Llanrhystud

 Signs of movement and change this morning. Dunlin 12, Ringed Plover 16, Sanderling, Common Sandpiper and Wheatear. Heading north; House Martin 30, Teal 3, Little Egret 2.

Cwm Tydu Manx Shearwaters

 I have been camping again at Cwm Tydu, and again done a spot of Noc - migging, I have yet to review the second of the two recordings I Done, however the first ( 20th August ) revealed the regular Tawny owl in the valley at Cwm Tydu, also a flyover Whimbrel, but also once again in the pre dawn hours, I recorded Manx Shearwaters in the valley , which to me seems fairly late , I hope to do some more recording next spring

 Mark Spirito

Marian Mawr, , Ynys-hir

 Marian Mawr hide at RSPB Ynys-hir was quite productive again this morning, with osprey, peregrine, marsh harrier, great egret, 2 garganey, 5 greenshank, 3 green sandpiper and a spotted redshank the highlight.

 Russell Jones

 

Kingfisher at Trefechan

 I've just been watching a kingfisher under Trefechan Bridge. It was successfully fishing off the rocks. 12.30pm today.

Sue  Stevens

Aberystwyth

 A first for me- I have been wandering the prom at Aber for some 65 years now & Sat 27th was the first time I have seen an Egret (Little) on the rocks at low tide between Castle point & the pier. Just in my short lifetime I have noticed the rise in sea level.as I usually make a note of being on the prom on the biggest of the spring tides at low water especially when the pressure is relatively high & the wind is from the north or east which helps decrease sea level off Aber. The various areas I would see as a teenager on these big tides are no longer visible . Also this summer is by far & away the worst as regards Nos of Swallows I have seen or should that be not seen!!

 Dave Taylor

Cribyn and the Aeron Valley

We came back to my native Ceredigion last week for a week's holiday in a cottage near Cribyn so I thought I ought to report what we had seen/heard while there....... not much sadly.  2 Dippers half a mile or so apart on the lower reaches of the Aeron. Plenty of Nuthatches along with asmall family of Treecreepers and a Greater Spotted near our lodgings - also quite frequent sightings and hearings of Bullfinches

.Also, I had heard Chiffchaffs/Willow Warblers(?) mooching about the undergrowth all week but the highlight for me was a Chiffchaff singing lustily as I packed up the car early yesterday (27th) - I think it is the first time I have heard one sing in August. The other highlight (non-avian) was my only Painted Lady of the Summer sharing a small Buddleia with 3 Red Admirals.

Andrew Lewis

Cwm Silio

 A morning stroll with Mrs M to exercise ageing limbs. Two dippers were at the waterfall, halfway down from the church and a Kestrel was over the bay. Gannets and Terns were far out to sea and 8 Common Scoter went south.

Med Gull feedback

 Steve Seal has had details of the colour-ringed Med Gulls which he saw at Llanon on Friday.

R2EH was ringed as a pullus in the Vendee, France in June 2020.  Subdsequent sightings have been in Dorset, Nov 2020 Brittany Jan 2021, Nevern Est.  PembsMarch 2021, then from July to Sept 2021 at Aberystwyth, New Quay and Llanon, back to Brittany in Dec then finally this month at Aberystwyth and Steve's sighting at Llanon. A fairly typical tour, based on many of the previous Med Gulls of which we have sightings histories.

R3XX has previously been noted in Ceredigion, but i haven't found details yet.

Kingfishers

 We had just returned from shopping in Tesco,  and stopped as usual under Trefechan Bridge. We were pleased to see 2 Kingfishers fly under the bridge towards us. They then turned round, flew under the middle span and returned upriver.

Helen and Gareth Herbert

Down South

Annoyingly and slightly worryingly I got the tide wrong yesterday (as it was the 26th not 16th) for my Teifi watch but it was pleasant enough in the sun. Up to a dozen Curlew were poking about and later 2 calling Whimbrel led by a Curlew flew inland. Ravens croaked overhead alerting me to a common Buzzard lazily circling or to the owner of the property in whose garden I had inadvertently paused and who was approaching! No worry as he was  extremely helpful and interested in birds having lived many years on the estuary edge. 

At Swallow Yard ditch outlet over 50 Barnacle geese were joined by a fledged shelduck youngster and the usual gaggle of Mallards. 

This morning on a flat calm sea Sandwich Terns provided the entertainment as they perch on the marker buoys off Aberporth beach which are spherical so only one bird can balance at a time and this left the several youngsters flapping and squawking begging to be allowed to perch and hoping for a free fish.

Way out on the horizon was some Gannet and Manx action but it didn't last long, the fish all seem to be  up at the Dyfi.  At 11am 11 Scoter flew west, no hesitation, so they will not be the ones we see all winter.

Aberystwyth prom

 Strangely, Helen and I didn't have a single manxie this morning.  Eight Ringed Plovers and four Turnstones were hiding on the beach then Helen picked up two Common Sandpipers and two Sandwich going south and that was about it.

Glandyfi

 Glandyfi, on the way home from Llanon yesterday. A Peregrine there chasing Gulls not successful,  perched up on a post next to the water. Also two Ospreys over , 12 Goosander and 4 Little Egrets  and a single Greenshank.

Steve Seal

Another day in paradise

 Extraordinarily quiet at Llanrhystud. Could possibly have seen more migratory activity from the picket line at work. There were about 600 Med. Gulls at Llanon, but again, not much else. Back at the car park, a group of middle aged men (whose high viz vests/logos suggested they were working at the nearby estate) were getting pleasure from hurling rocks at a flock of geese that had settled on the water. A depressing sight. If one of them had slipped and broken his neck I wouldn't have rushed over to help.

Llanon

 Popped down to Llanon beach around 14-00 today my first visit. Around 150 Med Gulls were on the beach , of which in flight I managed to photograph two with colour rings (Green). Numbers R3XX and R2EH . Dont know if anybody has had these before. Also present 4 Red Kites around over fields and beach also 8 x Ringed Plover and 3 x Rock Pipits. And several Sandwich Terns a good way out. Many more Med Gulls were possibly present some distance along the shore but time wasn't on my side.

Steve Seal

Teifi valley

 A Hobby was heading down river at Henllan this morning.

New Quay look-out (Birds Rock)

 There was a nice selection of birds seen during a 2-hour dolphin watch this morning, which made-up for the lack of dolphins!

The highlight was a group of 14 chough, also an unexpected sparrowhawk, and two kestrels.  Sea birds included kittiwakes (good numbers on the ledges and a large group in the sea), one fulmar and a couple of passing sandwich terns. Other birds included two ravens, several passing swallows, house martins and sand martins, the usual linnets and goldfinch, and a single blue tit. 

 

Aline Denton

Ynys-hir, Marian Mawr

 There were nine Greenshank, at least five Green Sandpiper, Common Snipe, Water Rail, Black-tailed Godwit, two Garganey and at least one Cetti’s Warbler (heard not seen) on the Marian Mawr pools this morning.

Rhys Thatcher

Aberystwyth prom

 Met up with Helen at Castle Point this morning, after counting 23 Turnstones at roost on the wall.  Helen had the same count yesterday evening, plus a Little Egret in The Gap.

Nothing happening offshore except a northward passage of Manx Shearwaters, several hundreds in the hour or so that we were there. As we were leaving Helen looked up in time for us to watch a line of 16 Greylag Geese flying south, close inshore.

Aberystwyth

 There were 8 ringed plovers at Castle Point yesterday morning and a little Egret on College Rocks

Still counting the house martins - 5 so far

A walk along the Rheidol from the police station to the harbour yielded at least 80 mallards.

Helen Herbert.

Kestrels at Llyn Eiddwen

 Chris was pleased to find two Kestrels at Llyn Eiddwen yesterday; his first sighting there for about a year.

Leucistic Oystercatcher

 The leucistic Oystercatcher is back at Llanon.

Brennig Hughes

This bird first appeared in autumn 2005, and has returned each year  to spend the winter here on the coast between Aberaeron -Llanon - Llansantffraed.

We've often wondered where it goes during the breeding season. 

Colour-ringed Med Gulls

 Following on from last Friday's post from Brennig Hughes regarding the colour rings that he read at Llanon, he's had feedback and the life histories below demonstrate the movements of some of the many Med gulls which gather on the Ceredigion coast in late summer-autumn.

3VTR

05/17 Flanders, BELGIUM

08/17 Devon, ENGLAND

11/17 Cornwall, ENGLAND

04/18 Flanders, BELGIUM

08/18 Llanon, CEREDIGION

03/19 Hampshire, ENGLAND

04/19 Flanders, BELGIUM

07/20 Devon, ENGLAND

10/20 Gann, PEMBROKESHIRE

03/21 Flanders, BELGIUM

06/21 Zuid-Holland, NETHERLANDS

10/21 Gann, PEMBROKESHIRE

06/22 Zuid-Holland, NETHERLANDS

08/22 Llanon, CEREDIGION

3LR2 

06/19 Zuid-Holland, NETHERLANDS

07/20 St Dogmaels, PEMBROKESHIRE

08/21 Gann, PEMBROKESHIRE

07/22 Llanon, CEREDIGION

39JL

05/20 Flanders, BELGIUM

07/20 Leinster, IRELAND

01/21 Beja, PORTUGAL

04/21 Flanders, BELGIUM

07/22 Llanon, CEREDIGION

R8KR

07/21 Pays de la Loire, FRANCE

04/22 East Sussex, ENGLAND

07/22 Llanon, CEREDIGION

R93A

01/13 Hauts-de-France, FRANCE

04/14 Bretagne, FRANCE

08/16 Llanon, CEREDIGION

02/17 Nouvelle-Aquitaine, FRANCE

07/17 Llanon, CEREDIGION

01/18 Nouvelle-Aquitaine, FRANCE

09/20 Cei Bach, CEREDIGION

08/21 Hauts-de-France, FRANCE

08/22 Llanon, CEREDIGION

Cors Caron

 This morning South end of Cors Caron there was a Great White Egret and 2 Greenshank.

Will Davies

Marian Mawr pools, Ynys-hir

Marian Mawr Hide Ynys-hir RSPB 

Garganey x 2

Greenshank x 1

Green Sandpiper x 2

Black-tailed Godwit x 1

Marsh Harrier fem

Little Egret x 2

Barnacle Geese x 32 on saltings.

Teal x 20

Steve Seal

Barn Owl, Aberaeron

 My cat Rhayader wakes me up at 04:20 this morning wanting to go out. As I open the door what flies past, a Barn Owl. I haven't seen one in three years and suddenly I see two in a week. Talk about waiting for a bus.

Andy James

Cors Caron

 Earlier this morning; Wood Sandpiper, Greenshank, GW Egret, Kingfisher.

Cors Caron

 The Wood Sandpiper was still at the southern end of Cors Caron yesterday.  Juv Marsh Harrier also present.

 .Arfon Williams

Spotted Crake at Ynys-hir

 After a fruitless hour at the brick-house at Ynyslas (very little moving at all) I decided to try the Marian Mawr pools at RSPB Ynys-hir. At 0905am an adult spotted crake came out of the reed edge right in front of the Marian Mawr hide and walked 3 metres before disappearing behind a large willow. Despite staying there till 1100 it did not reappear. Other birds on the pools included a juv water rail, a female garganey, a little ringed plover, black-tailed godwit, 5 green sandpipers and four greenshank. A good variety of warblers too with chiffchaff, willow , blackcap, garden, reed, sedge, whitethroat and Cetti’s. On the estuary were 2 ospreys, 110 ringed plover, 4 wigeon and 65 barnacle geese of which some 19 had white neck collars fitted (all too far away to read unfortunately).  

 Russell Jones

Mwnt Seawatch

Had a session between 06:15 and 11:00 this morning at Mwnt and saw the following, all heading southwest with the best birds passing before 09:00. 1 Balearic Shearwater, 1 Great Skua, 2 Arctic Skuas, 1 Arctic Tern, 5 Sandwich Terns, 3 each of Common Scoter, Curlew and Ringed Plover, 5 Turnstones, 3 juv Med Gulls and 17 Fulmars.

Llyn Eiddwen

 Chris's regular visits to Llyn Eiddwen have been fairly unproductive recently, so he was pleased to find the first Goosander of the autumn there yesterday. There were also two Little Grebes on the lake.

Colour-ringed Mediterranean Gulls

 Had a quick look at the gulls in Llanon and spotted 6 colour rings. It was very windy so difficult to read, but my best guess was 3LR2, 39JL, and 3VTR in white, and R8KR, R93A and R9XX in green. If anyone could provide any info or point me in the right direction that would be great.

Brennig Hughes

Coastal sightings

 Llanon 15th: c400 Med Gulls, 1 Common Gull,  20+ Ringed Plover, 6 Turnstones, 3 Dunlin, 3 Common Sands.

Morfa Bychan 16th: 24 Chough,  18 Stonechats (12+ juvs), 2 Wheatear, Peregrine, 4 Shags, Ringed Plover, 19 Oystercatchers.

Pete Hackett

YNYSLAS

 Far fewer birds from the Brickhouse compared with 2 days ago. We were there for an hour this morning and a dark Arctic Skua put in an appearance.

Black Redstart - New Quay

 There was a Black Redstart today on the harbour wall at New Quay, seen by Andy Wise during a cetacean survey. 

Aline Denton

Barn Qwl

 Saw a Barn Owl as I was approaching Tynreithyn early this morning. Year tick. 

Andy James

Tufted Ducks

 On Monday there was an adult female Tufted Duck with three juveniles on Llyn Eiddwen.

Chris Bird

YNYSLAS

 2 dark-phase Arctic Skuas put on a good show chasing terns for an hour this morning while we watched them from the brickhouse from 9.45am.

Ynis-hir Garganey

Here's a couple pics I took yesterday at Ynis-hir of one of the two Gargeneys reported last week by Dave Anning. Record shots only as they're grab shots from a phonescoped video. Other birds I saw 2 Great Egret, 3 Osprey, 6 Green Sandpiper, 4 Greenshank, 3 Shoveler and my best views this year of a Cetti's Warbler. Added a Green Sandpiper and Greenshank pic as well.

Kingfisher and Goshawk

 It was nice to see a Kingfisher flying up the Clarach Brook from the campsite tonight haven’t seen one there for a couple of years. From one tiny bird to the biggest Goshawk I’ve ever seen flying over my head on my patio a couple of nights ago at dusk, a real close up.

Tony Clark 

RSPB YNYS-HIR

   This afternoon the 2 Garganey were still present, showing well including in flight as they moved from one part of the Marian Mawr pools to another. Also a Great White Egret, a Little Ringed Plover and 2 Green Sandpipers, one of which looked like a juv following and calling after the other one. An Osprey was on a distant post, downstream on the saltmarsh.

New Quay

 On two recent 4 hour wildlife trips with Seamor out of New Quay on the 11th August and yesterday (14th August) we had great views of thousands of auks - predominantly razorbills rafting and feeding off Mwnt and into Aberporth Bay. They were accompanied at times by Manx shearwaters and diving gannets. On the 11th we had close views of a group of Common Scoter just off New Quay. Yesterday we had a Balearic shearwater flying in a SSW direction past the boat in Aberporth Bay, the sighting was about 2 miles directly north of Aberporth, about 1.5 miles off Ynys Lochtyn. Back on land a starling in Aberaeron was singing loudly from the top of a yacht mast, enjoying his own personal air cooling unit, a spinning anemometer.

Common Scoter

Auks (mostly Razorbills)

Balearic Shearwater

Balearic Shearwater

Starling

Janet Baxter

Ringtail Hen Harrier and sightings from Aberaeron

 Sunday 14th August  A ringtail Hen Harrier quartering on Plynlimon today appeared to be a juvenile rather than a female - going on the immaculate condition of wings and tail.

Friday 12th Aberaeron- another new 'From the Garden' bird - a Peregrine heading very purposefully NW towards the coast.

A Goshawk seen soaring on a few days this past week over Aberaeron.

The Goldfinch flock feeding on Knapweed and other seed plants in the field has reduced from a high of 60/70 a few weeks ago to 15/20 this past week. We normally get large flocks in September but never as early as late July - have the seasons advanced slightly? (purely anecdotal evidence obviously).

Ian Harrison

The Brick-house, Ynyslas and Ynys-hir

  

A pleasant morning birding starting at the brick-house at Ynyslas where some 6-7,000 Manx shearwaters flew north along with 220 gannets, 128 sandwich terns, 35 Mediterranean gulls, 3 little terns and numerous kittiwakes etc with many feeding at the mouth of the estuary. This flock attracted 4 arctic skuas between 0730 and 0900 with all four visible together at 0810.

At Ynyslas itself later, there were a few waders but as the tide rose numerous gulls, terns, gannets and shearwaters poured into the estuary presumably feeding on small fish. I counted 354 sandwich terns flying in but surprisingly no other tern species.

Later at RSPB Ynys-hir the two female garganey were on the Marian Mawr pools with a great egret, a little ringed plover and two green sandpipers. On the estuary was a black-tailed godwit, two common sandpipers and 6 ospreys together which was a bit of a surprise (presumably the Dyfi Osprey pair and young and one other).

 Russell Jones

Abergwesyn mountain road

 Back out yesterday on the Abergwesyn mountain road up to Brianne Reservoir we saw 16 Siskin, 30 Mipits, up to 30 Wheatears, 1 Merlin, 1 Sparrowhawk and 4 Crossbills.

Will Davies

Afon Teifi, Lampeter

 Nice to see Dipper hurtling along the Dulas towards the university grounds and Common Sandpiper still in territory between Cellan and Llanfair Clydogau,

Martin Perry

Cors Caron

 Wood Sandpiper, 2 Green Sandpipers, Greenshank and a Yellow Wagtail at the southern end of Cors Caron yesterday morning.  Great White Egret still present.

 Arfon Williams

Aberystwyth

 Another early morning session at Castle Point before the heat drove me home.  Seven Turnstones roosted on the wall with another two at the point along with six Ringed Plovers.  Seven Dunlin flew south.  A light but steady passage of Black-headed Gulls south involved a couple of hundred birds with the odd Kittiwake.  College Rocks held 18 Med Gulls.

Ynys-hir

 This morning dawned with a family of three otters on the pool outside the visitor centre and two garganey and a great egret on the Marian Mawr pool. On the saltmarsh there are 20 barnacle geese including two with white neck collars that were probably ringed at either Derwent Water or Ullswater in the Lake District this summer.

 Dave Anning

Aberystwyth, Borth and Ynyslas

An early start at Castle Point on a rising tide produced 10 Ringed Plovers, seven Turnstones and four Common Sandpipers. A female Wheatear was on the beach.  15 Med Gulls on College Rocks included three juvs. 

Offshore. Parties of nine Canada Geese and nine Goosanders wnt south and two Bottle-nosed Dolphins north.  Then to Borth where a Sparrowhawk  flew across about a mile south of the village.

Thousands of Manx Shearwaters again off Borth and quite a few Gannets.  No counts attempted as they were scattered as far as the eye could see.  A brief visit to Ynyslas produced three Whimbrel, a few Ringed Plovers  six Med Gulls and a Common Gull.

Ynyslas

The following birds were at Ynyslas point this morning 1 Snipe, 16 Sanderlings, 33 Mediterranean Gulls, 2 Kittiwakes, 34 Sandwich Terns, 82 Dunlins and 42 Ringed Plovers. At the mouth of the Leri there were 10 Curlews, 4 Redshanks and 2 more Dunlins.

Aberystwyth and Borth

Yesterday morning Elena and I enjoyed the spectacle of 5 - 6000 Manx Shearwaters close inshore at Borth, most of them very active. Then at Aber there were five Ringed Plovers on the rocks at Castle Point, my first of the autumn there. 

Later in the day Chris B counted 70 Med Gulls on College Rocks and a further 100 - 150 in the harbour.Returning later to count the harbour birds, he found they had all flown off.

Black Kite

For the past two days Elena Klaver,  an American birder and I have been travelling around so she could see a good variety of the area's birds before she heads home tomorrow.

I thought she would enjoy the kite feeding at Nant Yr Arian and so it  proved.  At about 3.20 when the feeding was still going strong  the Black Kite appeared, gave great views for a few minutes and then we lost it in the mass of Red Kites.  Fortunately we relocated it about ten minutes later and watched it at close range for a few more  minutes before it finally disappeared.

Patio Flycatcher

Spotted Flycatchers have been quite evident in the garden for the last week or so. This one landed on my patio table this lunchtime and I was able to get a couple of quick shots through the glass of my living room window.

Bullfinch feeding young

Managed to peep my camera through the closed curtains of my bedroom this morning to photograph this Bullfinch feeding a youngster on the window ledge outside. Shot through glass hence all the reflections. 

Dunlin avoiding Peregrine

 Am visiting on hol .On 3rd August approx 5pm was scrambling over rocks going from Tresaith beach to Penbryn beach at low tide 

Heard alarm call and saw Dunlin chased by Peregrine, heading out to sea. Dunlin dived downwards and thought was trying to evade by skimming waves. Instead seemed to dive straight into sea. Thwarted Peregrine circled over, very low to waves, hovering a bit in strong winds,  gave up and flew away. 

Have never seen such behaviour,  stood and watched sea for a while , thinking corpse might surface.  After what seemed like over a minute,  Dunlin surfaced. Got out bins and  surprised see was alive and coming towards shore. Couldn't imagine how it could get ashore given big waves surging over boulders so walked to where thought it might  land. It already had and as I neared it flew up over me to disappeared into scrub above cliff

Almost immediately Peregrine came back, shortly followed by second Peregrine.  The pair flew along cliff , then twisted and turned together, soaring and diving,  before both perched on ledge not far from where I guessed Dunlin was hiding out

Phil Coles 

The Black Kite returns

Black Kite at Nant yr Arian 

After Marc Hughes sighting 02/08, we failed miserably yesterday looking for the bird, it was good to catch up with Janet Baxter (long time no see). If you don’t succeed at first try again later, called in today and the bird was present between 16:30 and 17:00.

Tony Ware

Tufted Ducks

 There was a female Tufted Duck with three juveniles on Llyn Eiddwen yesterday..

Chris Bird

Mwnt seawatch

 First seawatch of the autumn from Mwnt this morning.  Highlights included (all going south): 129 Oystercatchers (several flocks), Turnstone 2, Curlew 3, Whimbrel 1, Shag 24, Sandwich Tern 34, Common Tern 2, Med Gulls 9 and Mallard 2.  Bottlenose and Common (3) Dolphins also present.  Seawatchers were Shane Jones, Paul Bennett, Jeff Slocombe, Martin Creasser and me.

 Arfon Williams

Tagged Shearwaters

 Tagged Shearwaters in Cardigan Bay.

Researchers from Ox Nav (Oxford University Navigation Project), have been tagging Manx Shearwaters on Skokholm and Skomer Islands to study their movement and behaviour. Results are showing that many of these birds have been spending time in Cardigan Bay, some of them certainly among the huge numbers seen regularly off Aberystwyth and Borth.

The number of tagged birds is small, 200 or so over the course of the season, and only a few, maybe up to 20, at a time, and very few at the moment.

The researchers catch the birds as they come to their burrow, and attach the tag, which has a battery life of up to two weeks, and then re-catch the bird when it returns to its burrow a few days later, and the data can be retrieved.

The tags record a GPS reading, once per minute, and have accelerometers which record the birds movement, many times per second. This records every wingbeat !

The tags are small, and not conspicuous when on the bird, but they can (with luck) be seen on a good quality photogr  No photographs of tagged birds in Cardigan Bay have ever been returned to the the project !!

By comparison, Balearic Shearwaters tagged in Majorca, are regularly photographed, particularly in the vicinity of the Scilly Isles. The density of birders with long lenses is higher in the Scillies !

So if any Ceredigion birder, has shots of the manxies, and a few idle moments, it could be worth a scan to see if you can be the first to spot a tag !

Dr Ollie Padget would be happy to see any pictures,

https://oxnav.web.ox.ac.uk/people/ollie-padget

More details of the project here,

https://www.oxnav.org/save-our-shearwaters

It’s a hot topic, as you may know, there are plans afoot for floating wind turbine arrays in the Celtic Sea. Here are some details of Project Erebus, https://www.bluegemwind.com/our-projects/erebus/

How vulnerable will our seabirds be to offshore turbines ? No one really knows yet.

We normally see shearwaters flying at low level, below turbine blade height, but in high winds or stormy conditions they fly higher, but not much is known about how high. More research needed !

Dave Purdon.

Rosy Starling - Teifi Marshes

Over the last couple of weeks a small number of Starlings have been coming in to roost in the reeds at the back of Mallard pond, Teifi Marshes.

This evening an adult Rosy Starling flew in with them at 19.50. 

The Starlings tend to fly straight out of the roost at dawn so it is unlikely to be seen around the reserve during the day but might return tomorrow evening.

Little Egret - new "from the garden" bird

 A Little Egret flying up the Aeron Valley on Friday 29th was a new "from the garden bird" (outskirts of Aberaeron). I've obviously had them in the harbour and indeed flying upriver but couldn't really count them - am I sad or what?!

Ian Harrison

Black Kite at Nant yr Arian

 I had amazing views of an adult Black Kite at the Nant yr Arian feeding station yesterday afternoon. I watched it on and off between 3.30pm and 4.50pm. 

It seemed to know where the food was so could well be using the site regularly to feed amongst the 250+ Red Kites! 

Unfortunately I didn’t have my camera as the battery had died.

Here are some pictures taken with my iPhone! 

Yesterday morning I had 680+ Med Gulls (14 rings read), Yellow Wagtail, 8 Common Sandpiper, 2 Sanderling, 3 Sandwich Tern   and 3 Whimbrel at Llanon

Marc Hughes