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

Today is a relaxing day after a few busy ringing days, it amazes me whenever I go out and find another great wildlife site. Today we went to "Swiss Valley " reservoir, (yep that's what the area is called), unusually for most reservoirs I have experienced apart from the outer dam wall all the internal shore walls are covered with vegetation, albeit mowed to an inch.  There wasn't masses of wildlife but Great Crested Grebes 5 inc 1 juv, Cormorant, Heron, Mallard on the water; with Grey Wagtail, Coal Tit, and Goldcrest in the overflow runoff and surrounding woods. the babbling brook Field Maple Swiss Valley reservoir After a great pot of tea at a nearby garden centre it was back to Sandy Water Park for a stroll around the lake, my first for several weeks, it was high tide so quite a few gulls loafing on the grassland including two Mediterranean gulls, Common Gulls and Black -headed Gulls. There were 15 tufted Duck and only 39 Mute Swan.

This morning I joined Charlie at Oxwich NNR for a ringing session with thrushes very much in mind. Another dry cool autumn morning saw us on site at 06:30hrs, we immediately put the mp3 players out with Redwing on two nets, Crest on another and Woodlark (they have been seen in the area this week). The First round delivered a few surprises firstly 13 Redwings and a COMMON SNIPE in one set of nets, nothing in the "crest" net and in the third a Song Thrush and a JACK SNIPE. What a first round.... Common Snipe and Jack Snipe for comparison Jack Snipe Common Snipe Jack Snipe after being released, they usually just sit on the ground pretending to be invisible it flew off after a minute or so We carried on for a few more rounds and caught seven more Redwing, and  11 Goldcrests along with a mix of other usual fare.

The forecast is set for a change in the weather, so I decided to go to Pembrey Burrows LNR and try out another site (site2) in some willow scrub/reeds The weather was calm and overcast when I set up and stayed that way until the end of the session. A Magpie was a surprise in the first round then more usual fair of Robin (1), Wren (3), Reed Bunting (2), Chiffchaff (2), Goldcrest (1), Chaffinch (1), Dunnock (1), Blue Tit (2). Robin age 4  What wing is this and what age would you assign

A trip to WWT Llanelli this morning, with high tide (7.6m), at 09:45hrs saw a lot of waders on the outer scrape, Black-tailed Godwit (673), Knot (600+), Greenshank (22), Spotted Redshank (2), Lapwing (11), Great Crested Grebe (60+) on the estuary, Redshank, Curlew, Peregrine (1), Water rail (1), Kingfisher (1), This afternoon I attended a Llanelli Naturalists society Fungi walk at Pembrey forest.  Pale Tussock Moth caterpillar  Despite the lack of rain in these parts for the past few weeks there was a decent showing of species.  The Sickener   Russla sp

Busy today, so just time for a very short ringing session in the garden, it was worthwhile with two Black-headed Gulls and a Long-tailed Tit ( there were at least six on the feeders but the net had to be closed) Black-headed Gull (on wing length of 318mm probably a male) Long-tailed Tit, at this time of year they cannot be aged,  as both adults and juveniles moult and replace all feathers

Today was a session at Oxwich NNR with the Gower Ringing Group. A calm overcast cool start turned into a cold, breezy overcast finish. With 40 birds processed it was asteady session with highlights of Redwing (2) Siskin (2) and Lesser Redpoll (2). Redwing  Lesser Redpoll  Siskin Redwings were heard flying over just before dawn and we expected or hoped for a few more in the nets, the Siskins and Lesser Redpoll reflect the feeding that Owain carries out on the site and there was a decent flock of mixed finches around the "scrub" feeders at the end of the session (we were not ringing this area as it is being left for a bigger team on Saturday). Tails and Wings can be the determining factor in ageing Siskin Siskin Wing Siskin Tail

With the settled weather continuing, (high pressure and an easterly airflow) another session at Pembrey LNR. I heard Redwing flying over on Wednesday evening so it seemed the obvious thing to do, play the tape and see what happened. Redwing, the first of the Autumn I caught two Redwing, an adult and a juvenile, a great result I hope there's more to come... I also caught a "control" Reed Bunting, this is a bird ringed by another ringer at a different site, as it happens the bird was ringed on 23rd September 2015 at Oxwich NNR. Reed Bunting ♂ All in all a steady three hour session with a total of 20 birds caught.