Notable Recent Sightings

05/03 Firecrest 1, Lake Vyrnwy
05/03 Short-eared Owl 1, Lake Vyrnwy
14/01 Pink-footed Goose 1, Dolydd Hafren
03/01 Waxwing 20, Meifod; also 5 Welshpool by canal on 01/01. Last: Welshpool 13/02
23/12 Waxwing Newtown College, first arrivals 04/12, 47 on 23/12, 67 on 01/01, 30 on 04/02
09/12 Cattle Egret 1 roosting with 8 Great Egrets and some Little Egrets, Llyn Coed-y-Dinas
02/12 Waxwing 21 Guilsfield, 12 Montgomery, 1 Welshpool, and 1 on 01/12 Llanfyllin
16/11 Dotterel 3, just west of Dyfnant Forest on RSPB land
16/11 Great Grey Shrike 1, on edge of Dyfnant Forest on RSPB land, last reported 19/01
15/11 Waxwing 25 or 30, just west of Lake Vyrnwy along the Dinas Mawddwy road
08/11 Great Northern Diver A juvenile was found near Anchor, rescued and released
30/10 Black Redstart 1 in garden at Hendomen, near Montgomery
06/10 Hawfinch 5 in treetops at Powis Castle, by main car-park
04/10 Cattle Egret Dolydd Hafren, a flock of c.30
29/09 Red-flanked Bluetail Dyfnant Forest: a county first
23/09 Manx Shearwater 1st year bird grounded in Llanfyllin; released at coast
03/09 Cattle Egret 10 at Cors Dyfi, rising to 32 on 05/09
01/06 Turnstone 1 at Caersws with Little Ringed Plovers
03/05 Wood Sandpiper 1 at Dolydd Hafren
18/04 BLACK-WINGED KITE 1 video-ed at Glan Mule, near Kerry: a likely FIRST for UK
07/04 Black Redstart Female on Carno roof
07/04 Little Ringed Plover Llandinam Gravels
25/03 Osprey Female 5F 'Seren' arrived back at Llyn Clywedog
25/03 Pied Flycatcher An early migrant near Llanfechain
22/03 Hen Harrier Female in flight near Berriew
15/03 Sand Martin 5, Dolydd Hafren
15/03 Golden Plover c.50, Heldre Hill, Long Mountain, nr Welshpool
05/03 Whooper Swan 1, between Caerhowel (Montgomery) and The Gaer, with Mute Swans
05/03 Pink-footed Goose 1, Caersws, with Canada Goose flock
05/03 Jack Snipe 2, Caersws
05/03 Hawfinch 24, Powis Castle, feeding behind orchard
28/02 Pink-footed Goose c.25, flying north over Welshpool
26/02 Merlin 1 male, chasing Meadow Pipit, Long Mountain near Welshpool
26/02 Pintail 3, Llyn Coed-y-Dinas, 1 since 14 Feb
14/02 Hawfinch 1, Powis Castle car-park, very vocal
23/01 Jack Snipe 1, Moel-y-Garth near Guilsfield
17/01 Brambling 80, in beeches at Pen-y-Waen near Cefn Coch with Chaffinches
07/01 Hawfinch 2, bathing in puddle, Cwm Lane, Castle Caereinion
   
See Sightings Archive for older records

Monday, March 04, 2024

Recent news from the Whats App Group

 The first Chiffchaff was reported at Pwll Penarth MWT Reserve by Jude Duffy on 27 Feb, (though some may have been lurking quietly during the winter in the county).   

Pat Powell has been busy photographing and ringing Siskins in Llangadfan, with groups of 40+ several times on 25 Feb. Below is one of the males:

There have been many other reports of Siskin flocks from round the county too. 

Meanwhile, Dave Lister has had 100 Brambling at his reserve at Mochdre this last week, including this male:

and this strange-looking leucistic Brambling

 

Liz Roberts reports 57 Curlews flying into Dolydd Hafren on 27 Feb. 

Finally, 40+ egrets sp.  were feeding close to the A483, just south of Belan as Paul Leafe was driving past this morning, but exact identities were not established! Thanks to all observers and photographers.
 


Wednesday, February 21, 2024

Brambling , Welshpool

At last a male Brambling feeding in the garden. Male Blackcap in the garden too.

Little Owl in Four Crosses, and other news

 

Many thanks to Steve Holloway for this photo and story: "Awoken by a loud thud around 0730 (on 17 Feb). Found this Little one on the patio. I stayed guard to keep the local cats away. After about 10 mins it gave me a huge stare and promptly flew off low over the hedge and adjoining fields."

Sadly Little Owls are a county rarity these days, following a steady decline since 1990. At least this one chose the best house in the neighbourhood to crash into!

A report of 12 Bewick's Swans at Llyn Coed-y-Dinas on 17 Feb turned out to be the white geese grazing on the next field, which Chris Townsend has named Cygnus charliensis (subsp. Xmas survivori)! They are the fattest swans I ever did see. 

Dave Lister reports 100 Brambling and 150 Siskin today at his reserve at Mochdre. Thanks Dave. 

If anyone has any recent Waxwing news, please let me know, as I am writing a short article for Otter (the MWT newsletter) on their irruption into the county since 15 Nov. 





Thursday, February 08, 2024

Colour-ringed Lapwing

In Chris’s last post from LCyD, there is a photo of a colour-ringed Lapwing. This Lapwing (White LX) was ringed on the 12th April 2023 just north of Llanbadarn Fynydd, by the mid wales ringing group. It’s the first sighting of this individual since it was ringed.

We started colour-ringing Lapwings in the winter of 2017 to try and understand where the mid Wales population was disappearing too. Despite there being some good sized flocks of Lapwings around the Welshpool area in the winter months, finding them during the breeding season in mid wales can be very tricky. The idea behind colour-ringing is so that we can identify individuals in the field, and build up pictures of where the spend their time - if they stay local, or travel long distances etc. Although this individual hasn’t moved very far, it’s still very valuable information. Other sightings of ‘our’ Lapwings have come from: Staffordshire, Kent, Cheshire and the Netherlands.

Anyone can report sightings of colour-ringed birds, and these sightings really help us build up more information of bird’s movements, their age etc. Colour rings can either be a combination of different colours, a coloured ring with letters and/or numbers, or even a combination of both colours and a ring with letters/numbers.

Sunday, February 04, 2024

L.Cyd today.

 The 3 Barnacle Geese were still present today, as well as 64 Lapwing, 1 Great Egret, 40+ Wigeon, 8 Snipe, and 20 Tufted Duck.




Brambling

Male Brambling ferding in garden Bwlch y cibau, near Welshpool, confirmed by photo 31/1/24

Monday, January 29, 2024

Short-eared Owl and recent Coed-y-Dinas records

 

This wonderful image of a Short-eared Owl in its winter habitat was captured by the RSPB's remote camera on 11 Dec 2023, at 3.18 pm (if the camera clock is correct!) Many thanks to Sam Sharpe for sending the photo. 

In other news, 3 Hawfinch were seen at Llyn Coed-y-Dinas on 23 Jan. On 27 Jan, 8 pairs of Pintail were there. Meanwhile, the egret roost there continues to grow. At dusk on 28 Jan, 2 Cattle, 17 Little and 17 Great came into roost. 3 Barnacle Goose and a Water Rail were also seen there the same day. 

On 30 Jan, there were at least 140 Lapwings and 1 drake Pintail among many Wigeon and Teal at LCyd. 8 Snipe were visible to the left of the hide, but I am unable to confirm a possible Jack Snipe reported by two visitors. 

Thanks to Tammy Stretton, Susan Morley, Paul Leafe, and Luke Reynolds for these records.

Wednesday, January 24, 2024

Onward Waxwing movements

Since their first arrival in early December Mid Wales Ringing Group have managed to colour-ring a total of 60 different Waxwings at a couple of locations in Newtown, primarily the College. The first group of ca. 67 max seemed to move off in early January when there was a short break in sightings and then an additional group of a similar size (55 max?) reappeared but these were seen to be largely unringed (and most remained so).

So where did the first bunch head off too? It may be very surprising to many to know that these groups of Waxwings are not that cohesive. Flocks split and splinter with birds heading off in different directions. We have so far had five birds reported away from Newtown, two in Worcestershire (Great Malvern), one in Gloustershire (Cirencester), one in Hassop (Derbyshire) and the most recent one on the Teifi Marshes (Ceredigion). We greatly look forward to seeing where they might end up in the next few months and would welcome any and all reports of colour-ringed birds from photographers.

Many thanks to (top) Jude Barbour, Great Malvern, (middle) Jonathan Mercer, Cirencester and (bottom) Jen Evans, Teifi Marshes for photographing and reporting the three colour-ringed birds shown below.





Tuesday, January 23, 2024

28 Egrets at Llyn Coed-y-Dinas

 Is this a record!? North Wales birder Marc Hughes visited at dawn on 21 Jan and counted:

14 Great Egrets, 13 Little Egrets and 1 Cattle Egret roosting on the island, plus:

120 Wigeon, 45 Teal, 5 Goosander, and 3 Barnacle Geese (among 500+ Canadas and 100 Greylags). 

The Barnacle Geese are of unknown origin. There is a small flock of feral birds that breeds on an island in Derwentwater in the Lake District, and migrates to the Dyfi Estuary. A few are sometimes seen at MWT's Cors Dyfi Reserve from the Observatory. We don't know if these are a break-away from this flock or from another source. Thanks Marc. 

Friday, January 19, 2024

One for Iolo and Winterwatch!

 


I'm guessing that Tony and Paul placed some apples at Newtown College - I could only find one bird there today in a brief visit.

However, back in Welshpool, at least 4 Brambling were in the garden, with 2 subsequently ringed.