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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.
Thirteen adult chough on West Cliff, Southgate, at 7:10 this morning. I saw a very violent squabble between five chough the other day (see photo), from which all five flew off apparently unharmed, and an aerial fight last week.
Limeslade to Rotherslade cliff walk: regular sightings of Whitethroat and Stonechat and today the added bonus of Linnet.
Many LBB Gulls find safety in breeding in off-shore islands. This one on Steep Holm.
Twelve of us went out on Saturday’s field trip to Coelbren, lead by Ed Hunter, whose enthusiasm and superb knowledge made the evening so enjoyable. We recorded 26 species including: Blackbird, Buzzard, Chaffinch, Collared Dove, Wood Pigeon, Tree and Meadow Pipits, Redpoll, Redstart, Siskin, Snipe, House Sparrow, Stonechat, Swallow, Swift, Song Thrush, Chiffchaff, Willow, Garden, and wood Warblers and Wren. The highlights were hearing Nightjars, a Tawny Owl in the headlights as we left and twenty minutes watching a pair of Cuckoos looking for a nest and being mobbed by Meadow Pipits and a Stonechat. We also heard another three Cuckoos.
Cuckoo calling 4:50am today, heard, (in the far distance), West of Three Crosses.
18/05 cuckoo calling, Nicholaston, 3 ringed plover and a sanderling on Oxwich beach.
Hobby seen flying over Waunarlywdd.
Park Woods / Parc le Breos: singing stock dove from the car park. Siskin juvs present. Adult siskin drinking from track pool and feeding on dandelion heads by the path, which I have seen in goldfinch but not siskin before.
Port Eynon this afternoon. The bulk of the birds were moving up channel so only those counted. Down channel movement increased as the afternoon wore on, with a commensurate reduction in up channel movement. All prior to rain stopping play.
Guillemot 32, Razorbill 3, Gannet 9, Fulmar Petrel 5, Manx Shearwater 182.
Castell Du over this evening’s HT. Little Egret 15, Shelduck 7, Spoonbill 1 imm, some black visible in the wing and both wings had an inner primary missing. It eventually flew off very high over the hills in the general direction of the WWT.
6 Whimbrel on Salthouse Point, Crofty at high tide this morning.
Productive walk along the Ilston Valley: 2 spotted flycatchers chasing in the canopy, marsh tit, and some fledged grey wagtails on the stream at the Ilston church end.
Oxwich this afternoon. Sandwich Tern 1 fishing in the bay, Gannet 32, Manx Shearwater 29, Fulmar Petrel 1, Mallard 2 all down channel.
in the NNR Sedge Warbler 1 in song, Willow Warbler 1 in song, House Martin 3, Swift 2, Mute Swan 1 on the south pool.
Cuckoo heard on May 14th from our back garden in Manselfield.
Llanrhidian Marsh this afternoon. Great white Egret 1, Shalduck20. Notable lack of waders, apart from Oystercatchers, all along the northern shore.
Spotted a Wheatear up near Carn lechart… Another spotted near Cwmcerdinen 15/05/22
Latest news from Gower Ringing Group is here: https://www.gowerbirds.org.uk/oxwich-marsh-mid-april-to-mid-may-2022-reeling-in-the-summer/
Castell Du on the HT. Shelduck 7, Gadwall 6, Canada Goose 4, Sand Martin 26, Wheatear 2
See comment: Dunlin and Sanderling at Whiteford NNR
Plenty of Dunlin at Whiteford NNR yesterday and also plenty of Sanderling sometimes mixed in with them . At first I thought the pale ones were immature Dunlin but the shorter straighter beaks imply Sanderling. Photos will hopefully attach. Happy to be corrected. Also around 50-100 Whimbrel and some Godwits mixed in with them too at times. Also around 40 Ringed Plover and a couple of hundred Oystercatcher.
A cuckoo at Oxwich Marsh this morning.
Long walk around Knelston, Llanddewi and Burry resulted in 4-5 yellowhammer (inc two males) at the bottom of Frogmoor, fledged stonechats in the same area, and a curlew on farmland north of Knelston village. Also 2+ peacocks (Indian peahen).
Upper part of Frogmoor has been burnt. State of the vegetation there quite depressing. No wonder yellowhammer are confined to the damp patch at the bottom.
Sad to hear that. It wasn’t burned when I went there at the end of march.
The first one is out ! Fledged Starling in the garden, Clydach, this afternoon.
Oxwich Marsh (08/05). 3 grasshopper warblers captured. First juvenile siskins of the year. Reed warblers now more established on territory.
It looks as if it’s a busy breeding season for Starling in Clydach. I walked part of the village this morning and noted 12 active nesting sites and a further 4 in Trebannws.The garden has been busy the last few days with up to 11 individuals searching for food both “natural” and “artificial” I think that the recent dry spell has made it difficult to probe for insects. I’m sure the noisy fledglings will be around this week
Oxwich this morning: 3 Sandwich terns foraging close inshore
Pwll du (06/05) common scoter west and a whimbrel on the head