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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.
NE of Birchgrove at SS711996 a Buzzard and two Red Kites.
Oxwich Bay: 2 great northern divers, 1 red-throated diver. Porpoise. Lots of cormorants and a handful of great crested grebes.
Visited the Margam Opencast site today in Kenfig Hill for the very first time to see the 6 ring necked ducks.. superb close views with the finder Paul Roberts.. also had a singing skylark, first this year.. and excellent close views of a male stonechat.. nearly got impaled on a barb wired fence.. I saw the gate after I’d climbed over.. doh!
January Highlights from our Recording area (compiled by Rob Jones). 30/01/2022: Salthouse Point / Daltons Marsh / Upper Loughor. Spoonbill, Brent Geese c520, Dunlin 1000+, Pintail 195, Teal 84, Redshank 86, Wigeon 33, Mallard 33, Black-tailed Godwits 9, Little Egret 6. 26/01/2022: Baglan Bay / River Neath Estuary / Brunel Dock. Great Crested Grebe 86, Sanderling 11, Common Gull 16, Oystercatcher 322, Curlew 42, Goosander (fem) Redshank 9, Water Rail (vocal). 23/01/22: Jackstones Pier / Aberavon Water /Swansea Queen Docks. Purple Sandpiper 1, Turnstone 11, Red- Throated Diver 6, Great Crested Grebe 15, Great Northern Diver 2, Shag 6, Lapwing… Read more »
Goosanders: one male and eight female on a private attenuation pond Llangyfelach this afternoon.
Cold NW wind over Clyne Common this pm. Female stonechat. Flushed a snip sp, gumboot-out-of-mud call, and flew at height of grasses before settling after 40 yards.
Upper Millay Pond..
5 gadwall, 2 teal, 3 mallard, numerous moorhens
Mumbles this afternoon 2 Choughs and a pair of Ravens behind the coastguard station and 1 Curlew in front of the Knab.
Fendrod Lake, 1400 – 1600 today, 2x great crested grebe , 1x male goosander, 1x red kite fly over plus 2x siskin in a flock of goldfinch near the wooden bridge.
Fairwood Common: Calling flock of Fieldfares 25-30 flying over today and yesterday, with 9 feeding on Upper Killay playing field today amongst ca 120 Starlings.
Nice record Barbara, Fieldfares have been scarce this winter in our recording area.
Dalton’s Point 4pm today. One grubby looking Spoonbill sifting through the mud in the bottom of the pill. Penclawdd Pill 1 Greenshank, 1 Common Sandpiper.
Llanrhidian marsh this afternoon, Red Kite, Stonechat, Reed Buntings, Kestrel Buzzard, Egrets, Little and Great White, Shelduck, Teal.
From the track out from Woebley to the observation tower, Raven, Reed Bunting, Lapwing, Redshank, Snipe, Hen Harrier and 1000+ Golden Plover.
Oxwich Marsh: 2 goshawk, 5 snipe (ringed), 2 brambling (both females – ringed), chiffchaff (typical collybita)
Close views on high tide at Crofty Promenade – 10 Teal (m+f), 5 Redshank, 4 Pintail (m+f), 6 BTailed Godwit,
Whoops…and 3 Curlew.
Oxwich Marsh and Bay
Marsh: goshawk, 36 snipe, 6 jack snipe, 50+ goldfinch
Bay: great northern diver (near the point), 25 sanderling, 22 oystercatcher
HELP THE SWANSEA SWIFT PROJECT – SIGN UP HERE Swifts are in steep decline, and are now red-listed birds of conservation concern in Wales / the UK. Mark Barber, Biodiversity Officer at Swansea City Council is driving a project to help conserve the species in our recording area. He is looking for volunteers to help with possible tasks including: helping to organise / administer the project, survey work during May to July (including leading guided surveys), building assessments to find suitable places for swift boxes (any time of year), and practical assistance in installation (e.g. people/businesses that might be able… Read more »
Counted 95 Brents on Port Eynon beach this afternoon.
Just wanted to add the count was up to 102 today, until the flock were put to flight by people.
12 chough on south edge of Pennard golf course this morning. (Photos available if proof required.)
Penclawdd Pill 1pm – 1.30pm today: 2 greenshank, 2 bar tailed godwit, 3 Redshank, 1 common sandpiper, 1 snipe, 1 little egret, 15 teal, 1 mallard, 3 wigeon, 1 cormorant, 1 common gull and 45 black headed gull
No birds of note this morning, but a fox very low down in the intertidal at Bracelet around dawn (at low tide).
Jan 26. 1 x Green sandpiper, 1 x great white egret , big numbers of Brent goose and pintail, 2x red kite plus the luecistic house sparrow at Crofty today 11.00 am to 2 pm.
Jan 22 Unusually large Brent goose flock off Sedger’s Bank – awful lighting so not able to be race -specific. (Were they all here because there were 52 GOS members on the loose on the other side of the peninsula ?)
Jan 23, 1 spoonbill feeding at Penclawdd, just off the parade west side of the metropolis. 5 snipe on bank opposite the car park by the chip shop. Lots of teal, 112 pintail, redshank, 122 BT godwit, 2 greenshank, curlew, little egrets.
Rob and Dan walking away from the Brent Geese and a Reed Bunting. Photos taken today on the fieldtrip by GOS member Derek Jones.
A great morning, thank you