GRC Blog


Welcome to the GRC Recorders pages. This blog provides details on all the relevant news of Glamorgan’s scarcer birds, plus all BBRC & WRP decisions that affect us locally. It will also be used to document the status and occurrence of these scarcer species and we welcome contributions from anyone with photographs, artwork or documentation of rarities past, present and future. The GRC also welcomes all seawatching news from around Glamorgan and news of passage migrants in spring & autumn, uncommon birds in our area and unusual behaviour.


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The Glamorgan Rarities Committee, in conjunction with the Glamorgan Bird Club & Gower Wildlife , have agreed to co-operate with the Welsh Ornithological Society in the sharing of bird records & photographs in the interest of keeping accurate records and to promote birdwatching in North, Mid & South Wales.

Wednesday 18 May 2016

Gull-billed Tern south of Loughor Bridge

An adult Gull-billed Tern was pretty much the first bird spotted (around 19:45hrs) when I took the dog for an amble at the bridge this evening. Chris Brewer, Neil Edwards and Sandra managed to get down and see it feeding with a scattered group of Black-headed Gulls before it eventually headed off to Morfa Baccas (Carms) where we left it on the sandflats at 20:20hrs.

There have now been four occurrences of Gull-billed Tern in the Burry Inlet, on each occasion birds have wandered into both vice-counties:
1987, April, Machynys (vc44) & Salthouse (vc41)
1996, July-Aug, Penclacwydd (vc44) & Crofty (vc41)
2012, June, Penclacwydd (vc44) & Loughor (vc41)
2016, May, Loughor (vc41) & Morfa Baccas (vc44)
The only other Glamorgan bird was the one at Penrice 1993. It's about time a Caspian put in another appearance!

4 comments:

Mark Hipkin said...

Saw your Gull-billed Tern this evening Barry, it's a cracking bird and well worth getting soaked in the process. Great find!
Another Caspian you say! Yes please!!

Neil Donaghy said...

Not swapping my Caspian with either of you even if I do still need Gull-billed for Glam...

Phil B said...

Nice one Barry, still a good rarity find and fits the established pattern of occurrences in the south-west of Britain.

Neil Donaghy said...

and now recorded in Eastern Glamorgan too...