National Moth Atlas published

Emoth January 2011 Tip: click on 'full screen' at the top of the document for a clearer view

Among other things this issue announces the publication of the long awaited Provisional Atlas of the UK’s larger Moths and how you can get your very own copy at a discount rate! There are also details on joining Butterfly Conservation for half price in our January sale.

Note that the Glamorgan data set has been incorporated into the atlas.

Kentish plover painting.

Acrylics on canvas. Thanks to Barry for the permission to use his photo. Given to Martyn Hnatiuk as his best find whilst year listing in 2010.

Bittern update

During the December freeze up to three Bitterns were seen at Sandy Water Park in Llanelli, this morning Ian Morgan sent me this picture and wrote: I went to see the bittern at Sandy Water Park last week....and this is what greeted me....what hope of finding the bittern!....it had probably left by then though!

Ian's experience highlights the difficulties in finding Bitterns even when you know they're there! There have, however, already been a few confirmed reports from our area during the first few days of 2011; Jamie Bevan sadly found a dead Bittern at Crymlyn Bog; Terry Tovey saw one feeding at Baglan; and Colin Wilke saw one flying over the WWT centre in Llanelli. Birds have also been seen at Kenfig NNR, so remarkably, it seems there's been a pretty reasonable survival rate when considering the extreme conditions experienced. The squares on the map below show the BTO winter atlas tetrads where Bitterns have been recorded. Large dots represent post-2000 records, smaller red dots pre-2000 records. The black-centred dots are for 2011. Birds have been seen at most of the likely sites now, so this is probably a good record of winter distribution in our area.

Brambling in the garden

Living next to the Gnoll has major benefits regarding garden birdwatching. We feed the birds that visit our garden year round and as a result of this the regular "resident" birds also bring in the seasonal visitors. We get Brambling most years but the numbers recently are way above normal.

There have been good numbers of Brambling in the country this winter and ones and twos have been recorded in the garden since mid November. 5 were present on the 17th December and the numbers have remained high ever since with 15+ today (possibly 20 or more)

The large numbers of birds that feed here, attract Cats and Sparrowhawks, so the "feeding frenzy" that occurs a few times a day can make the birds very flighty. Follow the link below for some footage of the action!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=n2hBqaSZZJQ

Oxwich marsh

Ongoing habitat restoration by CCW in the marsh at Oxwich has resulted in a dramatic increase in the number of waterfowl using the site during the winter, with over 100 each of Wigeon, Teal and Gadwall having been recorded during the recent cold weather. This morning I counted the following: 2 Little Grebe, 9 Greylag, 85 Gadwall, 138 Teal, 1 Pintail, 4 Shoveler, 1 Coot, 19 Moorhen and 18 Water Rails. Finches in the Alders included counts of 80 Siskin, 70 Goldfinch & 7 Lesser Redpoll.

immature male Pintail in rather gloomy conditions this morning 

Nick Edwards (CCW warden) informs me that further habitat improvements are scheduled before work on the new hide is completed, so there may be some disturbance on site over the coming weeks.

Pintail and Scaup

A little bit of a New Year bash today brought some nice duck records for the Neath River and Baglan Bay area. The female Pintail shown below (on the right) next to a drake Mallard. Apart from the size, a sleeping female Pintail can resemble at female Teal but the brown speculum (would be green on a Teal) and plain head (Teal has an eyestripe) set them apart.
This is probably the same female that I saw here on Christmas Eve. She was with Wigeon that day, but today she was with 3 Mallard and if she has been spending her time along the river it would be great to record her in a few more BTO squares.

From Aberavon Beach today large numbers of Great Crested Grebe were spread out in the mist. These 4 Scaup were pretty flighty but luckily they came close enough to grab a record shot.
It looks like 2 x 1stw males and 2 females

Chough feeding on saltmarsh at Whiteford.