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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.
Blackpill very disturbed this evening. 11 Sandwich Tern plus a family party? of 5. 26 Ringed Plover and 19 Dunlin, no sign of any Sanderling yet. 2 Great-crested Grebes.
At Port Eynon this pm 56 Med gulls included 6 Juvs and a white ringed Adult (3VOP), 17 Sandwich terns including a pink ringed (KO8 – but was hard to read for sure), 9 GBB Gulls held a 3CY pink ringed bird (P:03D). Also 14 Turnstone including some stunning full summer plumage birds,13 Ringed Plover.3 Rock pipits had no colour rings. 8 Gannet and a Fulmar was all that was moving offshore. At Daltons point a Yellow legged Gull (adult) was with 1 GBB, Herring and Lesser BB Gulls and 2 G C Grebe. Glynneath : A Hobby was over… Read more »
Blackpill this evening Sandwich Terns milling about, best I could count on the ground was 33.
Oxwich Marsh: tree pipit (1) over, 3 grasshopper warbler. Good numbers of sedge warbler present.
Oxwich Marsh 06/08: 30 sedge warbler, 9 reed warbler, grasshopper warbler, garden warbler, 5 willow warbler, kingfisher trapped and ringed.
Cae Tan plot and adjacent farmland at Furzehill, Lunnon. Day total of 28 species included tree pipit, 20+ linnet, 10+ goldfinch, 5+ willow warbler, 10+ chiffchaff, marsh tit, red kite, green woodpecker, house sparrow, kestrel, swift.
Also wasp spider.
The Black-tailed Godwit flock was up to 693 this evening, feeding on the mudflats between Berthlwyd and Morfa Bacas. Other waders inlcuded a fine summer plumaged Knot, a few Whimbrel, 32 Curlew and 434 Oystercather. Non-wader interest was limited to a couple of Sandwich Terns, lots of gulls and a complete lack of Shelduck! Have they all gone to Bridgewater, or just somewhere else in the Burry? There were more than 100 a few weeks ago.
Female Kestrel hovering then stooping in front of the NT shop at Rhossili today at 14.30. Good to see it back on its territory.
Female hen harrier on the marsh near Penclawdd. No photos, I was just driving past this morning
Just wondering if you saw the rump David, only that’s exceptionally early for Hen Harrier? Marsh Harriers have been present on and off all summer.
Four Sandwich Terns off Knabb Rock 07.23 today.
Port Eynon 1.5 hrs this afternoon after the rain had passed. The wind had moved to just N of W, so off shore and no big numbers logged.
All birds moving down channel
Common Tern 3, Common Scoter 1 drake, Manx Shearwater 11, Gannet 26, Balearic Shearwater 1, close in shore past the point.
On the rocks – Sandwich Tern 73, Med Gull 184 including many juvs, Dunlin 1, Ringed Plover 5, Turnstone 5, Sanderling 25, flock flushed off the rocks by holidaymakers.
Osprey fishing the Burry from Salthouse Point this pm but the bird of the day was a Spitfire doing acrobatics over the river.
Oxwich Marsh: 41 reed warbler, 34 sedge warbler, 2 grasshopper warbler, 5 whitethroat, 21 willow warbler, 15 siskin, kingfisher, 5 chiffchaff, garden warbler, treecreeper and 37 blue tits among 221 birds captured and ringed / processed this morning.
Juv Marsh Harrier at Llanrhidian this afternoon
Wednesday 30th July: Fantastic views of at least 2 Nightjars on Kilvey Hill, with some churring heard too. Similar to Sunday 27th July.
Unfortunately work seems to have started on clearing vegetation near the top of the hill. Very concerned about the impact on the Nightjars in this area
Sitting on the patio this morning at Clydach I noticed a large bird circling at a height of around 1000 feet.My initial thought was that it was a raptor. I took a few pictures which point towards a Grey Heron.I have never seen one so high up.It eventually drifted north east.
Received report of green woodpecker dropping into sea apparently catching something ? then feeding young on side of cliff !! Coast path between Langland caswell.
Photo of adult feeding young on cliff
Oxwich Marsh: calling whimbrel over c. 07:45
Oxwich Marsh: 44 reed warbler, 2 Cetti’s warbler, 18 siskin, 2 blackcap, 2 treecreeper, 17 sedge warbler, 3 willow warbler, 4 whitethroat, 2 chiffchaff among 155 birds captured this morning. Crossbill west late morning. Golden-ringed dragonfly noted.
Great to host GOS for a ringing exhibition. c. 22 people present and very engaged, with lots of questions.
Combined counts from the intertidal areas 1km above & below Loughor Bridge this morning included: Shelduck 6 (including 2 fledglings), Mallard 46, Heron 3, Great White Egret 2, Little Egret 53, Oystercatcher 487, Grey Plover 1, Knot 2, Black-tailed Godwit 607 (including 2 c-r birds), Whimbrel 3, Curlew 18, Redshank (pair constantly alarming, probably with young), Black-headed Gull 962, Med Gull 2, Sandwich Tern 1, Pied Wagtail 19 & Linnet 50.
overdue visit the Brunel dock area tonight 17 little egrets,3 heron,by the boat yard across the river also seen tonight whitethroat ,chiff chaff, song thrush (3) 2 mallard ,curlew, est 100+ oyster catcher on the sand,.crumlyn burrows side
Usual herring, lesser black b and black headed gulls wood pigeons,and carrion crows
Oxwich Marsh: crossbills moving again this morning. Regular calling heard. Birds generally too high to be seen. Assumedly moving west again. Also grasshopper warbler and a minor influx of willow warblers.
Oxwich Marsh: crossbills moving this morning. Four parties of an estimated total of 26 birds moving west between 06:27 and 08:00. Lesser whitethroat still present (ringed on Saturday). Green woodpecker vocal all morning. Kestrel by the campsite at Penmaen
20+ swifts over my house in Briton ferry probably the family parties of the three pairs that. Bred locally.
Excellent display of nightjars up Kilvey Hill after 10pm yesterday evening. Some just above head height.