Teifi Birding and Wildlife

The 3rd week of October will be remembered for the two named storms. Austen and Boelo hit in quick succession on the 23rd to the 26th with numerous trees down, travel disruption and powercuts.  Strong winds and stormy seas disrupt bird migration and sometime less common species can be seen. Westerlies or North-westerlies blow the birds closer to our west facing coastline.  Jason went to Mwnt on the afternoon of the 25th and was rewarded with the site of a family party of Greenland  White-fronted Geese  flying down the coast. Greenland   White-fronted Geese - Jason Medcraft Joshua was at Mwnt earlier in the day and recorded a Black Guillemot , Great Skua , 237 Gannets and 700 Kittiwakes.  The previous afternoon   there Ewan saw 5 Little Gull , 6 Arctic Tern and 4 Arctic Skua. Gannets - Jason Medcraft Looking back on calmer days on the 5th Oct the  Egyptian Goose seen again.  On the 7th, two  Tufted Duck on river from Curlew hide. (...

The Thursday work party were busy by Curlew hide on the 29th Sept when Ewan pointed out a Spotted Redshank . A very unusual bird for the Teifi, the last was about 8 years ago. It flew upstream with a Common Redshank and was lost. It was resighted late afternoon and again at dusk feeding along the water's edge. September ended with 3 Glossy Ibis from Curlew hide with the gulls on the evening of the 30th. With the light fading fast Justin arrived just in time to capture the scene. Glossy Ibis - Justin Yates An hours sea-watch in a strong south westerly on the 2nd was productive with a feeding flock in the mouth of the estuary. In that time, 120 Gannets were watched feeding and moving through west. Also an Arctic Skua chasing Kittiwakes  and 4 Sandwich Terns. In the hope that some of the terns had flown  upstream to roost on the buoys, a quick look from Coronation Drive produced the big surprise of an Egyptian Goose across the estuary in front of the Waterside Hotel.  P...

On the 22nd September there were an unprecedented 15   Mandarin Duck  from the river viewpoint on the Teifi Marshes.  An unusual sight with mixed sexes lined up along a couple of fallen trees. It is known that Mandarin bred upriver at Henllan this year.  Mandarin on the 24th - Jason Medcraft Record shot across the river when first seen- Hannah Cook They are a non-native species that has established a thriving wild population across parts of the UK after escaping from captivity in the early 20th century.  They were still present later in the afternoon on the 22nd. Also on that visit to the marshes Josh found that there had been an increase in large waders from Curlew hide compared with recent weeks - 13 Bar-tailed Godwit and 8 Black-tailed Godwit . Still a similar number of Dunlin , 51 but only 1 Ringed Plover. There was also a single Wigeon . This was photographed by Jason on the 24th. Wigeon with Mallard - Jason Medcraft After the surprise of multiple Mandari...

Highlight of the month was a Grey Phalarope on the 16th September. It was photographed from the river viewpoint on the Teifi Marshes and recorded on Ebird by a visiting birder. The picture can be seen on the Ebird checklist here  The monthly WeBS count of the estuary and river for the BTO was carried out on the 13th, a dull and drizzly day. There was less wader variety than recently from Curlew hide but still 27 Dunlin , 20  Ringed Plover , 2 Turnstone , 4 Black-tailed and 3 Bar-tailed Godwits .  Bar-tailed Godwit - Diane Williams Flock of Dunlin in the drizzle - Diane Williams Around the estuary on the 13th, 1 Turnstone and 4 Redshank . The Redshank were stretching and preening as if newly arrived It is surprising that no returning Wigeon have been seen yet. The first are usually back in August. Jax has photographed an increased number of Bar-tailed Godwit in the estuary with a count of 11 last weekend.   Bar-tailed Godwit roosting with Curlew and Oystercatchers...

Before September news- a couple of Arctic Skuas off Mwnt (Josh B) on the 31st August  Also, in the evening of the 31st an Osprey with a blue colour ring 7H6 was photographed by Justin. This Osprey was ringed near Inverness in 2022 and has been a regular visitor to the Teifi Osprey Blue 7H6 - Justin Yates 7H6 has been seen almost daily until today, the 12th, both in the estuary and fishing on the river through the marshes.  On the 1st and 4th, this was joined by an un-ringed Osprey. Un-ringed Osprey - Stuart Hall Also on the 1st, a Swift was seen from Curlew hide.  Swift - Jason Medcraft Following on from late August, the excellent variety and numbers of waders from Curlew hide continued into early September including 2 Ruff and 3 Curlew Sandpipers on the 1st. Ruff - Diane Williams On the 2nd Sept after the morning high tide there was still 1 Ruff,  1 Curlew Sandpiper, a Sanderling and adding to the variety, 3 Goosander Goosander - Jason Medcraft In the evenings...

A look back at  the second half of  August which is ending with a wonderful variety of waders being seen and photographed from Curlew hide on the Teifi Marshes . More details on the waders later in the post. Waders in flight - Jason Medcraft From the 11th we had daily estuary sightings from Benjamin Bond, most observations from boats..  On the 12th and 13th there was a Spoonbill on a sandbank off from the Teifi Waterside. Also 11 Sandwich  T erns , a Great Egret and a Common Tern off Patch. An Arctic Skua passed Cardigan Island on the eve of the 12th too. On the 13th Aug there were 21 Sandwich Terns , a  Great Egret  from The Moorings St Dogmaels and 18 Mediterranean Gulls.  On the 22nd, 4 juvenile Knot  were the highlight. Out at sea, Ocean Sunfish have been recorded on several occasions along with daily Bottlenosed Dolphins   On the 9th August there were 11 Barnacle Geese and 7 Greylag Geese by Swallow boats. One of the Barnacle Gee...