Spring arrivals

A round up of the last month now that we are back from The Gambia. Migrant birds out there were putting on fat ready to leave so it won't be long before we see them here. 

Wheatears are back. This male was at Mwnt on the 13th March.

Wheatear - Dyfed James

A good place to look for them is the Cliff Hotel golf course. Three were near the Coastguard Station  this morning (20th March).

Sand Martins were first seen over the Teifi Marshes reserve on the 10th March (Paul Taylor while counting Brown Hairstreak eggs- see below).

Sand Martin - Toni Henwood

This weekend is the last Wetland Bird Survey of the winter. As expected many species are decreasing in number as they leave for their breeding grounds

The tide height at The Webley saltmarsh was perfect but just a few Wigeon and one Oystercatcher were there. Total Wigeon around the estuary was 37. At Pinog (at the back of St Dogmaels car par park) there was a Common Sandpiper and 37 Redshank. On the Teifi Marshes  2 Jack Snipe were on the commercial reed cut area by Mallard hide.

The reed cut has been good for migrant Pipits and Wagtails over the years. 

A Water Pipit was seen feeding on the mud a few years ago and large numbers of White Wagtails gather there on their migration to Iceland.

Birds to lookout for in the coming week include Garganey. An influx into the UK has been noted including 5 at RSPB Conwy on Saturday morning. Little Ringed Plovers are also arriving. One was up the Ceredigion coast at Llanrhystud this weekend. 

Latest update on the Brown Hairstreak Survey at The Welsh Wildlife Centre, Cilgerran, Cardigan from Ceredigion Butterfly Recorder, Paul Taylor

"On Friday 4th March we undertook a another survey for Brown Hairstreak eggs, and wow, what a day!

We split into two groups, with myself and 3 others doing the Heron Field (Ceredigion) and found a staggering 103 eggs, compared to only 15  found last year in that field.  The other group remained in Pembrokeshire.

In total for the whole day we found 299 eggs, when added to the Tuesday survey, the total was 485, 37 shy of the all time record for the whole site, and we still have a further 3 areas to be surveyed.

The 485 eggs found equates to a 57% increase on last year for the same areas.

The total for Cerdigion so far is 139 eggs, with still more areas to survey."

Rich D and Wendy J