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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.
Loughor Bridge north side this morning. Black t Godwit 88, Little Egret 28, Shelduck 44, Pintail 12.
Loughor Bridge south side on the rising tide. GW Egret 2, one feeding on the south side of the channel flew up river and flushed a second from the salt marsh. Both continued up the river with much interaction, diving bombing each other, until lost in the distance towards Gowerton. Bar T Godwit 9, Black t Godwit 28, Spoonbill.
Great to see a female Wheatear by the old slip bridge on Oystermouth Road this morning.
Yesterday evening at Blackpill there were 220 Med Gulls on the beach with 5 Colour ringed birds-4 white .1 red. Only managed one reading white 30A0. This count did not include the distant birds in the bay as the group got flushed and the birds mixed up so was likely a lot more. Also 4 Yellow legged gulls 2 1st cy, 2 2nd cy. YL Gulls were appearing at blackpill last year in this period too also 3 G C Grebe.
Llanrhidian this pm. Whinchat 4, Stonechat 3, Green Sandpiper 1, Wheatear1.
Dalton’s Point this pm. Teal 120, Wigeon 1, Shoveler 1, Black t Godwit 11.
Ring-necked parakeet circling in Clyle gardens this midday
This juvenile Wryneck was caught and ringed in my garden this morning on Pennard Cliffs.
Also, plenty of Meadow Pipits moving overhead but few Grey Wagtails seen today. I also noted an unusual movement of about 7 Jays flying low over the garden in an easterly direction, the species is very seldom seen here.
Well done Richard.A cracking record and lovely shots of this amazing species.They really are something seen in the hand.
South of Loughor Bridge on the rising tide.
Bl t Godwit 37, Bar t Godwit 9, Greenshank 8, Teal 4, Curlew 21, Oystercatcher 44, Little Egret 10, Redshank 2, Dunlin 21. Plus the bazaar sight of a grey squirrel foraging over the channel on the southern shore!
Bwlchymyndd (Loughor foreshore) from the bridge. Bl t Godwit 141, Pintail 46, Mallard 31, Red Kite 1.
Wryneck ringed by Richard Dann in his garden on Pennard Cliffs this morning..
Read the latest Gower Ringing Group news here:
https://www.gowerbirds.org.uk/a-group-ringing-weekend-11-13-september-2021/
Trips to Whiteford and Oxwich resulted in capture of curlew sandpiper, little stint (2), whinchat, spotted flycatcher, grasshopper warbler (7) etc.
Photos on blog post at link above.
A couple of photos of the interesting Yellow legged Gull at Blackpill yesterday late afternoon which came to bathe and drink at the stream
today on Gower At Berthlywdd 1 G W Egret Daltons Point – 240 teal 19 Bk T godwit Mewslade and Middleton– 2 Reed warbler ( top and bottom), 1 Lesser Whitethoat, 6 Whitethroat, 17 Blackcap ( obvious arrival at 12), 1 Spot fly, 1 willow warbler, 9 Chiffchaff, 2 Green Wood pecker inc a Juv. 1 Yellow wag calling over Pilton green– 1 rintail more like female Hen Harrier Port eynon – A constantly hunting Juv female pere stopped any roost of sorts. 25 Ringed Plover, Med wise there was 9 came to the beach eventually 12 flew straight east… Read more »
Ed I see a few YL Gulls like this on the Thames in Kent most years. Not sure what they are but they are reasonably regular.
Castell du this morning. Kingfisher 1, Wheatear 2, Common Sandpiper 1, Herring Gull 22, LBB Gull 169, GBBGull 2, Little Egret 9, Red Kite 1, Spotted Flycatcher 1, Stonechat 1.
Black Swan on Ffendrod Lake yesterday and today
Bwlchymyndd (Loughor foreshore) Black t Godwit 160, Pintail 65, Little Egret 28, Shelduck 31, Mallard 56, Oystercatcher 20.
R, Lliw, Island Bridge. Teal 4.
Llanrhidian. Canada Goose 165, Greylag 42, Great white Egret 1, Teal 6.
Crofty. Wheatear 1.
Dalton’s Point. Teal 78, Black t Godwit 58, Dunlin 3.
Whiteford sands this evening. 23 Dunlins, 18 ringed plovers, a wheatear in the dunes and a jay calling in the forest.
whiteford sands on the incoming tide this morning had good numbers of small waders . 390 dunlin , 320 ringed plover , 12 sanderling , 5 knot , 3 turnstone , 3 little stint , 1 curlew sandpiper . oycs not counted
Port Eynon this afternoon. Sanderling 24, Sandwich Tern 28, Ringed Plover 19, Med. Gull 49, Turnstone 1, Common Tern 2, Dunlin 1, Guillemot 1, Gannet 3.
Penclawdd. Redshank 180, Greenshank 2.
Castell Du this evening. Common Sandpiper 1, Pied Wagtail 45, all on the mudflats and none on the salt marsh, that’s a first for me! Canada Goose 251, LBB Gull 50, Herring Gull 57.
The Mewslade and Middleton farm area at 11-2 was buzzing with warblers today , Around Middleton Farm – 1 Pied flycatcher, 25 Willow warbler, 6 chiffchaff, 2 Lesser Whitethroat mainly in the sycamores at farm entrance, at Mewslade -at the lower end on the west side where the path goes up at the x roads by the big rock -2 Reed warbler, 1 garden warbler, 3 Lesser Whitethroat- these really showy at times feeding on the stones below the scrub at times-,2 Whitethroat , 3 Willow warbler, 8 chiffchaff, 2 Blackcap, 2 Spot fly and a Pied Fly. I only… Read more »
South of the Loughor Bridge this evening. Oystercatcher 34, Black-tailed Godwit 33, Bar-tailed Godwit 6, Curlew 15.
Bwlchymyndd (Loughor foreshore). Oystercatcher 26, Black-tailed Godwit 116, Pintail 122, Shelduck 32, Little Egret 6. Interestingly the Pintail were feeding on the same sections of the foreshore as the godwits and when the latter left so did the Pintail.
Female Wheatear on the prom at Mumbles opposite No 712 this morning, on passage. If I’m allowed a favourite bird, the Wheathear is very high on my list.
Quite a few on the cliff-edges near Pobbles in the last two weeks.
Very vocal tawny owl in the garden last night.. West Cross.. “kewick kewick..” is that a male?
Probably a female.The “keewick” call is usually a response to a “hooting” male
At the end of the Weobley track over the high tide today. 500 Dunlin,, 3 Knot, 3 Ruff! – these are quite scarce on Gower, 1 Grey Plover, 2 Snipe, 150 Ringed Plover, 1 Grey Plover, 1 Little Stint, 3 Turnstone, 1 Sanderling, 1 Greenshank, 4 Golden plover, 60 Curlew, 2 Sandwich Tern, 7 Wheatear, 1 Whitethroat, 90 Pintail, 10 Teal, 36 G B B Gull and 10 sand martin flew east. Luckily the 2 Peregrines present had made a kill early so the waders were not flushed off which often happens here. One of the Peres was the same… Read more »
Upper Lliw Reservoir and Brynllefrith. Felt like mid summer with a Chiff-chaff in full song also several others “feeding up” in the hot sunshine.A flock of around 40 Meadow Pipit being harassed by a Sparrowhawk on the flanks of Mynydd y Gwair. They were eventually driven away by an annoying drone user. Also Buzzard(2) and Red Kite(3). In Brynllefrith good numbers of Blue Tit and Chaffinch. Song Thrush(6) ,Mistle Thrush(2) and Carrion Crow(1) already exploiting the “winter berries”. Above the dam a flock of c60 House Martin,(this is always a good spot at this time of year) and Green Woodpecker(2)… Read more »
Bird numbers have increased slowly off Loughor Foreshore car park with 113 Pintail, 36 Shelduck and 121 Back-tailed Godwits on this evening’s tide. Also, I saw my first ‘Loughor’ Great White Egret of the autumn. Other maxima over the last few days have included 224 Mallard (though oddly there were none today!?), 43 Teal, 64 Little Egrets, 34 Oystercatchers and 23 Curlew, all amongst a cacophony of >1,000 Black-headed Gulls, best viewed an hour or two either side of high tide. Birds are very tame so excellent opportunities for any photographers out there. Certainly I’ve never seen Pintail so confiding… Read more »