Ynys-hir

 Another good day with wood sandpiper,  ruff,  18 greenshank,  green sandpiper, osprey,  marsh harrier and a noticeable upturn in wildfowl  with 220 teal,  shoveler,  three pintails,  four wigeon and 50 barnacle geese. 

Dave Anning 

Mwnt seawatch

 I had a quick look from Mwnt at sunset yesterday, and a longer session this morning between 6 - 10 o'clock.   Last night I saw two Arctic Skuas chasing a Little Tern, and 3 Storm Petrels pushed in by squalls. 

Here are the totals for this morning:

786 Manx Shearwater 

1. Balearic Shearwater 

10  Fulmar 

2  European Storm  Petrel

76  Gannet 

4  Arctic Skua

382  Kittiwake

1  Sabines Gull  (adult)

127   Herring Gull 

3  Lesser Black-backed Gull 

9  Great Black-backed Gull 

12  Mediterranean Gull 

14  Black-headed Gull

27  Sandwich Tern

7  'commic' Tern 

16  Auk sp.

3  Common Scorer 

4  Cormorant 

11  Shag

6  Whimbrel 

1  Ringed Plover 

5  Golden Plover 

  2  Oystercatcher 

Brennig  Hughes 

TURNSTONES

   At high tide this morning at Aberystwyth there were 35 Turnstones perched on the side of the prom wall opposite the Old College.

Ynys-hir

 Despite the rain we had a good selection of birds today: 20 greenshanks and singles of ruff, green sandpiper,  black-tailed godwit, great Egret, shoveler,  peregrine, water rail and osprey. 

Dave Anning 

Ynys-hir waders

 No sign of yesterday's Pectoral Sandpiper but the Wood Sandpiper, a Ruff,  two Green Sandpipers and 16 Greenshank remain. 

Dave Anning 

Pec Sand update

 The pec was last seen at about 2pm when it flew off with some other waders and it was not on the Ynys Feurig or Marian Mawr later, but we hope it might return on tomorrow's high tide. 

Dave Anning 

Pectoral Sandpiper

 Pectoral Sandpiper on Marian Mawr along with a ruff,  nine greenshanks, two black-tailed godwits and two pintails..  Reserve is now open for people to see it. 

Dave Anning 

Summers end

 At Llansantffraed first thing this morning; 84 Ringed Plovers, 5 Sandwich Terns, Whinchat and Willow Warbler. Yesterday, a short walk starting bang on the Ceredigion/Carms border down into Cwm Twrch(Carms) picked up 2 Kestrels and we heard Green Woodpeckers on three occasions. The woodpeckers might perhaps be connected to those sometimes recorded along the ridge between between Long Wood and Llanddewi Brefi?

More Hobbies

 At work today I was happily distracted from delivering the backlog of mail by the sound of a falcon overhead. Directly overhead were 3 Hobbies. Two were buzzing and pestering a couple of nonchalant Kites while the third hung back. I wondered if this behaviour suggested a pair with a young juvenile perhaps? This was at Henllan, not far from where I saw a single on 15/07.

Borth Ynyslas

 06-30 this morning the seemingly ongoing feeding frenzy off Borth and Ynyslas took place again..  we arrived and started observing 06-30 and we were a bit late.

The flock comprising various gull sp. Manx Shearwaters, Gannets and a sizeable contingent of Sandwich Terns amongst others tracked an obviously huge shoal  of fish across the bay, eventually moving out to  sea around 7-30.

Well worth the early start.

Kevin and Seri Crawley

Barnacle Geese

 There was a flock of 30 barnacle geese on Patch  beach, Teifi estuary,  at 4.30pm on Monday 18th August.

Trish Millson 

BLACK GUILLEMOT

   This morning while watching what became a really massive Manx Shearwater gathering off Borth, Jill found a juv. Black Guillemot, conveniently one of the closest birds and displaying all the necessary features. For comparison, a juv. Guillemot keeping close to its parent was present further offshore.

Black Guillemot

 A Black Guillemot was watched flying west past Cardigan Island on August 14th (Benj Bond)

Ynys-hir

 Waders seem to-be on the move with wood sandpiper  (Ynys Feurig), 4 ruff (Marian Mawr and Ynys Feurig), 7 greenshank andv2 black -tailed godwits on site along with a shoveler and 37 barnacle geese back in.

Dave Anning 

Ynys-hir

 Sightings from the past couple of days incluude 3 greenshank, 3 green sandpipers, 2 ruff and a black-tailed godwit on Marian Mawr pools.  Marsh harrier and osprey  on the estuary  and green sandpiper, ruff and 6 snipe from Ynys Feurig.  Great egret and Cetti's warbler seen/heard from various points round the reserve. 

Dave Anning 

Repeat performance

 A Hobby was low over our garden again, seemingly on the same trajectory as the bird in July. Over the neighbours roof with wings briefly held stiff as an arrowhead, skimming the trees, behind our shed, then across the field towards Derry Ormond tower. Earlier we saw 2 Spotted Flycatchers at Hafod, at the holiday cottage with the pond.

BORTH

  Not as early a start as Russell's was yesterday, but this morning there was another Manx Shearwater spectacular gathering off Borth.  Eventually, there was a massive feeding frenzy, including Gannets, to the south off Clarach.  Rather surprisingly a couple of Barnacle Geese passed just above all that activity and continued low along the shore off Borth.

Seabird spectacular

 An absolutely stunning morning at Ynyslas yesterday.   From 0630 to 0720 there were thousands of birds between Ynyslas and Borth.  Best estimates were in order of numbers:

45000 Manx Shearwater 

1200 sandwich terms 

850 herring gulls 

600 gannets 

450 black heated gulls 

230 Mediterranean gulls 

45 lesser black-backed gulls 

34 common gulls 

29 great black-backed gulls 

16 arctic terms 

7 common terms 

1 Balearic shearwater (may have been more but trying to find anything different when thousands of manxies are passing per quarter hour is too much).

Also masses of small waders in the estuary but all too far away.   Tide is good soon so get up north and enjoy a spectacular bit of birding..

Also ruff reported from RSPB at Marian Mawr  hide.

Russell Jones 

BORTH

 Yesterday's Manx Shearwater and Gannet feeding frenzy was at Borth this morning and Bob, Jill and I watched in amazement. This gathering used to be be fairly regular occurrence there some years ago.

 Returning through Borth later on it seemed that the birds were now off Clarach.  My photo shows just a very small proportion of the thousands of birds involved.

Hobby at Ynyslas

 As well as small numbers of various waders and sandwich terms yesterday about 12 noon,  a hobby flew low over the Saltmarsh heading in the direction of Cors Fochno.   It looked like a juvenile. 

Jerry Moore 

A Bay to Remember

On a boat trip with A Bay to Remember from St. Dogmaels on Tuesday mornng we had a good selection of  4birds.   6 Little Egrets in the trees by the ferry,  4 whimbrel flying across the estuary,  adult sandwich terms and juveniles on the sand  banks, and curlew on the rocks under the  Cliff Hotel.

Common sandpiper on Cardigan Island.  Once offshore we had several small feeding frenzies of gulls (Kittiwakes,  Black-headed Gulls, med Gulls, great and lesser black-backed gulls ), shags,razorbills, guillemots,  manx shearwaters and gannets.  On our return, about 10 o'clock just before high tide, an osprey was wishing between Patch and T. Dogmaels. 

Janet Baxter

Nightjar departure dates

Having spent endless nights working on Nightjars all over Wales I'm in perhaps an unusual  position to be able to add something to this. Nightjars in Wales frequently still have dependent young from second broods well into September but most will have finally departed by Mid September. Looking back through the Mid Wales Ringing Group records, the last handling date I can find for Ceredigion was a nesting female caught attending a recently fledged chick between Borth and the Leri on 2nd September 2018. I did however see a Nightjar hawking moths over Glandwr Pools near the Leri on 10th September 2021. I believe there are records from Alan Lowe (who used to have a caravan at Llanrhystud) of Nightjars still in their South Wales plantation breeding sites in early October!

This photo, showing two half-grown chicks was taken outside the county on 9th August 2018
 

Nighjar request

 Last Suday  evening,  10th August,  Paul Bennett had good views of a Nightjar at Cross Inn forest. 

He would be interested to know of any later records in the county, as would I.

As you know, it's a bird which is eagerly searched for on arrival in spring, but seems to slip away unnoticed in autumn.

Sandwich Terns

 There were about 4 Sandwich Terns on Aberaeron beach yesterday afternoon. 

Colm O Caomhanaigh

Pont Einon, Cors Caron

 Spent a few hours yesterday evening at Pont Einon  which produced 30+Lapwing, 15+ Swallows with a few House Martins,  5 Chiffchaffs,3 Meadow Pipits,  1 Kingfisher, a pair of Stonechats with young,  2 Red poll l, 2 Green Sandpipers, 3 Willow Warblers, 8 Linnets, 2 Goldcrests, 2 Little Egrets and a single Moorhen. 

Will Davies 

A tribute to Chris

 No apologies, but just have to say how sad we are re Chris....this bird eluded him all his life until not long ago when he finally managed to see one! I recall his last trials in hospital when I sent a pic of this bird ...probably the last on his bucket list . Then he recovered and actually saw one, but not this time. We love you buddy-you were one of the best and we send all our love and respect to his good lady , daughter and bro.

We shall miss your calls, especially round xmas...we shall miss you.

See you later buddy,

Our Love ,

Kev'n'Sue.

The Hobbies

 Photographs by Jerry Moore kindly posted by Kev.

2024 Ceredigion Bird Report

 Many thanks to Russell for all his work in compiling the annual report.  

Once again a comprehensive and very readable account of our county's birds throughout the year.  

Indispensable for all Ceredigion Birders and visitors.  If for any reason you haven't got yours yet,  see Russell's of 31 July.

Hobbies near Aberystwyth!

 Following a tip-off I was able to identify a pair of hobbies with fledged young east of  Aberystwyth yesterday afternoon. 

Interestingly, none of the photos seem to show an adult,  although all the evidence suggested there had been a successful nesting attempt.   There were about four birds present, they were every noisy and they chased pair of buzzards away. 

I had heard that a pair had nested "near Llanilar "a few years ago, and these weren't that far away.

Jerry Moore 

Tregaron wagtails

Three Grey Wagtails and a single Yellow wagtail on River Brennig in Tregaron town this afternoon.

Will Davies 

Ringed Plovers

 Yesterday evening there were 100+ Ringed Plovers in different flocks on the estuary side of Ynyslas 

David Williams 

Chris Bird

 This is not an obituary, just a few thoughts.   It is customary for complimentary words to follow the demise of a friend, but in Chris's  case there could be no others.  He was genuinely one of the nicest people I have ever met.  I've never heard a critical or disparaging word about him, or from him about anyone else.

Chris was a proud Shropshire man, but spent most of his life living, working and birding in Ceredigion.   His knowledge of the county's  birds was prodigious, and we spent many hours discussing  sightings past and present, which he seemingly recalled without  effort. He had an enormous network of friends and contacts, and on my birding outings over the years it wasn't unusual to be approached by a stranger who, seeing the bins, asked if I knew Chris Bird.

I will paticularly miss our Monday night chats.  University Challenge had been our battleground for a good number of years, and at 9 o'clock we would compare scores and answers before moving to the latest bird news.  By the way, he and Carol beat me this week.

My thoughts are with his wife Carol, their daughter and his brother Julian. He will be missed by many.

Llanrhystud

 A nice collection of bird species at Llanrhystud this morning with Mark Nortis. 

Immature Pied wagtail,  female Wheatear,  Meadow and  Rock  Pipit, Stonechat, Canada Goose  (19), Dunlin, Oystercatcher,  Sand Martin,  Common Sandpiper, Grey Heron, Red Kite,  Carrion Crow,  Herring and Black-headed Gulls with around 50 Mediterranean Gulls at the point.  Also large flocks of Linnets and House Sparrows.

Andy James 

Chris Bird

 Terry Hobson just informed me that Chris Bird died of a heart attack last night.  This has come as a great shock and I will post a tribute to my dear old friend in due course.

Birds on the Powys/Ceredigion border

 I walked from Maesnant  to Bugeilyn in the the far north- east of Ceredigion yesterday.  Although the path is largely in Powys most of the birds seemed to be in  Ceredigion!  Not that there were many.........Red kite is quite common in the uplands these days and there were small numbers of ravens,  buzzard and crows.  A kestrel seemed to be holding territory on Craig-yr-Eglwys (in Ceredigion).  There was a single male whinchat in Powys near Bugeilyn which deemed to be unmated and a family of stonechats just in Powys.  A grey wagtail near the ford on the county boundary,  and a cyclist I met on the Ceredigion side could hear what was probably a grasshopper warbler,  although I can no longer hear them.

Jerry Moore 

Peregrine at Aberporth

 Sunday evening Pizza and sea shanty singing at the Penrallt Hotel high above the village of Aberporth was disturbed by a flypast Peregrine carrying a large lump of prey pursued by a posse of the Hotel House Martins.  Screeching Pere and angry twittering drowned out the human songsters!

Down on the cliffs Silke and I can now report 3 fledgling Oystercatchers from 4 nesting pairs with one pair succeeding after losing the chick from the first ill placed nest. It has been fascinating to watch these birds for 4 seasons and see them learn from their mistakes to become assiduous parents. 

Its also been heart warming to meet other people (i.e. non birdwatchers) on the coast path who have been watching the progress of gull nesting and the oystercatcher chicks plus the excitement of one young lad on learning that the two crows with red beaks were actually our local speciality Chough.

Whimbrel

 Just had  (17:23) . Whimbrel flying over Ynyslas and calling before settling in  Ynys  Tachwedd. 

David Williams 

Talybont Peregrines

 A juvenile peregrine was circling and screeching over Talybont school this afternoon.   After a while an adult joined in and they flew off towards the Dyfi  Estuary.   An unusual lighting.  I wonder whereabouts they appeared from?

Dave Thomas 

Cors Caron

 After the joyous activity of springtime nature on the bog,  a  visit in August always seems a little sedate at first.   Even the dog walkers seem to have largely abandoned it yesterday  (Saturday).

The odd contact call from the trees and bushes was all that could be heard of the bird life at first.   However,  spending a few hours of careful observation from the boardwalk was well rewarded.   Firstly there was a shy Green Sandpiper on the, largely dry,  scrape in front of the hide that appeared fleetingly a couple of times before diving back out of sight.   This was followed by turning up two Hobbys catching insects over the western dome of the bog.   One of these peeled off over the hide and was later picked up resting for an hour on a dead bush south of the boardwalk,  occasionally taking flight for an insect and returning .  It shows that time and patience are the key.

Stephen Forster 

Capel Dewi, Llandysul

 I counted 24 House Martin nests on a farm earlier. Not sure if all were active but a lot of birds were present around the yard and fields. Two Spotted Flycatchers were in the village.

Hobby at Longwood

 Afternoon,  31st July,  one adult Hobby flew over farmland alongside Longwood.   Also 6 Spotted Flycatchers along hedgerow, and 12 plus Chiffchaffs.

Gérard  Fordham