 1 ad.
Teal -- 7
Common Scoter -- 47
Bonxie -- 1
Whimbrel -- 14
Arctic Skua -- 1
Sandwich Tern -- 9
Arctic Tern -- 1
Commic Terns -- 15 ++
Roseate Tern -- 1 flew past c 1500
Little Terns -- 2 flew west c1430

(sev observers)

Newport Thurs am

2 juv Med gulls & a Sandwich Tern the highlights, along with Blue BHS.
And finally, at last, Blogger has started remembering me!

Another copped it

One for Annie & Bob - there was a road casualty Polecat on the Dale Road (B4327) about 1/2 mile west of Dreenhill last Tuesday night, I couldn't stop to examine it as I was running a 10k time trial at the time!

Zebras? New mammals for the county?

Good to see that people are noticing these things. Fortunately Ray saw what was probably the same animal and sent a grid reference.

Should have used the Zebra .....

The deceased 'copped it' by Roche yesterday

Fishguard

Flagpoles;-
This afternoon, an adult Med. Gull, an adult Kittiwake, & 14 Turnstone.
Stena side;-
A 2nd sum. Med. Gull.
(Adrian)

Hobby

Hobby this afternoon flying over the main road through Llandissillio
(Arfon)

teifi waders

Patch this am, c70 Dunlin, c24 Ringed Plover, 4 Turnstone, 6 Sanderling.
(Arfon)

Off St Davids peninsula and Castlemartin area

A telephone report from John Rogers (well described) of a Bonxie seen from St David's peninsula (about 1/2 km south of Ramsey) on Sunday 16th Aug.

At about mid-day on Frainslake on 18th Aug, at least 500-700 lesser black-backs and 50+ great black-backs were roosting on the beach (typical numbers that gather there at this time of year) . Later in the day possibly many of the same birds plus a few hundred herring gulls were resting and feeding on ants/soil/grassland inverts above the cliffs at Linney Head (total flock size in excess of 750). This is quite normal feeding activity by gulls here.

Waders on Frainslake beach included several ringed plovers, sanderling, a few dunlin and knot plus 20 or so oycs and curlew - typical species and numbers for this time of year.

Chough numbers still seem quite low but a flock of 12 over the Burrows and scattered pairs along the coast.

Among a number of invertebrates recorded a few clouded yellow butterflies were on the move through the burrows during the morning.

Teifi last night --

Whilst doing the preparation for this morning's early am acro. project ringing,
the following was achieved,
16 Swallows ringed, although we are c200m+ from the roost.(15 juv's, a typical ratio for this time of year at roost.)
4 Sedge Warblers, 1 a retrap with an increase in weight & fat score since trapping last week.
3 Dunlin ringed, c30 Small waders seemed to be around -- the greater number being Dunlin with some Ringed Plover.
(Teifi RG.)

Newport Tues am

No small waders, just 1 ad Med Gull.
But Herring Gull Blue BHS is an old favorite. Ringed at Gloucester landfill site in Jan 07, it was at Newport in Oct 08, 3 sightings in Mar & April 09 & again today.

Fishguard

The Flagpoles, 1500;-
9 Dunlin, 9 Turnstone, 10 Redshank, 5 Ringed Plover.
(Adrian)

Wooltack Point: Sooty Shearwater

Always hard to follow on from such "Great" news from Strumble, but I watched for about 10 minutes a Sooty Shearwater flying steadily out of St Bride's Bay this morning at around 0800. Also 4 Common Scoter flying through Jack Sound. Nothing much else around on the sea, with no tidal race to hold birds.

Martin's Haven:
Wonderful views of male and female immature Peregrines this morning, chasing a gull and Meadow Pipit (both unsuccessful) before returning to their favourite pastime of beating up one of the local buzzards. A Whimbrel over, calling.
Small numbers of a fairly wide selection of birds in the valley: Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Whitethroat, Sedge Warbler, Song Thrush, and lots of young Stonechats and Pied Wagtails.

Lucy at Lockley Lodge reports that the first seal has pupped at the end of the Deer Park.

(Saw & photo'd the Grey Seal pup around midday - Rich C)

Arctic Skuas

2 light phase adults off Pen Anglas, one west at 16:15 and the other landed on the water at 17:00.

Swallows and Snipe

last week I enjoyed the spectacle of around 400 plus swallows enjoying the flying ants over gardens and fields in Camrose. The birds were crowded onto the power lines making the sag visibly and were swooping over fields as well as feeding on house roofs and landing on our flat-roofed kitchen and pecking among the moss, presumably for ants or flies.

Last Sunday I saw my first snipe of the autumn on Plumstone Mountain.

Teifi & Newport

Newport;-
Early evening, 3 Med. Gulls ( ad, 1st sum, & juv.) also Whimbrel.
(Paul G.)

Teifi;-
A change in the smaller waders, c55+ Dunlin, c20+ Ringed Plover, moving between Patch & Poppit before the sand banks became available, (interestingly I couldn't find them on the sandbanks as the tide dropped tonight.)
1 Common Sand. by the Railings, & 8 at Jewsons. 7 Little Egrets roosting opp. St.Dog's Quay, 2 More at Jewsons.
(Wendy & Rich D.)

Strumble - Great Shearwater

Having driven overnight from Devon, arriving at Strumble at 0345hrs, Kevin Johns was keen to see birds, but his first sighting of interest was a probable Leatherback Turtle. Joined at intervals by Ray W, Graham, Adrian and Paul, other sightings included:

Bonxie 1
Common Scoter 13 of which 4 were female
Whimbrel 7
Commic Tern 2
Balearic Shearwater 1
Sooty Shearwater 3
and, thanks to Adrian, a Great Shearwater, sighted at 1015hrs and staying in the area for about 30 minutes.

Angle

Middayish at Angle Harbour 9 Med Gulls - 6 adults,2 2nd winter and a juvenile. Otherwise just 2 Dunlin, 4 Ringed Plover, 1 Whimbrel and a few Curlew.

Kilpaison early afternoon, shortly before high tide very quiet - 12 Oystercatchers, c.30 Curlew,2 Little Egrets, no small waders.

Teifi.. &.............

Update;-
21:00;-
Heron Hide, 1 Green Sandpiper, 3 Teal, & c400 Swallows going down to roost nr. Priory Bridge.
Jewsons, 7 Common Sandpipers, 4 Little Egrets between here & the Quay. 9 Little Egrets present yesterday. The Turnstones still on Patch. The rest c70 waders on sand in middle of estuary.

Waders:-
Patch this mid-afternoon, 3 Turnstone, 2 Sanderling, c40 Dunlin, c25 Ringed Plover.
(Last night the Sanderling count reached 8)
Green Sandpiper flying around calling at 0500.

CES ringing today, 3 Treecreepers(unusual) 2 Cetti's(1 new), 24 Chiffchaffs(20 new), 13 Reed Warblers(10 new) the highlights, also Goshawk over.

Moths-- a fem. Bullrush Wainscot trapped, a 1st for the Teifi.
(less than 20 county records, most south.)

Teifi RG & guests

Strumble (16 Aug 09)

Time: 0600 - 1530
Weather: Sunny spells.
Wind: WSW (F4)

Balearic Shearwater - 3
Great Skua - 4
Arctic Skua - 3 (3 Dark)
Common Scoter - 31 (7F, 24M)
Sandwich Tern - 11
Comic Tern - 2
Puffin - 1
Dunlin - 1

Common Dolphin - c.20

Sandy Haven

Green Sandpipers, 2 at Sandy Haven yesterday.
(Paul Warren)

Gann & Wooltack Point

Records sent in by Norman McCanch, apologies for not getting them on sooner.
Thursday 13th August: The Gann, early a.m. - Black-tailed godwit 3, Curlew c.100
Whimbrel 1, Redshank 12, Greenshank 2, Common sandpiper 1, Dunlin 17, Ringed Plover 11
Teal 1, Buzzard 2
Friday 14th August: Wooltack Point.
I went out to wooltack at first light to try and see some Manxies, the drizzle and rain made it a bit difficult but I did record the following between 06:45 and 09:00 - Manx Shearwater 12
Gannet10, Common Scoter 3, Black-tailed godwit - a flock of ca 35 flew in from the northwest at 07:20 low over the sea, making landfall over Martins haven ( the biggest flock I have ever seen in pembs), Chough 2 pairs of adults but no sign of juveniles, Raven 2

Survey of Seawatching, Bangor University's School of Ocean Science

The following is an extract from Bangor University's School of Ocean Science Survey element of the University website:http://www.sos.bangor.ac.uk/survey.

"Bangor University is investigating the distribution and importance of seabird watching along the Welsh coast. A similar study has already been carried out among divers, sea-kayakers and customers of wildlife viewing cruises. This type of information will be essential in the inclusion of seabird watchers’ interests in management plans for the marine environment, like the design of marine protected areas that take both conservation interests and user needs into account, as the Government plans to do as part of the newly published Marine Bill. The focus of the study is specifically on SEAbird watching, thus most of the questions in this survey refer to seabird watching in particular."

As you can see the University is looking to represent the activities of seawatchers in Wales in their input to Welsh Assembly Government planning for marine conservation etc. Perhaps those of you who seawatch would wish to contribute to the survey. It would be relatively easy for the occasional seawatcher to fill in the form to be found on the site for each visit. But for more regular watchers it would be time-consuming to complete a form for each visit. I have emailed Ana Ruiz to suggest that, as a regular watcher, I send her a summary of visits to, for example, Strumble, either monthly or at the end of the season. It would appear to be in our interests to contribute to ensure our activities are taken into account in future planning decisions on the marine environment.

Flycatching

3 Spotted Flycatchers brightened up a damp & dull morning here. We have had them before but not at all regular visitors, so great to see.

Strumble (15 Aug 09)

Time: 0600 - 1530
Weather: Showers at first then brighter spells.
Wind: SSW (F5-7)

Great Skua - 3
Storm Petrel - 4
Comic Tern - 16
Common Scoter - 8 (1F, 7M)
Whimbrel - 1
Teal - 1

Sunfish - 1

Pelagic Pics

Check out the Whales in Wales blog for further pics of the magnificent Fin Whales and a few Dolphins seen on Thursday. I'll add some birds in due course.

Newport, Fishguard...&.. Teifi

Newport;-
0800, 5 Med. Gulls at the iron bridge, 4 1w & 1 ad. -- a good number for the site.
Also, 1/2's Redshank, Common Sand., Dunlin, Ringed Plover.
Fishguard Harbour;-
2 Med. Gulls, (ad & juv.), 1 ad. Sandwich Tern, 2 Dunlin, 2 Ringed Plover. -- All Stena side.
Also on the Stena side the female Black Guillemot now just beginning to moult, but still taking food to young. View from end of Inner Breakwater.

Teifi;-
0800, still c 40+ Dunlin, & c4+ Sanderling now feeding on Patch.
(Wendy)

Deer Park: Peregrines and manxies (and a lot of wind)

Deer Park last night had several hundred Manxies in a feeding frenzy around 1km North of Wooltack at around 1900hrs. On the way back we watched three peregrines, most likely an adult and a couple of the juveniles, playing in the wind, chasing each other (and the odd gull), practicing hovering, and mobbing a buzzard. That bird decided that its best bet was to sit on a post and hope they would all go away; they did, eventually.
After a pretty strong Westerly blow during the night, this morning it is veering North Westerly which may push more interesting sea birds into St Bride's Bay: in July this gave us really good daytime views of a Stormie from Wooltack, so I live in hope.

Spotted Flycatchers & House Martins

Allt-y-Clyn, Gwaun Valley;-
c12+ Spotted Flycatchers with a flock of c50+warblers & tits, inc. Marsh Tit.
c100 House Martins feeding above.
(Adrian)

Teifi waders.. etc ....& wanderings

Patch;-
Waders on Patch this evening, 4 Sanderling, 20 Ringed Plover & 14 Dunlin.
(Wendy)
More to come as we watched another 43 Dunlin, & 2 Sanderling, from the Railings.
Geese:-
The annual Aug, increase is in full swing, with the full collection of regular birds, flying in for the night as we watched the waders, Bar-headed, Snow & Barnacle now with the Canada's.(c500)
Ty- Gwyn Pools the latest suspected origin for the varieties. Any Cered. birders reading , are you missing these?

Angle Bay, & West Angle Beach;-
The only birds of note, 6 Black-tailed Godwits, 4 Dunlin, 6 Ringed Plover, all at Kilpaison.
Lawrenny & Landshipping;-
c25 Redshank, & 6 Teal at L. Quay the birds of interest.

Newgale

A cool evening with an incoming tide: three small waders, almost certainly Dunlin, flew along the tide line heading South; there was a flock of around thirty Black-headed Gulls in various plumages from near-breeding to non-breeding, there was, once again, only one juvenile. There were a couple of Great Black-backs, one or two Lessers and several Herring Gulls , one of which, a juvenile, was behaving strangely: it was throwing a piece of seaweed into the air, watching it being taken out by the backwash of the waves, chasing and throwing it up again to repeat the whole process; it appeared to be playing! Finally, a juvenile Knot flew in to the water's edge, very tame too as Jean was able to watch it, as it watched her, at no more than fifteen feet.

Afterthought: I forgot to add that there was a dead juvenile Gannet on the beach.

Osprey & a Pink Herring Gull

News via e mail from Julia Griffiths - An Osprey was seen yesterday (Thursday) by Porth y Rhaw, mid morning.

And this from Andrew Wood - I was on holiday and saw this on Tenby south beach on Sunday 9th August. Just interested to know if this is a known bird or if this form is known to anyone.

Newport Fri am

At the bridge, 3 Herons, 1 L Egret & a Kingfisher (the first for several months). On the mud 4 Ringed Plovers, 1 Dunlin, 1 Redshank & 1 Black T Godwit. On the beach a juv Med Gull.

Magic Pelagic

A pelagic with Sea Trust today proved to be a wonderful trip with good birds - 15 Common Terns, 3 Bonxies, c.5 Storm Petrels and the expected excellent close views of Manxies, Gannets and Fulmars. Few auks or Kittiwakes to be seen.

Pride of place, however, went to 6 or more Fin Whales which put on a magnificent display - see the Whales in Wales Blog for further details.

Strumble - another Honey Buzzard

There was a spectacular feeding frenzy this morning lasting over half an hour and involving several hundred Gannets and several thousand Manx Shearwaters. A group of about fifty House Martins flew excitedly around the headland, joined by a couple of Sand Martins and small numbers of Swallows; obviously birds on the move rather than locals. The high point of the watch was a Honey Buzzard, the second of the season. Five Common Scoter (one female), a Curlew and a Whimbrel were also recorded as was a Sunfish.

Graham R and Ray W.

Late entry from yesterday evening: three Dunlin on Newgale Beach feeding on the edge of the incoming tide, close to a flock of about thirty Black-headed Gulls feeding in the surf on what appeared to be fry.

North Pembs

Some news from yesterday
Newport - 1 Black-tailed Godwit, 1 Whimbrel and 18 Dunlin
Teifi at Jewsons - 6 Common Sands

The Teifi ringing group have started a new acro project with nets through a different part of the Teifi marshes. Along with Reed and Sedge warblers, 20 + Swallows and a juvenile Sandmartin were caught last night. Green Sandpipers and a Barn Owl flew over.
Already this morning good numbers have been trapped including 11 Reed Buntings.
The dreams of catching an Aquatic Warbler continue!


10:00 update;-
totals for yesterday evening & this am from this new project,
Reed Warblers 21 new, Sedge Warblers 25 new, Reed Buntings 16 new.

What? No birds today?

Well, I enjoyed watching the antics of a new brood of wrens just fledged somewhere close to the garden. The youngsters looking a bit gormless with those big gapes, and legs spread wide as they hang on to any twig for dear life.
Then there is the song thrush living under the bushes - somehow surviving despite the neighbour's cats also spending time under there. The blackbirds like the bushes too, but are enticed out whenever the sun shines for a bit of sunbathing - not today though.
And young buzzard season has begun - there is an insistent whine of "Fooood, Foooood" from across the fields.

Annie

In reply to Candid Camera!

Yes a splendid day for a voyage out to the Celtic Deep, sunshine all the way. Typical rafts of auks - mostly guillemots and young but also razorbills and 2-3 puffins (juvs). An impressive feeding frenzy involving hundreds of gannets and Manx shearwaters near the Smalls was probably the highlight. Here a bull seal must have thought it was his birthday when a few dead mackerel etc were lobbed in his direction, as he muscled in to spoil attempts to photograph gannets feeding close to the boat!

We also saw numerous passing storm petrels (3 together at one time), a few common terns and we all had good views of a bonxie. There were very few kittiwakes around today. Common Dolphins put in good appearances as usual - with excellent views. There was also a nice passage of large white butterflies just off shore.

Little Milford .... & .....

Little Milford;-
HT this am, much quieter with the height dropping now, 3 Common Sands, 7 Redshank, 4 Little Egrets.
(Paul G.)

Ceredigion info;-
4 Hobbies -- Tregaron today
(Arfon W.)

Angle

Middayish at Kilpaison very quiet - 5 Dunlin, 1 Whimbrel, 1 Blackwit.

Earlier at West Angle members of the Pembrokeshire Bird Group passed on the Celtic Wildcat bound for Grassholm and the Celtic Deep. A glorious day for it and lets hope the birds were good too.

Another garden mega.....

... where mega = large. A Great Green Bush Cricket on an apple tree - the first time we have had one in the garden though they are common along the lanes near Marloes and at Mullock Bridge. (Though often very hard to see - this one was very obliging)

Sooty Shearwater

One yesterday, north of the hats and barrels (report from Ffion Rees).

2 purple sandpipers back on the usual Ramsey winter roost site

Southern Hawker

What a lovely photo of a male southern hawker. The males are generally bluer than the females - the last solid colour bands on the abdomen are always blue compared with the female which are green solid colour. This one is a particularly well-marked male (also identified by its clasper structure).

Roseate Tern -- Strumble

Strumble Head;-
17:00- 18:30, 1 ad. Roseate Tern flew past with an ad. Common Tern. Also a very close Sunfish breaching again.
(Adrian & Ray W.)

Teifi today.....Common Sands..

Patch morning;-
3 Ringed Plover, 7 Dunlin.
(Wendy)

This late evening;-
Jewsons, 11 Common Sandpipers.
St. Dog's Quay;-
10 Redshank, 2 Dunlin.
From Patch;-
3 mobile Dunlin, & below the GVP ( gull view point) 12 further Common Sandpipers, about to be tested as the rising tide was forcing them ever closer to the legs of 500+ large gulls!

Little Milford, Hook ... etc..

L.Milford, HT;-
1 Juv. Ruff again, 1 Greenshank, c80 Redshank, 3 Common Sands, c40 Curlew.
Hook Viewpoint;-
12 Greenshank, 1 Snow Goose.
Hook / Sprinkle / Fowborough Pt;-
16 Little Egrets.
(Paul G.)

Landshipping Quay

At 7pm this evening:-
1 Spotted Redshank
1 Black tailed Godwit
16 Redshanks
3 Little Egrets

Dragonfly?

I'm pretty sure this is a Southern Hawker but it has Blue instead of the usual green segments 1-7.

The last segments are banded blue, a key feature of A.Cyanea as are the broad green thoracic markings. Is it common for them to have blue instead of green markings? I can't find any mention of it.

Teifi this evening

A few more waders around at dusk - 23 Dunlin and 2 Sanderling on Poppit beach.
6 Little Egrets opposite St Dogmaels Quay.

Teifi

Teifi;- early afternoon,
Jewsons, 9 Common Sandpipers.
St. Dog's Quay, 1 Black-tailed Godwit, 4 Redshank, 60 Curlew.
Marshes, 1 Green Sandpiper flying about, 2 present last night.

CES ringing today,
Of 18 Reed Warblers trapped today, 15 new birds -only 2 adults.
Also 11 of 14 Chiffchaffs were new.
Most of our breeding adult warblers have gone.
Other interesting trapped birds, --
Juvenile Water Rail,( in post juv. moult) & Cettis Warbler almost definitely bred here.
But the 2 juv. Kingfishers could be from elsewhere.

A couple of interesting retraps of Reed Warblers;
An adult ringed on the Marshes in May 2001 (Tony Cross) we retrapped 13 June 2009.
An adult ringed on the Marshes in July 2000 (Tony Cross) we retrapped 20 June 2009.
These sound very old?(need to check) for Reed Warblers, & have travelled a few! thousands of Km's in their life.
(Teifi RG)

Little Milford & ..........

Little Milford, -HT this evening;-
1 Greenshank, c100 Redshank, 7 Common Sandpipers, 2 Oystercatcher, 1 Curlew, 6 Little Egret, 1 Snow Goose.
(Paul G.)

Strumble;-
5-6pm, Bonxie, Balearic Shearwater, 3 Whimbrel.
(Adrian).

Pembroke UM Pond, is too full of water, but 1 Green Sandpiper on Castle Pond this am.
(John Hayes)

Teifi;-
A quick look before setting up for ringing & mothing,
St. Dog's Quay, 150+ Oystercatcher, a huge number for the teifi, -- not even HT.
2 Common Sandpipers, Jewsons.

Penfathach

2 Whimbrel flew west directly overhead at 18:30.

Llys-y-Fran

A pair of Great Crested Grebes at the north end of the lake this evening - one had 2 chicks on its back. Also a Golden Ring-tail dragonfly.

The week at Strumble - so far.

The calm weather has resulted in very low key passage,with a few waders, Curlew, Whimbrel, Redshank, Sanderling, good numbers of Scoters though, single Arctic Skuas twice, single Balearics twice, first Sooty of the autumn and today a fineHoney Buzzard passing at close range.

A single Sunfish and a good scattering of Porpoises completed the card.

Hoping for some wind soon.

Still hanging on - but for how much longer?

Good news first: Swifts are still around and it was nice to get confirmation this week of a pair nesting in what seems to be a new west side of Pembroke town location in an old Victorian House where they are still feeding young (young are heard calling when an adult scrambles into the nest site - a narrow crevice/space above the wall plate - a typical site in such dwellings. But how many such traditional nest sites will be lost in future house improvement/energy conservation renovations? This ones fate is well secured and the owner/reporter of the nest (NT teacher at Stackpole, Matt Lister who has not noticed them here in previous years) is considering putting up additional swift boxes to try and encourage them to prosper on his property.

The not so good news (indeed potentially dire news?):
We still have at least one green woodpecker at Stackpole - a male seen yesterday feeding on the ant hills. He was calling a lot and flying about but no sign of a mate or a family (yet).

The BTO have just sent us a very up to date UK map of green woodpecker distribution from the first 2 years of Atlas bashing. Range contraction is so evident in Wales - hardly any reported so far in Ceredigion (very patchy distribution) and none in West Carms yet. Stackpole's yaffles look about as isolated in Wales as St Kilda is from the mainland!

Right up a broad swathe of the western side of Wales seems to be much the same story for this species. Its population seems to be shrinking eastwards and at quite a fast rate - why? There are still two Atlas seasons to go and to find them, but will this year be the last year we see them in Pembs?

Pelagic

No Wilson's but around 8 Stormies on a Sea Trust pelagic out to the Celtic Deep yesterday. An Arctic Skua not far out of Milford Haven sped past all too briefly and 6 Ringed Plover were seen a few miles out. At Grassholm the Gannets were still putting on their magnificent spectacle with a few Kittiwakes in attendance. Manx Shearwaters were also seen in large numbers throughout the trip but just a few auks, including several young Puffins, were seen. A Common Tern passed as we headed back into the Haven late afternoon.

Cetacean sightings were good with a total of approaching 150 Common Dolphins in all and the highlight, 3 Fin Whales some 23 miles off St Anne's Head put in a brief but exciting appearance. See also the Whales in Wales Blog.

North Pembs ...& ........

Strumble Head;-
This evening 5-6 pm, 27 Common Scoter, 17 Common Tern, 1 juv. Med. Gull - making it's way to Fishguard Harbour? Also breaching Sunfish.
(Adrian)

Nr. Pen Anglas;-
Dartford Warblers feeding at least 2 fledged young.
(Bethan)

Teifi;-
Again too much water (HT) at the best evening time. But looks quiet.
Patch, 1 Sanderling, 9 Dunlin, & 1 Ringed Plover flew up from Poppit.

North Cornwall;-
1 ad Rose-coloured Starling, --- a good time for one to be found around our coast & ........St. David's!

That Goshawk

The pics of the Gos have blown me away - especially the one of it staring out the labrador:

Gos: "I am the daddy. Come to daddy."

Lab: "No, I am the daddy. The lock to the door is on the INSIDE. Oh, you found the open window.... "

Smashing.

Wilsons?

report from Nick o' Sullivan (Celtic Wildcat) of peterel/s with protruding legs whilst sharking yesterday! Birdy Fisherman Identified as Wilson. We are out today and will have our eyes peeled!

Garden Mega!

Ok! used to be in everyones garden and plenty in winter but this is my first summer bird for years!

North Pembs &.... Ruff - L. Milford

Fishguard Harbour;-
Ad Med. Gull & Black Guillemot.
(Derek Moore)

Little Milford;-
The early evening HT suiting here, 1 juv. Ruff, 6 Common Sand's, 1 Greenshank, 1 Whimbrel, c114 Redshank, 4 Little Egrets.
(Paul G.)

Teifi;-
The mid-evening HT a killer blow here, nowhere to hide!
Patch;-
1 Sanderling, 9 Dunlin.(Wendy)
Around the estuary, the usual, 5 Little Egrets roosting in trees opp. St. Dog's Quay, also on the bank opp. Curlews & a few Redshank. The Marshes too full of water to be of any help, but at 21:00 still c100+ hirundines feeding & Swifts.

Whilst leaving the marshes, I did watch a Wood Pigeon carrying a fine stick, c 20cm long, for nest building ...? thoughts on late attempt at breeding ?

St. Nicholas;- an adult feeding 3 young Spotted Flycatchers.
(Adrian)

Bonxie -- Wooltack Point

1 Bonxie reported at 15:00 from the point.
(Lucy)

New Garden Bird? - well this may be taking things a bit too far!

The following observation was emailed to me today from Dave Worrall (images taken by Madeleine Havard)

"We're being invaded! You're interest for this morning, is name that bird. No, it is not our new pet parrot. We can only assume that it has recently had to start feeding itself and was hungry. Shortly after I ejected it we saw it chasing a brood of magpies".

The bird of course is a juv Goshawk (in the Llan-mill area, nr Narberth) nice features including tear-drop markings on breast showing well. Question is, was it trying to catch the puppy? In any case, not a bird everyone would expect to find in the house though!

Sanderling at Newgale

There were three Sanderling feeding along the edge of the receding tideline at Newgale this morning despite the beach being packed with holidaymakers. The birds were well on their way to winter plumage.

Angle

Aahh how nice to get out in the sun after 2 days of miserable rain! Down at Kilpaison this morning a nice little group of waders on the beach just after high tide - 78 Dunlin, 9 Ringed Plover, 3 Turnstone. On the mud as the tide dropped 1 Barwit in summer plumage, 2 Whimbrel and an adult Med Gull.

At Angle Harbour I spent a pleasant couple of hours parked on the shingle spit with amazingly close views of 35 Dunlin, 23 Ringed Plover and 1 Sanderling. Also there 2 Common Sandpipers, 1 Whimbrel, 1 adult Med Gull and 3 Little Egrets.

At Freshwater West the Sand Martin colony just below the Seaweed hut seems to be doing well with birds still going into the holes - feeding a second brood, I guess.

Newport Wed am

All the ones. 1 whimbrel, 1 redshank, 1 little egret, 1 dunlin, 1 ringed plover & 1 ea ad & juv med gull.
But c 70 mallard, mostly on the mud, & on the roost 45 curlews & 35 oystercatchers with another 17 on the estuary.

North Pembs

Fishguard;-
The Flagpoles, 15:00;-
1 Ad. Med. Gull, 1 Black-tailed Godwit, 5 Dunlin,
(Adrian)

Newport;-
17:00;- 1 juv. Med. Gull, 35 Dunlin, 24 Ringed Plover, 1 Sanderling, 1 Little Egret.
(Rich D.)
Earlier,
15:40;- 2 Black-tailed Godwits, 1 Common Sand, 1 Little Egret, & what looked like a Common Tern roosting with the gulls. Also 17 Dunlin, & 22 Ringed Plover on the Parrog rocks.
(Karen)

Teifi;-
c20:00;- c 9 Little Egrets around the estuary roosting, 11 Dunlin, 1 Ringed Plover on Patch.
6 Common Sands at Jewsons.
Canada Geese nos. rising rapidly, still only the 1 Barnacle, but 1 Snow Goose flew in late on to join the....
(Wendy, & Rich D.)

New garden bird

Nothing mega, but as I stepped out of the front door all bleary eyed into the driving drizzle, a Curlew called and I watched it circle before flying off S/E. Hot on the heels of a Great Spotted Woodpecker that flew over the house about a fortnight ago, another house tick!

Skomer - SE Owls

There were at least 8 pairs of Short-eared Owls on Skomer this year, up from 5 last year which was up on the usual 1 or 2 pairs of the last few years.

We were a bit worried that there were hardly any voles this year & guessed they wouldn't do very well. Tim Healing is here trapping voles at the moment and there's millions of them so hopefully the owls have done really well, although they've gone very quiet at the moment.

Fishguard ... &....

The Flagpoles, 17;00;-
10 Turnstone, the first tidy number, 2 Dunlin, 1 Redshank -- but no Med. Gulls.
(Adrian)

Teifi;-
yesterday, (sun)CES ringing;
20 juv. Reed Warblers ringed, probably our birds, 5 new adults ringed suggesting our breeding adults have moved on, & these new adults are passage birds. (usual pattern)
c20 Blackcaps ringed, a mix of body moulting juv's, a couple of young males already gaining their black heads!, & some second brood? very young juv's.

Also, Greenshank & Green Sandpiper heard whilst we were buried in the reeds.

Also, a nice macro moth trapped, a Brown-veined Wainscot (5th pemb rec.)
We get several excellent records of micros each session, so this macro was nice because we could SEE IT!
(Teifi RG, N Pembs MG, & guests)

Stena Lynx III

Hi Richard /all, I spoke to Ian Davies (Stena Port Manager) today and made him aware of the situation re Lynx. He promised to relay message on to the vessels Bridge and barring situations when safety dictates otherwise, the Lynx will avoid the area within the Strumble Bank, allthingsgood, walrus.

Lynx disturbance.

From Richard Stonier at Strumble:
Common Dolphin - 2 separate pods - 1 * 20 and 1 * 10 (The pod of 10 having at least 3 very small calves)Bottlenose Dolphin - c.10. Very unusual for Strumble. We had these animals at a bearing of "one o'clock" - they were actively feeding in amongst a large raft of Shearwaters alongside the above pod of 10 Common Dolphin. Unfortunately the Sea Cat then powered through the very spot these dolphin and birds were feeding. (The dolphins were seen to dive just beforehand). After the wake had calmed down the Common Dolphin were seen moving west but the Bottlenose were not seen again.

Brilliant sighting Richard, sorry to hear the Lynx messed things up but probably she was trying to take some shelter in the lee of Strumble rather than hit the gnarly bits further out.
Given the rough sea conditions, this is something difficult to object to as legally master mariners have to put the safety and comfort of their passengers first.
Most of you will know that I have developed a good relationship with Stena and in the past they have been extremely willing to make sure the Lynx stays clear of Strumble bank and the associated wildlife that use the tidal races. Captain Jonathan Birdsall of the Lynx is particularly sympathetic and I will go down to Stena today and make sure the Lynx are aware of the situation.
allthingsgood, walrus

Angle

Wader numbers down again at Kilpaison late afternoon - perhaps not surprising with much disturbance. 58 Dunlin and c.30 Ringed Plovers.

Strumble Head (02 Aug 09)

Time: 0600 - 1200
Weather: Hazy sun.
Wind: NW (early on) then SW (F3-4)

Storm Petrel - 5
Puffin - 12
Common Scotor - 29 (16M, 13F)
Common Tern - 1
Dunlin - 2
Whimbrel - 5
Sanderling - 1
Turnstone - 1
Ringed Plover - 1
Grey Heron - 2

Common Dolphin - 2 separate pods - 1 * 20 and 1 * 10 (The pod of 10 having at least 3 very small calves)

Bottlenose Dolphin - c.10. Very unusual for Strumble. We had these animals at a bearing of "one o'clock" - they were actively feeding in amongst a large raft of Shearwaters alongside the above pod of 10 Common Dolphin. Unfortunately the Sea Cat then powered through the very spot these dolphin and birds were feeding. (The dolphins were seen to dive just beforehand). After the wake had calmed down the Common Dolphin were seen moving west but the Bottlenose were not seen again.