Seabirds in Oxwich Bay

Gannets, Kittiwakes and gulls on 29th December (M. Hipkin)

Alan and Shirley Osbourne informed me that since moving to Oxwich in 1963 they have never seen a concentration of birds in the bay like that witnessed over the last two weeks. Alan said that birds first started gathering in the bay around the 15th December, with numbers peaking a couple of days before Christmas day. He also said that there were around five times as many birds then than during the last few days with well in excess of 10,000 birds in the bay.

Oxwich Church in very gloomy conditions on 30th December

Herring Gulls and Common Gulls have been the most abundant species, with around 4,000 of each. I counted 530 Kittiwakes on the 29th and counts on the 27th included 154 Razorbills, 170 Cormorants, 109 Shags and 38 Gannets, though I know Mark Hipkin saw over 80 on the 29th. Other miscellaneous species have included 80+ Black-headed Gulls, 43 Wigeon, 30+ Common Scoter, 30 Great Black-backed Gulls, 20+ Guillemots, 5 Teal, 3 Great Crested Grebes, 2 Eiders and the odd Great Northern and Red-throated Divers, Mediterranean and Lesser Black-backed Gulls. Scarcer species noted have included 2 Yellow-legged Gulls and 2 Iceland Gulls. Mammals have been represented by 10+ Grey Seals and 3+ Harbour Porpoise.

Kittiwakes, Shags & Herring Gulls off Oxwich Church

Iceland Gull by Oxwich Church

Llynfi Valley Blog launched

Check out this new blog to find out what wildlife can be found in a typical South Wales Valley
 http://llynfivalleynature.blogspot.com/. The site is run by Paul Parsons and Martyn Hnatiuk, two very active and experienced recorders with a wide range of wildlife interests.

Tree Sparrow at Newton

Alun John sent me this photo of a Tree Sparrow at one of the Newton Farm feeders today, which is excellent news. Time will tell if this will be like last year's lonesome bird; but hopefully not and that others appear at the feeders over the winter. Great work Alun, I know Andrew and Barry (Weston) will be very pleased with your observation.

(c) A. John

Sometimes it pays to do the dishes!

View of the sparrow hedge from the kitchen sink.

This Tree Sparrow was a new bird for Uncle Doug's garden in Tycroes today, spotted along with 15 House Sparrows, 5 Bullfinches and a few Reed Buntings. A nice reward for doing the dishes!

Tree Sparrow top bird, note the chestnut cap and black cheekspot on a clean white background. Note that unlike the House Sparrow male and female Tree Sparrows look similar.

With no camera at hand other than on my phone, this was my first ever attempt at 'phone-binning', i.e. holding the phone's camera to the eyepiece of a pair of binoculars. It's not as easy as it sounds believe me!

This bird is about 10km south of the Tywi Valley, the nearest known breeding area for Tree Sparrows, so it's possible others have wandered further south. Check your bird table tomorrow and you may have an unexpected Christmas present :)

Pomarine still present.

 And what a present!! Merry Christmas.

Pomarine Skua at Whiteford

This Pomarine Skua was seen at Whiteford by Rob Colley and Dai Roberts today. It looks very similar to a bird that was photographed at Gileston on 16th December by Steve Hinton, although difficult to say for definite. Rob and Dai also report finding a rancid carcass of a Leatherback Turtle on the beach there. All photos (c) D. Roberts.

Mid-winter Hoverfly

An Episyrphus balteatus landed on my hand while out and about near Glynneath today. This hoverfly can be found on the wing in any month of the year and it's "friendly" nature is something that I've often found quite endearing about this species.