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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.
Late afternoon: two little egrets on the field on the left after passing Espalone Farm on the way to Newton.
Little egrets have been seen regularly on these fields during winter for the last few years. Up to 5 have been seen by a local who overlooks the fields.
Fenrod lake
250+ black headed gulls 42 Canada geese 21 mute swan 6 pochard 12+ tufteds, 16 coot 12 moorhen usual mallards and hybrids a few herring gulls and 3 common gulls
Two Great White Egrets on Llanrhidian Marsh this afternoon, large amount of Lapwings.
12 Dec am: two kites flying east over Perriswood falconry centre. Later am our member Gordon Howe had GS woodpecker drumming in Middleton. Later still: buzzard flying west over Penrice park lake.
Whiteford photos, mergansers and eiders12/12/20. Also 12 Brent geese on shore.
Whiteford Point, near lighthouse: 59 eider duck, 2 female red-breasted mergansers. Red kite over Oldwalls, 1400 12th December. Unable to post photos.
First 3 siskin of the winter on the garden feeders here in West Cross this morning
Mumbles Pier Old Lifeboat Slip 15:30 High Tide: 3 turnstone/ 70 dunlin/ 1 grey wagtail/ and a purple sandpiper flew in and landed among the turnstone and dunlin.
Peregrine Falcon and Tiercel on BT tower Swansea again this morning at 08.30
A wing-tagged red kite over Pen-y-Gaer, Penclawdd this morning.
At Whiteford point yesterday morning with Tom Wright. From the hide there were 3 Scaup (2f 1m), 12 great crested grebe, 1 GWE, 1000+ Knot and 200+ Brent geese. At the lighthouse there were 99 Eider, 13 Common scoter, 43 Grey plover and 1 Bar-tailed godwit among larger numbers of common waders. At Llanrhidian marsh there was 97 Golden plover, 1 water rail, 1 red kite, 1 peregrine and 1 GWE.
A total of 68 species were seen
The old lifeboat slip. About 200 Dunlin.
Swansea vale female goosander again on nant fenrod lake
Good at Whiteford Point his morning. Eider, 200 brant, 350 knot, 1000 dunlin, 100 grey plover, 3 green woodpecker, 1 peregrine falcon, and a crossbill. Photos of brant and waders.
Total of 46 species seen
Black Redstart present at the western end of Pennard Cliffs, near Pobbles this morning. It appeared to be either a female or immature bird.
Friday December 4th. 200 dunlin, purple sandpiper, 6 Turnstone at Mumbles Pier. Bracelet Bay 8 Med gulls, cormorant, pied wagtail and starling.
Male Blackcap this afternoon giving variety to the dozen House Sparrows which seem to dominate my garden here in West Cross.
Swansea vale on the small lake called nantfenrod a female goosander showing well also a little grebe 2 tufteds a few moorhens and 10 black headed gulls
Great Tor, peregrine enjoying the afternoon sunshine, and one of two rafts of scoter near the yellow buoy off Oxwich Bay, about 130 in this part and 240 in the other after blowing up the photos. Dec 2nd.
10.00 today: immature mute swan off Verdi’s at Southend.
Oxwich Bay; The scoter flock at Three Cliffs, photographed from the Oxwich Point, Dec 1st
Oxwich Bay west: great northern diver 2pm close to rocks, large flock of scoters off Three Cliffs Bay, ? 500 Dec 1st
Clyne Common: 3 reed bunting, 1 snipe, stonechat, resident pair of kestrels Nov 29th
A summary of recent ringing sessions is now on the ringing page of the website. See: https://www.gowerbirds.org.uk/oxwich-marsh-late-november-2020-a-chiffchaff-gets-the-horn/
Photos of a firecrest and jack snipe captured this morning are below (both by Richard Dann)