Paul's Blog - All comments and views are my own,

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

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

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??

Answers on a post card please?? ??

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.

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

WILDLIFE EXPERIENCE NOT TO BE MISSED. Today we were "nephew sitting" and with an iffy forecast decided to visit New Quay in West Wales about an hour and a half away from home. The plan was to go on a dolphin watching boat trip of which there are many to choose from. Arriving around 11:30am I went into the first booking office I saw, now that could have been a big mistake!, I booked with "SeaMor" for the 12:30pm trip, after booking and enjoying a "mocha" I noticed that we were booked on a "RIB" in other words an inflatable, opps keeping quiet we queued up at the harbour and it was a joy to see the faces on the other half and the nephew when they realised we were getting onto an inflatable... cow Atlantic Grey Seal Stupidly I didn't take a photograph of the RIB but there was no need to concern with life jackets issued and fitted we set off at a sedate pace along the coast, this area is a Special Area of Conservation with tight rules