Griswold's Birding Year 2015 (1 Viewer)

I take my hat off to people who regularly sea watch. I spent an hour and a half at Sker Point this morning with sand stinging my face and everytime I turned into the wind, sea spray covering my bins rendering them almost useless.

A probable RTD flying over was nice as well as 7 or 8 Curlews. Was hoping to find a Petrel but conditions were truly dreadful. Did pick up 196 in amongst the Turnstones and they also happen to be amongst my favourite birds.

196. Purple Sandpipers.

Had a cracking hour and a half at Llanrhidian this afternoon with a mate. On arrival 3 members of the CBC were there which is usually a good sign.

For the next 90 minutes we were treated to views of a Hen Harrier grappling with SEO's (5 present) and a GWE coming into the roost. I heard the next bird before seeing it. The CBC members were onto it straight away - FirecrestB :t:. A first for me and totally unexpected.

The scope performed very well but with the light going I switched to the bins. There across the marsh we watched a Barn Owl quartering back and fore. The first Barn Owl I've seen for a few years now:t: Almost the end to a very good session. To finish this off we stopped at the pub which is the home of the Gower Brewery and had a pint of Brew One. Now that was a great end to a very good sessionB

197. Firecrest Lifer #11 B B B
198. Barn Owl

200 could be on the cards this year:eek!:

Rich

Nothing new to add today but given it was the first relatively dry day we've had I thought it was a good idea to get the children out into the fresh air. Whilst I had planned to go to the Fendrod this morning it was a bit unexpected when @Sociablebirders tweeted there was a Pink-Footed Goose there. And there it was, sure enough. A couple of Kingfishers, some Tufties and some Pochards rounded off a nice walk with the children.:t:

Looks like you had a very fine year there, Sparky!

Larry Lade said:

Looks like you had a very fine year there, Sparky!

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Cheers Larry and glad to see you have great taste in films:t:. Hoping to break 200 next year with a few days on Skye and a day trip to the Outer Hebs planned.

Hope you had a good Christmas and have a Happy New Year:t:

Rich

Had a decent morning at Sker Point this morning. Dipped (as usual) on the resident Little Owls:-C but did have some good views of Stonechats, Kestrel, Female Sprawk hunting, Curlews, Grey Plover and species #199:

199. Grey Phalarope

Thanks again to @sociablebirders for putting the news out.

Had a great day at Whiteford Point today with Sars. This is a cracking place and is well worth a visit if you're in the area. We weren't able to get there for high tide unfortunately but still managed some decent birds.

The walk down through Cwm Ivy looks interesting. They have not fixed the sea wall allowing the land behind to flood with the tides. Looks like a very decent habitat. A pole has been erected in the hope of attracting nesting Ospreys. Would be great to have them nesting in South Wales. GSW, Linnets, Pheasant and Goldfinch all seen on the way down. At the beach we sat on a log to have lunch and scan the estuary. A few Brent Geese were dotted around along with a heap of Grey Plovers with the odd Golden dotted around. The usual Knot, Curlews, Oycs and Dunlin were also present. Gary then joined us to scan the estuary and quickly picked up a GND that I had missed. It's the first time I've met Gary but I'd been following him on Twitter for quite some time. Gary had two very well behaved Border Collies with him so some time was spent throwing sticks:-O

From here it was round to the lighthouse. Cormorants as usual here and nice to see a raft of Eider. Got chatting to another very decent birder who said he'd seen the Snow Bunting reported yesterday about a mile along the beach feeding on the tideline. Thanks given off we went. More people were using the beach again with very well behaved dogs. About a mile along and sure enough a Snow Bunting was sighted. Quickly followed by another. Well pleased to get to 200 this year and even more pleased that Snow Bunting was the 200th species. I haven't seen one of these since were on Handa last year. My photos don't do them justice at all but we had great views through the bins.

Time for a celebratory bacon butty and a pintB :t:

200. Snow Bunting

Nice Red Phalarope for #199!

Larry Lade said:

Nice Red Phalarope for #199!

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Cheers Larry:t:.

I think it's another Jaeger, Loon thing. Though it's called Grey Phalarope here it's interesting to see the Collins App has it as Red Phalarope :h?:

Rich

I looked in my Collins, Bird Guide, to see which phalarope it was and found it as "Red Phalarope", top of page 153, ad. winter plumage.
Oh, and Sibley's and "my Missouri checklist" also has it as Red Phalarope.

Maybe it should be Gray, or perhaps Grey....

Larry Lade said:

Maybe it should be Gray, or perhaps Grey....

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:-O

Well that's me done for 2015. Chuffed to get to 200 for the year. Got a couple of trips to Scotland planned for next year so hopefully 2016's total will be in the same ballpark.

Birds of the year were probably the Merlins on the Black Mountain. But the Hawfinch, SEO's, Fulmars and Puffins came mighty close.

Had some cracking birding trips but highlights were probably finally catching up with Bearded Tits with my old man; spending a day on the West Coast of Scotland watching Ptarmigan, 3 Diver species, Slavs and an Otter (whilst having some superb smoked salmon and scallops for lunch); and walking from Burghead to Findhorn scanning a mirror smooth Moray Firth for Long Tailed Ducks, Common and Velvet Scoters, Merganser, Slavs etc. And to top it off Wales beat Ireland in the Six Nations:t:

Wishing everyone good birding and a healthy 2016.

Rich