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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.
Lots of wrens (7) singing on Langland golf course Saturday morning. Stonechats(4) rock poppet, whitethroat and linnets showing well near Whiteshell point
Report of a likely white-tailed eagle over Southgate, heading towards Parkmill earlier today. Bird being mobbed by crows. Sound likely to be one of the reintroduced birds wandering.
4am alarm for dawn chorus walk with William!
FAIRWOOD LAKE & WOODLAND: Little Grebe very active, min 3f Mallard each with 4 – 8 ducklings of differing ages, 1 Greylag (downy goslings seen by neighbour not seen this morning), Grey Wagtail pair again, Moorhens.
In woods, no wind, loud surround sound song: Tawny Owl, Green Woodpecker, Wood Pigeon, Goldcrest, Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Chaffinch, Nuthatch, Goldfinch, Song Thrush, Robin, Blackbird etc.
FAIRWOOD COMMON: Cuckoo, Grasshopper Warbler, Willow Warbler, Meadow Pipit, Greenfinch, Linnet.
PWLL MAWR (Upper Killay pond): Grey Heron, Mallard, 2 House Martins.
Yesterday I heard Cuckoo from the back garden in the morning i.e. east side of the valley and from the front garden in the afternoon, west side of the valley. Heard one from the west side this morning again.
At Port Eynon this morning Manx Shearwater 177 up channel, Red throated Diver 1 down channel, Fulmar 1, Razorbill 2, Whimbrel 2, Dunlin 25+, Swallow 6 in off sea, Whitethroat 3, Stonechat 3 prs., 1 pr. with 1 juvenile and 2 Harbour Porpoise.
Limeslade to Rotherslade early morning: 3 whimbrel roosting Tutt Head, shag, gannet, tree pipit in off the sea calling. Fledged stonechats, starlings (Langland Golf Course) and song thrush.
Puss moth in Langland this morning
Turtle dove reported at Southgate (Richard Dann) for third consecutive year
Plenty of finches on Langland golf course Thursday morning. Including greenfinch, goldfinch, chaffinch and bullfinch. Blackaps singing, chiffchaff, mistle thrush and seven swallows.
Linnets among a range of common coastal birds near Rotherslade today. Nice to record dingy skipper and small blue (2) though (record shots below). 2 lesser whitethroats reported from Southgate by Richard Dann today
Since we are not able to drive to birdwatching hotspots at present I’m making the most of what’s near home. Starlings are wonderful at the moment, and with their iridescent plumage would not look out of place in a tropical rainforest!
On my local walk today along the River Dulais, I heard 5 singing Wood warblers in a 1km stretch of deciduous woodland. Also saw a pair of Goldcrests with the male’s orange crown very visible, as well as Blackcaps, Willow warblers, Chiff chaffs and a newly-fledged song thrush. No sign of the Dippers today.
Lock down walk from Rotherslade towards Limeslade. Stonechats feeding near fledged young, a pair of linnet and some grey seals, along with a carrion beetle Nicrophorus vespillo (thanks to Amy Schwartz for id).
The increase in dog poo on the coast path is appalling. Seeing the beetle (on some of the aforementioned) has been the only minor recompense!
I have been trying out some noc mig- night time flight call recording of migrants over Glynneath over the last couple of weeks which has been quite interesting really. It has shown that Barn Owl is a nightly visitor with 2 on one occasion. Other residents calling at night have been Grey Heron and Tawny Owls and Magpie. Migrant wise there has been 14 Common sandpipers with 6 on the 27th April. Also 3 coots – 24th, 1 Moorhen and a Whimbrel. A Ringed plover on the 26th April – interestingly it was this ringed plover call that triggered the… Read more »
I have just seen my first Swift of the year flying past my house.
Kittiwakes on or near the pier today; 274 counted. Interestingly some were on the new beams under the new lifeboat shed. I could not see if they were nesting or just perching.
Jeremy there have always been a few birds on the new ironmongery by the new station just not many… Did you count all the ledges..?
Yes: that is all the ledges visible from the land side. The pier is closed so I couldn’t get onto it.
At Port Eynon this morning Manx Shearwater 131 moving up-channel, Gannet 7, Sandwich Tern 5, Fulmar 1, Whimbrel 2, Swallow 5 coming in off sea and a Harbour Porpoise. Later at Ryers Down 1 Lesser Whitethroat.
Lock down walk over Mumbles Hill to the Pier and back along the prom. A whimbrel past Knab Rock that gained height to fly over the pier. A few siskin and swallows moving.
Earlier, this rivulet moth in Langland.
2 whimbrel over gorseinon hospital calling in flight. 2 pair mistle thrush feeding on playing field in the park then flying to nest. Goldfinch plentiful , around 14 , feeding on uncut dandelions . In contrast, only 1 pr greenfinch, 2 pr chaffinch around my area. 3 pr bullfinch again benefitting from uncut dandelions etc.
Very few hirundines seen and whitethroat numbers seem low around here at present
Yesterday I saw a tree pipit singing in the same place as when I was last there on 12th April so this indicates that he has set up a territory. As well as the usual birds I saw and heard a Whitethroat , a Bullfinch and a Lesser redpoll. One thing that I have noticed is that there are fewer Wrens singing than I have heard in past years.
Lock down walks last couple of days:
02/05. Caswell to Langland. Buzzard foraging on Newton Cliff, Caswell was unusual. Also present the usual linnets, stonechats, and a rock pipit in typical parachuting display on the way to Whiteshell Point, where a brown argus was also seen.
01/05. Langland to Limeslade. Fulmar, linnet, bloody-nosed beetle larvae (see photograph).
Big female sparrowhawk flew through the garden just now.. scattered the feral pigeons.. good job!
Our herring gull pair was with us little time yesterday, the day of very heavy rain. Edible and spider crab carapaces have turned up here, suggesting that they feed at Langland or nearby. Today they are with us all day. It is still odds-on that they will breed here. First mating was about a week ago. I reported on 23 April that sparrowhawks were uncharacteristically absent. Pleasingly, we had one in the garden today, perched on a fence with its back to me. It seemed small. The dominant colour of the mantle was brown. There is a nearby starlings’ nest;… Read more »
A female Blackbird in my garden this morning consumed 10 fat pellets before flying off with 1 in her bill for her young – I never seen one take so many in one go. A male Sparrowhawk arrived a bit later and sat on top of the feeding station looking around wondering where the birds were. There was also a pair of healthy looking Greenfinches which is a species that I see less frequently in the garden than in the past due to the parasitic disease which affected them.
Went for a walk this afternoon along the northern end of Aberafan Beach and back through Baglan Burrows. A flock of 167 Sanderling was the main high light on the beach. Back through the sand dunes Stonechat 3prs, Skylark 4, Meadow Pipit 1, Swallow 1, Goldfinch 2, Carrion Crow 1, Blackbird and Blackcap singing from the small scrubby alder wood. I also flushed a Snipe from a dune slack.
I have just received a video of an otter on Rhossili beach. I won’t post it as it’s not mine, but it’s interesting that the lack of people means the otter can have the beach almost to himself.