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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.
There were good numbers of Common Swift near bridges that span the Afon Tawe. At Pontardawe(the bridge close to Tesco-there are other Supermarkets) there were at least 25.Then at Glais where the bypass bridge spans the Tawe there were at least 20.At Ynystawe where the bridge spans the river down from the Cricket clud there were 15 and a further 15 at the Wychtree roundabout Morriston. Heavy grey cloud just before rain seems to bring them to theses areas to hawk.
A pair of redstarts, in Crynant today.
Beautiful photo, Clive. Well done.
On a morning walk in Crynant, an adult Dipper feeding a newly fledged juvenile on the River Dulais. Earlier there was a pair of Bullfinches with a juvenile in my garden, also in Crynant. Although Bullfinches are regular in the garden, this is the first juvenile that I have seen here.
At Kilvrough Park Farm this afternoon: stock dove.
Good morning. On a a very damp misty morning at Ynyswen campsite behind the Ancient Britain pub towards Craig-y-nos I heard my first cuckoo of the year. The bird was making a constant call for at least 15 mins. Is this behaviour indicative and when do cuckoo’s depart ?
Sounds like “typical” Cuckoo behaviour calling for a period of time. They can call at any time of day. The majority of Cuckoos will have left Britain by the end of June.Juvenile birds are later in migrating-I have recorded juvenile Cuckoos on Enlli(Bardsey) in mid September.
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Some good seawtaching from Overton Cliff over the last week Today 07:50 to 14:00 An ad summer White-billed Diver flew west at 10:57. This being the first time the species has been recorded in Glamorgan. Also seen were 2 Storm Petrels (08:30 & 10:30) and 10,000+ Manx Shearwater flew west between 07:50 to 08:30. Small pod of Common Dolphins and 1+ Harbour Porpoise also present (M Hipkin, L Le Grice) Tuesday 27th 14:30 to 20:00 A Balearic Shearwater at 16:10 among several thousand Manx heading west (MH only) Monday 26th 16:00 to 19:15 2+ Long-finned Pilot Whales were near the… Read more »
That’s a little bit better than good!!!
A good morning for sea watching from Bracelet after the storm. Gannet, Scoter, Shearwater and Guillimot all present. Shearwater in good numbers.
After the storm, several gannets including juv, two common scoter and some Manx shearwater activity off Bracelet Bay this morning.
23.05.2025. 1x Great Northern Diver close to the shore opposite Verdi’s carpark, Mumbles. In summer plumage. Seen at 20:30
23.05.2025. 5 Common Swift above Clydach, 2 at Trebannws and 7 at Pontardawe.
The sound of screaming Swifts heard over St Paul’s Church, Sketty today as we came out from Harold Grenfell’s funeral.
A Hooded Crow was at Bishopston Rugby Club on May 19th.
Video:
He was there last night (2nd of June) as well.
Heard the really lovely ‘love call’’ of a tawny owl at dusk from trees at edge of newton road opposite side of road from underhill park this evening . Was quite taken aback at how clear it was
Between Mewslade and Rhossili today: 5 Swifts at Devils Truck, similar number of Choughs, good numbers of Stonechat, Meadow Pipits and Skylark. One male Wheatear nearer to Rhossili.
Yesterday at ynstawe fields by the take.
A crèche of about 20 goslings following a pair of Canada geese while the other adults hung around chatting at top end of field .
…Meant fields by the river tawe .
18th May
Llandarcy over20 house Martins around the coed Darcy colony,6 occupied nests but probably more with sitting birds not visible from below.
This evening I watched a Hobby above the garden at Clydach.It came in from the west at a height of around 150 feet before circling.It was then mobbed by a few House Martins and two Common Swifts.The red trousers clearly visible in the light of the setting sun.It headed eastwards after several minutes of mobbing.
Carn Llechart, this afternoon. A cuckoo calling loudly from the direction of the conifers below the cairn. Wheatear and skylarks. A large raptor had flown at tree level as I was climbing out of Cwm Clydach but I couldn’t get my bins out quickly enough to ID it. It wasn’t a buzzard from what I could see.
A great walk in Cwm Du Glen, Pontardawe this morning: if you haven’t been there, go soon: it’s beautiful. 25 woodland and river species noted today: Blackbird Blackcap Chaffinch Chiffchaff Carion Crow Dipper (and nest) Dunnock Goldcrest Jackdaw Mallard Nuthatch Pigeon Wood Pigeon Raven Robin House Sparrow Starling Song Thrush Coal Tit Blue Tit Grey Wagtail Pied Wagtail Great Spotted Woodpecker Wren Sand Martin
Special thanks to Becky Sharp for introducing GOS to this lovely, secret valley.
Oxwich Marsh: 2 grasshopper warbler, fledged siskins
15th May: Graigola mountain, Graig y Pal, Glais: Red kite, 2 buzzard, raven, cuckoo, whitethroat, blackcap, willow warbler, chiffchaff, meadow pipit, skylark feeding young, stonechat, green and GS woodpeckers. A garden warbler near the derelict farm at end of valley was singing its heart out. This valley has a lovely hanging oakwood and deserves better protection. Apparently a solar farm is planned for the mountain top with plant possibly accessing from Rhos to the north.
6 Common Swift above Clydach-this afternoon.
14th May: Clyne common. 2 pairs reed bunting and 4 pairs stonechats. Siskin, linnets, skylarks, meadow pipits, willow warbler, chiffchaff, whitethroat, greenfinch, goldfinch, long tailed tit. Just missed capturing the long tailed tit which had perched between the greenfinch and the stonechat.
At least 6 swallows at Clyne Farm earlier this morning and then more swallows together with 6 house martins above the 5 small storage reservoirs on the south side of Clyne Common not far from Mayals. Also 1 singing male reed bunting, 5 meadow pipit, 2 skylark, 2 Whitethroat, 5 willow warbler, a Greenfinch and a red kite.