WeBS Sept 2009

The September counts were incomplete - lots of gaps including some of mine, I confess. The counts put on line (including Teifi counts) so far add up to the following:

Barnacle Goose 34
Bar-tailed Godwit 25
Black-headed Gull 1104
Black-tailed Godwit 12
Brent Goose 5
Brent Goose (Light-bellied) 2
Canada Goose 740
Common Gull 2
Common Sandpiper 7
Common Scoter 1
Coot 39
Cormorant 27
Curlew 515
Dunlin 133
Glossy Ibis 1
Golden Plover 2
Great Black-backed Gull 105
Great Crested Grebe 10
Greenshank 12
Grey Heron 23
Grey Plover 1
Guillemot 1
Herring Gull 950
Hybrid duck 3
Kingfisher 3
Knot 7
Lapwing 1
Lesser Black-backed Gull 509
Little Egret 54
Little Grebe 18
Mallard 344
Mediterranean Gull 8
Moorhen 29
Mute Swan 165
Oystercatcher 324
Razorbill 1
Redshank 145
Ringed Plover 65
Sanderling 4
Shag 10
Shelduck 16
Snipe 7
Spotted Crake 1
Teal 163
Tufted Duck 28
Turnstone 46
Water Rail 3
Whimbrel 1
Wigeon 2595
Grand Total 8318

Wetland Bird Survey 2009-10

It's getting around to the season for WeBS counts again.

There are several sites that need new counters, due to the previous counters retiring. So, if you fancy doing a monthly count at one of the following sites, please let me know:

Western Cleddau - Hook to Sprinkle,
Eastern Cleddau,
Millin Pill,
Cosheston Pill,
Westfield Pill,
Pwllcrochan Flats
Trefloyne Pools.

If anyone wants to do a count in August, the official date is August 23rd - regular counters can enter their data directly, if anyone else does a site, send me the data and I'll input it. Dates for the regular season are as follows.

20th September
11th October
22nd November
20th December
17th January
21st February
14th March

BTO atlas - 1st summer

We apologise for being out of contact with everyone regarding the BTO atlas. We have been working away in the background, and have managed to produce this map from last summer's data. The dark blue dots show the areas with lots of species recorded, the white dots where few species are recorded, and a lot of obvious blanks where we'd really like you to do some recording.
This data was sent to us as a spreadsheet last November, so there may well be some data that went in later, especially from paper forms, that aren't included. Also not included are records without breeding codes. Recording whether the bird is in suitable breeding habitat, singing, etc is just as valuable as records of definite nesting.

With regard to timed tetrad counts, there are still twenty or so tetrads available, particularly in SM83, SM93, and SN23. For those of you who have volunteered to do timed tetrads, please remember to do the first visit before the end of May, and the second before the end of July. Records of early breeding birds, or late breeding birds, outside of the April to July period are also useful.

Thanks for all your work so far, and we look forward to producing updated maps full of lots of dots later this year.

BTO Atlas 1st winter results

We now have the Pembrokeshire data for the first winter season of the new BTO atlas. There are almost 15,000 records for Pembrokeshire - a huge effort and many thanks to those who have contributed.

The map gives an indication of the number of species recorded so far in each tetrad.

Green patches - no records yet

Grey squares are less than seven species and probably mostly represent birds recorded while someone is driving through a square.

Darkest red squares have between 35 and 70 species recorded - the result of timed tetrad visits, and people recording in the tetrads where they live or visit most often.

We have records from 358 tetrads
152 species were recorded

A minimum of 225,573 individual birds were recorded (where no count was entered, the number is assumed to be one - so really there were lots more)

At least 59 people contributed - not all from Pembrokeshire, and indeed one person has an address in Finland.

Lots more effort is needed, especially in the middle and north-east of the county, so please do contribute in the coming season - fieldwork starts again on November 1st.

Wetland Bird Survey - August 2008

We don't do a regular August WeBS count, but noting a number of observations recorded on the Pembrokeshire Birds blog, I've compiled a maximum August count for the Cleddau Estuary (not all sectors were looked at, and not all on the same dates, and not all lists were comprehensive, so these totals are just an indication of what was around):

Bar-tailed Godwit - 2
Black-headed Gull - 333
Black-tailed Godwit - 28
Canada Goose - present
Common Gull - 5
Common Sandpiper - 9
Curlew - 381
Dunlin - 433 - mostly at Angle Bay early in the month
Great Crested Grebe - 1
Green Sandpiper - 2
Greenshank - 29
Grey Heron - 5
Grey Plover - 1
Herring Gull - 1
Knot - 2
Lesser Black-back Gull - 2
Little Egret - 62
Mallard - 96
Mediterranean Gull - 9
Mute Swan - 3
Oystercatcher - 127
Redshank - 265 - half these were on the Little Milford to H-west section early in the month.
Ringed Plover - 80 - mostly at Angle Bay early in the month
Sanderling - 15
Snipe - 8
Snow Goose - 1
Spotted Redshank - 2
Teal - 94
Turnstone - 11
Whimbrel - 14
Wood Sandpiper - 1

Breeding Bird Survey

I hope all volunteers have got their BBS forms etc by now, and are planning their first visit - if they haven't already done it.

We've just about managed to average 20 squares done each year since the foot and mouth outbreak interrupted survey work. There are still a dozen or so squares available in Pembrokeshire, so it's not too late to sign up for one if you'd like to have a go.

Data from BBS squares will be used in the BTO atlas.

Instructions can be found at http://blx1.bto.org/bbs/

Happy counting!

RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch

In this annual event over the weekend of 26 and 27 January 2008, almost 400,000 people counted more than six million birds across 228,000 gardens.

I don't know how many gardens were recorded in Pembrokeshire, but the top ten species are listed below, with the average number of each per garden.

Starling 7.80
Chaffinch 5.49
House sparrow 5.18
Blue tit 3.90
Blackbird 2.31
Great tit 2.03
Greenfinch 1.85
Robin 1.60
Collared dove 1.55
Jackdaw 1.54

More information at http://www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch/results/