Lesser Scaup Cardiff Bay

Lesser Scaup was very obliging this morning and in reasonably close to the St David's hotel boardwalk so managed to get a few shots for the record.

Pete

BNG Cardiff Bay

A Black-necked Grebe in Cardiff Bay today found by Mark Waldron. This seems one of our best years for this species in East Glamorgan. Also the drake Lesser Scaup in CBWR [MW].

Cardiff Bay Wetland Reserve

Still good numbers of wildfowl on the reserve. 16 wigeon, 2 shoveler and 4 teal viewable from the boardwalk. 92 tufted duck on the reserve. The drake lesser scaup was showing well below St David's Hotel with a group of 13 tufted duck. Also 2 med gulls (ad wins) flew in late afternoon.

Little Stint at Crymlyn Burrows (23/9/14)

September has been a decent month at Crymlyn Burrows with a steady run of birds that, without being particularly rare, I consider good records for the site. The HT yesterday evening found a juv Little Stint and a juv Curlew Sandpiper at the regular roosting spot for the smaller waders. The roost has regularly been holding c350 Sanderling and c220 Ringed Plovers for most of the month.
Other stuff here during September has included Wigeon (21st), Teal (13th & 21st), Pintail (12th & 21st), Eider (6th), Golden Plover (13th), Ruff (12th), Curlew Sandpiper (14th), Spotted Redshank (8th & 9th; found in Brunel Dock 6th by DL), 3 Guillemots (8th), 2 Common Terns (20th),  2 Lesser Whitethroats (13th), Garden Warbler (13th), 1+ Redstart (2nd to 9th) and 4+ Whinchats (4th to 21st)

George Morgan

It was with great sadness that I discovered that George Morgan passed away this morning. George was 73 and extremely popular with the local birding community. I only got to know George well in 2009 when I started going birding again. It was of course at Eglwys that I would bump into him; in fact going birding at Eglwys was a bit like going to see George at home. Over the years George contributed vast amounts of records which allow us to have a good understanding of bird trends from his area - including Eglwys, Port Talbot Docks and Margam Park. His contribution to WeBS is invaluable. George made a number of discoveries of rarer birds and I know that he had a big fondness for Phalaropes. Indeed he would find Grey Phalaropes annually and he also discovered at least one Red-necked Phalarope. Apart from being a good birder George was also great company and I will miss his sometimes wicked sense of humour.
For all the birders who knew George, I know I can send heartfelt condolences to his family and friends at this difficult time.

Curlew Sandpipers : Portobello, Ogmore

Four birds feeding with a single juv Dunlin about 200m down river from the house on Vale side of river........

Ogmore River 1500hrs

3 juv Curlew Sandpiper [1 peachy, 2 pale] with 2 Dunlin on east side mud, 2 Little Egret, 1 Common Sandpiper and Kingfisher and later at Pant Norton a Hobby whizzed through and 3 Yellowhammer and 1 Chiffchaff.

photo by PPa

Curlew Sandpipers

Three Curlew Sandpipers are now frequenting Ogmore Estuary. A few Little Stints have recently been seen flying either up or down the river, but so far appear reluctant to touch down.

Cardiff Bay Wetland

CBWR - 1430 - 1700

1 lesser scaup, 77 tufted duck, 7 wigeon, 2 shoveler and 1 teal were the best of the wildfowl.
2 med gulls (ads) and 1 yellow legged gull (ad) among the gulls.

Marsh Harrier

A fem/imm type Marsh Harrier over Roath, Cardiff at 17.00hrs flying from the SW heading ENE.

Report

A report of a Wryneck, seen in flight at 11.50 this morning at East Aberthaw [per BirdGuides - added 6pm tonight].

Lavernock Point

A Firecrest was at the church this morning found by AB. Also two Spotted Flycatchers, several Willow Warbler, a Blackcap and a few Chiffchaff. There was a constant stream of Swallows with some House Martins heading east. Many Meadow Pipits going east also.

Curlew Sandpiper

Dean Bolt found this gorgeous Curlew Sandpiper at Portobello, Ogmore Estuary this evening. I was lucky to grab a couple of shots before the light went.

Colour-ringed Sanderlings

On the 6th September there were a minimum of 3 colour-ringed Sanderlings at Crymlyn Burrows beach. Incredibly they all came close enough to frame in one photo, but unfortunately I wasn't able to get the full details of the sleeping bird. The other two I did get.

Front left is G2YYWG was ringed in May 2011 in Iceland. The only places this bird has been recorded away from Iceland is North Uist in May 2012 [D. Winnard] and Crymlyn Burrows in May 2013 [M. Hipkin, R. Jones] & September 2014 [M. Hipkin].

Rear right is G3WGBR was ringed in May 2013 in Iceland. Subsequently this bird was seen at Kenfig Rivermouth in September 2013 [R.E. Thomas], then a couple of times in Iceland in May 2014 and Crymlyn Burrows in September 2014 [M. Hipkin]

Guillemot at Ogmore Estuary

Not a rare bird, but certainly an unusual occurrence. This Guillemot was present over the high tide at Ogmore this evening - initially diving upstream of Portobello and then cruising downstream among the Canada Geese and Black-headed Gulls. Definitely an Ogmore first!

Llanilid

A juvenile Black-necked Grebe was on the south pools at Llanilid today. This constitutes the third site record of the species.

Spotted Redshank and YLG in NPT (6/9/14)

 On Saturday 6th a juv->1stW Spotted Redshank was with the Redshank feeding inside Brunel Dock on the incoming tide. Found by Dave Lewis this record is a good one, with only 2 other records from the last 5 years in Neath Port Talbot. The bird was still present yesterday (RJ). Also present at Crymlyn Burrows on the 6th a female Eider offshore, slowly drifting towards Mumbles.

Marsh Harrier at Llanrhidian

A Norfolk wing-tagged Marsh Harrier was hunting the marsh this evening (video grab below) BS & JNE.

Llanishen Res

Black-necked Grebe (juv) still on Llanishen Res this morning. This is the same individual first seen on Lisvane Res on 30 Aug, the bird photographed by RGS ealier in the week.

Cardiff Bay Wetland Reserve

The drake lesser scaup appears to have returned again to Cardiff Bay Wetland Reserve. It is associating with a flock of 30 tufted duck. 2 wigeon and 3 shoveler showing well close to the boardwalk. A significant increase in coot numbers with 140 + present. Also several willow warbler and chiffchaff present on the reserve.

BNG Lisvane Res 01/09/14

One remaining BNG this afternoon