Found by Dave Anning at Llanrhystud in the field next to the usually flooded field Hard to see as it continually feeds and hides behind cattle. Still there at 1.30.
Cattle egret two fields down from beech car park at Llanrhystud.
A Seawatch from Mwnt this morning produced the following:
Mistimed my arrival at Ynyslas this morning. Tide well in so just a few Curlews. To Glandyfi layby, where I was surprised to see two Ospreys still around the nest. Nine Barnacle Geese up by the railway bridge presumably recently arrived. Eight Goosanders on the river and on the bank were two Green and one Common Sandpiper.
Saw the Merlin again the next morning when walking to work. It flew straight past me. Again Oystercatchers freaking out. Delusion of grandeur I think.
Andy James
At Llanrhystud earlier; only wader of note was a single Knot. Numbers of Skylarks/Pipits building in the fields. Heading southwards were 220 Swallows and 70 House Martins. 30 Med Gulls still present.
After a very quiet spell at his local lakes, Chris Bird reports the first Goosander of the autumn on Llyn Eiddwen. Also a juv. Blackcap which has been around his garden for a couple of weeks still present.
A diminished cast and numbers of waders. Offshore, perhaps 200 Manx Shearwaters and 20 Gannets. Snoozing; 33 Med Gulls and 5 sandwich Terns. Two Chiffchaffs at the kilns. Despite all the rain, still no standing water (or waders) in the car park field. Not sure why.
A mxed bag of weather.
Juvenile Merlin at Aberaeron this morning. A year tick and a patch first.
Andy James
Despite the hordes at Ynyslas late afternoon there were good numbers of waders on the sand banks in the middle of the estuary. Eleven bar-tailed godwits, three whimbrel, two turnstone, 13 sanderling, 12 knot, 580 ringed plover and 240 dunlin were good counts considering the number of people either swimming, kayaking, water skiing etc.
Started off this morning with 24 Canada Geese flying out to sea followed by four south along the coast. Eight Med Gulls in the harbour were all adults. At the far end around 60 hirundines feeding over Allt Wen seemed to be mostly House Martins though others moving north low over the fields were almost all Swallows. Six Ravens also went north.
Seven sp. of wader present inc. Sanderling and Whimbrel. A few warblers at the kilns; 4 Blackcaps and Whitethroats, single Chiffchaff and Garden Warbler. Steady passage of Swallows/H Martins/S Martins southwards, about 50 each. As well as the leucistic Oystercatcher and a very pale Kite, there was also an odd looking hirundine, a Sand Martin, I presume. It had a considerable amount of pale/white on the upperparts, giving it a mottled or marbled appearance, or even a distinct but ragged wing bar perhaps.
A seawatch at Mwnt this morning from 06:00 to 10:00 was very quite but produced the following:
1 Black Tern (juv), 4 Arctic Skuas (3 pale & 1 dark morph), small group of 5 Knots, 3 Whimbrels, several 'comic' Terns, 4 Sandwich Terns and 5 Common Scoters. (4m/1f).
To follow up the comments from last week about egrets moving along the coast, I was on Borth Cliffs last Thursday morning when two little egrets flew north a kilometre or so offshore. Also, a great white egret flew into Borth Bay from a long way out in the direction of Ireland. A very weird sight!
A Barn Owl seen in the headlights on Banc Sion Cwilt at 02.15 this morning, 21 August.
An astonishing mornings bird watching started by the tern posts with a juv knot, a turnstone and around 60 each of ringed plover and dunlin. As the tide rose 3 little tern, a roseate tern (adult with distinctive chewit call), 80 sandwich terns, 20 common terns and a dozen arctic terns flew in before flying further up the estuary. I was joined by Martin Creasser who picked up the little terns quickly.
Quite a haul of birds earlier. Nine sp. of wader inc. 35 Ringed Plovers, 30 Turnstones, 5 Whimbrel, a Sanderling and a Bar-tailed Godwit plus the leucistic Oystercatcher. A GC Grebe was on the sea. Also seen; L Egret, a few Sandwich and Arctic Terns, Gannets, and Med Gulls and a Teal.
Bit of a tern fest at Ynyslas this morning with 420 sandwich terns, 60 common, 28 arctic, 30 comics, 3 little and a black tern.
Russell Jones
Seven Little Egrets flew north close inshore this morning , three then four half an hour later. 10 Sandwich Terns went south and it was good to count over 30 Gannets. 14 Turnstones on the wall and five Ringed Plovers and three Shags at Castle Point.
Manx Shearwaters were moving north off Aber this morning at around 6000 / hour. Not much else passing, just the odd Gannet, a couple of Sandwich Terns, a 1w Common Gull and a party of seven Sanderling. 15 Turnstones were roosting on the seawall
A short walk to the Marian mawr hide revealed 3 shoveler, 3 ospreys, an immature coot, a great white egret and 5 black-tailed godwits. Mind you, I wish I was at new quay instead watching a Wilson's petrel before it got taken by a peregrine. An all too brief county first.
Helen Herbert reports 17 Turnstones sheltering on the sea wall below the crazy golf at 6pm today. This is in stark contrast to this morning when we met at Castle Point and found a solitary Ringed Plover.
Yesterday I had four Ringed Plovers and two Turnstones at the point and Manx Shearwaters were moving north at around 4500 per hour.
2 Black-tailed Godwits were nice to see, along with 2 Whimbrel, 9 Dunlin and a handful of Med Gulls.
Early this morning a female Goosander and 6 juvs came into the harbour from the Ystwyth and headed for the marina, presumably making for the Rheidol.
At 10am a pair of Rp's and a juv were on the south end of the beach near, but not with, 2 Sanderlings. The Sanderlings flew off when disturbed by man with dog but the Rp's took evasive action with the youngster freezing on command.
I have seen pairs on the shingle ridges in the past in breeding period but never followed up as I'm not a regular visitor to the beach.
Wheatear also there with a gang of Meadow Pipits
Anticipating a good passage of Manx shearwater (first calm seas and no wind) I was very pleased to count c. 16000 Manxies go north between 0650 and 0915 when passage slowed to a trickle. Also delighted to get a Balearic shearwater north at 0715. Some 120 gannets north, two common terns and around 80 Sandwich terns added variety.
Yesterday.
A Cory's Shearwater flying above a rafting flock of c 200 Manx Shearwater at 1150. Seen whilst at sea 1.1 miles off the coast between Mwnt and Aberporth, the Cory's flew off in a northerly direction.
A productive afternoon yesterday with a very keen and observant 11 year old grandaughter, the highlights of which were a Hobby over Cors Caron and two Bar-tailed Godwits at Llanrhystud in addition to two Med Gulls heading south, three non-leucistic Oystercatchers and two Curlews.
Not bad Ian. The bird was first.seen in August 2005 and has returned to spend the autumn and winter with us every year since. It's whereabouts during the breeding season remain a mystery.
When I arrived, the car park was rammed and about 30 tourists were huddled together in a kind of selfie feeding frenzy. However, as I grumped off down the beach, a magnificent Osprey flew pretty low overhead, going south, and everything seemed much better again! Not much about. A Whimbrel was out at the point along with a familiar whitish object, the leucistic Oystercatcher. Must be getting on for twenty years perhaps?
Just received the details of a colour- ringed Med. Gull, yellow ring ASNS, seen by Chris Bird in the harbour at Aberystwyth on 31st July: Ringed as a flightless chick at a gravel pit at Leipzig in eastern Germany on 3rd July 2021. By 22nd August, only a few weeks later, it had reached Cei Bach and reported by Arfon who was accompanied by visiting expert on Med Gulls, Renaud Flamant. Arfon saw it again a little later on 12th September at New Quay. It was next noted on 7th June 2022 at Pothmadog and then by Chris the other day.
A high count of 124 Med Gulls at Aber yesterday: 67 in the harbour and 57 on College Rocks, and not a ring to be seen.
Chris Bird
A two hour seawatch off Mwnt this morning started off promisingly with an Arctic Skua. Then other than a steady flow of Manx Shearwaters moving through there wewr Gannets, Kittiwakes, Fulmars and Common Scoters. Roughly an hour and half later though a bird came into view from the right that disappeared in to a trough. It appeared again shortly after and I couldn't believe my luck; a Cory's Shearwater. A county first for me.
Andy James
Well, no Cory's Shearwaters. Somehow, I couldn't be bothered to get out of bed early on my day off or drive to New Quay or Mwnt, in order to give myself a chance of seeing much. One day, maybe. Still, all was not lost;
200 Manx Shearwaters flew north, perhaps the tail end of something that had been happening since dawn?
Also, 80 Med Gulls, a few Redshank and Ringed Plovers and a Sandwich Tern.
Early this morning at Castle Point were two gorgeous Turnstones, a Redshank and two juv Pied Wagtails .
Then to Ynyslas where on the rising tide I managed 65 Dunlin 45 Ringed Plovers, a Whimbrel, six Little Egrets and a Sandwich Tern before the heavy rain drove me away at 9 o'clock.
Yesterday; a Hobby across the road between Drefach and Llanwnen. I seem to remember seeing one in the same area not so many years ago.
Today; a Kingfisher flew right past me along the tiny Dulas river that borders the co op car park in Lampeter.
Highlights of a sea watch from Mwnt with Martin C were a Cory’ shearwater passing at 0710, which we both got on to, and another at 0910. Also four storm petrels, a little tern, a dark juv arctic skua, a few sandwich terns, ringed plovers and a sanderling.
Russell Jones
Yesterday there were 20 Med Gulls on College Rocks and another 24 in the harbour including a 2nd year bird carrying a yellow ring ASNS. Also in the harbour was a Kittiwake.
A visit to Nanteos lake revealed four juv Grey Herons still on a nest.
Chris Bird
Monday 31st July