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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.
Pant Y Sais Fen:
2 cuckoos viewed from the road of Jersey Marine Village yesterday . Best views I’ve ever had ..
Brilliant. I was lucky enough to get some photos of one a few days back there.👍
7th May Brunel docks in the reed bed dock singing sedge warbler, a pair of little grebes, coot on nest mallard and moorhen .A pair of oyster catchers again attempting to breed locally,other birds seen or heard blackbirds,song thrush,linnet house sparrows,robin,heron lesser b b gulls,herring gulls wood pigeons,collard dove ,carrion crow jackdaw,swallow,and dunnock.
4h April Whiteford Point: 155 whimbrel, 11 cormorants, 4 bar-tailed godwit, 1 female peregrine, 3 knot, 2 curlew, 33dunlin,15 ringed plover, 280 oystercatcher, 33 shelduck, 2 great crested grebes,1 common redpol[ nr forestry entrance, siskin further along drive. Apparently ring-ousel here this morning and osprey near breach in old seawall, but not seen personally. Cuckoo calling from Betty Wood, 3 wheatear on hide roof at Berges island. 1 swallow. Lots of warblers in song (chiffchaff, willow, reed and sedge, blackcap and common whitethroat. What a difference a little bit of sun makes!
sorry, lesser redpoll not common redpoll. PG
Oxwich Marsh: lingering snipe, flyover lesser redpoll and some displaying gadwall. Mute swan nesting. Quiet
Spotted a Golden Pheasant. There was a male and female but only managed to photograph the male.
Where was this plz
Paul this was also on the grass outside the shop in Oxwich.
Pant y Sais this morning – three Cuckoo (possible four), one Grasshopper Warbler and lots of Cetti’s and Reed Warbler singing. Photo of Cuckoo has what I believe to be a Hawkmoth caterpillar in it’s beak.
Golden Pheasant seen on 1 May 2024 at Oxwich alongside the The Dunes Gift Shop & Eatery Car Park in the overgrown area by a stream
The events page has been updated. See: https://www.gowerbirds.org.uk/events/
3 curlew/whimbrel at Oystermouth on the water’s edge the other day – today one hopping about on the new concrete close to the promenade
Ed Hunter confirmed these areWhimbrel.
A small raft of 7 Brent Geese off Knab Rock, Mumbles this morning.
Yesterday evening I reported seeing 13 curlew, but 2 were large but there was a group of 5 + 4 coming in with the tide. When the group of 9 settled over on the far bank at the tides edge, they were smaller in comparison to the 2 larger curlew in flight earlier. Could they have been Whimbrel, because the beak although curved downwards was not long. Also in with the group of 9 there were 2 small shorebirds flying in with them. I could not see distinctly due to diminishing light and distance, however when they opened their wings… Read more »
Very likely whimbrel Roy. There are a lot moving through on spring passage at the moment. There are a good number of candidates for your smaller waders, so harder to give an answer on that one.
5 (possibly 6) singing Wood Warblers this morning at Dyffryn Woods and Coed Maesmelin.
Yesterday evening at Brunel dock and the tidal area further down river. Pair of Shelduck. 13 Curlew. 3 Oystercatcher. 2 Cormorant. 1 lone Swift flying high over the river mouth. Skylarks. 3 Wheatear. Kestrel. Collared dove. Wood Pigeon . Carrion crow. Jackdaw. LBBG. BBG Blackbirds (singing wonderfully)
First wood warblers of the year, in forestry in the Crynant area today.
At least five different birds active.
Brynfield Road, nest box attached to fence. I was making an imperfect record of blue tits coming and going with nesting material. House sparrow pair 18 inches away from nest box on the fence at 11.17 seen to mate seven times in the space of 30 seconds approx.
Small party of Whimbrel resting on cliff top at Pwll du Head 24/04/24 at 2.00pm before flying across the bay towards Oxwich
GOS field trip to Ham wall yesterday
Ten members ventured to Ham Wall in Somerset for a very successful day’s birding. We found 67 species, the highlights being several pairs of Marsh Harrier, four kestrels, and three Hobbies. Great and Cattle Egrets but no Littles. Good views of Glossy Ibis; Bitterns not showing, but booming all over Ham Wall and Shapwick reserves. Summer visitors included 6 species of warbler and good numbers of Swallow, Swift and House and Sand Martins.
Osprey Llanrhidian/Leason (close in on Marsh) 2.30pm 23/04/24…Also Wheatear Llanrhidian marsh and Weobley track out to Post…
On my way to Hirfynydd to do my Breeding Bird Survey, I heard my first Grasshopper warbler of the year. Had the expected birds on the BBS: Willow warbler, Chiffchaff, Robin, Wren, Mistle and Song thrush, Coal and Great tit, Siskin. An addition to the list were 2, presumably a pair, of Long tailed tits.
Good news on the grasshopper warbler Heather, myself and my wife Janet, heard, and seen one, on the track up to the gorse covered hillside, on the way over Crynant Common, a couple of days ago….
Osprey reported near Crickton Farm, Llanrhidian this morning. Probably a migrant on passage. Per Dill Peeling.
Yes. It was 8am at what3words ///enveloped.meanders.clownfrom
It was just taking off from a post as I drove by, so it gave me a really nice, but brief view of itself.
Oops. That’s ///enveloped.meanders.clown
20.April 14 wheatears Hardings Down, pair of shelduck next to pond near Scurlage.
Dipper at Ffendrod Lake weir. Flew into bank
Oxwich Marsh: lesser redpoll, good numbers of siskin (breeding around the marsh – but no sign of first brood young yet) and a few lingering snipe yesterday morning. Whitethroat now holding territory, and at least two grasshopper warblers reeling.
Whimbrel over mid-morning.
Pair of Redstarts and Wood Warbler Pontneddfechan, near Gunpowder Works. Also Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Bullfinch, Dipper, Grey Wagtail. A number of Brimstone and a male Orange Tip butterfly.