Spotted Flycatcher

 If anyone is looking for a nice place to watch spotted flycatcher, there is a pair on the island of the pond in Llanerchaeron NT

John Woodruff

Aberaeron Greenfinch

 Good to have a singing Greenfinch as a garden bird again after an absence of 15 years.

Ian Harrison

Whinchats in the Upper Doethie

 With reference to Ian's post suggesting possible total numbers for Whinchat in this area: I used to have a BBS in the area described which was highly populated by Whinchat in one part, so much so I used to check and double check that I wasn't over-counting. In 2011 I surveyed an adjacent valley (another side tributary of the Doethie) for the Atlas and could not believe that there was not a single sighting!

The difference seemed to be in habitat with the Whinchats preferring the valley with a more varied habitat, particularly bracken, mini vegetated ravines and a nearby small patch of woodland so I would be nervous of extrapolating up based on area alone as there are quite some differences in the habitats. 

Spotted Flys

 The breeding pair at Treflyn (Cors Caron) have just returned to the nest site on the property they have been using for 3 years. Apparently there was an influx along the south coast of England recently so they have made their way up to us!  There has been a breeding pair using various nest boxes for at least 23 years at Plas Treflyn though these days there is apprehension that they might not come given the huge population decline of recent years.

There are 6 Pied Flys also nesting so the Purple Hairstreaks might not survive this onslaught!  I only knew about the butterflies when I examined a wing dropped by a feeding Spotty in the adjacent oaks some years ago!

Spotted Flycatcher at Ciliau Aeron

I've just been watching a lively Spotted Flycatcher at the Ty Glyn Davies Trust Woodland Walk and Garden in Ciliau Aeron (about 50 yards from the entrance).

Red-breasted Merganser

 Female Red breasted Merganser off Glandyfi lay-by this morning

Andy James

'White' Herring Gull

On a local walk just north of Talsarn this morning I saw the 'white' Herring Gull feeding in a field with a mixed flock of Common, Herring and Lesser black-backed Gulls. First time I've seen it inland.

Above Strata Florida (Tywi Forest/Glasffrwd)

 Despite the 4x4s and off road motorbikes, plenty to see and hear in the beautiful weather.

Cuckoo 5, Wood Warbler 8, Crossbill 3, Tree Pipit 10, Garden Warbler 13, Redpoll 11, Pied Flycatcher 5, Grasshopper Warbler 1. Also saw a Roe Deer quite high up. Had an incredibly close encounter with a male Crossbill that dropped down on the track in front of me just ten paces away. At first my brain couldn't comprehend what the little glowing ball of orangey-red at my feet was. An all too brief encounter.

Quail singing at Ynys-hir

 I had a couple of hoped for species in mind this morning when I went to Ynys-hir. As I was sitting in the Ynys-Feurig hide, just getting over the realisation that I wasn't going to see either of them, when I heard the distinctive 'Wet-my-lips' song of a singing Quail, the first time I've heard one in Wales. Obviously I was very pleased to hear it.

Patch, Cardigan

 A rare trip to the far south of the county yesterday, a couple of hours walk along Patch beach and point on the falling tide. SedgeWarbler singing in the reeds at the eastern end of the beach,Whitethroat, Bullfinch and Linnet on the hillside above. 22 Shelduck spread out across the sands and creeks, Little Egret, 4 Barnacle Geese,3 Canada Geese, c.15 Oystercatcher, single Curlew/Whimbrel then further out numerous gulls, 2 Cormorants and c.50 small waders heavily obscuredby heat haze. 2 Herons in the main channel. Out on the point, 4 Ringed Plover and in the dunes another Whitethroat, 3 more Linnets, a Dunnock,Goldfinch and 2 Common Blues. Nice flora too.

Keith Burdett

Re:.Cors Fochno Nightjars

 After we left Jon last night we tried the other side of the boardwalk, so we were still on site, at least when Jon had his first bird.  Ah well,  c'est la vie.  Apart from that  we'd earlier had decent views of a Cuckoo and on the way home as we were passing the student village  at the top of Penglais hill a Barn Owl flew across the road.  (I missed it as I was in the back of the car)

Cors Fochno Nightjars

A visit to the boardwalk at Cors Fochno this evening produced a distinct absence of any Nightjar activity, but it was good to meet Harry, John and Jill (who hadn't had any luck either). After they departed I decided to hang around in hope, and at about 10.20 when I was thinking about giving up, a male Nightjar started churring in the far distance towards the Leri, before moving closer to a stand of the trees to the west of the boardwalk. 

At that point a Barn Owl flew over the trees, silhoetted against the sky, provoking a lot of croaking alarm calls from a second Nightjar somewhere to my left. This flew over my head towards the still churring male as the owl went on its way, and the two birds then flew back past me at close range, apparently chasing each other. With that the show was over and all was quiet again, apart from the Barn Owl screeching from the fields by the road. When I turned back onto the road from the access track my headlights picked up the owl again, hunting along the field edge by the road - a fitting end to the visit.

Llanilar

 The Hooded Crow is still present and very easy to see. My son and I saw it this morning as he drove me to Aberystwyth for some driving practice. Didn't even need to stop the car. Eyes left and there it was on a rooftop.

Osprey

 Surprised to see a blue ringed Osprey flying over Cwmystwyth this morning heading towards the Elan Valley.

Tony Ware

Wood Sandpiper at Ynis-hir

 Pleased to find a Wood Sandpiper early this afternoon at Ynis-hir. Unfortunately while I was there it remained faithful to a stretch of mud that was quite distant. Here are a few grab shots from some phonescoped video.

Borth to Aberystwyth

A few bits and bobs from a walk along Coast Path this morning :

At least 2 pairs of chough; similar for stonechat and wheatear; several house martins and swallows busy trying to nest build at Wallog; rock pipits everywhere it seemed.

Gannets appeared few and far between out at sea, but there were a number of gull spp flocks very active well offshore. A cruising fulmar very close to the cliff edge was a very pleasant surprise.

Dave Thomas 

Upper Cwm Doethie

 Whinchat 26, Stonechat 8, Tree Pipit 10, Cuckoo 2, Redpoll 5, Reed Bunting 7, Grasshopper Warbler 3. I've just stuck to the main path (the Cambrian Way) these last two days but last year I focused on the rather tricky side tributaries instead. There are clearly more than 50 Whinchat territories across the whole catchment not to mention possibly half a dozen Cuckoos, among other things.

Aber prom round-up

 Met up with Helen H at Castle Point for the last three mornings.  Not much to report  but the weather was fine.

Wed.  Imm Shag, three Ringed Plovers  two Turnstones.  Six Canada Geese North. At least two Bottle'nosed Dolphins  (also Thurs).  Helen had six Gannets  inc two imm in S Bay p.m. and three House Martins.

Thurs.  Two R.P., two.different Turnstones, Grey Seal, two Kittiwakes. Helen later had Lesser Whitethroat on Pendinas.

Fri.  Early passage of 80÷ Manxies, at least 10 Gannets and a few  Kitties.  Two Canada Geese North overhead.

Cors Fochno

 Yesterday afternoon I walked along the path on the west side of the Leri and I saw a Marsh Harrier on the far south side of Cors Fochno. It was a dark bird with a light head -female/immature? There were the usual Sedge, Reed, Cetti's etc,and a Cuckoo, mostly keeping their heads down because of the wind.

Rhiannon Twigg

The hills are alive.......

 Along Camddwr (telephone box to Soar y Mynydd); Stonechat 8, Reed Bunting 12, Whinchat 8. At the pool there was a pair of Teal with a Grasshopper and 4 Sedge Warblers.

Driving around Llyn Brianne I found two Common Sandpipers, about 5km apart, plus two Cuckoos in Dalar Wen.

It has been a few years since I walked in the lower section of Cwm Doethie and I'd forgotten how wonderful it is. The magnificent woodlands at the very bottom must hold significant numbers of Wood Warblers/Pied Flys/Redstarts, I presume. I pushed on through to count some of the birds on the more open ffridd habitat further up; Tree Pipit 19, Whinchat 21, Cuckoo 4, Stonechat 3. The best birds of the day were a pair of Yellowhammers holding territory below Craig Ddu.

Butterfly net

 Butterfly net - frame only as the old net disintegrated.  New net easy to fix on. Anybody want it? - for free obviously.

Ian Harrison

ianbirds@gmail.com 

THE LLANILAR HOODED CROW

 Still there late morning for Jill and I to see: 

Re: Hooded Crow

Glad I relaxed my no-twitching rule this morning.  Out o⁷f interest, Chris tells me that the bird was found yesterday by an old friend of his , Stan Corfield, a retired farmer and that this was the second Hoodie that Stan has found in the county.

The Hooded Crow

 Lesser Whitethroat on Pen Dinas this morning. Also after a tip off got great views of Hooded Crow in Llanilar by Ystwyth Garage. 

Andy James

Hooded Crow Llanilar

 Great to see the Hooded Crow which was refound this morning in Llanilar by Andy James. When I got there Harry and I found it again in a small Cul de Sac not far from where Andy had seen it. Great bird to have on your feeders. Good to chat with Harry and Russell while watching it. Thanks to Chris Bird for passing on the info of the sighting yesterday.

Cross Inn Forest/Bethania

 It was nice to bump into and chat with Phil, on his home patch, this morning. Numbers of birds (last year in brackets).

Willow Warbler 88(97), Chiffchaff 52(47), Blackcap 24 (27), Garden Warbler 7(6), Whitethroat 7(21), Redpoll 7(12), Wood Warbler 0(2). There appeared to be 3 male Cuckoos holding territory. The clearings are growing up fast, perhaps too much for the Whitethroats? There used to be Wood Warblers near the entrance, then after the conifers were felled, there were a couple at the opposite(east) end, also in conifers, but unfortunately I didn't hear any earlier. I always expect there to be more Garden Warblers than there seem to be. Also, came upon 7 family parties of Long tailed Tits in the thickets.

Cwm Wyre

A female Bullfinch was diligently gathering nesting materialjust outside the front door last night. The male was in close attendancebut foraging for seeds not helping! Cuckoo calling last two eveningsfrom about 6. Last Friday, 3 singing Redstarts around this end of theCwm (west), a Spotted Flycatcher, 3 probable Great spotted Woodpecker territories, Dipper and Grey Wag (2) on the Wyre plus usual woodlandspecies. Only one Willow Warbler, loads of Chiff Chaffs. An amazing SongThrush chorus each evening just before dusk, 8 birds singing at once allaround the Cwm.

Keith Burdett

Hooded Crow

 News from Chris Bird of a Hooded Crow seen yesterday near the church in Llanilar.  I'll post details of location later.

Out and about again

 Early start saw a singing lesser whitethroat just above the bungalows at Tanybwlch, less than 100 metres from the beach car park. Nant Y Moch was quietly dead but common sandpipers at llyn Conach along with whinchat, crossbills and tree pipits was nice. Ynyslas had a few more waders with c.140 ringed plovers, 180 dunlin and presumably the same three turnstone and sanderling. Nothing exciting on the sea but very pleasant out of the wind at the brick house watching gannets, manxies, razorbills fly past in between the occasional unforeseen nap (the LW was at 0700 hrs after all).

Must be getting older

Russell Jones

Allt y Crib, Talybont

 Following recent reports of poor wood warbler numbers, it was good to hear at least six along the track through Allt y Crib earlier. (Yesterday)

Dave Thomas 

Hafod estate / Swifts

 14 Wood Warblers this morning compared to 20 last year, but not a strict like for like comparison as part of the "red trail" where I previously saw 2-4 perhaps, was closed for forestry operations. Two Cuckoos were calling.

I think it goes without saying that we all like Swifts but they are apparently in a steady long term decline. They don't get much of a mention here as they tend to be around towns and villages where we don't usually go birding. So here are a few places where I've seen them present this year; Betws Bledrws, Lampeter, Llanddewi Brefi, Tregaron, Pontrhydfendigaid, Pontrhydygroes, Llandysul, Penrhiwllan, Aberbanc, Henllan.

Joppa

 Last night Chris checked a site just north of Joppa where he's had Nightjar in the past.  A churring male,  also seen briefly and a Cuckoo, which he hadn't had there before.

Misc. bits and bobs

 On the 19th; at Coed Maenarthur (Pontrhydygroes), 7 Wood Warblers, Cuckoo, Dipper, Grey Wagtail plus small numbers of Crossbills, Pied Flycatchers and Tree Pipits. Rather like my recent visit to Long Wood, numbers of Wood Warblers seemed much lower than last year.

This morning, a pleasant amble at Llanerchaeron with Mrs M, yielded a Little Grebe on the lake and a Spotted Flycatcher near the church.

Nightjar

 A walk round the boardwalk on Cors Fochno tonight produced great views of a male Nightjar as it flew almost overhead and into a nearby tree where it started churring. 

Lesser Whitethroat

 Chatting to Russell yesterday I mentioned I hadn't seen a Lesser Whitethroat yet this year even though I'd visited a few sites in Ceredigion where I'd seen them in the past. Last night I remembered I'd seen them before at Pen Dinas, so I went there this morning. I hadn't got far along the track when I was pleased to hear the familiar little rattle just up the hill. A couple of record shots below.

Out and about

Friday

At Ynyslas before high tide nice to see six whimbrel and a ruff. At the brick house just the usual manxies kittiwakes etc though very pleasant chatting with Martin C who picked up two summer plumaged great crested grebes on the sea

.As the tide dropped we both met at the tern posts where slowly good numbers of small waders appeared. Three rather nice plumaged turnstone, three sanderling around 100 ringed plover and 250 dunlin were present. Very agreeable, sociable bird watching with hardly any dog walkers was a surprising bonus.

Russell Jones

House Sparrows

Three male House Sparrows around the cottage yesterday afternoon; all three in pristine plumage.  We sometimes get young birds in late June but this is unprecedented.  The village gangs are about one and a quarter miles away.

David Price

Cors Caron

 Had fantastic prolonged views of a Hobby hunting around Cors Caron this morning. Also two Whinchat

Andy James

From Borth to Cwmystwyth

 Borth early morning tide produced 20+ Manx Shearwaters, 14 Common Scoters and 5 Red-throated Divers. Three Hobbies were over Cors Caron mid morning, and of note late afternoon at Cwmystwyth 15 Crossbills, 5 Tree Pipits, three Cuckoos and a Goshawk.

 Tony Ware

Waders

 Still five Purple Sands by the harbour this morning.  Quite late, though the odd one or two sometimes linger into late May.

To Ynyslas where small waders flying in on the falling tide to the area between the tern posts and the Leri.  About 350 in total, roughly 60% Dunlin, 40% Ringed Plover plus seven Sanderling and a gorgeous summer-plumaged Turnstone.  Over by the Leri were five Whimbrel and a Bar-tailed Godwit.

Three Red-throated Divers off the north end of Borth.

Goshawk at Cross Inn

A Goshawk was circling above me at Cross Inn Forest this morning. Other birds seen included 3 Redstarts (pair and male), 2 Tree Pipits and 2 Cuckoos.

Kev does it again

 To anyone who gets the weekly news bulletin from BirdGuides, have a look at the stunning shot of a Reed Warbler by Kev Joynes in the Photo of the Week feature.

Various sites: Thurs 11th

 

Long Wood 9.00-11.25  (NB not the complete circuit that Ian Morris did):

Only things to add to Ian's totals were 4 Wood Warblers and 3 Siskins.

Cors Caron: presumably the same three Hobbies that were seen on Saturday suddenly appeared in front of the hide at 16.30 and provided a superb display.

Cross Inn. 17.30 Two Lesser Whitethroats heard and seen (actually I missed seeing them but my colleague had good although short views!). Two male Redstarts and two singing Tree Pipits.

Ian Harrison

Borth

 On the sea this morning, from near the golf clubhouse: two Red-throated Divers, 12 Common Scoters, a few Manx Shearwaters and a Gannet.

Hobbies at Cors Caron

Brilliant to watch three Hobbies from the boardwalk at Cors Caron this afternoon. Initially I saw two from Pont Einon and went up to the reserve for better views. They put on a great scope show above the woodland diving and stooping repeatedly towards the treetops to catch an insect then gliding up to eat it on the wing.  Here are few grab shots.

Aberystwyth Prom

 Nice to see at least 10 Gannets this morning.  Three Bottle-nosed Dolphins and a Grey Seal made an appearance.  Two Ringed Plovers near the point and three Shags on the outer rocks.

Then on to Black Covert where I found Karen Leah and we spent a few minutes watching a Dipper.

Cors Caron

 A pleasant walk around the boardwalk with Paul B this morning. First to Maesllyn  where there were two Little Grebes and three male Tufted Ducks. Garden Warblers were singing all along the old railway, When we were in the hide a very vocal Cuckoo finally revealed itself with a close range fly past, pursued by Meadow Pipits.

I had started at Pont Einon with a Great White Egret and two Swifts.

Cross Inn, Llanrhystud and Aberaeron

 A short visit to Cross Inn forestry this morning produced Common Whitethroat,Common Redstart, two singing Tree Pipits, Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler and Great Spotted Woodpecker. Later at Llanrhystud lime kilns two singing Garden Warblers and just a few moments ago another singing Garden Warbler at Aberaeon north beach by Hemmings boat yard(the old pitch and put).

Andy James

Long Wood, Betws Bledrws

 Went for my annual May circuit earlier this morning, which I've been walking for nearly twenty years, I think. As I have mentioned on the blog previously, clearance of mature conifers at both ends of the forest has created large clearings which are now maturing fast. This has presumably benefited some species but not others.

Singing males with last year in brackets.

Blackcap 22(19)   Garden Warbler 17(5)   Willow Warbler 23(19)   Chiffchaff 39(32)                            Pied Flycatcher 6(7)   Tree Pipit 1(1)   Spotted Flycatcher 1(0)

The counts for Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff and Garden Warbler were all site records for me personally. The Spotted Fly was a nice bonus.

There was a report of several Wood Warblers yesterday but I only heard 3 this morning. This compares to 6 last year and a low of only 1 in 2020. Prior to the conifer clearances there was a high of 11 in 2017.

Hawfinch Eglwys Fach

 At about 10:30 this morning I went into the house for a coffee, as I stood looking out into the rear garden two birds flew in, one landed on an apple tree support post in clear view about 6m away the other carried on flying behind a large box bush and was hidden from view.

To my amazement right in front of me was a female Hawfinch, it was there for about 10 secs before flying off taking the other bird with it. I have never seen a live Hawfinch in Ceredigion, since 1979!. Though about 6/7 yrs ago I was given the corpse of a juvenile bird that had flown into a window in the last house before the ford down the  Cletwr lane in The r Ddol.

Spoonbill at Cors Caron

 A Spoonbill seen by a visitor to the reserve on Sunday was still present yesterday afternoon in front of the glass-fronted boardwalk hide.

 Arfon Williams

Wood Warbler at Cwm Clettwr

At Cwm Clettwr this afternoon I enjoyed a good, prolonged view of a Wood Warbler performing its full repertoire.

Llyn Eiddwen

 Highlights of Chris's visit yesterday were a pair of Tufted Ducks and two Cuckoos.

Marsh Harrier near Borth

 I saw a male marsh harrier over the southern edges of Cors Fochno today, from near the Wales Coast Path near Pantydwn Farm.

From nearly the same place on Friday I saw two cuckoos. Initially I heard one in the distance, then closer and getting closer until two birds flew almost overhead, the male calling as he flew, the other in close attendance. I found it quite thrilling.

Dave Purdon

Llanrhystud, early morning

 Field/beach 22 R Plover, 19 Dunlin, 2 Turnstone

Headland, 1 Ruff, 1 C Sandpiper and 7 Whimbrel

Morfa Bychan

 

Morfa Bychan  April 30: Guiilemot 5, Razorbill. Common Scoter 3, Manx Shearwater 15, 10+ Gannet,  Wheatear 7

May 1: Chough 4, Swallow several hundred north, smaller numbers House and Sand Martin.

May 2: Manx Shearwater 51 settled, Chough 2, Sedge Warbler

May 3 Ynyslas: Whimbrel 31, Dunlin 25,  Ringed  Plover 16,  Common Sand 2, Sanderling, Curlew. Shelduck 30+

Morfa Bychan: Grey Plover 1 north

May 4: Bottlenose Dolphin 3, Ringed Plover 2, Curlew

Pete Hackett

Dotterel

  The dotterel on Pumlumon yesterday, 7 May. 5 in total, a mix of male and female. Lovely birds to watch and well worth the trek to the top.

Shane Jones

Dotterel

 Five Dotterel on Pumlumon this afternoon.

 Arfon Williams

Llanrhystud

 Two Ruff still present at Llanrhystud this morning. Six Dunlin and nine Ringed Plover. Numerous Swallows and Sand Martin. Three male and three female Wheatear. Two male one female White Wagtail. Also a single male Pied Wagtail. Nice to have a chance to compare the differences literally in the field.

Andy James

Swifts

 Three screaming Swifts flew over our house in Eglwys Fach at 2:10 this afternoon.

Ynyslas

 A Cetti's Warbler was singing by the bottle bank near the Nisa in Borth this morning.

Then a short high tide visit to Ynyslas produced four Bar-tailed Godwits, a Whimbrel and a Ringed Plover.

Aberaeron Swifts

 Three screaming Swifts yesterday afternoon over east outskirts of Aberaeron. The local breeders? - hopefully not since there were four last year.

Ian Harrison

Nanteos pool and Llyn Eiddwen

 On Monday Chris had Great Spotted and Lesser Spotted Woodpecker duetting near Nanteos.

Tuesday brought a Cuckoo to Llyn Eiddwen and yesterday he had a count of eight Great Black-backed Gulls there; his highest for quite some time.

The swifts are back in Aberporth!

Three Swifts this morning in Aberporth, hopefully numbers will increase over the next couple of days. At least 3 Common Whitethroat territories have been established along the coast path between Aberporth and Tresaith, and we also had at least 2 Lesser Whitethroats for a few days last week, but it looks (or rather sounds) as if they have moved on. Grasshopper Warbler can still be heard calling from the field next to Wendy, so he might be here to stay.

Long Wood Thurs 4 May

 08.15 to 09.30 approx

Two Tree Pipits in display flight and two singing Wood Warblers showing well were the highlights of a quick walk but also numerous Willow Warblers, Chiffchaffs, Blackcaps and Garden Warblers.

Ian Harrison

First Swift back home

 First Swift back in the box today one day earlier than expected. There seems to be a few more House Martins about here so far this year, which is nice to see!

Tony Clark 

Recent sightings from Aline

 Cuckoo heard near Alltlwyd Woods, Llanrhystud on Sunday 30th.

Good views of two male pied flycatcher singing at Old Warren Hill (near Nanteos) this afternoon.
A nice selection of birds at New Quay Birds Rock this morning including a kestrel, male stonechat, two chough, raven and a whitethroat. There was a steady stream of swallows, and my first house martin of the year.
The usual suspects on the sea included razorbills and guillemots, a few gannets and a small raft of kittiwake.

 
Aline Denton

Above Llanddewi Brefi

 A walk from Waun Brynmeinog through the forestry and in to the upper part of Cwm Twrch. A good variety of summer migrants about, though still a bit short of numbers. Six species of warbler inc 2 Grasshoppers and no less than 50 Willow. Other birds included 2 Cuckoos and two separate groups of Crossbills (perhaps same as have been present since November) of 3 and 2.

I notice that what is presumed to be the same Bar-tailed Godwit is still present at Llanrhystud. It seems to have been about for a while. Is that perfectly usual or could it be sick or injured I wondered?

Tregaron birds

 Had a good couple of days inland from Tregaron to Gwenffrwyd Dinas. Star of the show was a male yellowhammer in full breeding plumage singing very obligingly next to car near Llyn Brianne. Anyway, back to Ceredigion..

On the mountain road yesterday from from Tregaron to Soar y Mynydd were the usual meadow pipits, stonechats and skylarks plus 4 whinchats, 2 males and a pair. There was a cuckoo in the plantation just south east of Soar y Mynydd and a mistle thrush was singing by the chapel. A pair of Common sandpipers were on the Camddwr.

Common Sandpiper

Mistle Thrush

Stonechat

Whinchat

Whinchat

Janet Baxter

Aberaeron House Martins

 Four House Martins over Aberaeron on Monday night around 18.00, hawking for insects but gradually moving northwards. My first of the year.

Ian Harrison

Grasshopper Warbler

  I was at Cors Caron this morning and a gropper was singing in full view right by the bog boardwalk.  Going anticlockwise it was on a section passed the first large pools in a scrubby reedy area about 150 yards before the turnoff for the bog hide and almost drowned out by sedge warblers and reed buntings.  I'd gone there hoping for cuckoos and hobbies but clearly I should have been at Pont Einon!

Eryl Selly

Godwits, etc.

 Bar-tailed Godwit still at Llanrhystud this morning. A male and female Wheatear and a female White Wagtail were also seen but sadly no Yellow Wagtail. At Ynys-las looking towards the point two Black-tailed Godwits were feeding by the waters edge. Later at the Leri Reed bed a singing Reed Warbler and three very active Sedge Warblers.

Bar-tailed Godwit

Andy James

Cuckoo near Llyn Fanod

This afternoon near Llyn Fanod I heard and saw a cuckoo which kept singing while being harassed continually by a couple of pipits.

Pont Einon

 Just a short 30 mins at Pint Einon yesterday evening produced a Hobby, Barn Owl, 4 Gooseanders, 2 Moorhens, 15 Swallows and up to 50 Sandmartins.

Will Davies

Yellow Wagtail Llanrhystud

Here are a couple of videograbs of the Yellow Wagtail found by Andre this morning.  Thanks Andre.

Warblers

 Despite the lack of decent habitat generally at Llanio there were pretty good numbers of Chiffchaff/Willow Warbler/Blackcap and also 5 singing Garden Warblers. These were mostly in the scrubby areas near the Teifi. Yesterday, we went for a quick walk in the middle section of Long Wood, from Betws Bledrws, hoping for Wood Warbler, but seemingly not arrived yet.

Yellow Wagtail at Llanrhystud

There was a Yellow Wagtail on the flooded field at Llanrhystud this morning together with a few White Wagtails and the Bar-tailed Godwit.