Spring...

 Sand Martin

Wheatear

At Marloes yesterday afternoon there was evidence that spring is here. Firstly at Martin's Haven, lots of Mipits parachuting and several pairs of Stonechats were on the Deer Park. A walk through the gorse revealed a smart male Wheatear (my first of the spring). Over by Rath Cottage a further 9 Wheatear were present including 1 or 2 females, a single Swallow moved west over the Deer Park.
Back towards Marloes Mere a further 2 Swallows were seen and the highlight, a Merlin whizzed past me towards Martin's Haven. On the mere, there were a several pairs of Teal, 3 Shoveler and lots of Mallard. By Britton Hide a flock of hirundines gathered over the water. Mainly Sand Martins (19) with 4 Swallows mixed in. 2 Chiffchaffs were in the nearby scrub.   

The weekend- Firecrests, Yellow-browed, Black-throat and Eider

A great weekend birding in Pembrokeshire started with the female/imm Black Redstart in Amroth on Saturday morning. That afternoon I went to Monk Haven to see the Yellow-browed Warbler. In the Churchyard there were 2 stunning Firecrests and 2 Chiffchaffs. Unfortunately, after an 1 hour and half of looking I only had a very brief and frustrating glimpse of the Yellow-browed.
I managed another visit today and this time it showed great in the sunshine, I also heard it call on several occasions. It frequented the tall alders between the car park and the Church. The 2 Chiffchaffs were seen again today but no sign of any Firecrests. Afterwards, I had a quick look at the Gann. The only birds of note here were 13 Pale-bellied Brent Geese.
Later at Broad Haven: there were plenty of scoters out in the bay, 1 Red-throated Diver and the highlight was a smart *Black-throated Diver*. I watched it for a while as it foraged of the north end of the beach. A look at Druidston was rewarded with a fine drake Eider.

Yellow-browed Warbler

Gloucestershire Holiday

We spent a few days in Gloucestershire as a family holiday. Arriving just before mid day, I spent the rest of that day in WWT Slimbridge. A great selection of birds around the site with some of the highlights including, 130 Eurasian White-fronted Geese and amongst them, 5 *Greenland-white Fronts*. Also, form the Holden Tower, large numbers of Barnacle Geese, about 200 and Wigeon, 1000. 5 Cranes, including a pair displaying were seen from the Holden Tower as was, and a smart winter Little Stint on the scrape. On the Tack Piece, there were large numbers of ducks, Pintail, Wigeon, Shoveler, Teal, Tufted Duck, Pochard, Shelduck and Mallard were all recorded,  along with 86 Bewick's Swans, 600 Golden Plover, 200 Lapwing and about 200 Dunlin. Next to south lake where a Bar-tailed Godwit was roosting with 160 Black-tailed Godwit. Plenty of Pochards (20) and a drake Gadwall were the other birds of note here. And finally, I had some great views of the 2 immature female Scaups at the Rushy Pen along with a close Bewick's and great views of several drake Pintails.

Barnacle Geese

Little Stint (back) and Dunlin (front)

European White-fronted Geese

Greenland White-fronted Geese

The next day, we visited the Cotswolds Water Park. A family walk around pit 30 gave me the opportunity to check for Smew. A scan of the far end of the lake was rewarded with distant views of a pair of *Smew*. As we walked around the lake we got closer to them. I watched them for 20 minutes and had some cracking views of drake and duck as they fed together. As we continued our walk we heard 2 Green Woodpeckers calling nearby and 100+ Golden Plover flew west overhead.

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Smew

On the way home we made a quick stop at Cosmeston Lakes. Despite the heavy rain I managed a short time birding. A large gull roost on East lake including a very washed out 3rd winter Herring Gull. Another interesting gull was on the shore of east lake. A 4th winter, with the mantle colour intermediate between Lesser Black-backed and Herrin (similar to Yellow-legged) but the legs were pale pink, possibly a Lesser Black-backed X Herring Gull. I also had some good, but distant views of the smart drake Lesser Scaup with 15 Tufted Duck at the far end of East lake.

Landshipping and Chiffchaffs

Plenty of birds around Landshipping late this morning. Teal (100+), Redshank (30+), Snipe (25) and a Greenshank. Over towards Sprinkle Pill large numbers of Lapwing and Dunlin on the expose mud and Golden Plover flocks visible over the fields. 40+ Greylag geese flew down river, followed by a flock of about 50 Canada Geese. The highlight though was a Great Northern Diver. At first it was flying down river but it then landed just at the mouth of Sprinkle Pill. It stayed around for a while but I later lost it so I assume it carried on down stream.

Later at Milton, there was plenty of woodland birds along Paddock lane including at least 4 Chiffchaffs. 2 were clearly the nominate collybita and 1 look very good for *Siberian tristis* and another pale bird that look a little too olive for Siberian, abietinus?
I watched them for about an hour and a half and managed some good views. I played the call and song of Siberian Chiffchaff in the hope to get the bird to call back. Unfortunately, I couldn't get it to call but it did become very interested when the song was played. It would stop feeding and attempt to find the source of the song, this also included a wing quivering display. 

All the features of the bird seemed to point to Siberian Chiffchaff. The supercillium was buff/white, prominate and had no sign of any yellow tones. The upperparts were a buff- brown/grey and the underparts were whitish. Not obvious from photos but the sides of the breast appeared buffish almost forming a faint band. the tertials, secondaries and tail were thinly fringed with olive green and the rump was slightly olive too. The pale edges to the greater coverts formed a paler diffuse wing bar, that was obvious in good light and if the bird was side on. The ear coverts were brownish and slightly contrasted with the paler upperparts. The bare parts were black, contrasting with the pale body. The feet being slightly paler in bright light. The bill appeared slightly shorter than that of collybita and had a small pale base. A thoroughly enjoyable afternoon getting to grips with this taxa!

Siberian tristis Chiffchaff

abietinus(?) Chiffchaff

Common collybita Chiffchaff

Penduline Tits in Gloucester

A slight detour off the M5 allowed me to see the 2 Cracking male Penduline Tits at Horsbere Reserve in Gloucester. They showed very but would occasionally fly high into the reeds where they would disappear for a while. 40 Fieldfares and a Chiffchaff were nearby.

Penduline Tits

Ginst Point and a Black Redstart

A trip to Ginst Point this morning gave me a chance to pick up some useful additions to the year list. A walk around Alex's Farmland was rewarded with large numbers of Lapwing and Golden Plover. On the rivers edge, there were 30 Curlew, 12 Shelduck and an impressive 44 Shoveler. There was only 1 Teal and no Pintail, no doubt there was more but I couldn't get any closer. On the north-east spit of Ginst Point, there was large numbers of gulls and about 200 Oystercatchers all roosting on the spit. Back by the car, there were good numbers of Lapwings, another 20 Curlew and a flock of 100+ Dunlin.

I found a fantastic female type *Black Redstart* at Amroth early this afternoon. The bird spent most of its time on the roofs of the shops and houses but was very mobile, doing a circuit of the village. It would disappear for prolonged periods but often returned to the same house where I had some good views.

End of Amroth gulling(?) and Llys-y-fran yesterday...

The gulls around Amroth and Wiseman's Bridge have returned to normal. I have never know of such large numbers of gulls in the area, but it was clear that the availability of large numbers of shellfish brought in by recent storms had attracted them in. Some of the highlights of the few weeks included;

1 or 2 Iceland Gulls (Wiseman's Bridge)
1 Glaucous Gull (Amroth)
1 Mediterranean Gull (Amroth)
1 Yellow-legged Gull (Wiseman's Bridge per Clive Hurford)

Iceland Gull at Wiseman's Bridge

I visited Llys-y-fran yesterday evening to have a look at the gull roost. A good roost but it was split into 2 groups. Unfortunately, fading light meant I couldn't locate the Ring-billed Gull or any Yellow-legged Gulls, but did get a smart 2nd winter Iceland Gull that flew in with a flock at 16.20. A couple of Great Crested Grebes were also on the reservoir.