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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.
Salthouse point yesterday.
1000s of oystercatchers. Few hundred Black Tailed Godwits. 50 Pintail. 15 Wigeon. 2 Brent Geese. 1 Great Egret.
Southward Lane, Langland: Firecrest. 1st winter female. Also goldcrest
Southward Lane, Langland: another firecrest captured and ringed yesterday (1st winter male)
Today 650 Redwings flew up the valley above Glynneath in just 1/2 an hor at at 8.30 with 30 Siskin and 120 Wood pigeon and a stock Dove
At llanrhidian last Saturday pm; 1 Hobby was a nice surprise as was a Barn Owl which hunted close then moved down off Weobley – also 7 Great White Egret , 140 Golden plover, 65 Lapwing, 2 Kes, 1 Green Sand,12 Little Egret and 3 Cettis Warbler in a dispute in a ditch.
A Marsh Harrier, Black-tailed Godwits and Cormorants off Salthouse Point, Crofty this afternoon
Walking from Southgate NT car park towards 3 cliffs this lunchtime, my Merlin said there were Yellow Browed Warblers calling from a dense patch of bramble. I didn’t see one as they deep in the bush and didn’t come to the surface, The sound they were making I have never heard before and there must have been half a dozen at least.
Pennard Cliffs, first 5 Fieldfares of autumn for the location spotted perched on the hedgerow on West Cliff this morning.
Oxwich Marsh: firecrest (male) trapped and ringed. 2 redpoll over west. Jack snipe. 7 chiffchaff ringed (22 captured yesterday)
Mumbles Head 07:40-10:40.
Decent passage east: 3102 Wood Pigeon, 100 Stock Dove, 13 Skylark, 27 Swallow, 139 Swallow, 33 Redwing, 1 Fieldfare, 1 Grey Wagtail, 27 Pied Wagtail, 85 Meadow Pipit, 428 Chaffinch, 3 Brambling, 6 Bullfinch, 4 Greenfinch, 540 Linnet, 2 Redpoll, 376 Goldfinch, 121 Siskin, 2 Reed Bunting. Other birds of note were a Firecrest and 9 Pintail offshore.
The second pelagic boat trip of the year sailed today in superb weather, taking us beyond the Worm. Ten of us enjoyed glorious views of the South Gower cliffs and recorded Kingfisher before we even got in the boat; and then Black Headed Gull Common Gull Herring Gull Mediterranean Gull Kittiwake Gannet Carrion Crow Razorbill Guillemot Linnet Sky Lark Scoter Mallard Cormorant Red Shank Oystercatcher Turnstone Knot Sanderling Brent Goose. One porpoise was sighted and two seals,; one off the Worm and the second in the marina lock as we returned home. We go again next year!!
Blackpill at hour before high tide this morning – 580 oystercatcher, 19 curlew, 11 barwit, 7 little egret and small flocks of starling (c.20) and greenfinch (c.12) feeding on strandline.
Yellow-browed warbler and firecrest ringed at Oxwich Marsh this morning.
2-3000 redwing dropped into woodland above the marsh mid-morning.
Ten Little Egrets on the beach at Oystermouth this morning.
Late chiffchaff singing by Tennant Canal at Jersey Marine this morning. Also water rail squealing.
A flock of eight Little Egrets flying over Langland golf course this morning.
First female Hen Harrier (for me) of the autumn at Llanrhidian at 11.25am.
Blackpill 90 minutes after the morning high tide – 10 barwits, 3 shelduck and a small flock of c20 greenfinch on the strandline/in flight around the lido…
Dear All
A reminder that our latest free online talk is at 19:30 on Wednesday.
See: https://www.gowerbirds.org.uk/event/darwin-tree-of-life-project-bird-genome-sequencing/
Oxwich Marsh: yellow-browed warbler, 12 chiffchaff, 45 blue tit, 2 blackcap, 8 Cetti’s warbler captured during a ringing session this morning. Numerous jays around.
Mumbles Head 0715-1030
119 Wood-Pigeon, 10 Jay, 8 Skylark, 1 Swallow, 41 Redwing, 3 Song Thrush, 2 Grey Wagtail, 21 Pied Wagtail, 121 Meadow Pipit, 515 Chaffinch, 3 Brambling, 18 Bullfinch, 14 Greenfinch, 783 Linnet, 4 Redpoll, 148 Goldfinch, 121 Siskin, and 3 Reed Bunting all flying east. Also a Firecrest in the bushes.
Excellent stuff Lukas
Kestrel flying west over Bishopston just now, being harried by two Crows. Also, Red Kite over Bishopston Comp earlier this afternoon.
This Jay,with a broken lower mandible visited the garden yesterday.He was able to feed and bury a few items of food in the lawn.The number of Jays flying back and forth over the garden has been more noticable the last few weeks.
Yellow-browed warbler in a mixed flock of blue tit, great tit, chiffchaff, blackcap and firecrest at Pennard Cliffs late this morning
Langland: first winter male firecrest captured and ringed