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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.
I have just seen my first Swift of the year flying past my house.
Kittiwakes on or near the pier today; 274 counted. Interestingly some were on the new beams under the new lifeboat shed. I could not see if they were nesting or just perching.
Jeremy there have always been a few birds on the new ironmongery by the new station just not many… Did you count all the ledges..?
Yes: that is all the ledges visible from the land side. The pier is closed so I couldn’t get onto it.
At Port Eynon this morning Manx Shearwater 131 moving up-channel, Gannet 7, Sandwich Tern 5, Fulmar 1, Whimbrel 2, Swallow 5 coming in off sea and a Harbour Porpoise. Later at Ryers Down 1 Lesser Whitethroat.
Lock down walk over Mumbles Hill to the Pier and back along the prom. A whimbrel past Knab Rock that gained height to fly over the pier. A few siskin and swallows moving.
Earlier, this rivulet moth in Langland.
2 whimbrel over gorseinon hospital calling in flight. 2 pair mistle thrush feeding on playing field in the park then flying to nest. Goldfinch plentiful , around 14 , feeding on uncut dandelions . In contrast, only 1 pr greenfinch, 2 pr chaffinch around my area. 3 pr bullfinch again benefitting from uncut dandelions etc.
Very few hirundines seen and whitethroat numbers seem low around here at present
Yesterday I saw a tree pipit singing in the same place as when I was last there on 12th April so this indicates that he has set up a territory. As well as the usual birds I saw and heard a Whitethroat , a Bullfinch and a Lesser redpoll. One thing that I have noticed is that there are fewer Wrens singing than I have heard in past years.
Lock down walks last couple of days:
02/05. Caswell to Langland. Buzzard foraging on Newton Cliff, Caswell was unusual. Also present the usual linnets, stonechats, and a rock pipit in typical parachuting display on the way to Whiteshell Point, where a brown argus was also seen.
01/05. Langland to Limeslade. Fulmar, linnet, bloody-nosed beetle larvae (see photograph).
Big female sparrowhawk flew through the garden just now.. scattered the feral pigeons.. good job!
Our herring gull pair was with us little time yesterday, the day of very heavy rain. Edible and spider crab carapaces have turned up here, suggesting that they feed at Langland or nearby. Today they are with us all day. It is still odds-on that they will breed here. First mating was about a week ago. I reported on 23 April that sparrowhawks were uncharacteristically absent. Pleasingly, we had one in the garden today, perched on a fence with its back to me. It seemed small. The dominant colour of the mantle was brown. There is a nearby starlings’ nest;… Read more »
A female Blackbird in my garden this morning consumed 10 fat pellets before flying off with 1 in her bill for her young – I never seen one take so many in one go. A male Sparrowhawk arrived a bit later and sat on top of the feeding station looking around wondering where the birds were. There was also a pair of healthy looking Greenfinches which is a species that I see less frequently in the garden than in the past due to the parasitic disease which affected them.
Went for a walk this afternoon along the northern end of Aberafan Beach and back through Baglan Burrows. A flock of 167 Sanderling was the main high light on the beach. Back through the sand dunes Stonechat 3prs, Skylark 4, Meadow Pipit 1, Swallow 1, Goldfinch 2, Carrion Crow 1, Blackbird and Blackcap singing from the small scrubby alder wood. I also flushed a Snipe from a dune slack.
I have just received a video of an otter on Rhossili beach. I won’t post it as it’s not mine, but it’s interesting that the lack of people means the otter can have the beach almost to himself.