Around & About.

In the Fishguard area small flocks of Chaffinch in off at Strumble Head & a few Thrush species about. Large numbers of Woodpigeon moving.

Tresinwen (28 Oct 17)

Lots of Redwings and Fieldfares moving over the garden today.  Two Coal Tits around the garden along with one or two Siskin.

Strumble 27/10/2017

A quiet morning with a NE wind, moderate to start then dropping away to light. Several strings of Scoter passing east to west otherwise fairly quiet except for two divers one of which I managed to capture. There were 3-400 gulls flock feeding off to the NE which were disturbed at one point by an Arctic Skua doing it's best to down a small gull. It failed and was seen off by larger gulls. Closer to shore a few Choughs passed by and a passing Merlin put in an appearance.

Stormy weather...

These Brent geese arrived in Fishguard Harbour after Storm Brian 

along with some wigeon 

 Next day at Strumble the Strumblers gather... 

Strumble 25/10/2017

Very quiet again today with very little action in the water but above the waves there was a bit going on. This Heron was seen off and forced inland by a band of gulls very put out by it's presence. A Skua at at a distance I think a Pom was the only other sea bird of note and I couldn't resist a shot of the little feller on the barbed wire alongside the car park. A couple of Choughs also passed by a few times and a large flock of Starlings spun over the lookout before settling in the field behind the car park.

Strumble Head 23rd Oct 2017.

Time: 07.45 - 13.00
Weather: rain & Mist with some clear spells
Wind: SSW 3/4

Brent Goose - 1 ( PB )

Wigeon - 51

Pintail - 1

Teal - 2

Common Scoter - 448 ( 310 Males )

Long Tailed Duck - 1

Red Throated diver - 1

Manx shearwater - 3

Arctic Skua - 1

Bonxie - 2

Mediterranean Gull - 1 ( Ad )

Sandwich Tern - 3

Commic Teren - 1

Common Dolphin - 8

Risso's Dolphin - 5 possibly 6

Many Thanks to Chris Grayell for the information. 

 

Strumble Head 22nd Oct 2017.

Time: 07.30 - 16.00
Weather: Mostly Cloudy with some Showers
Wind: WNW 6/7

Brent Goose - 20 ( Pale Bellied )

Common Scoter - 44 ( 41 Males )

Red Throated Diver - 2

Black Throated Diver - 1

Great Northern Diver - 5

Storm Petrel - 5

Leach's Petrel - 5 ( One of which was not seen until taken by a Peregrine )

Golden Plover - 1

Pomarine Skua - 10 ( 9 Pale Adults, some with spoons. Sgl Dark Adult with spoons )

Arctic Skua - 31 ( 24 Pale, 6 Dark, 1 Juv )

Bonxie - 30

Sabine's Gull - 2 ( 1 Ad, 1 Juv )

Little Gull - 5 ( All 1st w )

Sandwich Tern - 1

Little Tern - 1
Arctic Tern - 1

Black Guillemot - 1 ( Winter Plumage )

Risso's Dolphin - 1

Porpoises showing occasionally in rough seas

The extremely chilly Lookout well attended today & paid dividends.

Bonxie

A single Bonxie off shore at Pen Anglas this morning,large numbers of Kittiwakes passing.

Strumble Head 20th Oct 2017.

Time: 07.00 - 11.30
Wind: NW 6

Wigeon - 4

Common Scoter - 127 ( 113 M )

Manx Shearwater - 7

Pomarine Skua - 1 Pale

Arctic Skua - 1 Dark

Bonxie - 1

Mediterranean Gull - 10 ( 9 Ad, 1 1w )

Many Thanks to Richard Davies for the information. 

Strumble Head Tuesday 17th Oct 2017.

Sorry for belated report been away !

Time: 07.00 - 1345
Weather: Clear
Wind: W 6 / SW 4

Wigeon - 1 ( M )

Common Scoter - 48 ( 37 M )

Great Northern diver - 2

Sooty Shearwater - 1

Balearic Shearwater - 1

Manx Shearwater - 25

Bar Tailed Godwit - 4

Pomarine Skua - 6 ( 2 Pale one with spoons, 1 Dark, 3 Juv )

Arctic Skua - 14 ( 9 Pale, 5 Dark _

Long Tailed Skua - 6 ( All Juvs )

Bonxie - 24

Little Gull - 4 ( 3 2w, 1 1w )

Mediterranean Gull - 3 ( 1 Ad, 2 1w )

Sandwich Tern - 6

Arctic Tern - 2

Commic Tern - 4

Risso's Dolphin - 5

Many Thanks to Richard Davies, Chris Grayell & Elfyn Pugh for the information.

Another big blow Saturday, Sunday could score !

Wheatears

2 fairly late Wheatears on Dinas Mountain this morning also 80+ GoldenPlover.
A Hummingbird Hawkmoth in the garden late afternoon.

Golden Plover

170 Golden Plover on Dinas Mountain this afternoon ,little else.

Skua Spectacular

Well if the porpoises were playing hard to get today the bird life certainly wasn't. With Richard, Elfyn, Chris and a couple of others all calling Skuas my lens was more often than not pointed skyward rather than at the fleeting porps. I'd not seen so many in a single session for a long time and one even ventured to within 80Mtrs or so of the rocks. Below is a variety of images of the many different Skuas that passed by. Appologies for the quantity Adrian but all the chaps were keen to see them on the blog. Please feel free to thin them out if you wish.

Brent at Strumble

Captured this lone Brent Goose passing the lookout yesterday after Adrian had left.

Strumble Head 12th Oct 2017.

Time: 07.00 - 12.00
Weather: Fine, Overcast
Wind: WSW 3/4

Common Scoter - 37 ( 30 Males )

Red Throated Diver - 1

Great Northern Diver - 2

Manx Shearwater - 6

Grey Phalarope - 1

Arctic Skua - 2 ( Dark Phase )

Bonxie - 1

Little Gull - 1 ( 2nd Summer )

Porpoises showing occasionally

Common Dolphin - 85 ( Pods of 15, 60 & 10 )

Sunfish - 1 

All the early stuff from Richard Davies.

Strumble Head 7th Oct 2017.

Time: 07.00 - 10.00
Wind: WSW 5/6

Common Scoter - 3

Bonxie - 2

Risso's Dolphin - 6 ( Including one calf )

Many Thanks to Richard Davies for the information.

Strumble Head 5th Oct 2017.

Time: 07.15 - 12.00
Weather: Generally Bright with Good Visibility
Wind: NNW 4/5

Common Scoter - 87 ( 78 Males )

Red Throated Diver - 2

Leach's Petrel - 6

Golden Plover - 6

Pomarine Skua - 4 ( All Pale Adults )

Arctic Skua - 16 ( 4 Pale, 10 Dark, 2 Juvs )

Long Tailed Skua - 3 ( All Juvs )

Bonxie - 13 

Sandwich Tern - 13

Arctic Tern - 1

Risso's Dolphin - 2 ( Possibly more )

Porpoise showing on & off.

Many Observers.

Extra's After 12 Noon.

Pomarine Skua - 1 ( Juv )
Bonxie - 2

Many Thanks to Alex Bevan ( Cardiff )

Strumble Head 3rd Oct 2017.

Time: 07.00 - 11.00
Weather: Bright
Wind: NW 5

Brent Goose - 3 ( Pale Bellied )

Common Scoter - 83 ( 68 Males )

Great Northern Diver - 1

Leach's Petrel - 2

Grey Phalarope - 1

Pomarine Skua - 2 ( Both Juvs )

Arctic Skua - 17 ( 5 Pale, 12 Dark )

Bonxie - 8

Sandwich Tern - 4

Commic Tern - 1

Porpoises showing occasionally.

Many Thanks to Richard Davies for the early stuff.

Strumble Head 2nd Oct 2017.

Time: 07.00 - 13.00
Wind: W 6/7

Common Scoter - 26 ( 23 Males )

Red Throated Diver - 1

Great Northern Diver - 1

Pomarine Skua - 2 ( 1 Pale, 1 Juv )

Arctic Skua - 4 ( 1 Pale, 3 Juv )

Bonxie - 10

Sandwich Tern - 14
Commic Tern - 2

Many Thanks to Richard Davies & Chris Grayell for the information.