Tagged Red Kite at Three Crosses

This tagged Kite was just north of Three Crosses today. It was ringed as the eldest chick from a brood of 3 to the north of Swansea by Gwyn Roberts in June 2007 [Gwyn has just informed me that I actually helped him ring this brood, so good to see an old friend!]. This is the only sighting since it fledged.

Honey Fungus in Gorseinon

Honey Fungus (Armillaria mellea) is one of the most feared of garden pests and it’s been in our garden since for at least three years, with noticeable dieback of part of our privet hedge. The RHS states 'There are no chemicals available for control of honey fungus. If honey fungus is confirmed, the only effective remedy is to excavate and destroy, by burning or landfill, all of the infected root and stump material'. However Nigel Stringer did tell me of an old wives tale, that by spreading flour over the affected area it encourages another fungus (species unknown to Nigel) which will suppress and eventually kill off the Honey Fungus. I did treat the affected area last year and less has appeared so far this year, but time will tell!

Note that this is a good time of year to look for waxcaps on garden lawns which can be surprisingly good for this group...

Whinchat at Oxwich Marsh

A late Whinchat with 2 Stonechats along the fence in Oxwich Marsh today was my first sighting of this species at this site in many hours of observing there.

Brown Hare on Crymlyn Burrows Beach!

Today, while on my birding circuit of Crymlyn Burrows and the nearby Golf Course, I was amazed to be joined on the beach by a Brown Hare. The tide was right out and I was the only person on the beach. I was looking at the waders for something unusual when I noticed an animal run onto the beach from the dunes. My first thought was that it was a small dog but on closer inspection it was clearly a Brown Hare. I was standing dead still about 100 yards from the dunes. The Hare spent about 2 mins on the beach coming in my direction the whole time. At a range of about 30 yards it finally noticed me and sprinted back to the cover of the dunes. While sprinting back at one point the Hare started prancing a bit like Antelope do (to show how physically strong they are) when they are running away from danger. It truly was an amazing experience and one I will never forget.

Other highlight from today 8 Lesser Redpoll and 5 Redwing over Golf Course and 20+ Reed Bunting around the saltmarsh.

Western Conifer Seed Bug in Swansea

This image of the Western Conifer Seed Bug (Leptoglossus occidentalis) possibly constitutes the first Welsh record of this rapidly colonising North American squashbug (Coreidae)[now pre-dated]. Ian Tew was given the photograph by Chris Beynon, who found the specimen on the 7th floor of the Faraday building in Swansea University; he then passed on to Tristan Bantock for identification.

Tristan wrote: The bug has again attempted to colonise the UK from Europe during autumn 2009 and records have been flooding in from the south coast. This is, however, the first record for Wales (to my knowledge). I have also had several reports from inland areas with large stands of pines; these must relate to locally bred individuals and are highly suggestive of established populations. Surely it is here to stay and it is a truly spectacular creature!

For further information check out these pages:
http://www.britishbugs.org.uk/heteroptera/Coreidae/leptoglossus_occidentalis.html
http://www.hetnews.org.uk/pdfs/Issue%2012_Autumn%202008_2422Kb.pdf

If you happen to be lucky enough to find one for yourself please make sure that the record gets passed on. Note that there are other similar looking species so try and capture an image for verification.

Goldfinches

For many years now, Goldfinches have nested in our front and rear gardens and visited my peanut feeders during the summer, only to disappear in the autumn. This spring, I invested in a couple of Niger seed feeders and have lately added a sunflower heart dispenser. The result has been dramatic. Instead of just a handful, I now have up to 30 Goldfinches at any one time and I believe that the numbers are still increasing. They do irrupt and leave periodically, but are rarely away from the garden for more than a few minutes. Many are juveniles, but there are about equal numbers of adults as well. All are finishing off their body moult, with the adults, instead of sporting red faces, now having a delicate shade of orange behind the bill. I am confident they will stay for the winter, but really should put up my mist nets to find out just how many birds are involved……

Med Gull [White C378] returns again!

Just received details of a couple of colour-ringed Mediterranean Gulls seen recently in the Bay. White 3C78 (originally bearing White 46E), was ringed as a chick near Antwerpen, BELGIUM on 4th June 2002 and was seen in Bracelet Bay in its first winter by Harold Grenfell on 03 February 2003. Since then it has returned most winters and has been seen by a number of local observers. It appears not to be a very widely travelled bird when compared with some, other ports of call only being Pas-de-Calais & Somme in FRANCE and Oost-Vlaanderen in BELGIUM, where it possibly breeds. In 2009 Harold saw it again on 8th March, it was then seen in Pas-de-Calais in July before returning to Bracelet Bay where I saw it on 25th September.

White 35E2 was ringed a chick at Oost-Vlaanderen, BELGIUM on 21st May 2005, it was seen again in the colony in May 2008, and appeared in Bray harbour and Dublin IRELAND in Jan-Feb 2009 before I saw it at Blackpill on 21st September.

If you see a colour-ringed bird please report it to the scheme organisers found via the very useful c-r birding website at http://www.cr-birding.be/