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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 on the HT. GC Grebe 2, Bar t Godwit 333, Whimbrel 15, Dunlin 46, Grey Plover 1, Curlew 1, Gadwall 2, Bl t Godwit 7, Knot 1. Nice to be there with no fishermen tramping all over the mud flats pushing the waders around, an increasing problem in recent years it seems to me.
Castell Du at HT. Canada Goose 63, including one on eggs. Pied Wagtail 14, Shelduck 9, Sand Martin 27, Stock Dove 2, oystercatcher 3, Gadwall 2, a pair, Wheatear 1 male, plus another on the opposite bank in Carms.
new garden visitor.. first scoping things out.. then tentatively visiting the patio… fantastic birds
Loughor Bridge. Bar t Godwit 257, Whimbrel 23, Curlew 1, Knot 1, Black t Godwit 1, Oystercatcher 54. I think that’s the largest Bar tailed flock I’ve ever seen in Gower.
Dalton’s Point. Dunlin 34, Whimbrel 5,
Llanrhidian. GW Egret 1, Teal 11 (5 drakes), Gannet 2 adults heading up river then out again.
Horton & Slade
Lesser whitethroat singing from scrub by the diverted path at Slade, and a good few singing common whitethroat on the cliff at the Horton end. Red kite (nowhere near breeding habitat) foraging along the coastal slope.
6 whimbrel on the rock platforms
Male sparrowhawk at Horton village.
Tankeylake Moor. Willow Warbler 1 singing from the gorse.
Broughton Bay. GC Grebe 3
Salthouse Point at HT. Bar t Godwit 169 in various plumages from full bp to nbp, Whimbrel 5, GC Grebe 2, Slavonian Grebe 2 at least. Constantly diving, one in bp the other in nbp, Dunlin 14, Shelduck 35.
Pobbles Valley yesterday morning was alive with warblers.. chiffchaff, blackcaps, whitethroat, probable garden warbler (singing not seen..) wheatear on the fairway above.. Stonechat..Chough in the sky.. greenfinch.. smashing morning shame about the golf. ⛳🏌️
Walk from Lliw reservoir lower to upper today. Yellowhammer, chiffchaff, black cap, dipper, chaffinch, a warbler that I couldn’t quite identify, lesser spotted woodpecker (first I’ve ever seen). A very vocal cuckoo near upper reservoir but not very visible unfortunately!
Llanrhidian. GW Egret 1, Gadwall 3, Teal 8, Shelduck 18, two broods of Mallard totalling 20.
Port Eynon. Grey Heron 1, Whimbrel 23, Gannet 3 east, Common Scoter 3 east, Bar t Godwit 10 (one at the Point with Whimbrels then nine came in off to the beach at HT), Ringed Plover 1, Lesser Whitethroat 1 in song. Several Whitethroat and a few Kitts flying east.
Penclawdd at HT. Whimbrel 3, Curlew 1, GC Grebe 1, Shelduck 12
The final entry should be Dalton’s Point rather than Penclawdd
Worm’s Head (21/04/2021) ~200 Common guillemot (Uria aalge), ~70 Razorbill (Alca torda), ~75 Kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla), 6 pairs (i.e. 12) Northern fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis), 2 Northern gannet (Morus bassanus), 5 (2 of which juveniles) Great cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo), 2 Great black-backed gull (Larus marinus), ~ 35 Herring gull (Larus argentatus)
Oxwich 20/04/2021 2 sandwich tern, 1 gannet, 1 goldcrest, 1 green woodpecker heard yaffling.
Rhossili 20/04/2021 11 Red throated diver, 3 sandwich terns, 3 sand martin, 2 kestrel, 2 whitethroat, 2 fulmar