Woodchat Shrike : Fairy Hill, Gower

On Saturday evening as myself and Neil were returning from our pelagic I received a 'grapevine' text advising of a male Woodchat Shrike being found on the common at Fairy Hill west of Reynoldston on Gower.
After a lay-in on Sunday morning myself and Teresa popped down to Reynoldston late afternoon and within a minute or two of parking Ed Hunter turned up making his second visit of the day and as he new the area where the bird was hunting we soon got on to the bird which was still present.
We made our way down the common and with stealthy approaches I came away with some images that I was quite pleased with, this was my sixth UK Woodchat Shrike and all have been in Glamorgan, three in East Glam and three in West Glam..........

"Ahoy there, a trip to the Celtic Deep"

On Saturday 26.August myself and best mate Neil Davies joined Cliff Benson and other members of Sea Trust West Wales on a pelagic aboard Cartlett Lady out of Neyland Marina to the Celtic Deep about 26 miles offshore from Pembrokeshire in the hope of catching up with some whales and dolphins and any seabirds that may decide to put in an appearance, we were not to be disappointed !!
After the obligatory bacon baguette in the marina café we set off and after only an hour or so connected with our first Common Dolphins, the first of 500-600 we were to see throughout the day.
We were lucky to obtain two unidentified whale sightings and one obliging Minke Whale, we also saw hundreds of Manx Shearwaters, one Loggerhead Turtle, two Grey Seals miles out at sea, four or five Blue Sharks, five European Storm Petrels, hundreds of Blue Fin Tuna, hundreds of Gannets and a number of Fulmers, disappointingly we didn't connect with either of the large shearwaters or a Sooty.
This however didn't detract from a fantastic day out and one which will live long in my memory, we set off at 10.00am and returned at 6.15pm so a long day out and here are a selection of photos from the trip........

Semipalmated Sandpiper : Sully Island, Penarth

A few photos of the bird that was initially identified as a Little Stint last Saturday but was re-identified as a summer - winter moulting adult Semipalmated Sandpiper from my images late on Sunday by East Glamorgan County Recorder Phil Bristow and also Mike Powell.
The bird was seen again last Monday but has not been seen since.
This is only the third record for Glamorgan following juveniles both at Ogmore Estuary in 1990 and 2001, I was fortunate to see the 2001 bird which was on the east bank of the river just below the sewage works........

'From west to east'............

With a high tide at 9.59am I paid a visit to the wader roost at Crymlyn Burrows bumping into Dave Cornish who was carrying out some survey work, I than pushed on to Gower for another go at Dartford Warbler before finishing off the day at Sully Island for a Little Stint found earlier in the day by Matt Meehan, an excellent find and record.
Here are a few pics from my day out, 'record' shots only I'm afraid of the Little Stint due to the distance and lots of disturbance.........