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Guidelines for Reporting Rarities and Submission of Annual Records
Detailed records of nationally or locally rare species (guidance on these is
here) should be sent to the County Recorder Eddie Hunter (
goweros23@gmail.com) as soon as possible after the sighting. An appropriate description should be provided of the species, your previous experience of it (and similar species), the circumstances and weather conditions in which the sighting occurred and any other pertinent information (such as photos). He will then circulate to the local or national records committee as relevant.
Day to day observations, including of nest sites, flocks of birds and species of local interest, should be collated in the Annual Record Form and sent to Eddie as an email attachment following each calendar year. Receiving these by the end of January is ideal as an early start can then be made on compiling the annual report.
PLEASE NOTE
Please could we ask that detailed locational information that may lead to the disturbance of the nest sites of species listed under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife & Countryside Act (1981) is omitted from any posts. This may otherwise lead to an offence being committed.
Schedule 1 species that regularly breed in the recording area are Dartford warbler, chough, honey buzzard, crossbill, goshawk, kingfisher, hobby, red kite, barn owl, peregrine, little ringed plover and Cetti’s warbler.
Three Choughs seen perched on boulders at Broughton Bay yesterday morning. Same three (possibly) seen at Burry Holm an hour later. Walking, so managed to get really close during both encounters before they flew.
Richard’s waxwing
Some nice winter migrants here on Pennard Cliffs today including Redwings, Fieldfare and most exciting of all 4 Waxwings, one of which flew into my mist net. It was a juvenile bird and remained on berry laden hawthorns nearby after release.
Firecrest (male) at Langland Corner / Southward Lane this morning
Male Hen Harrier and a Red Kite on the marsh eastern side of Penclawdd 14.30 today.
around and about on Gower :
Rhosilli early am , c.80 linnet , 70 chaffinch , 70 linnet , 40 goldfinch . nice count of 32 reed dotted around the Vile . 2 snipe also . 45 C scoter in the bay , 50:50 , 5 RT diver . 14 dunnock and 12 robin , not on sea, in Vile
Salthouse Pt Crofty , 16 reed bunting , 10 greenfinch , 18 LT tit , red kite and male Hen Harrier
Castell Du : 40 Teal , 90 Wigeon , 6 Little Grebe , 85 Dunlin
24/11. Two Siberian (tristis) chiffchaffs at West Cliff, Southgate (per Richard Dann).
25/11. Jack snipe, 11 common snipe, 3 chiffchaff (collybita) captured at Oxwich Marsh
Upper Killay – Our regular garden Sparrowhawk, mostly unsuccessful at our feeding station, today grabbed a Great Tit off the fat balls at 09.30 and started plucking it at the pond edge, before flying off with it.
Female Sparrowhawk taking a Sparrow just a few feet away from us at Limeslade this morning.
Female Black Redstart on Mumbles Pier at 08.10 this morning.
A lone teal in a pond full of mallard, off the old Llanmorlais railway line this morning.
18 November: Dipper singing from low stone wall on pool above the Japanese bridge at top of Clyne Gardens.
In Neath today : followed up the potential Bewicks Swan on the river and found it apparently paired to a Mute. Its a interesting bird un-ringed and did rush to the water when stalking it down the bank but came then with the Mute as I pretended to throw food so clearly an escape . Its not fitting Bewicks or Whopper and my current thoughts are a Trumpeter Swan x Whooper Swan. I have put this on twitter and linking in the Hybrid account so we can see what they say if they respond. Smart looking bird and very cool… Read more »
This may be of interest
https://www.sibleyguides.com/2012/02/trumpeter-swans-yellow-bill-spots-and-leucism/#:~:text=They%20show%20yellow%20and%20red,legs%20and%20are%20not%20leucistic.
Unfortunately due to the forecast (high winds and rain) we have decided to postpone the visit to Crofty with Barry Stewart on Sunday.
Walking over the bridge at Neath this Friday 17/11/23, to go to Lidl and this bird caught my eye. It did not have the jizz of a Mute swan, it was the beak for me that I ticked it as a Bewick Swan. Apparently they arrived at Slimbridge that day. So this one might have strayed off coarse.
Merlin mobbed and followed by a persistent crow high above Ravenhill through and onwards toward Cockett (From direction of Cadle 9.20am)
Twenty plus Cormorants this morning from the Pier towards Mumbles. There must have been a glut of food today.
Oxwich Marsh: 30+ snipe, 2 jack snipe, firecrest, chiffchaff, 20 long-tailed tit, red kite
Port Talbot Dock (08/11) per Darryl Spittle: 2 common sandpiper, whimbrel, colour-ringed curlew, kestrel
Kestrel picked off a vole at Llanrhydian marsh 4.30 pm just off the Marsh Road …
Ring tail Hen Harrier in the back ground further out in the Marsh at same time…
Female Sparrowhawk spooking a flock of pigeons over the pier this morning at 08.05
Great to see our president, Bob Tallack, given the Welsh Ornithological Society lifetime achievement award yesterday. The award reflects his huge dedication and drive to collect high quality data on our bird populations for well over half a century. He was presented with the award by Iolo Williams at the WOS Conference in Aberystwyth.
3 cliffs valley this morning a handsome male goosander on the river.
Single Greenshank hanging out with 11 Redshanks on rising tide at Oystermouth.