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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.
About 12 common snipe flushed at Pant y Sais fen today. Unfortunately no jack snipe on this occasion. You generally need to be really close before they fly. I’ve had them literally almost at my feet before, before going up.
An afternoon with some sunshine, sitting in my tree garden in Tonna. A good showing of Coal tits, with Grt tits & Blue tits. Glad to see the Goldcrest and a surprising female Blackcap. Other sightings, magpie, wood pigeon, blackbird, Robin, dunnock, and wren. Late afternoon a Red Kite was circling overhead.
Flying visit to fenrod lake late afternoon,39 mute swan,tufted duck 15,Canada geese 30+, black h gulls 60est, herring gull 80+,moorhen 21,coot15,mallard 25,and one grey lag goose.
Female dartford warbler ? Spotted 21\10\2025 on coastal path near Limeslade Bay
Female Black Redstart, Murton, this afternoon.
Nice firecrest in the garden first thing. Unsexed 1st winter. Didn’t show obvious signs of being a male, but not sure how orange first winter crowns get.
Note also that the hooded crow referred to in the post by Dave Hanham below has been seen regularly on the South Gower pitch over the past couple of days.
Cheers for the confirmation Owain
A variety of waders at Blackpill during tonight’s high tide, but no great numbers – 10 bar tailed godwit, 18 dunlin, 10 ringed plover, 1 grey plover, 1 Knot, 1 Redshank and only 1 oystercatcher – plus 2 common gulls.
Male Firecrest caught and ringed late this afternoon in my garden on Pennard Cliffs. The first of the year here despite very good numbers of Goldcrests caught this autumn.
A windy outing to Port Eynon yesterday when 20 of us turned out to the Salthouse and saw a good selection of birds. Good birding in good company.
Cormorant Gannet Brent Goose Med Gull Herring Gull BH Gull Razorbill Common Scoter Manx Shearwater Carrion Crow Jackdaw Magpie Oystercatcher Ring Plover Turnstone Turnstone Dunnock Goldfinch Rock Pipit Meadow Pipit Starling Blue Tit Wren Buzzard Red Kite Wood Pigeon
At Blackpill today at near high tide the Oystercatchers were joined by Barwits (12) and a mini mixed flock of Grey Plover (4) and Knot (5), at times joined by Dunlin (3) and Ringed Plover (2). A Common Gull among the gulls.
Hooded Crow
South Gower Rugby Club Pitch
Bishopston, Swansea
Terrible pic but I saw it clearly and closer before getting phone out.
Could I have been mistaken? Do carrion crows have varieties that look similar?
I saw it there perched on one of the floodlights back in May.
Sent to me by Rob McCabe from Broadpool at 9.30 this morning. I fancy it might be the Pallid Harrier but am a bit flaky these days. Big brown pic is Rob’s, other 2 are mine, flying left is female Pallid from Cyprus, flying right is female Hen from Crofty some years ago. Any comments would be appreciated thanks.
This is the Pallid Harrier, Ian. Was hunting near Broad Pool a couple of days ago too. Nice sighting
Thanks Frank my friend will be pleased.
Jack snipe flushed at Pant y Sais fen today, also a common snipe.
Fantastic to see our President, Heather Coats, awarded the Jubilee Medal by the BTO. The Medal is awarded to individuals who have shown outstanding commitment to the BTO, through ambassadorial work (giving talks, attending events), organising BTO surveys locally or regionally, fundraising , surveying particularly challenging areas, supporting monitoring schemes, training ringing trainees, contributing as Regional Representatives or leading training courses for BTO. Also great to see long-time friend of the Society Dr. Rob Thomas being given the Marsh Award. Rob has been an inspiration to numerous students / researchers over the years, and is one of our regular speakers.… Read more »
Both continue to show amazing commitment to the study of birds and thoroughly deserve this recognition 👏 🙌
It turns out I don’t know how to add photos later so since I’ve edited them I’ll pop them in this post.
(Attached photos from Worm’s Head & Rhossili 16/10/2025)
Today was a rather special day around Rhossili. I made the effort to get out to Worms Head (Inner Head to be more precise) for 08:15 in hope of finding a rare migrant. My welcoming party wasn’t quite what I expected but very welcome even so. A 1st W male Dartford Warbler was calling from the scrub and subsequently showed from time to time during my 3 hr trip to the tidal island. A quick look out to sea found a number of groups of Auks flying east out of Carmarthen Bay. The groups varied in sized of between 5… Read more »
Female or Juvenile Hen Harrier over Llanrhidian today. Marsh Harrier and Red Kite also seen
Male hen harrier near to Cefn Bryn this afternoon. Around a dozen rooks foraging around Arthur’s stone. Three wheatear along the path from Cefn Bryn to Arthur’s Stone.
A good day for raptors at Llanrhidian today: Buzzard, Marsh and Pallid Harriers, Kestrel, Red Kite, Peregrine and Sparrow Hawk. Also this Glossy Ibis.
Decent flight of 700+ birds west over Mumbles Head this morning with Mark Hipkin. Highlights were a late Sand Martin and 25 Crossbill. Other counts included 28 Swallow, 1 House-Martin, 8 Skylark, 191 Meadow Pipit, 2 Grey Wagtail, 69 Pied Wagtail, 186 Chaffinch, 8 Bullfinch, 4 Greenfinch, 82 Linnet, 128 Goldfinch, and 44 Siskin. Also, a Dark-bellied Brent Goose flew east.
Pallid Harrier, Hen Harrier, Glossy Ibis and 8 Great White Egrets present at Llanrhidian Marsh this evening
Unusual to see a Grey Heron flying over Mumbles road this morning, heading towards Singleton Park.
Just after midnight Tawny Owl female perched at length on telegraph pole Upper Killay (seen thro open Velux) calling repeatedly. Also a male heard nearby.
A Kestrel and a Marsh Harrier at Llanrhidian Marsh this afternoon. (I arrived at exactly the right time to miss the Pallid Harrier.)