Friday 22 to Monday 25 April saw the first of four scheduled Gower Ringing Group trips to Skokholm Island, Pembrokeshire. The Gower team comprised Sarah Davies, Amy Schwartz, Richard Dann and Owain Gabb, who joined a number of ringers from … Read More
Ringing in the months of January and February is typically heavily weather-affected in coastal areas of South Wales. However, the ringing group has grown considerably in recent years, and as a result of people developing their own projects, the range … Read More
Introduction This is an account of the second year of ringing activity at Richard Dann’s garden, The Watch House, situated on Pennard Cliffs on the south coast of the Gower Peninsula. The site is very exposed to the wind despite, … Read More
Overview of Ringing in 2021 2021 was the second consecutive year in which Gower Ringing Group’s activities were affected by Covid restrictions. Following the partial relaxation of these restrictions in the Spring, and some adaptations to how we worked, we … Read More
On Saturday 23 October 2021, several members of the Gower Ringing Group (Colin Baker, Andrew Bevan, Becky Gibbs, Dan Jenkins-Jones and Wayne Morris) joined ringers from across Wales at Whiteford Sands to try and catch oystercatchers (Haematopus ostralegus) as part … Read More
Despite some very unsettled weather since our last blog post on 16 October, we have processed a total of 750 birds in the intervening period. Ringing has been undertaken at six locations during this time, with the majority of birds … Read More
A light to moderate south-easterly wind seemed a little higher than forecast, but any ringing session that we can fit in in October is exciting as it is such an unpredictable time of year, so there wasn’t too much cause … Read More
Late September saw a period of unsettled weather that continued into early October. As a result we only managed a swallow roost session and a couple of daytime ringing sessions at Oxwich, with the most productive of these being on … Read More
A very quiet session. We only put nets in the reedbed and fen, as we had a smaller and slightly less experienced team than usual. In retrospect, more nets would have been fine, as there were very few birds in … Read More
Gower Ringing Group put on a number of ringing sessions over the (long) weekend of 10-13 September. The overall aim was to bring people together, as the Group has grown significantly in the last five or so years. Members are … Read More
A period of generally easterly winds. Following a couple of fairly successful swallow sessions we tried a third on 31 August, then had a wind affected standard daytime session on 4 September. The total over the two sessions is shown … Read More
A dire start to August meant there was no ringing during the first two weeks of the month. Latterly, however, light to moderate easterly winds and open skies have predominated, and we have been able to make the most of … Read More
A couple of weekends of pretty good weather for ringing at the marsh. The combined total for two mornings (31 July and 25 July) was as follows: Avian highlights were: Our first fledgling Cetti’s warblers of the year. A garden … Read More
Perfect weather for ringing. A light north-easterly breeze at dawn became imperceptible by 08:00, and only increased at all late morning. The day rapidly warmed, and we only really caught substantial numbers of birds in the open reed bed for … Read More
A busy couple of weeks for the Group, despite mixed weather. Constant Effort Sites (CESs) We reached half time at both our standard CES site at WWT Llanelli (now in its 20th year), and our more recently-established garden CES site … Read More
An unsettled forecast for the weekend led to a Friday session being planned. Weather conditions for the first few hours of the day were excellent, with very little wind and fairly overcast skies. We put up a moderate amount of … Read More
Following a number of attempts thwarted by weather, today saw our first ringing demonstration at Oxwich Marsh. This was the third field trip organised by Gower Ornithological Society since lockdown lifted, and given the success of the first two, it … Read More
A disappointingly brisk south-easterly wind greeted us on what was otherwise an initially overcast, then increasingly sunny morning. The wind conditions limited the catch to 155 birds of 21 species. The breakdown was as follows: The highlights included: A chaffinch … Read More