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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.
94 Great Crested Grebe moving slowly eastward on a very calm sea off Blackpill at 3.30 – 4pm this afternoon. Also 6 shelduck. None of the birds seemed be particularly bothered by nearby paddleboarders.
Briton ferry small murmuration of starlings over my street 150 + trying to find the roost its somewhere local.
2 chough flying east and a harbour porpoise off Snaple Point, Langland this morning. Also 39 cormorant west in approximately half an hour.
A summary of Gower Ringing Group’s ringing year (2021) is here: https://www.gowerbirds.org.uk/the-ringing-year-2021/
A remarkable year in which the Group captured 91 species and collected a huge amount of very useful data.
6 ravens over Britton ferry this morning
Heron seen this morning in the field behind my garden at Manselfield… probably patiently waiting for frogs to return to spawn at our and our neighbours ponds!
Male black redstart on the cliff edges west of Southgate late afternoon today.
A Great White Egret still to be found Crofty side of the marsh, near Wernffrwd this afternoon. Also a kestrel.
A flock of 44 Mediterranean gulls at Bracelet at high tide included 6 colour-ringed birds (details awaited).
Mumbles Pier: 132 dunlin, 38 turnstone, 15 redshank. Tide still rising when I was there and potentially more birds to come in. One 1 great crested grebe visible, and no divers in the bay that I could find
2 spoonbill near outflow pipe at Loughor bridge . 32 curlew, 12 redshank , 22 herring and c.40 black headed gulls .
in the salt marsh /fenced off area to the east ,
1 water pipit , 3 rock pipit , 12 chaffinch 8 goldfinch , 2 reed bunting
Oxwich Bay: 2 great northern and 3 red-throated divers.
Viewed from nr. Oxwich Bay Hotel. GNDs close to the point, RTDs in middle of bay. Also great crested grebes and a few common scoter visible.
Friday 7th Jan 07.45am Three Woodcock Mill Wood. Good views.