Ring-necked Duck etc

Finally connected with the RND at Marloes Mere, in company with 8 Tufted Ducks and the Scaup, viewable from the car park and the Oriole Hide.  Spent most of its time asleep, hence just one distant picture with it's head up.  Even asleep the domed peak to the crown was obvious.  The Glossy Ibis still there too, at one point had it with the RND and the Scaup in the same 'scope view - nice!

The Dale gull roost was pretty impressive, a minimum of 19 Mediterranean Gulls (18 adults & 1 2ndW) amongst a more sizeable Black-headed Gull roost than yesterday.

Fishguard divers

From Fishguard Fort - 3 Red-throated Divers and an unidentified small, lone, brown duck too far out to get anything on it. Adrian had earlier had 2 Great Northern Divers close in to the inner breakwater.
On the way there, in a huge ploughed field at Llantood, there were over 2,000 Lapwing and Golden Plover - a lovely sight and sound to end the year. A few Skylark with them too.

Brian....

No problem! It was in with the Scaup & Tufted`s.

Dale

Quick run out this afternoon starting at Goultrop with 6 razorbill, c10 RT divers, 1 GN Diver and c50 scoter. Briefest of looks from pull-in at Gann - 5 Brent. Up at the Airfield - managed 7 mediterraneans amongst a flock of BH and Commons before they repositioned themselves. 100+ Chaffinch in the ploughed field by first gate. What looked like a small huddle of max 50 lapwings was flushed to reveal c250. The marauding male sparrowhawk responsible also putting up large flock of small birds (inc 100s of skylark, chaffinch, linnet and goldfinch) from the dense kale(?) field by the next gate way. Worked my way through the 25 pipits on the flooded runway, all Meadows. There was a larger quieter one which was keeping a little separate from the others but fairly sure it was a meadow as well. 6 ravens displaying. Made a brief stop at Marloes in the vague hope of dropping straight on the Ring-necked duck, just the tufties and scaup, with a distant silhouetted diving duck/grebe in the middle of the north pond - Derek apologies if that was you I spoke to in car park I had to rush to meet my daughter and I was already late!.

Diver flock!

Having just had a pleasant hour watching porpoises off the Fishguard Harbour outer breakwater yesterday lunchtime, we were driving back along the breakwater when a flock of eight divers flew over the breakwater wall from the harbour and out to sea towards Pen Anglas. By the time I stopped the car and got out with my bins they were too far away to identify as other than Diver SP. Presumably they were in the harbour and spooked by something! Given the prevailing conditions there may well be more sheltering in the harbour today.

Marloes Mere, Ring Neck Duck

Managed to nail it this afternoon, after a couple of days of running round in circles & lots of emails & phone calls to Dave. While I was satisfied with what I was looking at, I need to see it in better lighting conditions for my own peace of mind. So, thanks to the anonymous observer who found it - & commiserations to Dave, who missed it by the thinnest of juncus!

Marloes & Dale

Early afternoon at the Mere and the Tufted Duck count was up to 8 (5 drakes), the Scaup was still present (as Sash reports) and also the Pochard.  I too had the 4 Pinkfeet, and flight views of the Glossy Ibis.  I could not find or even sniff the Ring-necked Duck, yet late afternoon it appears (from a very distant photo) that Derek G did see it, as viewed from the car park.  It's elusive!

On to the Gann where 47 Teal was a good count on the lagoon and 4 Mediterranean Gulls graced the shoreline (3 ads & a 1stW), one of the adults sporting a nice green ring which I could not read.  On to the roost at Dale where 7 adults presumably included the 3 above, Common Gulls were in excess of 80 birds.

Martin's Haven and Marloes

A windy walk up and around the Mere this afternoon.
The Glossy was showing very well, flying around frequently. The Mere appeared devoid of dabbling ducks until something put them up: perhaps 100-plus Teal, and many tens of Mallard, Shoveller, Gadwall and Wigeon.
The Tufted Duck were in a small gaggle in the North irrigation pond, just viewable from the NT car park. The Scaup was viewable, but I could not find the "other" duck; one for tomorrow.
Lots of Snipe on the Trehill fields on the way back, with one Jack Snipe. 200-plus Lapwing and the 4 Pink Feet amongst perhaps 50 Canadas.

Newgale Marsh - Hen Harrier

The Marsh has drained a little from yesterday but is still well-flooded. On arriving at around 1300 hrs, all that could be seen were c30 mallard and several gulls. But then the mallard and a flock of 100+ teal lifted off in obvious panic, followed by flocks of snipe, totalling at least 300. The cause was a male hen harrier quartering the reed beds, with a distant sparrow hawk closing in from the rear of the Marsh. The harrier was frustrated in his attempts to snatch a snipe as they were too agile. The sparrow hawk disappeared into the trees on north side of the Marsh, making no attempt to hunt.

Marloes Mere

The Scaup Dave found yesterday, still on the North irrigation pond with 5 male Tufted. There is also another what appears to be, an aythya duck, which was frustratingly showing itself from "around the corner" as it were & then diving. Could this be the Ring Neck that was noted in the hide logbook & on birdguides? I dunno, windy conditions buffeting me & my scope didn`t help. Also 1 male Pochard. No sign of the Glossy for a couple of days, I suspect it`s keeping out of the wind.

Newgale Marsh - Merlin

The water level in the Marsh was high late this afternoon, but there were few birds to be seen apart from c20 curlew, small flocks of starling and the occasional snipe. Three shooters who tried to get into the Marsh from the south were prevented by the flood. Their dogs put up 3 teal which flew out of range; as they did a merlin flew low over the guns and the Marsh disappearing into the scrub on the northern side.

Marloes Mere

1st W male Scaup at Marloes Mere with 5 Tufties on N irrigation pond viewable from car park. Also drake Pochard and 4 Pink-footed Geese (latter to W of Mere in field with Canada Geese).

Ring-necked Duck - Marloes Mere

A first-winter drake Ring-necked Duck at Marloes Mere today, along with the Glossy Ibis (per Birdguides).

Dale

Gann: 27 Brent (26 on foreshore with single bird on pools), c20 wigeon, 11 Little Grebe, female merganser originally in bay but flew onto pools. 2 Little egret, 7 Goldeneye (4male) - 2 female on pools the other 5 out in bay. Up at a very blustery Kete: A couple of large mixed flocks of gulls (both c 1,000 birds) mostly BH and Herring. Managed to pick out 3 Mediterraneans and 4 Commons also a summer plumage BH with full brown hood. Coast path - 1 stonechat, pied wag and a couple of pipits.

Waxwings in Narberth

At least 2 Waxwings today in trees at Allensbank, Narberth (Ed Hunter).

Marloes Mere at dusk

Glossy Ibis, 6 Tufted, 1 pochard were the unusual. Somebody shooting over Trehill put everything to flight, 250-300 ducks mostly Teal & Wigeon, didn`t realise there was so much hiding in the reeds.

Tawny Owl at Newgale Marsh

Twenty-two curlew flew in at about 1620 hrs and a couple of snipe got up and flew around before settling again; there was no sign of the large numbers of late. Circa 25 starling dropped into the reeds as the light went, possibly to roost. A tawny owl flew across the Marsh from right to left calling.

Rosebush

Pantmaenog: Nice morning up in the hills with a few birds about. Seemed to be more goldcrests than usual, party of 10 Long-tailed tit, 2 stonechats, small flock of redwings and 2 snipe put up separately from beside the path. Ty Rhyg: Just a couple of Bullfinch and a Great-spotted woodpecker. Rosebush Res. 10 Fieldfare, 11 Tufted duck, the male Pochard, 8 Goldeneye, 4 Little Grebe and a couple of teal. This evening whilst nipping over to Pembroke Dock called in at Cosheston Pill (by Watersports Centre) the 2 Great Northerns were giving excellent views just mid-channel (100m out) picking up crabs every dive it seemed, 50-60 curlew up towards the recycling depot.

Landshipping general area - waders and waterfowl

Couldn't help being impressed by David's observation yesterday of 300+ snipe at Newgale area. Today (around lunch-time) at Landshipping, where we walked a circuit with family, we noted a flock of snipe roosting on the seaweed covered-shore and on adjacent turf totalling at least 100 birds. We cannot recall seeing anywhere this number of snipe roosting together in such numbers in this area before. We wonder if flooding experienced in certain parts of Britain has forced snipe to move away from wetlands that are just too flooded at present? Perhaps even the local marshes are just to wet at present?

Equally impressive were flocks of 2,000+ golden plover and 1,200 to 1,500+ lapwing in the air between Landshipping Quay and Sprinkle Pill (flushed and panicked for several minutes by a hunting peregrine). Teal numbers were also impressive, with at least 1,000-1,500 birds estimated to be feeding/resting along the shore between Landshipping Quay and Rigan Pill. In the distance we could see about 100 shelduck feeding on the Sprinkle Pill shore and about 3-400 dunlin were flying about in the general area. 

Waxwings

Have just returned from Rudbaxton where 3 Waxwings were feeding on Ash keys behind the Church tower. They were being blown about a bit by the strong wind and soon flew off. They flew past Great Rudbaxton Farm towards Bowlings Farm and Poyston. I could not relocate them from the road by the former and suspect they went on towards the latter.

Lots of Ash trees in Pembs, at least for the time being, perhaps we should be looking at them closely with Waxwings in mind.   

St Bride's Bay

Newgale to Goultrop yesterday revealed less than a hundred Scoter...and no sign of Surf nor Velvet (or any Scoter in fact) at Broad Haven.  However, 300+ Snipe circling a flooded Newgale Marsh in big flocks was quite a spectacle.

Today another 'run-of-the-bay', although not quite as thorough, revealed just a single drake Common Scoter (at Haroldston), but redemption at Goultrop Roads with no fewer than 15 Mediterranean Gulls amongst a sizeable roost of Black-headed, Lesser Black-backed & Common Gulls (10 adults, 3 2nd-winters, 2 1st-winters).

Merry Christmas All / Nadolig Llawen I Pawb.

Around and about Martletwy

While out walking a regular road circuit in the Martletwy area (working up an appetite for our Christmas meal) we weren't seeing or hearing too many birds, mostly just the familiar thrushes and corvids etc. However you never quite know what might be around the next corner!

On Burnett's Hill we were delighted to find a flock of at least 9 yellowhammers but even more surprised to see at least 2 tree sparrows with them - all perched for a moment on electricity wires before going to the ground to feed in a small weedy stubble field. There were a few skylarks and meadow pipits with them. We have walked this route regularly for at least 13 years and this is our first sighting in this area of tree sparrow. Being closer to home we hoped for a photo but although only returning 10 mins. later with a camera etc, there was no sign of them at all - they seemed to have moved on.

Our only other recent sightings of note have been two Gt Northern Divers off Cosheston Point on 23rd December (presumably birds that have been reported elsewhere in the Haven and other nearby embayments recently). There were also a few greenshanks in the general area.

If anyone would like to take part in the BTO Winter Thrushes survey, it's still not too late. For example there are still some random core squares we'd like to encourage folk to look at between 27th December and 10th January - for more information here is the link http://www.bto.org/volunteer-surveys/winter-thrushes/survey-methods

My Birdtable

2 pretty visitors this morning, as well as good numbers of Blue & Great Tits,  Chaffinches and the odd Greenfinch, this Coal tit & a male Blackcap. The Blackcap pic was taken through glass. A female was also here a few days ago. 
Glossy Ibis at Marloes this morning.

Marloes Mere

Glossy Ibis still here (there)

Waxwing - Spittal

Hi all, seasons felicitations, out of the kitchen window this morning, with the usual gardeners - chaff, bull, green, goldfinch, siskin (incl 2 stunning males), redpoll and a waxwing (flew towards Hwest!!)

(Trevor Theobald)

Late fledging Blackbirds

As a regular reader of the blog I noted the other day a comment about a late fledged Blackbird being seen.
I have had one myself in the garden a few days ago, although I haven't seen it the last couple of days. Hope its ok. I have never noticed such a late fledged Blackbird before. Are these sightings unusual ?
(Philip Walker - Rosemarket)

Fancy some walking in January?

How about this for a challenge?

http://birdingbyfoot.blogspot.co.uk/?m=0

You might find something you didn't expect within walking distance from your house....and burn a few extra calories, save some money on fuel....

Dale

Pickleridge Pools: 10-12 Little Grebe, 7 Goldeneye, few wigeon and teal, Little egret, female Merganser and a greenshank. Airfield: Flock of 30 linnet by the sheep feeding area, dozen or more pipits and a few pied wagtails on the flooded runways. 2 pairs of ravens displaying. Female kestrel hunting merlin-style down the valley at West Dale. Goultrop: 20 Scoter close in.

Surf Scoter

Surf Scoter still present this afternoon at Broad Haven (Mervyn Jones).

Surf Scoter - Broad Haven

Having had my plans to check the western part of Carmarthen Bay for seaducks scuppered due to the grim weather, after some housework, Christmas shopping and lunch, I decided I had to get some fresh air this afternoon.  I decided to head west from Haverfordwest to Hasguard, checking wet fields for gulls etc, and then head north along St. Bride's Bay to Newgale.

Lots of gulls on Haverfordwest Racecourse, but couldn't find a Med Gull amongst them.  At Goultrop Roads a Great Northern Diver, 14 Red-throated Divers, 2 Razorbill and 7 Common Scoter.

On to Broad Haven where the sea was rough and the wind and rain lively.  Pulled the car up just beyond the Ocean Cafe Bar, and scanned the sea from the car with the 'bins - almost immediately picked up a duck quite close in, just beyond the surf, alone and giving a good impression of a female/immature Eider.  Got out of the car and set the scope up in the most sheltered spot I could find (in the lee of the Christmas Tree!) and was slightly puzzled when a brief view of the bird cresting a wave showed a pale face patch - female Common Scoter?  Then a slightly better view when the double face patch and Eider like profile came together - a female/immature Surf Scoter!  Got a few more good scope views to be 100% sure, and then phoned village resident Stuart Devonald who was quickly on the scene, and text out a larger group of local birders.

Following a chat with Derek G, it seems very likely that this is the 'Velvet Scoter' that he saw close inshore yesterday.  Hopefully the wind will calm down and better views will be had - given that it seems keen to ride the waves, a high tide should provide the best views.  I would guess that it is a first-winter female based on today's views, though I would like better views to be sure.

ps - late yesterday afternoon had 6 Med Gulls on Dale Airfield - 5 adults (1 with white ring) and a 2nd winter (green ring), and another 7 adults in the roost in Dale Roads.

Firecrests

2 stunning Firecrests in St Davids this afternoon on the road that runs behind the cathedral.At Newgale Marsh 2 adult Med Gulls,good numbers of Teal and Snipe.The Dowrog Common towards dusk 1 male Hen Harrier,1 Merlin,2 Kestrels,1 Sparrowhawk and a Little Egret flew over heading in the direction of St Davids Airfield.

Med Gulls

9, on Milford RFC pitch, with a few Black Headed Gulls. 8 were adults, 3 of which were sporting White darvic jewellery, the other 1 was a first winter with a slightly more up-market alloy ring. All were tolerant of me being quite close as I tried to read the codes, however a passing Sparrowhawk freaked them & they winged it off towards Gelliswick, from where I`d just come from. It was about 4:15 pm, I didn`t bother going after them - they probably settled on the sea anyway.

Newport Fri am

c100 Wigeon in 2 flocks - at the bridge & on the Parrog rocks. A flock of c20 Snipe on a shingle bar upstream. A colour ringed Common Gull( or European Mew as I found out I had to call it on the Net) that seems to be from a Norwegian scheme.

Broad Haven

1 Velvet Scoter (f) close inshore, c130 Common Scoter, 6 Red Throated Divers.

Marloes Mere

Glossy Ibis still present, c300 Lapwings in the fields at Trehill.

Fine sunny day on Brownslade and Linney Burrows

Yesterday (18th Dec) managed a day on the Range helping with a general biological survey of the dune area. It was a fairly quiet day for birds but noteworthy species included c. 1000+ golden plover noted frequently in the air over Freshwater West area. Two days earlier, Annie and had I noted a similar-sized (but almost certainly different) flock flying over fields near Martletwy where we often see them in winter.

Yesterday, flocks of lapwing were quite widespread over the dune grassland - probably in excess of 500. Numbers of waders on the beach at Frainslake were modest but included c. 70 oystercatchers, c. 50 curlew and a few ringed plovers. Offshore there were 2 red-throated divers.

In Frainslake Valley a single tufted duck was present on the millpond and there were several little grebes there, including trilling males plus not less than 7 water rails in the nearby swamp. Towards dusk raven numbers were building up at a scrub roost-site; in excess of 50 had been noted before we had to leave the Range. Very few winter thrushes were recorded and surprisingly only a couple of choughs seen all day - they're probably somewhere on the Angle peninsula.

Great Northern Diver

This Great Northern was on Pembroke Mill Pond this morning, seen and photographed by Maureen Klimaszewski. Perhaps the same bird Paul G saw at Pennar recently.

Regarding Black Redstarts at St Davids Hd, there had been 10 different birds this year (lots more sightings) but 11 now with Byron's today.

St.Davids Hd.

This Black Redstart showed briefly on the Head this morning.  Mike has had no fewer than ten sightings here this year -  Just wondering how many individual birds might be involved ?.

 The Head today had  a distinctly atmospheric and peaceful feel about it, and the tranquility was only broken when  the resident Raven decided to have a good old 'honk'.

Plumstone Mountain

3 Hen Harriers(1 male),1 Merlin,1 Buzzard and c.50,000 Starlings roosted at dusk.Earlier in the day the female Long-tailed Duck and 1 Scaup were still off Wiseman's Bridge,along with 40 Red-throated Divers,500 Scoter and 20 Red-breasted Mergansers off Amroth.A quick stop at Landshipping for lunch produced 5 Pintail,30 Greylags,6 Black-tailed Godwits and 1 Greenshank.

Late fledging Blackbirds

Within the last week or so Ian Campbell reports a recently fledged Blackbird in his garden, which had been preceeded by one around 3 weeks prior.

Low-flying Crows

I've been walking the dog in the evenings down in the Cwm-yr-Eglwys / Pwllgwaelod, specifically to see the starling-like displays of jackdaws and rooks coming in to roost. This evening was the best show yet - really quite something. The crows were split into 3-4 wheeling flocks when I arrived around 4:30 pm, twisting and turning like shoals of sardines in the sea. They usually end up in the tall trees on the south side of the valley after some noisy formation flying, but today they came very fast and low into the top of the willow scrub right opposite me. Some birds were flying through gaps in the gorse on the hillside they were that low. Quite large groups of birds passed me at head height and the combined force of all that feather power sounded, or felt, incredible. They continued chattering away as they settled, and once in a while a noise like wind tearing at a wet sail rippled through them. I was wondering why they were acting like this - wind direction, a disturbance at their usual roost perhaps, when the silhouette of a large peregrine (I think) came floating along over our heads.


Another interesting silhouette flew by in the gloom - I think it was a water rail, which I've seen on a previous occasion coming into the 'swamp', in the twilight, from the direction of Dinas Head. It was so dark by this stage though, that I could hardly see the robin hopping along the path in front of me, or the dog for that matter.

Heathfield and Penberi

Amongst several hundred Black-headed Gulls this morning, 3 adult Med Gulls and a leucistic Herring Gull. At Penberi, the female Scaup showing unusually well; the plumage now developed to textbook appearance.

The Corse - Castlemartin

During todays WEBS count carried out between the top of Castlemartin Corse and Freshwater West we recorded 47 spieces.  Great views of a quartering adult Male Hen Harrier, but the most spectacular sighting was the mixed flocks feeding in the stubble fields around the Gupton Farm.  As is always the case with extremely large flocks,  estimates of numbers are no more or less than guesstimates.  Huge flocks of Linnets outnumbering Chaffinches with many other speices mixed together - i.e. Goldfinch and Greenfinch.
8 Greylag Goose, 60+ Widgeon, 120+ Teal, 13+ Mallard, 42+ Shoveler, 2 Heron, 1 Male Harrier, 1 Sparrowhawk, 1 Merlin, 1 Peregrine, 3+Moorhen, 2 Coot, 6 Oystercatcher, 280+ Golden Plover, 29 Grey Plover, 1000+ Lapwing (maybe 1500 when all seen in the air together), 30+ Snipe, 1 Black-tailed Godwit, 65+ Curlew, 106+ Wood Pigeon, 5 Meadow Pipit, 1 Stonechat, 9 Long-tailed Tit, 3 Chough, 400+ Starling, 5 Reed Bunting, 800+ Chaffinch, 1200+ Linnet (could even be 1500 in hugh flocks) and the odd Brambling with the Chaffinch.   As you can see haven't listed the more common garden Birds and Gulls.

Many thanks to John Best who like me has never seen such large flocks of Linnets and Chaffinches together.
Altogether a great days birding.

Woodcocks

Chris Pierpoint`s comments have jogged my memory - 3 Woodcocks this week on my commute to work & back, 2 at Rickeston yesterday evening & 1 flying over the road at the first Cleddau bridge Wednesday evening.

Gann

Late afternoon at the Gann, 31 Brent Geese (all pale bellied), 30 Wigeon (a good count here), 16 Goldeneye (6 drakes), 1 Great-crested Grebe, 1 Little Egret, 1 Dunlin, 6 Redshank, & 4 adult Mediterranean Gulls in the roost which was around at Dale, viewable distantly from the Gann.

Dinas

Found a woodcock skulking at the side of the road down to Cwm-Yr-Eglwys last night.  Also 12 fieldfares flying in over the coast path and golf course at Newport.

Glossy

Still at the Mere, first light this morning.

Glossy Ibis

Still at Marloes Mere.

Christmas Meeting

Christmas Party Meeting of the mid Pembs at Furzy Park on Monday 17th December
We hope you will come along and make the meeting more enjoyable. The party is free, but please bring a small plate of festive food and if possible a raffle prize. There will be a quiz kindly arranged by Stuart. Hope to see you!

Black-tailed Godwits at Pembroke Dock

At lunchtime today there were 50 black-tailed godwits in front of the Fort Road Martello Tower, with a single shellduck, 8 redshank and over 100 dunlin.

Wiseman's Bridge

Still 1 Long-tailed Duck,1 Velvet Scoter and 5 Scaup(Ed Hunter).No sign of the Waxwing in Goodwick this afternoon.

Greylags

24 Greylags flew upstream past Picton Point calling loudly in that distinctive farmyard goose manner. Also present a Little Egret and a Greenshank.

Rosebush and Cleddau

Pantmaenog - very quiet but more than compensated with sighting of a young goshawk. Rosebush Res: 14 or 15 Tufted, 4 Goldeneye, 3 Little Grebe and a snipe. 4 swans were visible from up at Pantmaenog but no sign when I got down there. Picton Point: Teal in 100s, 11 shelduck, 4 Little Grebe, 25 redshank, and big flock of dunlin, estimate 500+, wheeling around.

Odds and Ends

The female Merganser still at a cold and windy Dale this morning and a single Chiffchaff at Monk Haven. Yesterday, the female Scaup still at Penberi with Woodcock nearby and a ringtail Hen Harrier out at St Davids Hd, probably the one seen earlier by John and Marion down the coast.

Waxwing

News from Peter Howe, that he has heard of a Waxwing associating with Starlings in a Goodwick garden over the weekend.

Pennar

Highlights late afternoon-1 Great Northern Diver,3 Great Crested Grebes,4 Knot,4 Blackwit,1 Greenshank,9 Grey Plover,3 Shoveler and c.500 Wigeon.

Year's End at Pencarnan

On our final day, this year here at Pencarnan, we were pleased to add three species to our annual lists. A Ringtail Hen Harrier flew past the caravan window during the "breakfast" watch. Midday, a Redhead Merganser overflew the campsite, and as dusk fell we scoped a Great Northern Diver in Whitesands Bay.

During our eighth year here at Pencarnan Caravan Site, we added  six species to the "window list".....Grey Wagtail, Sabine's Gull, Spotted Flycatcher, Long-tailed Tit and Ortolan Bunting.

And to the Bush list? Spotted Flycatcher, Long-tailed Tit, Cuckoo, Ortolan Bunting, Buzzard, and during an October downpour - 3 Swallows. All in all, a good year's birding. You better believe it! If not, your your in the wrong place! Merry Christmas to all and hopefully we'll bump into you next year. Cheers JB and M

Goodwick Rugby

Winter thrushes on the rugby field this morning - 10 redwings and 2 mistle thrushes amongst song thrushes, blackbirds, and starlings.

Swallow

A note from Paul Davies to say that his wife saw a Swallow at the entrance of Newton Hall, just north of Crundale today.

Broad Haven

A midday visit produced 15 Red-throated Divers and at least 150 Scoter in seperate flocks,no sign of the female Velvet Scoter though.

Dale

Gann: Pickleridge Pools - 16 Goldeneye (7m9f), 6 Little Grebe, 3 Little Egret, Heron, 20ish Teal, 11 Cormorant, female merganser, sparrowhawk spooking flock of pipits. 28 Brent and c50 wigeon on foreshore. Airfield: Flock of 20 fieldfare. (lots of Song Thrush scattered across airfield and coast path). 84 snipe (the walk across between runways via pond threw-up 74 birds, no doubt plenty more sitting tight).

Ty Rhyg

A walk in the sunshine turned up one each of Willow Tit, Woodcock, Redpoll and Crossbill.

Black Redstart near Angle

A walk along the coast path from Freshwater West to Angle - currently receiving a haircut from some beef cattle and sheep so heavy going in places! Highlight a black redstart flitting about the coastal slope 3/4 of the way to Sheep Island. Otherwise the usual birds - skylarks, rock and meadow pipits, stonechats, dunnocks, but no linnets. A scattering of song thrushes along the coast path. One snipe near East Blockhouse, flock of lapwing (>100) in coastal field on South Studdock. One kestrel, a couple of buzzards, 2 ravens, no peregrine. Chough (guess 2) heard but not seen near Sheep Island.

Long-tailed Duck

The Long-tailed Duck was still off Wiseman's Bridge along with 7 Scaup this afternoon(Ed Hunter).

Swallows

Still two Swallows feeding around St David's church in Hundleton this morning.

Med Gull

The very efficient Med Gull ringers were able to translate my misread on Sat to an actual bird.
Green AATL had been ringed as a pullus near Hamburg in July 06.In Feb 07 it was at the Axe Est in Devon. In Summer 09 it bred at its birth place & in Oct 09 I saw it at Newport. In Dec 11 Annie photoed it flying over Ramsey Sound. This summer it was back near Hamburg & then to Newport on Sat.

Goldies

For several days a flock of  around 300  Golden Plover and at least 100 Lapwing have been feeding in a stubble field at Croeswdig farm near St Davids. In an adjacent field today, well inland from their normal haunts were 4 noisy Choughs.

Marloes Mere Sat/Sun

Glossy Ibis present all W/E. c150 Lapwing, besides the usual ducks, pair of Gadwall, pair of Tufted. male Kestrel, 5 Fieldfares, Jackdaws seem to like the area - several hundred coming & going, Starling numbers appear to be dropping, from thousand`s to just a few hundred.

Llys y Fran

Red kite, 4 Great Crested grebe, 1 Little grebe, a few redwings, 3 goosanders (2m1f), 3 Goldeneye, 20 mallard, 15 teal and kingfisher. 2000ish gulls mostly LBB and BH.

Strumble and Fishguard

Between 09:00 - 10:00 this morning: one Black-throated Diver, one Red-throated Diver, 12 Common Scoters, and small numbers of Gannets, Fulmars, Kittiwakes and auks.  Also, two Great Northern Divers in Fishguard Harbour.  

Newport Sat am

Highlights were 2 M Goosanders quite close upstream, 3 ad Med Gulls including 1 with a green ring which I think I've misread, c50 Curlews on the mud & a serendipitous Kingfisher in a casual scope on the Parrog rocks.

Firecrest in Dale

A Chiffchaff and a Firecrest feeding on the warm, sunnny ivy covered wall in the Dale Community Garden  next to the church. I saw them twice about 2 hours apart so I assume they are making Dale home at present. Also a GSW drumming across the valley and the most deafening din from the rookery.
Rosemary

Pantmaenog

A beautiful morning on the Preselis today.  Had a walk around Pantmaenog in the hope of seeing the "strikingly white" Redpoll seen by Brian last week, no joy but did see 4 Redpolls in flight only.  Also there 2 Red Kites, a Jay, 6 Reed Buntings, 7 Meadow Pipits and a few Goldcrests and Long-tailed Tits.

Across the road at Rosebush Reservoir a single drake Pochard, along with 5 Goldeneye, 14 Tufted Duck and a handful of Teal and Mallard.

Finally a good gathering of gulls at Withybush Airfield on the way home, but nothing unusual amongst them (mostly 1stW Herring Gulls).

Long-tailed Duck and Scaup

Ed Hunter has seen the Long-tailed Duck and the 4 Scaup this morning off Wiseman's Bridge.

Velvet Scoter and Scaup

Clive Jones had the Velvet Scoters and the Scaup yesterday at Wiseman's Bridge.

Swallow

Late news from yesterday, at least one Swallow still feeding in the fields near St David's church in Hundleton.

Gann

A cold and blustery Gann late afternoon, highlights included 14 Goldeneye on the lagoon (4 adult drakes), 4 Mediterranean Gulls (all adults), 3 Grey Plover, 12 Turnstone, 6 Redshank, 2 Ringed Plover and a Little Egret.

Glossy Ibis

Still at Marloes Mere.

Purple Sandpiper,Long-tailed Duck and more Velvet Scoters

A lone Purple Sandpiper picked its way over wrack covered rocks on St Margaret's Island Tenby at high tide.At Amroth c.40 Red-throated Divers,20 Great Crested Grebes,a pair of Red-breasted Mergansers and at least 500 Scoter were offshore.Finally Wiseman's Bridge which proved to be the best site of the day with a cracking female Long-tailed Duck,4 Scaup,3 female Velvet Scoters associating with a flock of 25 Scoter,5 Mediterranean Gulls(4 adults and a 2nd w)and 5 adult Kittiwakes were part of a large gull roost at dusk.

Black Redstart

There was a Black Redstart at St Davids Hd (the 10th of the year) and the female Scaup still at Penberi. At Heathfield GP 5 Pochard seemed quite good for anywhere in Pembs this year.

Swallows in Hundleton

There were two Swallows feeding in the fields opposite, and next to, the church in Hundleton this morning, presumably these are the same two birds that have been seen around Pembroke Castle recently.  The birds were taking the opportunity to get some feeding done in the late autumn sunshine and seemed to be finding a decent supply of insects.

Cosheston Pill - Watersport Centre

Lunchtime today - 18 shelduck, c12 Black-tailed godwit, Little egret, 3 Greenshank, 50+ Teal, 20+ Mallard and a few wigeon. Highlights: A kingfisher perched on bank of a steep muddy channel and a Great Northern diver in the mouth of the Pill. Kestrel sat on top of street lamp by Techno Centre (regularly seen here).

Leucistic Blackbirds

We saw these two Leucistic Blackbirds within ten minutes and 1/2 mile of each other - the first at Morrisons at about 2pm, the second at Crundale.

Black Redstart

Feeding on the piles of dead leaves brought up by the tide at Aberforest this morning were 2 Rock Pipits, a Pied Wagtail, a Robin &.......a Black Redstart.

Waxwings

7 Waxwings were behind Argo B&B in St Dogmaels briefly this morning before flying up river, also Dipper there (H O'Sullivan).

Gupton Farm - Farmland bird survey

 

A farmland bird survey at Gupton Farm on Friday found more than 5700 birds using the fields, with 38 species recorded and notable counts of 43 Blackbird, 1006 Chaffinch, 72 Greenfinch, 456 Golden Plover, 1003 Lapwing, 557 Linnet, 101 Meadow Pipit, 375 Skylarks and 42 Song Thrush.  Cetti's Warbler and Chough were among the less common species recorded.   Thanks to Richard Ellis, Annie and Bob Haycock for their help carrying out the survey.

 

Elsewhere, good numbers of Guillemots were still on the main stack at Stack Rocks today, with many more auks sat on the sea.  Also, good to see several pairs of Raven displaying along the coast.

 

 

Marloes Mere this morning

Glossy Ibis, in the field with the cattle, flew onto the Mere, a nice male Kesrel at the YHA. Big (ish) Jackdaw flock, Starlings, usual ducks. Not a breath of wind, which is unusual here - or in Pembs for that matter!

Swallows and Kites

The 2 Swallows were still present yesterday afternoon at Pembroke Castle Xmas Fair (Mark and Wanda Woodward).
There were Red Kites at The Old Mill Grounds, Haverfordwest today (Peter Howe), Treffgarne Quarry and Rosebush. At Pantmaenog there were 2 Willow Tits and a brief glimpse of the Great Grey Shrike (Kathy Y-P).

Stack Rocks

A full complement of Guillemots was back at Stack Rocks today, c.98% in summer plumage.  Also, Choughs and Ravens in the area.  Still plenty of haws near the Stack Rocks turn off, but just a single Fieldfare and some Blackbirds feasting on them. 

Greylags

16  Greylags flew upstream past Picton Ferry at noon. Two Jays were busy ashore collecting acorns. In this a year of a poor acorn crop they are probably hard pressed to find enough to bury and they are usually done by this time locally in a year of better yield.

Rosebush area

Pantmaenog - GGS still awol. 2 red kites and 5 ravens. Small flock of redpoll with a strikingly whiter bird amongst them. (Red Kite with wing tags near Scolton on way but couldn't stop - possibly white with blue or green number 3 or 5 but only briefest view). Ty Rhyg - again no sign of GGS, lots of fieldfare. Rosebush res - c25 Mallard, c20 Teal, 5 Little grebe, 11 Tufted, 3 Goldeneye, red-headed goosander and a Pochard (male).

Glossy Ibis

At Marloes Mere, 12 months now. Couldn`t find any unusual Ducks, most of them sheltering out of the stiff North breeze.

Spotted Redshank

This email received yesterday:

At W.Williamston today,a Spotted Redshank flew in and preened for a few minutes on the SW side of the river Carew.Unfortunately a couple of gunshots put everything up and I lost sight of it.A Greenshank was feeding further along the river towards Lawrenny,but the hundreds of Fieldfares which had been around recently seem to have moved on.

Regards,Alan Collens.