Martin's Haven:
Sedge Warblers (at least 2 pairs, vs. none last year) and Whitethroats all singing strongly in the valley, presumably for their hoped-for second broods. The Renny's Slip Choughs appear only to have two young this year (4 is a more normal number of fledgelings). A Redshank over the valley was an unusual record. The Glowworms have been glowing in almost all weathers.
Wooltack Point
There appears to be either more Porpoises, or an altogether new pod, with at least 10 regularly seen; the "normal" number of Porpoises here has been 3-4 throughout most of the year. This possible new pod has been feeding and showing very actively, leading to some great Gannet action, most often (but no longer exclusively) on North-flowing tides. The number of Manx Shearwaters seen in the evenings (sometimes from as early as 6.30pm) has been into the thousands; on some evenings they have come within a few hundred yards of the Point.
The Curlew roost is building up, but was quite hard to see clearly on the biggest Spring tides, when it moved to an islet up the Pill. The highest number of birds that I counted was 54, but these may have included at least one distant Godwit sp. (seen) and Whimbrel (heard). A Great-crested Grebe feeding in the outflow of the Pill on a high tide was a nice surprise for July. The pair of Shelduck appear to have failed to breed this year. A wonderful sound one Thursday evening was a pair of Common Sandpipers that dropped down onto the pools at dusk and then proceeded to call loudly and melodically to each other for 10+ minutes. A Grasshopper Warbler was reeling on the far bank earlier on, and large number of Swifts (100+) have been feeding high over Dale.
Gelli
Several otherwise-abortive fishing trips here brought me large numbers of Swifts, a Kingfisher, and Ringlet butterflies. Another fisherman reported a Hobby over Gelli Woods, typically seen in the evenings, possibly hunting bats. This report ties in with the report last week on the Blog of a Hobby at Canaston Bridge.
A walk along the Coast Path from St Bride's Haven to Little Haven highlighted to me how under-reported this area can be. The big surprise for me was the range of passerines, most still in song, including 2 Yellowhammers (very scarce in the area, but I recorded them here last year for the Atlas), Grasshopper Warbler as well as more numerous Wheatear, Stonechats,Whitethroats, Sedge Warblers and Blackcaps, a Bullfinch and 2 Grey Wagtails on Mill Haven beach. Plenty of Chiffchaffs in the Goultrop woods.
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