For the last ten consecutive Wednesday mornings we have been patiently monitoring the Pied Flycatcher RAS at RSPB Cwm Clydach so it was a change to spend a pleasant sunny Wednesday morning at our site in the grounds of Margam Country Park. It was an ideal opportunity for our new trainee Phil to get his hands on a few birds in a relaxed atmosphere and he was quickly rewarded with a Grey Wagtail and a Blackcap. The third bird extracted from the nets was a flycatcher – however this time it was one of the spotted variety – a first for Chris.

 Juvenile Grey Wagtail

Adult Spotted Flycatcher

Despite the hot and sunny weather there was a steady catch through the morning until 10:30 and then it was a change of pace and an opportunity to monitor a couple of swallow nests in some of the Park’s outbuildings.

Species	Adult	Juvenile	Pulli
Swallow			9
Grey Wagtail		1
Wren	2	2
Dunnock	2
Robin	1	2
Blackbird	1
Song Thrush		2
Blackcap	2	2
Chiffchaff	1	3
Spotted Flycatcher	1
Greenfinch	3
	13	12	9