Another Holiday

Off to the land of Hot Green & Red Curry, Nasi Goreng & hope fully lots of good birds. :-)

Golden Plovers and Lapwing

Good numbers of both Golden Plover and Lapwing in the fields near Jordanston Bridge this afternoon.

Fishguard Harbour 22nd Jan.

From Fishguard Fort this afternoon , 1 Black Throated , 2 Great Northern & 7 Red Throated Divers.

The best count of the year so far.

Many Thanks to Paul Grennard for his observations & efforts to visit the site given the conditions.

Firecrest

Yet again the Firecrest seen near Jordanston.

Plumstone Mountain 20th Jan.( Not Fishguard ! )

Joined the two Pauls ( Grennard & Mahiques ) for the Harrier watch, only one Ringtail seen distantly but a nice show from the starlings.

Barn Owl Castlemorris 19th Jan.

Seen hunting on way home from work. Was seen to catch at least one item of prey which is good news given the conditions of the last days.

Flagpoles 15.30 18th Jan.

No surprises when i say it was extremely cold ! Brightened up though by three Shovelers ( 2 Ad. Males & 1st W Male ). Female Teal also on Stena side.

Black-throated Diver

A Black-throated Diver off Fishguard Fort this morning along with a Great Northern Diver,from the same location yesterday the same Great Northern Diver and a Great Crested Grebe over towards the flagpoles.
Firecrest seen again near Jordanston.

Mediterranean Gull

A second winter Mediterranean Gull at the flagpoles this afternoon.

Firecrest

A Firecrest again at Jordanston I would imagine the bird that has been present on and off since November last year.

Redpoll 14th Jan.

Don't know if it's one of the birds from before Xmas, first back on feeder this year.

Strumble Head 14th Jan.

Time: 10.30 - 12.30
Weather:Overcast, some bright spells
Wind:NNW 5/6

Common Scoter - 12 ( 2f )
Red Throated Diver - 2
Great Northern Diver - 1

More Gannets today, large number of Fulmars ( 50+ ) still lots of auks.

Double figures of Porpoises seen today despite the heavy sea.

Fishguard Harbour & OBW 13th Jan.

Couldn't find any Purple Sandpipers but a few birds to be seen. At least 3 Great Northern Divers in Harbour, the same number of Tysties with one already in breeding plumage. The Black Redstart on the Outer Breakwater was a pleasant suprise. 

Strumble Head 7th Jan.

Time: 10.45 - 13.15
Weather: Cloudy to start brightened up.
Wind: SSW 2/3

Shelduck - 5
Wigeon - 1 ( m )
Pintail - 1 ( Female East )
Common Scoter - 6 ( 2 f )
Red throated Diver - 5
Great Northern Diver - 2 ( Both flew East )
Med. Gull - 1 ( Ad )

Huge numbers of Auks ( 75% gillies ) on water, as they drifted east into the bay on the rising tide they started moving back west in large numbers. I estimate 3000+ passed back west past lookout in time i was there.

Very few Porpoise seen, 6 at most.
 

Local Area Bird List 2012

Interesting to see the much publicised " Foot It " experiment in 2013, i inadvertantly did much the same thing in 2012 except mine was a " Not drive very far list ".

Basically my area started at  Fishguard Fort, south as far as Scleddau ( taking a small detour up the Gwaun Valley ) then along the Mathry Rd turning off to Abermawr. Back around the coast then to Fishguard.

I ended the year with a round 150 species, a few glaring absentees but a couple i didn't expect to get.

Here's a breakdown of the number of species i had first at each site or area:

Gwaun Valley - 5
Lower Town Fishguard - 3
My Garden ( In Fgd ) - 23
Goodwick Moor - 11
Fishguard Harbour - 36
Pen Anglas - 5
Strumble Head - 50
Jordanston - 11
St. Nicholas - 4
Abermawr - 2

The biggest suprise was not the Yellow Browed Warbler in the garden or even the Bonapartes Gull at Strumble, in the 12 months i didn't manage to catch up with a knot. A scarcity at Fishguard Harbour but only 33 were recorded past Strumble Head this year & i missed all of them.

See what 2013 brings.
 

Flagpoles 14.30 6th Jan.

All the usual suspects as far as the gulls & waders go, there did seem to be a larger number of Cormorants though out distantly in the bay.

Yellow Browed Warbler

A few mile out of Fishguard by the road down to Cwm yr Eglwys this morning at around 10.00am a Yellow Browed Warbler was present in the hedgerow working its way up the road,the bird was total by it's self.

Tresinwen (01 Jan 13)

A few pics from the sunny 1st.