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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.
At last House Martins are back around the houses in Murton today. At this time of year, they seem to visit old nesting sites, and then are absent for a couple of weeks, before returning and settling in for the summer.
Lockdown walk from Langland to the Pier and round to Rotherslade on the coast path. Swansea Bay: a whimbrel foraging in the intertidal off the Tivoli. Nearby a herring gull battling to eat a dog fish. A sedge warbler singing in amenity planting in the Knab Rock car park was unusual. Bottom of Mumbles Hill: movement of swallows with 1 house martin also noted. Also singing whitethroat (3), greenfinch (3), robin, dunnock (3) and wren. Limeslade to Rotherslade (singing / territorial): wren (8), robin (3), dunnock (10), goldfinch (3), whitethroat (8), stonechat (7), linnet (1), greenfinch (1). Whimbrel calling in… Read more »
My local walk today turned up a Grasshopper warbler reeling in a rushy field with scattered willow bushes. I couldn’t see it. Further on in the forestry there were a minimum of 2 Wood warblers, Garden warbler, Blackcap and a singing Tree pipit. On my way home 10 Canada geese flew over – the numbers seem to increase every year.
Lockdown walks on the cliffs very quiet for the last couple of days. A fulmar between Limeslade and Rotherslade a couple of days ago, the odd territorial rock pipit, and good numbers of linnet on Newton Cliff are all there has been to report.
A green woodpecker was added to the garden list (Langland Corner) today.
Also, nice to see some decent insects in the garden, including eyed hawkmoth (see pic), cockchafers, muslin moth, swallow prominent and carder (bumble) bees over the last day or so.
Single greylag goose on Ashley Rd playing fields
On a local walk this morning in Crynant I saw and heard my first Wood warbler of the year in the wood bordering the River Dulais. It was amazing how much energy he put into his song – his whole body was vibrating. Later on in my walk I heard 2 more as well as at least 3 Garden warblers together with the more usual Willow warblers, Blackcaps, Chiff chaffs and resident woodland birds.
FAIRWOOD COMMON this evening; Grasshopper Warbler reeling and Cuckoo calling. (Heard by my son Will.)
Later we both heard a Cuckoo from home nearby.
Along the Marsh Road Between Wernffrwd and Llanrhidian there were 3 Lesser Whitethroats singing.
Yesterday Wednesday: two swallows, five minutes apart, flying north over the house. My first of the year. What is more interesting than what I am seeing and hearing are the birds I don’t. I have heard wren song twice only, greenfinches twice but not more. Tawny owls are no longer around our garden or even in the road. We are not hearing woodpeckers. Sparrowhawks nested in the woods between our house and the beach for years and were frequently in our garden; not so this spring. Song thrushes are almost absent. Our herring gulls and a pair on next door’s… Read more »
At Wernffrwd at high tide Whimbrel 55+, Common Sandpiper 3, Bar tailed Godwit 17, Brent Goose 2, Great C Grebe 5, Wheatear 8 and Swallow 11. Later at Llanrhidian a Lesser Whitethroat was singing and showing occaisionally.
As well as the usual suspects at Langland Golf course early this morning there were greenfinch, goldfinch, bullfinch, chaffinch, stonechat, whitethroat, pied wagtail and blackcap.
Report from EKH today of two male Cuckoos calling near Garnswllt