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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.
GOS bird song walk to Pant-y-Sais Fen last evening produced 32 species seen and / or heard including five species of warbler and two of woodpeckers. We heard the young of GSW calling from near the nest. Thanks again to Bobb Tallack for leading the group.
Blackbird Blackcap Chiffchaff Reed Warbler Cettis Warbler Willow Warbler Blue Tit Long Tailed Tit Bullfinch Chaffinch Goldfinch Greenfinch Buzzard Carrion Crow Collared Dove Dunnock Goldcrest Great Spotted Woodpecker Green Woodpecker Greylag Goose Herring Gull House Sparrow Jackdaw Jay Magpie Mallard Moorhen Pied Wagtail Raven Robin Wood Pigeon Wren
South of Loughor Bridge on the HT. Oystercatcher 471, Bar t Godwit 1, a tardy bird in nbp, Shelduck 2 plus a brood of 5. Also 91 Black t Godwit on the Carms shore. This evening a one hour seawatch at Port Eynon. Gannet 24 cruising up and down off shore, Manx Shearwater 296, including 13 rafting off shore, the rest all down channel, Kittiwake a flock of 8 first summers up channel, Razorbill 12, Guillemot 23, most auks up channel. On the beach at least three Ringed Plovers dodging the crowds and their dogs. Lots of porpoise and dolphin… Read more »
Two swifts over Ashleigh Road at 7.45pm today.
Delvid Burrows at 12.07: my Merlin app (so far seemingly reliable) picked up grey partridge. The location is plausible.
I’ve not used it, but I’ve heard it’s not terribly reliable. I’d be interested to hear your recordings Peter, if you’rable to post them here. Sounds like some Greys may have been released by the shooters?
My sister has just downloaded the Merlin app to try to identify birds singing in her garden. I’m in Menorca at the moment, with nightingales everywhere. So I sent her a recording of a nightingale in full song and said see if it knows what this is. The app reckoned it was a Eurasian collared dove and house sparrow!
Anomaly solved following advice from Jeremy Douglas-Jones. I sent my nightingale recordings to Jeremy, and also wouldn’t recognise with his Merlin app. However, I tried the app with numerous nightingales here in Menorca this morning and it got it straight away every time. The app must take into account GPS location of your phone – and not recognise species if away from their usual range. It was also picking up Sardinian warbler, Cetti’s, hoopoe and turtle dove well, so very impressed with Merlin from first impressions. [Presumably my sister must’ve had collared dove and house sparrow calling in the background… Read more »
A Gull-billed Tern on the evening tide at Loughor Bridge provided a good end to some rather mediocre counts of Gulls and waders
Barry Stewart recorded this gull-billed tern moving from the Gower recording area towards WWT Penclacwydd this evening
Mynydd Betws, Pontardawe Road, near Penlle’r Castell and Hafod Wennol Farm. Kestrel actively hunting, hopefully local breeding occurring.
I hope you’ll forgive me for posting this as it’s not a sighting. When I first started visiting Gower in the 1960s there was an office at Oxwich for what was then the equivalent of Welsh Nature. At the time you could park there for free but only if you were visiting the NNR and not the beach. Does anyone know if this has this been quietly forgotten or is it still in force?
I think it was a Nature Conservancy Council office Paul – although I am sure someone will correct me if I am wrong. NCC (which was UK-wide) was a predecessor to the Countryside Council for Wales (English Nature etc) which was then incorporated into Natural Resources Wales. There is no office there now. The nearest NRW office is at Penmaen, and as far as I am aware there is no (officially) free parking for visiting the NNR other than the small carpark on the hill up from Oxwich.
Owain, thanks for the info.
Owain is correct. NRW (as is now) own and manage Oxwich NNR, but Penrice Estate own and run the main car park. There is no free parking for visitors to the NNR.
With a good breeze, the sea is quite choppy this morning. A good time for a sea watch at Bracelet. Big numbers if Shearwaters flying up-channel, a few Auks and three Gannets so far.
South of Loughor Bridge on the run up to HT this evening.
Oystercatcher 574, Dunlin 1, Grey Plover 2, Curlew 2
Two swifts and 7 swallows above Marsh Farm on the Wernffrwd Road at 4pm this afternoon. Also a flock of c40 starlings (adults & juvs), 2 buzzards and a red kite.
A pair of adult Blue Tits were busy feeding their young in this hollow post on the North Gower Marsh road this morning.