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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.
Crossbills moving over Langland this morning.
Bracelet this morning. 23 Med Gulls at high tide with 3 Kittiwakes amongst them.
This evening.
Castell Du.
Common Sandpiper 10, Dunlin 3, Little ringed Plover 6 (including 2 juvs), Pied Wagtail 21.
Loughor foreshore car park.
Dunlin 3 (same as Castell Du?), Black t Godwit 31, Redshank 1, Mallard 65.
Yesterday, a walk in Crynant, SN8004/05 : 21 Mistle thrush incl. 3 juveniles, Swallows 15, Common buzzard 4 incl. 1 juvenile making begging calls, 4 Meadow pipits.
This afternoon.
Loughor foreshore car park.
Black t Godwit10
Penclawdd.
Redshank 72
Dalton’s Point.
Black t Godwit 13, with another 484 on the Carms side together with 24 Dunlin.
Great white Egret 1 in the channel which later flew over to Carms.
45 Med Gulls at Bracelet this morning. No rings visible.
Also three Dolphins close to shore.
80 Med gulls on the rocks on the eastern edge of Caswell Bay this morning, with a further 13 offshore at Whiteshell Point. 6 juveniles amongst them.
Sea watch from Tutt Head 1400-1645hrs
All movement down channel unless stated otherwise.
Med Gull 32 in the bay or feeding off shore, mainly adults, Gannet 13 including two juvs, Fulmar Petrel 1, Razorbill 2, Guillemot 8 (plus three half grown chicks each with a parent). All auks rafting on the water. Arctic Skua 3 (pale and dark phase adults and a pale phase sub adult bird, looking pretty much adult but with visible barring on underwing). All successfully harassing Kitts and Meds before moving off.
This morning.
Castell Du
Lapwing 3, Oystercatcher 2, Canada Goose 7, Common Sandpiper 2, Little Egret 1, GBBG 4 (2 ads, 2 juvs), Herring Gull 7, LBBG 20
Loughor foreshore car park.
Dunlin 9, Ringed Plover 2, Mallard 83.
Good numbers of House Martins feeding over Crymlyn Bog in between the rain this afternoon. Also a few Swifts and a couple of Swallows
Wader counts in the upper section of the Burry this evening on the falling tide: Oystercatcher 1935, Ringed Plover 1, Knot 11, Dunlin 3, Barwit 3, Blackwit 729, Whimbrel 6, Curlew 45, Redshank 3, Ruff 1, Common Sandpiper 1. Details of 2 colour-ringed Blackwits to follow…https://photos.app.goo.gl/8pMN3F5osHQKuEXZ6
Sea watch from Horton this afternoon 1500-1645 hrs.
All movement down channel unless stated otherwise.
Mediterranean Gull 12 feeding off shore in the bay, Manx Shearwater 16, Gannet 31, Fulmar Petrel 6, Guillemot 1, Arctic Skua 1sub adult, Arctic Tern 1 adult.
Yesterday.
At Loughor Bridge on the run up.
Whimbrel 7, Canada Goose 41, Oystercatcher 132.
From Loughor foreshore car park.
Teal 4, Mallard 41, Black t Godwit 2.
68 Med Gulls in Port Talbot Harbour today, together with 10 Curlew, 10 Ringed Plover, 5 Turnstone, 23 Oystercatchers and 2 Dunlin. At Margam Landfill, lots of Linnets and Skylarks indicating a good breeding season for these two species. Similarly lots of juvenile gulls (mostly Herrings, Lesser BBs and the odd GBB) on the beach.
2green sandpiper , 1 common sand , 4 GBB gull (2 juv) at Castell Du .greenshank,common sand and 3 whimbrel at Loughor bridge . juv Goshawk on unsuccessful hunting flight also , flew over toward Gowerton .
Monday evening and our walk on the Lost Peatlands up in the hills near Aberdare was well attended, thought the Nightjars remained elusive. Sixteen joined in the walk in this interesting site of recovering peatland. Bird of the evening was Grasshopper Warbler: calling well but invisible. We shall return.
edge of North Gower saltmarsh held some recently fledged birds inc family party of Cetti’s (3 juvs) being tended to by parents . family group of Greenfinch (5 birds) was also good to see .
up at Castell Du , 2 Lapwing on the estuary looked to be juvs ( pale cream feathering on nape and above eye ) but could be moulting adults ? ( bit early?) . 4 common sandpiper and several recently fledged Pied Wag
Yesterday, of course😅
6 swifts screaming low over 8&6 Hendrefoilan Road, Sketty. Hopefully a succesful outcome as there has been a nest site there for years. We’ve got a few boxes up here at 10&14 but not occupied as far as I can tell.
Hi Ian, can you put the records on Swift Mapper please, if you haven’t already done so?
Rhossili- mewslade Thursday – Significant numbers of wheatear (mostly juve ule) at least 20. 2 lesser whitethroat above fall bay .12 chough.
Pwlldu bay – 2 dead guillemot? Pretty gnarled up
Cwm Clydach earlier today. A number of Spotted Flycatchers around including recently fledged birds. 2 Dippers on river, 1 adult and 1 juvenile.
A colleague just mentioned that she counted 40 dead birds on Rossilli Beach yesterday, even though they hadn’t walked far because of the weather. She’s fairly sure 2 were Hering Gull and 38 were Manx Shearwaters. Has anyone else seen similar?
Hi Ruth – this is so sad. Do you know whether the birds were reported to Defra (Report dead wild birds – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk))?
Sadly there have been other reports, all of Guillemots, dead at Mewslade (6) and over 20 on a small section of Rhossili beach last Thursday in addition to a dead bird I found above Fall Bay. All these birds were reported on the Defra link and also to the National Trust as landowner. The guillemots are presumably from the colony on Worms Head. It’s devastating. Hopefully Defra have retrieved some of the dead birds for testing.
Hi Francis, It is very sad and worrying. Yes, they have been reported to Defra. Thanks, Ruth
350+ Black-tailed Godwit and 3 Knot off Penclawdd today. Many now in full moult
This year’s first 50+ feeding flock of Little Egrets in the Loughor Estuary today. Plenty more to come from the local colonies. Yellow-legged birds aren’t that infrequent
15 Chough over Port Eynon @ 11.00AM this morning. 6 Mediterranean Gull on Oxwich beach yesterday PM.