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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.
Oxwich Marsh: woodcock, small numbers of snipe (including a potential Faroensis bird – a very warmly coloured individual – see attached images – the third has a typical snipe on the right), 32 blue tit, a few siskin and goldfinch.
3/1.llantwit neath,opposite the graveyard,there were 20 + goldfinch,12 blue tit,2 long tailed tit,12 house sparrows,dunnocks,collard doves blackbirds and starlings coming to feeders in gardens.
Neath salt marsh
32 Canada geese ,20 + black headed gulls ,35 herring gulls,4 redshank,plenty of jackdaws and carrion crows.
A Glossy Ibis in the sky over Crofty Marsh at 10.42 this morning. It headed inland roughly over the course of the Morlais River, Llanmorlais. (Previously seen in the sky over Crofty Marsh 10.44 on Boxing Day.)
The Gower Ringing Group ringing year summary is now here: https://www.gowerbirds.org.uk/the-ringing-year-2024-gower-ringing-group/
2/1/25.the Gnoll main pond 7 female and 1 male goosander.the usuall mallard ,tufteds, and b h gulls.
4 or 5 Redwing in a Llanmorlais hedgerow this morning.
30th December 2024 Rhossili – At least one Short-eared Owl was quartering over the sacrificial crops on the Vile at 08:00. This follows Frank Ryan’s sighting of two there the previous evening. On the sea – 3 Velvet Scoters with 167 Common in a flock just off Worms Head. 39 additional Common Scoters scatterer across the bay. Other birds included Fulmar, Kittiwake, Shag, Gannet, Auks, 3 Great Crested Grebes and 5+ Red-throated Diver Port Eynon – 1 Pale-bellied Brent with c20 Dark-bellied Brents (inc 4 juvs), Great Crested Grebe, 3+ Red, throated Divers and Auks Cefn Bryn – The ringed… Read more »
Query regarding cutback of gorse between rotherslade and limeslade. Anyone know if this due to proposed new footpath or not? Clearly reduction of mature gorse can affect certain bird breeding habitat . Will take years to grow back etc ta
Hi Matthew, not sure what the gorse clearance you’ve seen is related to but a well prepared plan of Gorse stands being cleared on rotation is essential to keep the South Gower Coast in a favourable habitat. Most of our scarce/rare breeders prefer gorse to be compact and short (below waist height) not airy and leggy! Furthermore the rarer plant species found on the South Gower Coast often require a rich mosaic of short heath, tussocky vegetation with bare ground. Left unchecked Gorse would completely dominate many of our special coastal sites on Gower.
Hi mark and thanks for reply. I appreciate need for coastal gorse management as you describe and thegreat job amd efforts that is done around Gower to keep things as optimal as possible. Pretty sure it’s cleared in advance of footpath relocation. Just concerned done purely on this basis rather than planned for benefit of habitat due to the amount that has been razed. It’s a very broad stripe and wipes a whole half mile stretch which would not be suitable for a number of years for birds that need mid height gorse to breed.
Hi Both. It has been done for footpath relocation due to the receding cliff. This is very unfortunate as the coastal heath had good varied structure with nice patches of species rich limestone grassland. We (GOS) have been in touch with the council, and the Biodiversity Officer Mark Barber has been working with the Rights of Way team to ensure that the work is done in as sensitive a way as possible and results in more active management of the coastal slope to produce habitat that is good for nesting birds such as Dartford warbler which formerly occurred in the… Read more »
Thanks owain am glad to hear gos have sent their concerns. Strikes me they will have looked to proceed as they have with other paths and install wide concrete path. They would need to cut into the bedrock to do this. And it would run through middle of the habitat. As there is already a higher path in place that is accessible maybe they can be encouraged to relook at things to avoid ongoing destruction fragmenting of habitat – and improve this path instead?
Crofty earlier today: Flock of 375 DB Brent Geese feeding at low tide, together with good numbers of Oystercatcher, Curlew, Redshank, Dunlin and Shelduck, all widely dispersed so no attempts to count. Pintail, Shoveller and Teal also visible from Salthouse Point and Dalton’s Point, with 4 Spoonbill on the north side of the main Loughor channel. Quite a few mixed flocks of finches including Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Goldfinch and Linnet. Plenty of Reed Buntings also. Black Redstart (F) feeding on the dung-heap, together with a Chiffchaff, Meadow Pipits and Pied Wagtails. Male Hen Harrier quartered the marsh heading west late afternoon.
Male Hen Harrier at Llanrhidian Marsh yesterday afternoon (29 December) as the light was fading.
Gnoll park .60+mallards,70+ black h gulls,4 tufted duck,12 moorhen ,5 mute swan , 6 coot,a kingfisher,6 robins ,wood pigeons,magpies,carrion crows,jackdaws,
On the lower pond 12 black headed gulls,12 mallards,and 6 morhen.
Whiteford Point (with Richard Dann and Steve Lysyj): 2 slavonian grebe, 4 great northern diver (foraging close to each other just to the south of the lighthouse), peregrine, 73 eider, probable merlin (seen flying away)