Yesterday me and a team from the Aber uni ornithological society took part in Global Big Day, aiming to spot as many species as we could in one day, in Ceredigion. We met at 4.20am in Aber, with some of our first birds being tawny owl, and singing robins and wrens. We headed down into town via the viewpoint and along Bryn road which add more common species such as chiffchaff and blackcap, along with 2 singing lesser whitethroats. We headed along the prom and added turnstone, purple sandpiper and whimbrel to the list, followed by a pair of peregrines over Consti and a common whitethroat. Next stop was Ynyslas, adding dunlin, ringed plover, sanderling and a single knot. There was also a smart male white wag on the beach. A seawatch from the dunes added manxie, kittiwake and razorbill. We then headed down the Leri, the first of 4 cuckoos we heard yesterday began calling and we also added kestrel along with reed and sedge warbler to the list. From there we headed to Cwm Cletwr where we had excellent views of singing wood warblers, pied flys, redstart and a fly over redpoll. Then onto Ynys-hir for most of the common ducks, Cetti's warbler and the lone barnacle goose. We were then treated to an osprey overhead, who disappeared and reappeared with a fish! Nant yr Arian was our next stop for tufted duck and greenfinch, followed by tree pipit at Hafod Arch, whinchat and coot at Tregaron bog, the mandarin at Aberaeron, common scoter at Llanrhystud and mute swan at Nanteos (unfortunately no sign of the hooded crow by the time we got there). It was getting harder to add birds as the day went one, but in an attempt to add one more species to the day list, we headed to Borth bog as it was getting dark to try and get an early nightjar. Sure enough, not long after arriving on the bog, we heard the sound of a distant churring nightjar to the NE of the bog, followed by a second distant bird to the SW.
We were very pleased to finish the day on 106 species! A big thank you to the team and to Aaron Elphick and Sam Garland for driving all day.
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| Wood warbler |
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| Osprey |
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| Whinchat |
