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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.
No sign of any Black Redstarts this morning, presume they were passing through. 1 Yellow Browed Warbler in the Sycamores at Mumbles Cricket Club entrance. Record photo to follow. Mumbles Hill 1 Chiffchaff.
Shag off Verdi’s this morning. Great Crested Grebe there, by no means fully into winter plumage (very probably Jeremy’s bird). Kittle ford on the Bishopston stream: Bullfinch. (Yes, Coal Tits are very strong. I had four at once in the little ornamental tree supporting my feeders, arguing for a bigger population within twenty or thirty yards. They are very confident.)
The year of the coal tit. 7 coal tits and 2 Nuthatch at Langland Corner this morning
2 great crested grebes at Mumbles prom this morning. Flock of long tailed tits at Rotherslade. A flock of robins on the move at Rotherslade and in amongst them a female blackcap. 15 Turnstone at Mumbles Pier and at least 7 Cormorant.
Quick count at Blackpill this morning.. after high tide.. at least 35 great crested grebes.. 4 great black backs, 31 curlew… And too many herring and BH gulls to count properly.. several redshanks in amongst the oystercatcher flock. No.med gulls noted.
This GC Grebe was snapped close to the Prom at Mumbles this morning using my pocket camera. The photo is cropped, but it was a great view.
Yellow-browed warbler Southward Lane, Langland mid-morning (watched foraging in yew and sycamore for several minutes). With goldcrest and blue tits. Later a blackcap in same location.
Earlier, sparrowhawks seen over Mumbles Hill, Tivoli and Southward Lane.
Shag foraging off Knab Rock. Grey wagtail at Limeslade.
No sign of either black redstarts at Pier / Bracelet or great northern diver off Pier / Knab
Little Egret flying east around Tutt Head this am at 0830
Yesterday evening at Greenacres Rd. Pull-in, Penclawdd, there were around 400 wigeon, 300 shelduck, 9 pintail, 6 teal, 9 shoveler, and 1 gadwall in the River Loughor. Also lots of waders including 30 knot, and a few dunlin.
c2,340 Woodpigeons reported by Phil Routliff over Port Talbot this a.m. between 07.15-08.15. Gnoll Park-6 Mute Swans,3 Cormorants,6 Goosanders (1male), 9 Tufted Duck,89 Mallard,23 Moorhens, 6 Coot.106 Black-headed Gulls,3 Red Kites,2 Buzzards & 390+ Woodpigeons flying north.
Five Swallows circling and hawking around Mumbles Inner Head this pm. Feeding up before flying over the water.
Not a single Kittiwake on the Pier.
A flight of eleven Cormorants flew east into the bay in the lee of the Lighthouse and landed on the water.
Mumbles Head /Bracelet Bay 3 female type Black Redstart. Tutt Head 1 further ditto. Mumbles Hill 1 female type Blackcap.
grey wagtail, Singleton Park, 1330, Nov 2nd
Two great northern divers off Knab Rock around midday
This juv Cuckoo photographed with an iPhone in a garden in Lunnon today at 14.18.
Juvenile Cuckoo
15:00 at Knab Car Park 3 Great Northern Divers swimming together, eventually splitting apart into two groups. Briefly saw two different divers very far out on the water.
Early afternoon 29th: seal, then cormorant when walking from Oystermouth towards Southend. From Verdi’s I had a distant view of three Great Northern Divers together. They were three or four hundred yards out, well past the white cat SA 47.
Male great northern diver at Knab Rock Car Park at 16:00 this afternoon. Close views with the high tide. Also 30 kittiwakes at mumbles pier.
The 2 great Northern divers are still present off Knab Rock this lunchtime.. distant but good bin views.. they should get closer on this afternoon’s tide
Pair of Loons, or Divers as I still call them, probably wrongly, Great Northern: M and F at Mumbles side of Knab Rock today at 13.00hrs with incoming tide There were a couple of GC Grebes there as well and a Little Egret nearer to Mumbles.
Most of the Kittiwakes have gone now, but there were still twenty or so on the pier-facing shelves.
I’m with you on that one definitely divers, at least until we become the 51st state
The full summer-plumaged bird was still there mid PM when Alun and I saw it. Real cracker. Mumbles Pier closed, but looked to be a good wader roost present on the old lifeboat slip.
1140 this morning: a sparrowhawk, small and brown (so perhaps a juv male) flying very tight and fast aerobatics in the small space between our feeders and the back gate. It then flew south and away, perhaps having failed.
Mumbles seafront high tide this afternoon saw what looked very much like a red-throated loon – solo, moving along next to the sea wall. We also think we saw one a cpl of weeks ago at high tide bobbing along from the rowing clubhouse to the pier and beyond. Pic not great sorry but we had a really good look at it and checked with the field guide.
We would be interested to know if this ID is possibly correct. Thanks
It looks like a red-throated diver to me.
Similar bird, possibly the same one, unusually close to rocks at Oxwich Point on 22nd October, later flying inshore of the fishing boats and swimming briefly very close to beach before heading out again. I have photos that show its upturned bill clearly but have been unable to upload them,
Thanks both
Mill Wood, Penrice. Marsh tit the highlight. Also treecreeper, nuthatch, grey wagtail on the stream, great spotted woodpecker, long-tailed tit flocks.
Kestrel on Fairwood Common at the Upper Killay end
Flock of 60 long-tailed tit, 5 blue tit, 10 goldfinch, 1 chaffinch, and 1 goldfinch moving through a hedgerow on Penclawdd Marsh this morning.