Friday 11th September 2015

I tried the moth trap for the first time last night, not the most successful session I have enjoyed with less than 50 moths mostly Large yellow underwing, a Garden Dart and Garden Carpet the highlights.


WWT Llanelli was more successful with 289 Redshank, 33 Greenshank c100 Knot 2 Spotted Redshank, 1 Ruff ♀, 33 Wigeon, and 2 Peregrines, an immature ♀ and an adult ♂

Flight shots are not easy on a "bridge" camera especially when trying to photograph the fastest bird in the world



just landed,

Black-tailed Godwit, Ruff and Knot

Thursday 10th September 2015

Not a lot going on today, but 33 Little Egrets in the Loughor river was pretty good.

Most of the 33 Little Egrets

Pied Wagtail male

Tuesday 8th September 2015

A two hour drive, then a three and a half hour flight and then another 2 hour drive didn't put me off leaving the house at 5:30am today to go ringing!!!!

I went to my own site at Sandy Water Park, to ring in a piece of mixed woodland/scrub/grassland.

For a first visit, not knowing the best sites for the nets it was a short productive session with only 10 birds caught.

Six male Blackcaps, and two male Goldcrests plus a Wren and a blackbird made up the small catch but valuable lessons learned.

There were also four Mistle Thrushes, four Siskins and a Great Spotted Woodpecker around.

Goldcrest

Juvenile male Blackcap

1st September - 7th September 2015

A family holiday in Halkadiki, Greece, little time for any birding but a few nice species seen:

Icterine Warbler, Red-backed Shrike, Hoopoe, Marsh Harrier, Sardinian Warbler, Eastern Olivaceous Warbler, Spotted Flycatcher, Pallid Swift, Cirl Bunting, these were the best of the bunch.

Male Cirl Bunting

Bee-eater colony  nest site  ( not in use )

Insects included lots of unidentified butterflies, (from the sunbed) Praying mantis spp, Stick Insect spp., plus Southern Darter.

Praying Mantis

Southern Darter??

Stick insect??

Sunday 30th August 2015

Answers on a post card please??

??

Saturday 29th August 2015

Constant Effort Site session 12, Heather and I met at 05:30 am and had all the nets up by 06:10hrs.

It was a very quiet session with only 17 caught, including Treecreeper, Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Robin, Wren!!, Blue Tit Dunnock, Blackbird and the star was a first for the site a Green Woodpecker.

Robin

Juvenile Cetti's Warbler

There were plenty of dragonflies around including darters, and hawkers.

Migrant Hawker, Aeshna mixta

The six hour session ended at 12:00pm.

Adult Chiffchaff, adults undergo a complete moult after breeding. with a full set of new feathers this bird is ready for that journey across the Mediterranean.

Thursday 27th Augusr 2015

This morning was quality over quantity at Sandy Water Park, with a Lesser Whitethroat, a Rook, and Three Mistle Thrushes.

The adult Little Grebe was busily fishing

Little Grebe

Little Grebe