Whooper swans

 Four Whoopers flying South West over Pontagrreg/Llangrannog thismorning. Second recent sighting..there were three heading in samedirection last week (22nd).

Dave Haslam

Stock Doves

 31 Stock Doves on Morfa stubble fields this morning.  

Andy James

Llansantffraed

 A large flock of Golden Plovers were present early this morning, swooping around a lot and difficult to say how many. Possibly a thousand, very, very approximately.

Cwm Einion and Glandyfi

 Glandyfi  (from the lay-bye): 1 black-tailed godwit and 1 common sand , both on the Meirionnydd side

 Pandy ( Cwm Einion)  : a huge movement of redwing, mainly flocks coming off Foel Fawr over the valley. Conservative estimate was 2500+ .

Dick Squires

Firecrest etc.

A similar experience - paused on the doorstep when I got home this morning ... and saw Firecrest and Blackcap in the garden across the road. Beats watching chaffiches heading north over Consti (although the highlight was a Golden Plover).

Redwings, etc.

 10 minutes in the back garden hanging out the washing 0800 hrs . 250 redwing over in 3 flocks. 2 mistle thrushes and a few chaffinch the only other birds moving over. Dipper again on the river in the front garden..

Dick Squires

Golden Plovers

 A flock of ca40 at John and Sheila Gettings place near Llangwyryfon on Wednesday.  Report from Chris Bird.

Autumn

 Couple of pleasant autumn walks with wife and dog,first around southern end of llansanffraid with 16  turnstones on shingle then a very obliging male whinchat giving lovely views around the shelter/benches area.even able to watch it fly catching from the car.then to Aberaeron where highlight was a smar grey wagtail and 4 dipper on river between main road and lovers bridges.think 2 of birds were immatures given the calls they were making.

Paul Bennett

Glandyfi

Latest from my visit there yesterday afternoon.

Again  fairly close views of a female marsh harrier hunting over the Meirionnydd salting.  Some wader movement at last :3 green sandpipers, 27 lapwing, 7 redshank.

Most exciting sighting was the lapwing – first I’ve seen since distant ones at Lodge farm in May.

Who would have thought that lapwing and redshank would become so scarce on what used to be one of Wales top sites.

Amazingly close views also of GW and little egrets.

Dick Squires

 

 

Ceredigion bird list

 Since the publication of the superb Birds of Ceredigion by the late HW Roderick and the late PE Davis in 2010 there have been quite a few changes to the status of birds in the county and several new additions to the county list.

After many rainy days, when I have been unwilling to go out birding, I have up-dated the Ceredigion bird list and it is now available on the Ceredigion Birds and Wildlife Facebook page. For those unable to access the Facebook page, then please email me at russellbronygan@outlook.com and I will send you a copy.

Russell Jones

Redwings

 At least six Redwings in a tree near Chris's workshop in Llangwyryfon today, his first of the autumn 

Llansantffraed/Llanon

 Nine sp. of wader present inc 40 Turnstones, 55 Curlews, 50 Oystercatchers, 100 Lapwings. Also seen; Little Egret, 6 Stonechats, 2 Wigeon, 90 Skylarks. A Merlin dashed across the stubble fields. The leucistic Oystercatcher was also about. I sometimes think that it will be a sad day when this bird is no longer with us. But it's been about twenty years now and morbidly I'm beginning to wonder if it might be thinking the same about me. How long do Oystercatchers live for?

More inland Choughs

 Seeing the post about inland choughs I had two over the house here (near Salem/Penrhyncoch) on Thursday, and I may have heard a single on Wednesday. First time I can remember seeing one here.

Jerry Moore

Black Redstart at Clarach

A female/1st winter male black redstart around our outbuildings, being chased by a robin, about 1 km from the sea in Clarach. Almost exactly 2 years since we had one here for 5 days in 2022.

Roger Matthews

Inland Choughs

 After being told by John Gettings that he had heard Choughs calling at his  place near Llangwyryfon over the past couple of days, Chris went along this afternoon  and was amazed to see a flock of eight flying along over fields by John's place.

Scaup at Ynyslas

 Around 320 common scoter and a male scaup from the brick house. Loads of auks and 100 gannets. The estuary was very quiet with 3 sanderling the only birds of note. Still 3 chiffchaff in the willows.

Russell Jones

Beach kite

 A first for moi- a kite swooping down to feed on South beach yesterday morning in Aber, which didn't go down well with the gulls.  

 Dave Taylor.

Whooper Swans on Pond yr Oerfa

 There  are  five  whooper  swans  on Pond yr Oerfa Ystumtuen  this  afternoon .They appear to be all adults. There  is also  a  pair  of  little  grebes  which  have  been  resident  for  many weeks  now. 

Elaine Izett. 

Out and about

 My usual trip on a Thursday as, after dropping my wife off to volunteer in the garden at Llanerchaeron, I head to wherever I fancy for three hours. Today, starting at Llanrhystud lots of gulls feeding off-shore (230 Mediterranean, 480 black-headed) and twenty odd gannets. 3 greylag geese flew south too. Nothing at the lime kilns but very pleasant strolling back looking and checking all the pipits.

At Llannon, nothing till the third gate south of the car-park and the stubble field there was full of birds. I picked up a Lapland bunting on call (worth the hours of listening to bird calls in the bleak mid winter) with lots of skylark, pipits, linnets and good flocks of chaffinch heading south. A sand Martin flitting over the field was a bonus too in a very relaxed three hours.

Russell Jones

Glandyfi

Monthly WeBS count carried out as usual at Glandyfi: Nothing unusual but a big improvement on recent visits. 

Highlights included 22 little  and  2  great whites, big influx of gulls with 315 black headed and 8 herring, unusually high number of goosanders ( 28) and a single green sand. The only raptor a single red kite

Dick Squires

Teifi Estuary and marshes

 Teifi Estuary and Marshes this morning with Mark Norris-

A steady stream of Gannets moving south off the Estuary and a Bar-tailed Godwit in with a small flock of Oystercatchers. The inner Estuary had large numbers of Herring and Black head ed Gulls. A few Great Black back and Lesser Black back Gulls. A single Common Gull present. Also several Little Egret.
From the Mallard Hide 4 Little Grebe, 2 Moorhen, a roosting Curlew, 60+ Canada Geese and an immature male Goldeneye. Later from the Creek Hide another 4 Little Grebe and again 2 Moorhen and a (squealing)Water Rail in the Reed bed. Also a single Greylag Goose with 100+ Canada Geese and 3 calling Cetti's Warblers. 

Andy James

Turtle Dove at Ynyslas

 A surprise during an hour's break in the weather at lunchtime was a turtle dove flying north over the car-park and dunes at Ynyslas. Otherwise, a greenshank on the Leri and 880 herring gulls and 700 black-headed gulls from the brickhouse.

Russell Jones

Whooper Swans

A run up to Pendam lakes by Chris B today produced only three Tufted Ducks and a Little Grebe, but on the way back he found two adult Whooper Swans on Pencefn Pool.

Chiffchaff

 I had a chiffchaff this afternoon near Talybont.

Dick Squires

Yellow Wagtail

 I had a Yellow Wagtail fly up Castle Lane, Aberaeron this afternoon.

Andy James

Hit and miss

 My wife and I went for a walk from Llanrhystud this morning but I hadn't checked to see if anything interesting had been seen, before we set off. Therefore, unfortunately, didn't go looking for the Yellow-browed Warbler. However, we were lucky enough to get very close views of 2 un-ringed Choughs mobbing a Short-eared Owl which was flapping slowly southwards.

Yellow-browed Warbler at Llansantffraed

A Yellow-browed Warbler, first reported yesterday afternoon, was still present this morning in bushes along the river Peris about 100 yards from the beach.

Redwings

 9 redwing overhead here in Furnace. First ones for me. It's been an incredibly quiet autumn so far..

Dick Squires

Cors Caron

 250 Greylag Geese over the reserve pm

Glandyfi

 Highlights this morning were 1 marsh harrier ( on the Meirionnydd side ), and a single bar- tailed Godwit.  Generally fairly quiet otherwise : 2 great white and 6 little egrets, 2 dabchicks and a single goosander.

Dick Squires

Gulls at the coast

 Arrived at Llanrhystud/Llansantffraed early and was surprised to find quite large numbers of birds, especially 900 BH Gulls and 400 Med Gulls. Waders present too; 250 Lapwings, 120 Golden Plovers, 40 Turnstones and presumably the same Black-tailed Godwit as on the 7th. Also noted; Peregrine, Little Egret, Chiffchaff and Reed Bunting. I notice that there is a report of thousands of small gulls off Aberporth this morning also (reported on the WhatsApp group).

Llyn Eiddwen

 A Little Egret at Llyn Eiddwen today was Chris's first there, after thousands of visits. Also in the area were at least 60 Mistle Thrushes, which included one flock of ca30.

Ynyslas / Glandyfi

Highlights today with Mark Norris. 3 Knot, a dark bellied Brent Goose, a Great Crested Grebe and 4 Great White Egret. The only birds of note from the Glandyfi lay-by were 3 Redshank, 2 female Goosander and a Little Grebe.

Andy James

Out and about

 Three chiffchaff in the willows at Ynyslas yesterday morning then 60 pintail, 21 great egret, 19 little egret, 180 wigeon and the dark-bellied Brent goose.

At RSPB Ynys-hir in the afternoon with a walk with Claire, my wife, 420 teal, 840 wigeon and four greenshank.

Russell Jones

Black Tern at Aberaeron

 Tuesday evening a juvenile black tern fishing with the black headed gulls, slowly heading North. 

Mark Norris 

Maesllyn pool, Llangwyryfon

 Chris tells me that Little Grebes have fledged two young on the pond at Maesllyn farm and that last Tuesday, 2nd, there was an unexpected visitor: a Wigeon.

Afternoon by the Leri

 An afternoon walk from Borth produced several Swallows feeding over the zoo, a Cetti's Warbler briefly singing by the Leri and a female Marsh Harrier looking for a meal over Cors Fochno.

Keith Worden

Llansantffraed

 c. 600 gulls offshore inc 35 Med Gulls and 2 Gannets. Best sightings were a Black-tailed Godwit and female RB Merganser. Also present; 8 Turnstones, a Snipe and a Wheatear.

Merlin at Tan y Bwlch

 On Saturday lunchtime, a merlin was circling over the shore at Tan y Bwlch before heading off in the direction of Constitution Hill.

Karen Burns

Aberaeron terns

 A Sandwich and Common Tern calling off  Aberaeron yesterday evening.

Andy James

House Martin

 A House Martin over Aberaeron yesterday morning.

Andy James

Black Tern at Ynyslas

 A very pleasant couple of hours at Ynyslas this morning. 4 chiffchaff and a willow warbler in the willows, a black tern at the Leri mouth, 1 Brent goose, 3 greenshank, 17 great egrets and a black-tailed godwit the other highlights.

Russell Jones

Llanon to Aberarth

Pleasant walk on the coast with some interesting sightings. 4 Wheatears on a recently harvested sweetcorn field with another bright male on the beach. Quite a few Gannets further out at sea in a feeding frenzy with other white things (unidentified). One Chough on the cliffs and a first for me, Slow Worm sunbathing across the path,

Martin  Perry

Yellow-browed Warbler

 Yellow-browed warbler

Nice to hear and then get excellent views of a yellow-browed warbler in willows at Ynyslas. First heard calling through the gate east of the disabled parking and then cracking views as it fed in the willows. It eventually moved across the road and headed slowly up opposite the caravan site.

Earlier, lots of gannets and gulls and a single sandwich tern off the brick house. No waders at the tern posts as the usual dog walkers were there.

Russell Jones

Choughs

 Just had 4 Chough flying over Ynyslas heading over the estuary towards Tywyn.

David Williams

,message received at 8.59

Overcast morning at Patch

 An early morning walk at Patch gave good views of ravens, a kestrel, a huge flock of goldfinches and a solitary red-breasted merganser not far from the Boating Club.

John Ramm