Sully or Johnno or Nosey or Grad or Loud

Some spectacular light on Freshwater East beach this afternoon. Offshore not one but two juvenile Mute Swan, other than that just a few Herring Gull. 2nd time this autumn I've seen Mute Swan in the bay.

Most interesting sighting at Goldcliff today were low flocks of Wood pigeons and Starling W. The lagoons themselves were barren as they were on my last visit. A small mixed flock of waders notwithstanding There may well be a logic behind the way it was managed over the summer but it escapes me.

I've been trying to see Cory's Shear off Strumble for over 40 yrs, 278 today! Can't believe anyone saw that coming, I'd have been less surprised by a fly-by Harlequin Duck. Thanks to climate change it seems likely that I'll see one there over the next couple of years, getting more and more regular.

My viz-mig spot at Outfall Lane. Birds are usually first picked up over the trees to the Left (W). Many come through at eye level or below with others higher/much higher. Mipits often come down N along the trees to the R (E) and not infrequently go straight off South over the estuary.

Munster have made 100+ more tackles than Leinster, it looks like they could make 1000+ without caring

Tadhg Beirne has got some sort of electro-static charge on his hand that sticks to a rugby ball. Insane physicality from both sides and then Beirne comes out with a ball previously owned by Leinster. Never mind men against boys, it is a super hero against boys.

One of the things I like most about viz-mig, trying to decipher what is moving, in what direction & what is just local movement. Today all the finches & albas moved E overland as did a small movement of BHGull, Starlings all went straight W. A % of mipits went S straight out without any hesitation.

I've not advanced past level one i.e. Gwent YBW yet. I now take my phone out everywhere and sound record using Merlin waiting for that to pick one up. Once I get YBW I can move onto Pallas's. I even run Merlin picking the kids up from school or nursery.

Nice Finch & Alba Wag passage E at Outfall Lane. Mostly Linne Goldfinch Siskin smaller no's of Chaffinch & Redpoll & Greenfinch too. A few tight flocks of Albas. Finches in sight every scan. Reasonable numbers of mipits. First Starlings of the autumn W as were Great White & later a Little Egret.

Genuinely delighted with a patch first Curlew on the hills above Bassaleg, also the first Redwing flocks of the autumn, regular chaffinches, 2 sightings of Red Kite and a Great Spot. Small numbers of Skylark, Mipits, Linnet, Song Thrush too

I am living in hope that one day some Muppet on the telly interviewing someone as fit as a flea in their nineties will get the answer "it's my genes""it's not a secret, it's in the scientific journals" to the question "what's your secret to looking so good"

Amazing year for apples, apple cake with afternoon coffee, apple crumble after tea and as an apple a day keeps the doctor away, an apple just before bedtime.

I saw two flying East just off Gilestone Beach a couple of Decembers ago. Real surprise and great to see.

A friend told me a story of a White Snow Goose making a winters landfall in the early 80's on the West coast of Wales in a gale. It was so knackered it landed on the rocks, collapsed, apparently died, fell back into the water and drifted back off again.

Strumble, not an all-dayer, the main passage died off by 11 am, 3 Leaches, 3 Adult Poms including 2 with Spoons, one of them very close, a Long-Tailed Skua, a strong passage of Arctic & Great Skua, a few Arctic & Sandwich tern, 1w Little Gull, 2 Sooty Shear & Strumble tick for me = 5 Pintail.

I once sat near the top of Ben More with a friend. "Look at that fox running through the valley below". Put binoculars on it, a Red Deer Stag with a full set of horns. Distances can be deceptive. Small cow close up, big cow far away.

A classic Strumble Watch today, I don't have accurate totals but 4 Skua spp (c100 birds), 2 Sabs, a chocolate brown Balearic, c 10 Sooties, a Little Gull, 3 Leaches, 3 Stormies. a movement of Golden Plover. Birds moving in numbers from first light to last.

There was a time when I had a mono-brow of Dennis Healey proportions. The first Turkish Barber I went to put an end to that. This is a step too far but my eldest daughter is very happy. 2 boys under 5 and a 10 month old foster child means pampering is in short supply

I have a window in childcare and other commitments. I started packing yesterday. My first chance this year!

The human stain remover: what Britain’s greatest extreme cleaner learned from 25 years on the job | Tom Lamont From murder scenes to whale blubber, Ben Giles has seen it – and cleaned it – all. In their stickiest hours, people rely on him to restore order

Good Grief Charlie Brown.

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I don't want to do that now I've retired!! Horrific but someone has got to do it

Quality views of Wryneck at Goldcliff. It was kind enough to fly across us on the way out, split second views, ordinarily I'd have thought "that looks a bit big & grey" & moved on. We waited & it flew up onto branch, then fed on the floor, hopped on posts etc. Excellent Hirundine movement too

First hour up the hill at Penylan (above Bassaleg) this autumn, fewer raptors than I was expecting just a few buzzard, a kestrel and two sprawk, loads of skylark and mipits and linnet, swallows and house martins feeding and moving NE.

Juv Sabs on or around my patch at Outfall Lane was kind enough to hang until I went down to look for it, also a small cetacean coming straight at me, 3 clear splashy leaps in a row before I lost it, ?? a common dolphin & the arse end round the corner of about 12 black birds, probably Corms but ?????

I have nothing more to say about this

Went to Laugharne today, everything wrong with the West Wales Tourist Industry crammed into a small area. The good news is I saw a male Clouded Yellow. First one I've seen in years.

Unexpected patch tick off Freshwater East beach this evening a Mute Swan, less unexpected given the numbers was a heard fly-by pretty sure it was a Curlew Sandpiper, heard it call twice but couldn't find it.

Another thought, I wonder how many UK birders would have stopped to chat with a birder with a HR66 Opticron not even in a waterproof case. Every birder I saw did (5) They all started by asking me what have you seen? apart from one who called me over when he re-found the Buff-breast/found a 2nd

If I'd stayed in the S half of Wales I'd have seen more birds than I did in SE Ire but I went for the change of scene. The Irish birders I met were really friendly/helpful/interesting, the cycling & scenery excellent. My target species was Wilson's Phal, it could have been me at Lady's Island!

Hard right.

Sometimes you couldn't make this shit up. Three and a quarter hours staring off the boat for nothing of note. As the boat turned hard left into Fishguard Harbour there's a feeding flock of terns and kitties and in amongst them a juv Sabs and a DP Arctic