Narberth Kite

Yesterday, as I balanced atop a ladder, roller in hand, applying a final coat of paint to my house in Narberth, a Kite held station above me. Despite both P5's missing and with distinct notches in both port and starboard wings, the Kite held its balance well. As indeed, I needed to.

S Pembs choughs - a poor season but an incomplete picture so far

Noted Greg's chough summary for Ramsey. It is still a little too early to determine the outcome in South Pembs because access is not yet possible to check 8 sites in part of their range at Castlemartin. But of 13 nests known to be active between Tenby and Angle, so far 17 young have fledged from 10 nests (av 1.7 per active nest). So yes, lower that on Ramsey, and even poorer if the 3 failures are taken into account! The remaining 8 sites will hopefully boost the average a bit as all nests were known to be active with young being fed a few weeks ago. Suffice to say that (unless the unknown sites provide a welcomed boost) this year is set to produce the lowest average fledging success per nest for more than a decade. The season has been a longer one too - the earliest nest to fledge young (Stackpole) was in first week of June (typical date), the last (Lydstep) was only this week (two weeks later than usual at this location).

The poor chough season is almost certainly due to a number of related factors. There have been few new birds entering the breeding population due to poor survival of young in recent years. This was not helped by a very cold frozen spell last winter. January soil temperatures measured at a depth of 10 cms at Stackpole weather station fell to just below freezing for about a fortnight - the lowest soil temps recorded here since our weather station was installed a few years ago.

A number of choughs almost certainly starved during this cold spell, probably unable to feed properly in some places. Then we experienced a cold and very dry spring (still very dry!), when the limestone soils in particular became quite arid. Choughs may have found it difficult to find sufficient soil inverts during the spring and small brood sizes were a predictable outcome unfortunately. So let's hope that post-fledging survival will be much improved this summer. It will certainly be interesting to compare the whole of Pembs chough breeding records when they are available.

Does anyone know what the chough breeding outcome was on Caldey this summer?

Fishguard Harbour 30th June

2 Med. Gulls , 2nd Sum & 1st Sum from flagpoles at 3.30 p.m. They then flew to Ferry Terminal side at approx 4p.m.

Ramsey - Chough

With all sites now fledged I can report a good year for Ramsey chough, bucking the trend of the mainland it would seem. 17 young from 7 nests (2.43 per pair) is the joint 3rd highest productivity on record. Of the 7 nests, 6 produced young (ranging from broods of 2 to 4) with only 1 failure.
Looks like a much needed drop of rain is on the way to allow these young birds access to the currently baked hard soil.

Dinas

We had a nice mooch around Dinas Island this morning, and had the usual Peregrine, Chough and a few Stonechats, but the bird of the day was a Cetti's singing in the valley between Pwll Gwaelod and Cwm-yr-eglwys. The Needle Rock was well worth the climb up to see the Auk's which appear to be having a good breeding season.

returning birds....

Just to let you know that there were 6 Black headed Gulls in Llangwm Pill last Tuesday morning (22nd June) and this morning (29th June) there were 11 Redshanks gathered on a rock at Rectory Point in Llangwm Pill. If my memory serves me correctly this is a week or so earlier than last year.
(Graham Brace)

Open-fronted nest-boxes

I have to generally agree with Paddy, depending on location and how managed they can be rather too open to predation. Spotted flycatchers etc will often shy away from using them if there are better (natural) alternatives. However, I have seen an open-fronted box used successfully but only when well established creepers were covering most of the box so that the entrance was reasonably well hidden.

So my suggestion is that if you don't have sufficient natural crevices for spotted flycs etc to use, such as only having a tall well-pointed featureless wall or a tree without natural cavities, then by allowing ivy, clematis or some such creeper to mostly cover the box, you may create the kind of crevice these birds are actually seeking. I have seen spotted flycs breed successfully in an overgrown walled garden in a rather aged, creeper-covered box. This was a long time ago (and in the Isle of Man!) but it worked.

For you're nest-boxes erected anyway, please also have a look at the BTO nestbox challenge as with that number of tit boxes occupied, it would be very worthwhile registering these and reporting the outcomes to this national scheme.

Spotted Flycatcher boxes

We did have one of these used (successfully) in 2007. It is open-fronted but quite wide and the roof overhangs at the front to keep the rain out (it faced west in an exposed location!)

It has been ignored in subsequent years. Though we have moved it to a more sheltered location which may be a mistake.

I have seen a Spotted Flycatcher nesting in the hole made by a missing brick in the wall of a chapel - this was, I suppose, a similar shaped hole/ledge to a box.

But there is so much ivy around here I can't really believe that shortage of nest sites is actually an issue. We had a pair inspecting an eminently suitable creeper a few weeks ago but it obviously was not good enough!

Rosemary

Nest boxes

The only time that I've ever seen a small open fronted nest box actually used is when it was left in a garage on a shelf and used by a pied wagtail which flew into the garage through a broken window! I'm pretty sure that spotted flycatchers won't use them because they prefer to nest tucked away behind ivy or high up in a broken off branch stump, though in the conifer plantations such as Coed Glynaeron they nest tight up against the side of the main trunk where a few branches cluster together. Has anyone else ever had any luck with them?

We tried to encourage Willow Tits at Ty Rhyg by putting up boxes filled with sawdust, but they have ignored all the boxes for two seasons now, prefering to use a natural site instead. At the weekend a party of 7 newly independant juveniles turned up in one of the nets, so at this site they probably don't need artificial sites.

With the Kestrel boxes - another brood of 6 this year about to fledge any day now, but there hasn't been a huge uptake by Kestrels - but some of them are getting used by other species such as Stock Dove and Tawny Owl.

Teifi -- Med Gull, Common Sand... & juveniles

Jewsons;-
1 Common Sandpiper, 6 B H Gulls, including the 1st juvenile of the year here. Creches of 11 & 6 juvenile Shelduck.
St. Dogmael's Quay;-
1 2nd sum (with full black head) Mediterranean Gull, & 15 more BH Gulls, also 9 Curlew.
Webley;-
9 more Curlew

CES ringing over the week-end:-
The 1st juvenile Swallow going to roost in the reed-bed with c300 other Swallows & Sand Martins. Also a young (last year's) male Sparrowhawk caught.
16 juvenile Chiffchaffs, but of 17 Reed Warblers, 8 new adults(surprising) & only 1 juvenile again surprising as we caught the 1st juvenile Reed Warbler 2 weeks ago!

Newport

Last night;-
c20 Swifts over the town / river and 7 Curlew at the estuary.
(Karen)

Flagpoles & Nestboxes

This week although i've had quite limited time to visit the flags the gradual return of black Headed Gulls is starting , up to 6 today & a good flock of 15 Curlews yesterday.

Nestboxes.

During March Richard Dobbins happened to mention that he could get hold of some boxes courtesey of John Hayes that were being made at Texaco. I spoke to my wife Carole who runs Cottage Retreats In Pembrokeshire ( Co. Sponsor of Bird Report ) to see if she could persuade a few of the owners of the cottages to allow us to place some boxes in the gardens. Fortunately all the owners asked ( plus another who is having major building work & desperately wants some for next year ) were completely in favour of supporting the venture & all gave permission for us to place the boxes & view for progress.

I was supplied with 19 boxes in all , 10 Open fronted type ( For Spotted Flycatcher ) & 9 with the normal small round holes which we hoped would entice a few tit species.

All the boxes were in position by early April & we sat back to wait & see what would happen.

The results are successful but also mildly disappointing , of the 9 tit boxes we had a 100% success , mostly Blue Tits but some of the other boxes had fledged so we can't be sure. But i suspect Blue Tit is favorite.

Of the 10 Open Front type boxes none were used , although i am assured that often nest boxes don't get used in the first year. ( Although no one told the Blue Tits this ! )

Apart from the excitement of the tit boxes being used it has posed a couple of questions for me as the boxes were mostly in the Tregwynt area which over the years has been a good area for Spot flycatchers.

Are there sufficient natural or regular breeding sites for Spot Fly in the area so as not to need nest boxes,

As the tit boxes were taken up so quickly could this indicate the opposite with tit species.

At one of the cottages the boxes went up quite late i was sure they would not be used & was suprised to find the box fledged when i checked a few weeks later. The adults must have been looking over my shoulder as i was fixing it up !

I am quite pleased with the partial success of the venture & express my thanks to Carole & the participating owners from Cottage Retreats & Richard Dobbins & John Hayes for supplying the boxes.

On a pretty eventful Sea Trust Ferry Survey with four species of cetacean recorded, there was plenty of sea bird interest as well with at least three species of tern flying by with food for their chicks, including this one. Probably the most interesting from my point of view were two Swifts flying towards Strumble about ten miles offshore and another (?) two, half an hour later just a couple of miles offshore. Were these failed breeders heading back or stragglers just getting here having been disorientated by volcanic dust and Northerly winds?

Bosherston Otter

Otters at Bosherston still showing well - photo from Elwyn Davies.

Skomer

Yesterday, a couple of juvenile Grey Herons, and 15 Starlings over,---the start of post breeding movements!!
The breeding season appears to be going well, with all the seabird species still present, if you fancy a visit.
Short-eared Owls, 4/5 pairs, young now moving around and giving their prescence away with their hissing.
Little Owls breeding too, no young seen yet.

Many thanks to Chris & the team for their hospitality, news & help.

Angle peninsula

A walk from West Angle to Fresh West, to record chough breeding activity was a rather unproductive one. A pair with 2 juvs were spotted almost immediately at West Angle, a good start I thought! However, they were the only juvs seen. There were three other adult pairs seen in expected locations but from their behaviour it seemed that they were not feeding young. In addition there was a welcomed group of 4 immatures (probably 2009 birds) at East Pickard. There have been very few reports of surviving non-breeders around this summer.

From what chough families have been seen so far in south Pembs, it seems that the average brood size is quite low, however it will be a couple of weeks before we know the final outcome as at some sites fledging is quite late this year. But it seems that a cold winter, followed by a cold dry spring may be affecting things this year.

It was nice to see three kestrels along the route (a male hunting, near Sheep Island); a female perched near West Pickard and a separate female hunting at Fresh West). These were in addition to a female noted taking food to a natural nest-site at Lydstep the previous evening.

Along the route, numbers of dark green fritillary butterflies were impressive - probably in excess of 100 noted - they were especially abundant between the Pickards.

North Pembs

Newport;-
This evening, a few juvenile Grey Herons by the bridge, presumably from Felindre? 5 Curlews & 7 juvenile Shelduck.
Teifi;-
13 Juvenile Shelduck in the Jewsons creche, 3 different broods by the different ages?
1 Little Egret, 1st for a while in the North? Again juvenile Grey Herons into double figures, & c15 Curlew.

Cross? pretty pleased actually

Woke up this morning and as my bleary eyes took in the view from my window I noticed a finchy thing atop of a dead willow in the garden, surrounded by swirling mist. It had its back to me but as it turned just before taking off I noticed its funny looking beak, a crossbill!

Summer Stunners

Yesterday morning at a site in the south of the county I had fine views of a pair of Dartford Warblers which have bred successfully. Final proof that they have survived the winter okay and maintain their toe-hold in Pembrokeshire. A pair of Linnets were also posing at the same location - more common perhaps, but equally stunning.

Stack Rocks --- (Sunday)

Echoing some other sightings, there were a number of Dark Green Fritillaries at both Stack Rocks and at St Govans on Sunday 20th. Also a Quail heard at Stack Rocks but sadly not seen. Picked up faintly initially from car park but much more audible after walking back up the approach road (left hand side walking away from coast).
(Mike Cross)

Still singing .......

A Lesser Whitethroat belting it out from the bushes on the far side of the stepping stones at the Gann yesterday, and a Grasshopper Warbler in nettly brambles at the top of the cliff near St Brides.

Also at St Brides, 2 Painted Ladies - first this year for me. I thought they might be arriving soon as I saw a couple of Silver Y moths yesterday - though how they got here against all the Northerly wind is a mystery.

Rosemary

tegryn

There are plenty of recently fledged youngsters in the garden & this weather must be doing them some good. This Gt-Sp appeared in the garden at lunchtime brought by it's mum.

Hooded Crow ...........&............

Skomer;-
1 Hooded Crow over the farm this morning, it attracted the attention of the locals and appeared to pass through the island.
(Dave B)

Redshanks appearing;-
2 In Fishguard Harbour today, & 1 yesterday on the Teifi (Railings)
Also 13 Grey Herons on the Teifi this evening, most juveniles, with 4 late on calling as they flew out to sea!

Strumble;-
This morning, in 2 hours, 3 Sandwich Terns, a very scarce species in the county so far this year?
Also 13 Canada Geese flying North-ish.

Glynaeron;-
Crossbill calling, Siskins, Lesser Redpolls, Golden-ringed Dragonfly.
The cone crop developing is massive! A result of the winter ?

Some fritillaries

Yesterday at St Davids Hd lots of Dark Green Fritillaries, well 12+ in a small area, which was beyond my previous experience of the species, and included a couple copulating. Naturally I didn't have a camera with me. Reed Warbler still singing out there and Lessser Redpoll present. Today: Stock Doves in the garden at Sealyham, a regular occurence, but no Kingfisher as yet - the first absence at this time of year for at least 8 or 9 years ; Great Spotted Woodpeckers are feeding young regularly at the bird feeders, something that takes a lot of patience from the adults until the youngsters get the idea.

Angle Bay & Stack Rocks (19 Jun 10)

Raven showing very well on Angle beach but other than Oystercatchers and Curlew no other waders. Stack Rocks very busy!

White Falcon

Admiring the Gannets fishing this morning at Marloes sands, a white bird flew across my field of view - for a second or two I thought it was a dove, then the alarm bells went off in my head! Definitely a white falcon. I watched it flying away from me towards Gateholm, where it landed & vanished from view. I ran the length of the sands as best my clapped out knees would let me but still couldn`t see it. 45 mins later I`d returned having driven home to get my scope, & yomped along the cliff path to Gateholm. Still, nice to know my cardio-vascular system still works!

Gateholm -- white falcon

Derek has just rang, he has just had a white falcon around Gateholm -- off the Marloes Peninsular.

Quail ...........

On Tuesday (15th) I was delighted to hear Quail calling on Brawdy Airfield alongside the main runway and shortly after saw two jump out of a Ryegrass patch and whirr together into mixed grassland. Two days later I also heard Quail calling on St.Davids Airfield (in the southeast quadrant opposite Llanungar Fawr), and still calling on Brawdy (listen from the roadside by turning north at PenyCwm on the Treffgarne Owen road, and pausing at the sand quarry entrance, just 1/2 mile up) on the same day. Still calling on St.Davids Airfield yesterday.
Must be a small influx from the continent on the recent easterly winds, but listen for them in cereal fields too: "Wet-my-lips". They have bred on rare occasions in the past. Are there more out there?
(Ian Bullock)

St. Ishmael's;-
2 seen today, running then flying, & dropping into a wheatfield on the coast path by the backlight.
(Paul Warren)

Swifts

8-10 Swifts at Crosswell pm today at the bridge and small chapel, a usual site. 2 at Eglwyswrw yesterday possibly from the same group.

Rosebush Swifts

We have just been camping at Rosebush for a few nights, all the better to do our northern county tetrads, and have been fascinated to share the campsite with a Garden Warbler nesting in a bush just behind our tent (not a bird we see much down in the Dale area) and particularly a group of Swifts zooming and screaming around low over the grass. We were fascinated to watch the Swifts going into their nest sites in the house immediately across the road from Tafarn Sinc - there seemed to be a pair of Swifts in each corner of the roof. We watched them fly in low, head straight for the top of the wall just below the roof, stop abruptly and cling on, then scramble up throught the narrow gap in under the gutter into the roof. Just the same way that bats enter the same sort of place. We have never had such good views of Swifts entering and leaving nest sites before. I wonder of the owners of the house know how privileged they are to have such enigmatic lodgers.

Peter and Rosemary

A Castlemartin Corn Bunting??

The following interesting email arrived today from Prof. Gareth Jones, Bristol. Gareth is a regular visitor to Pembs with students studying bats:

"Hi Bob
On the Orielton field centre Bat course I thought I heard a corn bunting singing at
Castlemartin on Fri 11th. Back at the field centre I was surprised to read
that these were now extinct as a breeding species in Wales. I tried to go
back on 13th, but there was an unscheduled evening firing and I couldn't
get across the range. The bird was audible from the Green Bridge, and
seemed to be singing inland to the NW of the bridge. I may have
misidentified, but I've heard quite a lot of corn buntings before and they
are quite distinctive. A second opinion would be valuable!"

So, if anyone is in south Pembs in the Castlemartin Range vicinity - please carefully listen out and look - especially along the Stack rocks/Green bridge of Wales road - it would be nice to confirm this species with its very distinctive song!

fledgeling time!

Whitethroats have bred successfully in my garden at least 6 young. Actually saw a Swift fly by the garden yesterday evening fast and low following the contours of the land. It seemed to be travelling not feeding perhaps newly arrived...

Breeding Summer visitors

Whinchats;-
No birds appear to be present on the lower area of Brynberian Moor, or Carn Ingli.
Birds seen today, on the upper slopes of Brynberian Moor, we will survey this "remnant"? population next week when Paddy returns. (7 pairs 2009)

Pied Flycatchers;-
The single pair in Pengelli raised 6 young which fledged this last week;-
Anyone know of any other likely breeders?
A new nest box scheme in Ffynone for next breeding season may encourage breeding there. Birds present this May, and in May 2009 males peaked at 5, but none stayed to breed?

Sand Martins;-
A survey of Pantgwyn Quarry found up to 80 active holes, this is the highest poulation reached at the site. I will try and survey the only other active sand quarry in the county?

Hare today gone ...

Having spent quite a while in Berkshire Wilts etc where Hares were incredibly numerous and also men with lurchers , I was told and it seemed to be true that Hares do not thrive where there is stock. Their main strongholds are in arable land , therefore very little of our area is attractive to them . With increased pressure from intensive farming of livestock its a wonder we have any hare's at all I suppose!

Hare

Mark - About five years ago I discovered a hitherto unknown population of hares just south of Tegryn - the one I actually saw went hell for leather back towards the Carmarthenshire border. But speaking to a couple of farmers in the area, I discovered that they were seen regularly. So your sighting is a welcome update (grid reference please).

Hares seem to be very secretive in Pembrokeshire, even in their known stronghold between Newport and Cardigan, so I don't think it is your eyesight that is a problem!

Hare

I was very pleased to see a hare within a mile of Tegryn village this a.m. I have not seen them in this area before (in 20+ years), so either I go round with my eyes shut (too much pollen) or it's a range expansion!

Tell tale Swallows! splashy Tystie...

After an early and unsuccessful look for dolphins off Fishguard Harbour, I returned home and made a cup of tea. Sitting in the garden and glorying in the perfect summers morning, a squadron of agitated swallows "tissuping" excitedly snatched me from my idyll. Their calls revealed they were harrying a bomber like raptor, a Goshawk, a garden list first! Its mechanical lumbering flight was that of a traveller probably a juvenile though the view was too brief to be certain as it disappeared over the rooftop.

I an quite jealous of Sach's glow worm sighting , I remember them being quite common back in the 70's especially in the dunes around Fresh' East but have not seen any for many years. I suppose it might be due to not being in the right place at the right time?

A tystie in the harbour this morning so all looking well there, dont things always move at the critical moment, wish I was a bit better with a camera! allthingsgood, walrus

Martin's Haven fledglings

Starting to be very good numbers of young passerines around, especially Linnets. The big surprise of the last 2 days has been the number of very young (and so very approachable) Wheatears: I estimate at least 3 separate broods of 2-3 along the Coast Path between the South side of the Deer Park and Albion Sands. Also, a brood of 3-4 young Stonechats feeding in the valley; no sign of the parents!
2000: 3 Swifts over the Deer Park

E&W Cleddau

Eastern Cleddau at Gelli:
4+ Swifts, Dipper, Kingfisher (the first I have seen on either river this year). No sign of reported Hobby to 2115. Fly life hatching from river included Mayflies (Ephemera Vulgata) normally associated with Southern English chalkstreams! Mallard with 5 very young ducklings

Western Cleddau at Glanafon/Crow Hill(2145-2345):
6+ Swifts, no other hirundines. Very large numbers of bats of varying sizes, noises (!) and behaviours. At least 2 male Tawny Owls calling continuously from 2200-on. An Otter.

Martin's Haven: glowworms seen post-midnight. Female Kestrel yesterday.

Kestrel

1 male, over the Dragon LNG teminal at Waterston around midday.

Teifi

CES ringing;-
Session 5 on Sunday almost matched last year's totals of juveniles/ adult ratio across all species caught. A couple of pieces of interest, the 1st juvenile Cettis & Reed Warblers of the year.
(Teifi RG)

Saturday, a couple of 1st sum. Common Gulls at St. Dogmael's Quay.

Pelagic Boat Trip

Sea Trust are running a Cetacean Survey trip on the Cartlett Lady this Sunday 20 June starting from Neyland Marina at 9 a.m. back between 5 and 6 p.m. Depending on weather conditions we will head out towards Grassholm and The Smalls Lighthouse and will if possible pass Skomer and Skokholm.
On a similar trip a week or so ago we saw several hundred Common Dolphins and we know that there are plenty of Cetaceans in the area. It's also a great opportunity to see sea birds such as Gannets, Fulmars, Manx Shearwaters and auks at close quarters!
The price is £70 per person and if you want to grab a place please email asap to seatrustwales@gmail.com

Dartford Warblers

I saw an adult feeding a juvenile at the coastal site in the north of the county at 12:30.

Bird Report 2009

Just a reminder that the 2009 Pembrokeshire Bird Report has now been published and is available from Jon Green. Click on the Bird Report Link on the right for details of how to obtain a copy. Act now, order your copy before it's sold out (as the 2008 report was) !!!

Many thanks to the editors Jon Green & Steve Berry, sub editors Stuart Devonald, Adrian Rogers & Wendy James for compiling the report and publishing so quickly and to all the other contributors and observers who made the report possible.

Today on Ramsey

Whilst on Ramsey today leading a guided walk up popped what I am very sure sure was a Richards Pipit as indeed was the only bird watcher in the Group. We located the bird once more before moving on. Unfortuanately I was unable to stop and take notes or photographs etc so I hope the Island 'residents of Ramsey' can refind the bird.

Marloes Mere - Iberian Chiffchaff?

A visiting birder heard 2 bursts of song from the Britton Hide today that he was pretty confident sounded like Iberian Chiffchaff (remember the odd singer I had there 2 weeks ago - see late May sightings). It wasn't seen and it was very windy, but certainly needs to be followed up. Before going, make sure you brush up on the classic IC song:

http://www.xeno-canto.org/europe/browse.php?query=Iberian+chiffchaff

Lingering waders

Kilpaison:-
1 Whimbrel this morning.
Teifi:-
Patch, 11 Dunlin, & 7 Ringed Plover last night.

Turtle Doves

On a different topic, with the advent of web sites I have noticed that there are a surprisingly large number of Turtle Dove records from Welsh coastal counties (and some from inland sites). Also I think I remember seeing images last autumn of young looking birds (Pembs?). Given that the range and density of this species is contracting and the decline seems to be accelerating in the SE of England strongholds, I find it odd that we so many in Wales. I just wonder if the occurrence of Turtle Dove should be looked at more closely...?
(Gareth Rees)

Pied Flycatcher behaviour.

Regarding the recent post on Pembs Birds mentioning a second possibly immature male Pied Fly helping at a nest, please see Welsh Birds 2003, Vol. 3 no. 3, pages 209-210, which details observations I made of exactly this type of behaviour noted in Sennybridge in 2001.
Regards
Gareth Rees

small & slate grey............

Skomer;-
A small slate grey sylvia, disappearing into the bracken, Dave has doubts that he will see again, suspects Subalpine............but may have been a Dartford.........likely rarer too.........for Skomer?

Pengelli -- Blue Tit productivity & ........

This year two plots each of 25 nest boxes have been studied. c3/4 visits have produced the following data;-
Plot A;-
Of the 25 nest boxes, 7 have been occupied, 6 by Blue Tits & 1 by Pied Flycatchers.
The 6 Blue Tit boxes produced 41 young, an average of 6.8 per pair. With a range of 10 young in 1 box to just 1 young & 3 infertile eggs in the least productive.

The Pied Flycatcher's produced 6 young & 2 infertile eggs. A 2nd male Pied Flycatcher, un-paired, presumably a 1st summer (not a striking male plumage) appeared to be helping with feeding the young?

Plot B;-
Of these 25 nest boxes, 10 were occupied, all by Blue Tits, with a range of 12 young being the most productive, 3 being the least, with an average of 7 young.

A final visit is to be made this w/e to ensure we complete the results, & maybe collect some nest fleas?..........any takers ...apart from Janet!

Many thanks for help & permission from Nathan Walton & Mike Snow -- SWWWT

Teifi RG

A good find........at Strumble.

After finding a likely additonal Cetti's Warbler on Goodwick Moor, Adrian went to Strumble........& was delighted with his find.....as is Tony !!

White Spotted Sable Moth;-

An important record. Anania funebris is on the UK BAP Priority Moths list (March 2010).
It is also on the Section 42 List (Wales) of Species of Principal Importance for Conservation.
Let me have all the details so that it can be reported to BC. Grid Ref important.
Nice photos. Congrats to Adrian - better record than a Sea Eagle !
Hwyl
Tony

Shelduck & Swifts...........Teifi

Patch;-
c20 Swifts feeding at c9pm this evening.
Jewsons;-
Shelduck broods of 4 & 2, also 8 Black-headed Gulls
St. Dogmael's Quay;-
Still the brood of 7 Shelduck opposite & 7 BH Gulls.

Marshes;-
c300 mainly Swallows, but some Sand Martins dropped into the reeds at c22:10 this evening.

Puffins

A very good count of 53 puffins on and around the North Bishop this evening. In addition there have been numerous sightings again this year of birds close in to Ramsey. Thanks as ever to skippers from Voyages of Discovery and Thousand Islands for their invaluable help in sending me their wildlife sightings.

Swifts etc - S Pembs

Matt Lister (NT Stackpole) has reported to me this week that his swifts are back. He noted them breeding last August in the roof of his house on edge of Pembroke. He thinks there are four pairs breeding in his and adjacent houses this year. There are still quite a few over the main part of town and presumably breeding.

Also noted them entering buildings recently in traditional building nest-sites in Tenby. The cliff-nesting birds at Stackpole, St Govan's Hd and Stack Rocks are still present and apparently breeding but possibly in slightly reduced numbers? Hopefully they are responding to the recent warm spell. From behaviour I guess most are incubating eggs now. Trouble is we don't know how many there are anyway and by day many are tucked out of site in crevices of course. In the evenings though they seem to be fairly active.

Fledgling choughs are now starting to appear and it will be interesting to see what emerges following a reduction in the breeding population (especially along the limestone cliffs) this year.

Blue Tits

I just opened one of the nextboxes in the garden with the intention of ringing the week old chicks and there was a weasel sitting there very happily amongst a pile of dead chicks - he probably can't get out again after his meal!!!

Just returned from a trip up the Cleddau - no Shelduck but four Little Egrets seen between Lawrenny and Garron Pill and just a single Heron. VERY quiet waterway.

House Martins etc

House Martins have at last arrived in Dale and have started nestbuiding - about a month late I guess. They were also late last year.

There are a few swifts around Marloes but we are not sure yet if/where they are nesting.

A pair of Spotted Flycatchers were prospecting for a nest site in our garden a couple of days ago - exactly the same date as in 2007 and much later then you would expect.

A note on Blue Tits - our boxes of tits (2 Blue, one Great) have now fledged (all on the same day) but the Blue Tits had very small broods - 3 in each case. How have brood sizes been elswhere in the county? is this a result of the cold winter?

Rosemary

Swifts gone quick!

Nice to hear MYP had seen swifts up north and WB dolphins etc , these a good deal further north and east I am guessing....

None the less it seems to me that this lack of Swifts is a bit catastrophic at least locally. I spoke with GHR yesterday and he has also only had one sighting this season. He tells me House Martin numbers are also down this year, although I saw lots migrating around the coast. We also have quite a lot of cliff nesters, though many unobservable from the land. As such it might be difficult to get a clear picture.

It seems to me some concerted effort could, should? be made to try and see how many Swifts are around the county. Maybe a coordinated one hour swift watch, one weekend in the next few weeks?

Bird Atlas

Topical coincidence or what? Today's randomly generated "Bird of the Day" species distribution map is great white egret. An interesting distribution so far reported across Britain and Ireland (the map shows all records reported to the Atlas from 2007 onwards) but so far the one recently found in Pembs is missing - a gap that hopefully will be filled.

If you haven't already done so, do have a browse of the Atlas website bto.org/birdatlas and please add more roving records if you can, especially of confirmed breeding species!

Pen Anglas - Osprey

I was surprised to see a very late one fly east over the point being mobbed by the local gulls at 12:45!

Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers - well where are they then?

It is interesting to know that at least one LSW is still being seen in N Pembs (hopefully breeding!) in a general area they were known from (a stronghold would probably be over-stating things a bit) back in the 1984-88 local breeding birds atlas period. Yet, they may have been less numerous in this area in the 2003-07 repeat local atlas period, when there were more sightings in the E Cleddau catchment, for example, than during the earlier atlas period.

However is this a true picture, or more of a case of good observers, who know this elusive species well, being in the right place at the right time? (See composite distribution map). Orange squares = 1984-88 distribution; black dots = 2003-07 distribution (smallest being possible breeding, largest being confirmed).

During 2003-07 we did register records from a number of tetrads across no less than eleven 10 km squares (actually one more 10 km square than in the earlier atlas period!) But what is the current situation for the current national atlas (BTO Atlas 2007-11)?

Over the last 3 seasons we have received just five individual records (one from SN01 10 km sq; one from SN02 10 km sq; and three from SN13 10 km sq). In other words the LSW is currently missing from at least seven or eight 10 km squares! Has the population really dropped so dramatically since the mid 2000's? Or is it a case of under-recording a species that has always been fairly difficult to find and generally present at quite low density?

If you are aware of places where you know LSW's do occur in the County (or in adjacent Carms for example) then please do try to add these to the current atlas on-line to provide a clearer more up to date picture. Such records are so important at both national and local level.

More shelduck family (travellers?) tails

Today at about 0840, a female shelduck and about 5-6 ducklings were hitch-hiking along the edge of the fairly busy A4075, walking quite quickly and purposefully south away from Carew village/Carew Millpond and Carew River towards the busy roundabout at the A477 junction. Here there were loads of traffic and Power station construction lorries etc thundering passed at this more or less peak travel time! She was keeping very close to the verge and motorists were slowing down and giving a reasonably wide berth but goodness knows what happened when/if they reached the roundabout!

There were no obvious road casualties this evening so presumably they made it! But why oh why was she walking the ducklings in what to me appeared to be completely the opposite direction to what seemed to be a safer waterway zone - perhaps they had missed the school bus? Or perhaps I should say fortunately the school bus missed them by veering around them!

Skomer Shelducks

One of the 2 pairs of Shelducks that nest on here have managed to keep all 9 of their chicks alive on North Pond for nearly a week now but it looks like the other pair have failed

Three years ago the other pair managed to raise a single chick, although the male died defending it, the only time I can remember any chicks getting off from here

Shelducks ,,..........&...

Further to the question about Shelduck broods I spotted an adult pair guiding 12 v. small chicks across Pwllgwaelod Bay early morning, Wed 2 June.
Also Cettis warbler calling in valley to Cwm yr Eglwys
(Andrew Crowder)

Teifi;-
1 Brood of 7 very young Shelduck opposite St Dogmael's Quay this evening.
18 Dunlin, & 9 Ringed Plover on Patch.
c200+ Canada Geese starting to mass for the summer moult, like wise Mute Swans numbers climbing, now up to c20.

St Davids Hd pm

A female Redstart (St Davids Hotel) and a Reed Warbler (Bocquer jr).
For those interested in Swift sightings: we saw lots at various small towns and villages travelling down from Wrexham yesterday early evening, doing better than here perhaps?
The adult Sea Eagle, 3 Red-necked Phalaropes and dozen or so White Beaked Dolphins we'd seen before breakfast were more exciting however even though they weren't in Pembs.

Strumble Head 6th June 9 - 11a.m.

10 Puffin
4 Common Scoter

Large numbers of Manxies rafting offshore in the murky conditions.

A sgl Porpoise with quite a small calf seen.

Shelduck...Teifi & Nevern

Until this morning, no broods of Shelduck had been seen, or that we know of ?
We would have expected to have seen a few broods although the numbers of juveniles would have be diminishing fast.
Newport, this morning 1 brood of 10, & 1 Little Egret.
(Karen)

Black-headed Gulls..........& .........

Teifi tonight:-
48 Black-headed Gulls just upstream from Priory Bridge. A much larger count than previous years for early June.

1 Kingfisher seen carrying a fish near Llechryd(Teifi), earlier today.

You probably knew but...

For the twitchy types, news from Glamorgan Bird Cub...
Blorenge near Abergavenny

Marmora,s Warbler - 1sp male showing well and signing, view from car park 700yds east of radio masts (directions as before). Seems to favour the Holly Bush about 30 yds south from car park but does set off on a circuit around the walls and bushes around car park but always returns to Holly Bush. Local ranger has requested that you view only from car park and road.

Teifi Marshes & .........

CES ringing this morning:-
A total of 79 birds caught this morning, out of the 53 new birds ringed, 36 were this year's juveniles, of which 7 were Blackcaps.
Moths;-
50+ species trapped overnight before we look at the micros, including 26 hawkmoths of 3 different species.
(Teifi RG)

Wood Warbler, Felindre;-
Janet, adding to her nice collection of birds this Spring? Late yesterday found a Wood Warbler singing near her heronry, the Grey Herons sound like they are having a successful breeding seaon too.

Starlings in St David's

Unusually two newly fledged starlings being fed by an adult in my garden in St David's this morning

Mid pembrokehire section of the WTSWW

The next meeting of the Mid Pembrokehire section of the WTSWW is on Sunday 6th June 2010. Meet 10.30 in the car park near the Church in Bosheston. A walk to see birds, flowers and, insects. Bring a packed lunch and suitable clothing. Leader Robin tTaylor. For more info please phone 01348 840617

What's in your garden?

The RSPB is keen to find out as much as they can about mammals such as moles, badgers, foxes as well as birds to build up an accurate picture of what is visiting our gardens at this time of year.

http://www.rspb.org.uk/naturecount/

I don't know if I can get any records back from the RSPB, so please send a list of whatever you record to rushmoor1@tiscali.co.uk

Thanks
Annie

Egrets

Spent all afternoon in the Lawrenny area. No GWE but a total of 12 Little Egrets and at least 8 Whimbrel.

Great White

Early this morning I checked out Lawrenny, Cresswell Quay, West Williamston NR, and Carew MP but without success. These things are notorious for moving about, so suspect that it's still around - the more of you out looking the better! I did see 4 Little Egrets on the Cresswell at West Williamston, along with 3 Wigeon (drake & 2 females, unusual date, for me anyway) and another Little Egret at Garron Pill. High tide (about now!) at Cresswell Quay could be a good bet for the GWE?

Pen Anglas - Hobby

I saw one fly east over the point at 20:30.

Great White Egret

Matt Sutton found a Great White Egret at Cresswell Quay early afternoon (12:40). Thanks to Matt for passing on the news straight away.

Sadly both Trevor & I couldn't find it later in the afternoon (I was there at 4.50), and Trevor didn't have any luck at Lawrenny or Garron Pill either. However, according to Birdguides it was seen at Lawrenny at 8pm this evening - we have no idea by whom - so evidently still around and worth looking for. View from entrance to picnic site adjacent to Upton Castle (http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=201550&Y=206050&ar=Y&z=120).

20 juvenile starlings in a garden at Tudor Way this morning (Mark C).

Another Hobby

A sub ad Hobby today at Coed Glynaeron attracted no doubt by a crowd of Swallows and Swifts feeding along the northern edge of the wood. Also at this site Spotted Flycatcher, Crossbill, Cuckoo and Tree Pipit. Cuckoos were also at Ty Rhyg, Pant Maenog, Carn Sian, Mynachlog Ddu and Waun Fawr. The number of Tree Pipits at Pant Maenog made it hard to remember that this is a declining species - they were everywhere. Despite quite a few sightings this spring of Kestrels along the Rosebush to Crymych road there is still only one nest, the same as last year, with six newly hatched chicks today.

Skomer (02 Jun 10)

Lovely day on Skomer today with Short Eared Owls and Little Owls showing well. Spotted Flycatcher showing early morning in the valley at Martin's Haven.

Pembroke

Sightings sent in by Barry Potter - Pembroke River and surrounding woodland on the north bank.

TURTLE DOVE (behind pembroke comp school), NUTHATCH (beeding in cuckoo wood), WILLOW WARBLER feedinf fledged young, RAVEN(pair with 4 ledged young behind comp school), 2 Broods of Shelduck, Sparrowhawk,

Common buzzard (pair breeding), single Whimbrel (the only wader seen).

       

Sash's bats

Sounds exactly like Noctules - large, come out fairly early, and their calls are low enough for many people to hear. Close up, their calls are loud enough to be above the legal limit for a disco!

Western Cleddau

Another (sewin-less!) visit last night to the stretch of the river opposite Crow Hill. Good numbers of Swifts (20+), which outnumbered all the hirundines. A few weeks go there had been good numbers of House and Sand Martins but none were evident yesterday. Slightly worryingly, the Sand Martin colony in one of the bends of the river appears totally unoccupied: 2 years ago this had 30+ holes. No signs of Kingfishers, either, but a nice Otter, and 10-15 pretty large bats that came out just after 2100 and flew around high and in a very agile fashion, often mixing with the Swifts. I could even hear their calls occasionally, so perhaps Noctules?

Newport -- waders

07:00 this morning;-
2 Sanderling, 40 Dunlin, 9 Ringed Plover.
(Karen)

Swallows & Damselflies

1 Swift over my house in Lawrenny rd. Cresselly, yesterday(monday).
Swallows failed in their nesting attempt in my shed last year and have not returned this year. They also appear to be absent from another usual nest site at the bus shelter down the road.

At Bosherston yesterday, I was surprised to find a Red-eyed Damselfly which is outside the range given in my reference book although it does state that there has been a westward expansion in recent years.
Alan Collens

Red Kite

One again over Dreen Hill, Haverfordwest, at 3.45 this afternoon (Steve Hinton).

Caniston Bridge

15-20 swifts flying this evening

Hobby

The Hobby again showing well at Bosherston late afternoon as it hawked for insects near the grassy bridge

Turtle Dove Hayscastle 1st June

While sitting eating my lunch today i was briefly joined by a Turtle Dove which had probably come down to eat some of the spillage of Oats / Chicken feed around the shed.When it noticed me it flew into the nearby copse but did return approx half an hour later. It seemed a very wary bird ( probably due to interaction with humans elsewhere ) so i retreated inside to hopefully leave it to have a good feed.

Newport Tues am

On the mud 45 Dunlin, 21 Ringed Plovers & 18 Sanderling. A calling Curlew over.
The absence of Swifts has been noted. I've seen 1 (one) this year, & that several weeks ago.

June 1st

It must be June 1st as I see Pembrokeshire CC have "Operation Destroy Bird Nests" at the ready! A council hedge trimmer was parked in the layby on Frenni Fawr this morning, presumably ready to go.
If that was Ireland it would be against the law!

On a happier note, a new "garden bird" for us on Saturday; a cuckoo!

Angle Bay & Strumble (31 May 10)

2 Dunlin, 2 Sanderling and a Bar Tailed Godwit at Kilpaison this morning. 15 Common Scoters past Strumble in evening.

St Margarets Island

Last night a bit of a flying visit to St Margarets to ring Cormorant chicks.

An amazing season - loads of 4 egg/chicks nests (I have never seen so many in 40 years), many more than the BWP "76% have 3 eggs" level, and just chicks everywhere including big ones ready to fledge (and fledged) which means they would have laid first eggs around mid March and some with eggs or tiny chicks.

In the Sea Empress incident which was mid Feb almost no Cormorants were affected as they had not returned to the colony then but given that they normally take a month or so to build their nests they must be returning much earlier now. In recent years there have often been earlier broods and the ringing visit date has moved from mid/late June to the very beginning of June and this year we could have gone there at the end of April and found good sized chicks. We ringed 119 chicks in under 2 hours.

In total contrast the GBB Gulls (normally the earliest of the gulls) appeared a bit late with many nests with eggs and small chicks - only 4 largish (10days old) chicks were found. The colony looks to be around 70 - 80 pairs but could be around 100 again - need to get there in early May to sort that one out.