Status of Ring-necked Duck in Glamorgan (VC41)

Ring-necked Duck in Glamorgan
(Rare American Vagrant)
Broad Pool, Gower drake on 6th May 1989 - 1st VC41 record
Kenfig Pool female from 9th to 12th April 1995
Lisvane Reservoir drake on 26th April 1999
Llanishen/Lisvane Reservoir fem/imm on 17th Oct. 2000
Eglwys Nunydd Reservoir fem on 31st Dec. 2000
Cosmeston Lakes drake on 17th Sept. 2002
Llanishen/Lisvane Reservoir female on 30th April 2003
Cosmeston Lakes drake from 9th Jan. to 5th Feb. 2004
Kenfig Pool fem or 1st W male on 11th Nov. 2006
Kenfig Pool drake on 29th March 2010
Eglwys Nunydd Reservoir drake from 1st to 6th April 2010 (possibly the KNNR bird)
Cardiff Bay Wetlands Reserve 1st W male on 20th, 22nd, 24th to 28th Oct. 2015

Ring-necked Duck at Cardiff Bay WR

 Gareth Stamp made a really good call on a juv/1st W duck at CBWR this evening. A bird showing many features consistent with a pure Ring-necked Duck but in this plumage completely ruling out a hybrid is a tricky call. Gareth's record shots in fading light show enough features to make a safe call regarding the purity of this bird. Well done to Gareth and thanks also to Barry Stewart for his comments on this bird.

Woodlarks at Mewslade today. PP, CG, PT.

                                   3 Woodlark were on the barn roof at Mewslade farm
                                   at noon. They flew off towards the chapel but could not
                                   be relocated. Also Wheatear and Whitethroat of note.

News

Whooper Swan (ad) was briefly at Fendrod Lake this am [RHAT]

News from Flat Holm this month (Oct.) include:
SEO on 3rd (4th island rec.)
Willow Wbr. 3rd (possibly a northern bird)
Whitethroat 3rd & 5th
Whinchat 12th
Wheatear - small passage - max 14 on 5th.

Yellow-browed Warbler at Mewslade

A poor record shot of a Yellow-browed Warbler in Mewslade Valley this afternoon. One, or possibly two birds, were present found by Eddie Hunter in with a very large and mobile tit flock. Barry Stewart had a Firecrest among the flock too.

Cattle Egret at Kenfig

 Record shots of the Cattle Egret at Kenfig this afternoon and evening. Great find by Neil Donaghy and my efforts to see it this afternoon made much easier by Graham Powell's earlier hard graft tracking the bird down and staying with it. The bird stayed with the flock of sheep west of the pool until 5pm when it flew to the pool. It stayed on the east pool shore with the gulls, Pintail, Teal and Wigeon until 6:15pm when it flew off high north. It was difficult to judge how far it went but it flew strongly for well over a minute. It started gliding and descending while still in view from the east pool shore and my best guess is that it came down to roost in trees along the Kenfig River just behind the Kenfig Industrial Estate.

VC41 round-up

A Cattle Egret at KNNR this am found by ND, also a Hobby there.

Excellent vis-mig at the moment with very good numbers of Swallows still moving and a noted passage of Crossbills and Siskins at coastal locations. 3 Red Kites were at Lavernock today, another very good record following on from the f/o Glossy Ibis there yesterday. A Ring Ouzel was seen over the Cardiff Bay Barrage. Full details in the GRC Monthly Round-up, to be done shortly.

Glossy Ibis over Lavernock

The original photo and cropped version of the Glossy Ibis over Lavernock Point today taken by Lol Middleton. The bird was moving north over the point towards Cosmeston. Could be worth checking Cog & Sully Moors tomorrow morning. 

Wryneck in Bridgend

This was seen on 2 days (12th & 14th Sept.) in the Bridgend garden of Adrian Reed, who managed to get a few records shots.

Grey Phalarope on Broad Pool (15/09/15)

Record shot taken yesterday afternoon of the juv -> 1st W Grey Phalarope on Broad Pool. A popular bird attracting visiting birders throughout the day having been found smartly early morning by Chris Brewer. While at Broad Pool a Green Sandpiper made a brief and noisy fly-by appearance, and decent numbers of hirundines in the area too.