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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.
My First swift of the year seen over Pennard Valley this morning.. also several wheatear still passing through
Along the Tawe- mid afternoon stroll showed that breeding season is in swing. Along a five mile stretch one brood of Mallard,juvenile Dipper,two pairs of Common Sandpiper a single Kingfisher darting.Seven Goosander.Surrounding woodland alive with song-including Whitethroat,Blackcap,Chiffchaff,Willow Warbler,Song Thrush,Blackbird and Great Tit.
Crymlyn Bog early this morning: Reed, Cetti’s and lots of Sedge Warblers. One singing Grasshopper Warbler too. Cuckoo heard on the east side of Kilvey Hill calling frequently.
Rotherslade to Limeslade: lesser whitethroat singing approximately 300 m west of Limeslade; whimbrel on the rocks at Limeslade. Influx of whitethroat apparent, with 10+ singing males along the stretch
Thirteen(not nine as previously thought) well grown ducklings-the offspring of the hybrid drake.After defending and protecting them so well he appears to have deserted his post today. No doubt the chicks appear to be big enough to handle themselves now. It’s a long time since I’ve seen a brood survive so well and retain their number.
Widegate, down to Bishopston stream, turn right and follow stream to next junction of paths: Grey Wagtail pair this afternoon.
Cuckoo heard at Fairwood Common 05.20 this morning.
Also Greenfinch male on Nyjer feeder in garden today – very unusual nowadays. And a Magpie caught a juv Starling in a tree & killed, plucked & beheaded it while its frantic family tried unsuccessfully to save it.
Seen Saturday (April 30th) – Red Kite above Oxwich, being mobbed. https://flic.kr/p/2nhwtSH
Caswell to Langland: wheatear (f), 3 whitethroat (singing), fledged stonechats and another pair strongly alarming (3 territories noted in total), grey seal
Mute swan clutch on the Neath Canal near Melin has now hatched! Seven cygnets seen swimming this morning.
May 1st Oxwich 4pm, 22 sanderling going into summer plumage, near exit of river.
This hybrid drake that has been spotted on Fendrod Lake and the river Tawe has mated with a Mallard. There are nine ducklings but he is very aggressive in protecting them and they and mother scuttled into thick vegetation before I could take a photo. It will be interesting to see what the offspring look like if they survive to adulthood
Good numbers of Sand Martins, House Martins and Swallows over the Tawe at Swansea Vale.
Curlew or Whimbrel? Spotted yesterday on a Gower beach (again, won’t say which, because W is schedule 1).
Whimbrel for me… looking at its beak
I have just seen 2 juvenile Lesser redpoll in my garden (Crynant) for the first time having had a maximum of 13 adults recently. The first juvenile Siskin was on 29th April.
Hi folks, anyone know who this little friend might be? I won’t see where I saw them in case they’re Schedule 1, but the habitat was small copses just inland from dunes.
Thinking a Lesser Whitethroat…
super, that’s what I thought, too! thanks, that’s awesome!
Fairwood Common. Pwll Mawr, Herring Gull predated Moorhen nest took all the young. Heron, cormorant and Canada geese. If anyone has lost a lens cap for a spotter along the north bank, I have it. On common, willow warbler, stonechats, starlings, house sparrows, chiff chaff.
Cuckoo at Lliw Valley this morning. Also Redstart singing by the quarry by the road up to Upper Lliw reservoir.
Fairwood Common, in addition to the male Cuckoo this morning, several Stonechats, Linnets, Swallows, Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Heron, Dunnock, Song Thrush, Greylag Geese, Sky Lark and two reeling Grasshopper Warblers.
Cuckoo seen and heard at Fairwood 8pm this evening, not far from Swansea Uplands rugby club. It was mainly perched on a telephone wire, but did swoop down to catch a very big looking caterpillar on two occasions. The first time I’ve seen a cuckoo!
Also spotted a swallow and a few blackcaps, and two greylags flew overhead from Pwll Mawr.
April 28 1500. Stonechats, common whitethroats and a lesser whitethroat in song, south east Cefn Bryn. Pictured, common whitethroat on telegraph wire above lesser whitethroat on gorse bush.
On a Caswell-to-Three Cliffs walk on Tuesday morning, plenty of whitethroat, a few linnet and stonechat, and more fulmars than usual. Photos of wheatear, whitethroat and dwarbler (m and f).
I didn’t realise three photos was the limit.
The focus on my only reasonable lens (Tamron) is broken. Can anybody try to fix it? Apparently it’s cheaper to buy a new one than send it off to the makers for repair. Alternative is to throw it away.
Lovely photos Gary! Good spot on the dartford too.
Re your broken lens: I had a similar situation when I lived in Newcastle, and asking about at local camera shops I was directed to a vintage camera seller who did repairs. If you haven’t already tried it, I’d suggest calling Camera Centre Swansea, CC Cardiff, and Carmarthen Cameras. My guy didn’t have a web presence (on Fbook) so I wouldn’t have found him alone.
Thanks, Troy. I did try the Camera Centre in Swansea, but they said they thought sending it back to the maker was the only option, and that that would probably cost more than a new lens. If I visit Cardiff or Carmarthen I’ll try them, as I don’t want to put the lens in the post.
First Moorhen chicks out on the Canal in Clydach. A total of seven. Size difference quite noticeable. They will obviously have to get accustomed to the taste of white bread. Other would be parents appear to be getting tyred of waiting.
Heard from garden in Brynfield Road this afternoon: kittiwake. We have lived here for 47 years and this is a first.