Martin's Haven & Wooltack Pt, 25-27 October

A bit of a round-up posting. The valley at Martin's Haven has appeared deceptively quiet in the last few days, not helped by the often pretty high winds. A couple of Blue and Great Tits, a Reed Bunting, a Kestrel and Grey Wagtail and a glimpse of a Water Rail were the only stand-outs on Sunday.

The lovely calm conditions on Monday morning brought a steady flow of migrants overhead, largely Skylarks and finches. A good session of ringing with Steve Sutcliffe first thing brought 64 new birds and a handful of re-traps. With the valley still appearing pretty quiet, the real surprise to me was the astonishing numbers of both Chaffinches and Blue Tits, which probably comprised nearly two thirds of the "bag", but which have otherwise not been much apparent in the valley. In addition to a couple of Chiffchaffs (and two more unringed birds seen today), the real stars were 3 Bramblings (male and 2 females), 2 of which were ringed (sorry about the one that got away, Steve). These flew off West when released: it would be funny if they were the ones reported that morning from Skomer.

The Deer Park has given excellent views of a flock of at least a dozen Chough, as well as a Merlin. The real surprise off Wooltack has been not just the Razorbills that are regular here through the winter, but also 4-5 Guillemots and even 2 Puffins! These last were an adult and a probable immature, with the latter seen to fly strongly.

The calmer sea today provided excellent views of Porpoises in the tidal race flowing North out of Jack Sound. There appeared to be at least 5, and possibly as many as 7 adults, and a single very black calf, all showing well through late morning. Sunday also had what appeared to be the carcase of a medium-sized dead seal towards the middle of St Bride's Bay. It was drifting slowly Eastward and being followed by a gaggle of gulls. Many of these tried perching on top of the body to feed on/in it, but failed to get a good perch in the swell, so settled for paddling around it. Presumably the corpse will wash up somewhere around Newgale in the next day or so, and could be an interesting attraction for gulls and other scavengers.