Toby Phelps

A Black Tern flew west past Old Castle Hd, Manorbier at lunchtime today. Otherwise very little moving in misty conditions #birdingWales

Fresh East is a nice spot, hopefully you can get out more next year. May see you out and about around here at some point...

2 Balearic Shearwaters west past St Govan's Head in an hr this evening #birdingWales

Adult Sabine's Gull

Balearic Shearwater

St Govan's Head

Enjoyable day seawatching at
St Govan's Hd yesterday.

Sabine's Gull 4 (2 Ad, 2 Juv)
Cory's Shearwater 1
Balearic Shearwater 1
Sooty Shearwater 4
Grey Phalarope 2

Plus a big push of 'Commic' Terns (c700) early morning and a flock of 29 Pale-bellied Brent Geese west!
#birdingWales

Interesting! I did wonder if it might have stopped. Tried again yesterday morning but could only manage an hour before work. No luck but 3 Great Northerns past were nice

Awesome record! I tried an hour by Tenby after the initial report in the vague hope I might pick it up, but of course was unsuccessful! I wonder if it did pass through Pembrokeshire waters on its way through, maybe past St Govan's Hd? Anyway congratulations on a great find!

No pics of the birds so here is a Green-winged Orchid. One of several on the clifftop near my seawatching spot.

Manx shearwaters streaming past St Govan's Hd this evening. Estimated over 11,000/hr between 5.30-6.30pm. Awesome!
8 Puffin and 2 Sanderling past too. #birdingWales

This superb breeding plumage Grey Plover spent 4 days at Tenby south beach. No sign of it this evening so I assume it has continued on its northward migration #birdingWales

SLAM!

2 Bar-tailed Godwit and 4 Dunlin and on Tenby South Beach this evening. Other bits and bobs in recent days include several Whimbrel, a Tree Pipit (at Skrinkle on Fri) and a few singing Lesser Whitethroats and Garden Warblers #birdingWales

The Pembrokeshire Bird Report 2024 is now available to download below. Vital and huge work from Pembrokeshire Bird Group 🙌

Mae Adroddiad Adar Sir Benfro ar gael i’w lawrlwytho isod. Gwaith gwych ac allweddol gan Grŵp Adarydda Sir Benfro 🙌

Diolch 🙏

drive.google.com/file/d/1Q0VS...

Feeding Manx Shearwaters.

Yesterday morning there was an impressive feeding raft of Manx Shearwaters off Presipe beach. Maybe about 300+! A little flurry of migrants in the bushes at Skrinkle including my first Grasshopper Warbler and Common Whitethroat of the year #birdingWales

Cheers Dave! Have been enjoying your pics of the Marloes Hoopoe, cracking bird.

A male Wheatear with colour rings on its legs recorded at Manorbier in March 2025. This bird was ringed on Lundy Island in 2023 and was recorded there again in 2024.

The colour-ringed Wheatear I recorded at Manorbier on the 24th March was ringed on Lundy as a one-year old breeding male in May 2023. He was also seen in the same territory last year. Let's hope he's made it back there this year! #birdingWales

Slide shows the number of bird records (not including those from structured surveys) contributed by birdwatchers in Wales to the national record through a variety of channels in 2024. Of 637,636 records, 67% were collected through BirdTrack, 27% through eBird, 4% directly to county bird recorders, 2% through the four Local Environmental Records Centres and the LERC Wales mobile app, and <1% through iRecord (figures are rounded). It is estimated that around 4000 people contributed records, making counts equivalent to 5.6 million birds. A map - produced by the British Trust for Ornithology - shows all the locations in Wales from which BirdTrack and eBird records were submitted. There was almost complete coverage around the coast and in the main river valleys but far fewer in the uplands of mid, west and north Wales. In total, records came from 277 of the 282 (96%) 10-km squares. The two main recording apps provided 26,089 complete lists which is the most useful way of providing records, during 49,573 hours of recording effort. Massive thanks to everyone who contributes, even bigger thanks to county recorders who manage all this data. My thanks to Simon Gillings at BTO, Sarah Woodcock at BIS on behalf of LERC Wales and all the county recorders who provided estimates.

How many people contribute records to county and local bird reports in Wales?

How much data do those county recorders manage and through which channels?

How wide is the coverage? More detail in Alt Text.

Number-wrangling while I'm writing the @birdsinwales.bsky.social 2024 report.

#BirdingWales

My 4th Black Redstart of the spring, a female-type, on the road to RAF Manorbier this morning. Later seen on the coast path near Presipe. Also a female Wheatear and a few extra Chiffchaffs about. #BirdingWales

Thanks Dan, I believe Skok use a coded colour ring on their Wheatears, thinking it might be a Lundy bird.

Thanks Dave, didn't get much of a chance to look at it yesterday but would agree seems to be the closest. I'll drop them a line to check anyway

Male Wheatear with colour-rings. On its left leg there are two rings, white over blue and on its right legthere is a metal ring above a yellow ring with a black line through the middle.

Male Wheatear with colour-rings. On its left leg there are two rings, white over blue and on its right legthere is a metal ring above a yellow ring with a black line through the middle.

Male Black Redstart.

Male Black Redstart.

Wheatears! 7 this morning behind the RAF Manorbier range (2 females, 5 males). One of which was colour ringed!
Any help tracking down the project would be gratefully appreciated.
Lundy maybe?

Also 2 Black Redstarts, a female-type and a new(?) adult male.
#birdingWales

Red-throated Diver

A few more common migrants appeared in the strong northerlies this morning, incl. a nice hirundine flock at Tenby Marsh with 2 House Martin, 6 Swallow and 11 Sand Martin. A Willow Warbler there too.

Red-throated Diver off Tenby South Beach and the Hoopoe still at Kiln Park.

#birdingWales

Male Black Redstart on a stone wall.

White Wagtail in a ploughed field.

Firecrest in a blackthorn thicket.

A smart but mobile male Black Redstart above Presipe beach, Manorbier the highlight today. Yesterday a couple of White Wagtails and a Firecrest.
Still waiting for that first Wheatear though!
#birdingWales

Special Issue of #BirdStudy is now published:
The impacts of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza on birds: part 1

10 papers (5 #OpenAccess) plus Editorial on the impacts of #birdflu #HPAI outbreak in Europe, Canada, Antarctica: www.tandfonline.com/toc/tbis20/7...

#ornithology #ukbirding #seabirds

Even more unusual is that it has overwintered in Tenby! Being first reported in December 2024.

Cheers Dave, love a Hoopoe! It's quite a worn one - mustn't be easy surviving a Pembs winter! Hope all's well with you.

Hoopoe still present at 07.45 this morning at Kiln Park, Tenby, near the railway bridge. #birdingWales

Cheers Adam, yeah the Tenby bird - between the Golf course and Kiln Park

Hoopoe in the evening sunlight. Kiln Park, Tenby. A bird that has overwinter in South Pembrokeshire first reported in December 2024.

Not seen a Wheatear or Sand Martin yet! #birdingWales

Great day yesterday birding with @phelpstoby.bsky.social, Jalal and @becky-gibbs.bsky.social: managed to twitch the Black scoter down Holylake and we also got a great view of the little owl at Burton marshes 🦉

#UKbirding #RarebirdsUK

Drake Black Scoter (right) with female and (obscured) drake common scoter (left).

Nice to catch up with the drake Black Scoter off Hoylake late morning! Good views despite distance and haze. A couple of Long-tailed Ducks offshore too.