New Year's Day hike at Whiteford

In years gone by, myself, Paul Parsons, Colin Gittins and Paul Tabor used to visit Whiteford Burrows in the Gower at the turn of the new year to get the year list off to a good start. Past records I have suggest totals for the trip brought in roughly 60 species, today I got 52 a little down on past years. But it is the first time I've actually visited on the 1st January, the weather was terrible being misty with odd rain showers making photography almost impossible, hundreds of people were walking their dogs along the beach making the chance of finding something good (Snow Bunting, Lapland Bunting or Shorelark) remote to say the least. I did manage a couple of good species though as listed below.


Great Northern Diver - winter plumage adult
Greater Scaup - 1 male, 2 female
Long-tailed Duck -1 female, firstly at the tip of the sand bar and then later in the main channel close to the old lighthouse (bird of the day)
Common Eider - in 2 flocks of 67 and 19 containing 62 male, 2 immature male and 22 female
Common Scoter - 1 male and female at sand bar tip and 1 male and 15 female spread out along the beach surf
Red-breasted Merganser - 1 male and 2 female
Little Egret -11 spread out around the marsh
Merlin - fine male in close flight


Wildfowl numbers also included 12 Great-crested Grebe, 450 Brent Goose, 170 Shelduck, 220 Wigeon, 60 Teal, 20 Shoveler and 350 Pintail. Wader numbers were 1170 Oystercatcher, 58 Grey Plover, 70 Red Knot, 25 Lapwing, 12 Ringed Plover, 130 Curlew, 263 Dunlin, 100 Redshank and 173 Turnstone. A wandering finch flock around the pines held 25 Chaffinch, 6 Lesser Redpoll, 12 Linnet and 4 Goldfinch. Other land birds included 8 Meadow Pipit, 4 Long-tailed Tit, 3 Reed Bunting, pair of Raven and a Green Woodpecker.

Since my last visit in 2010 the beach (Whiteford Sands) has changed quite dramatically through tidal and storm erosion. The beach used to be pristine golden sands for its 2 mile length, but all that is now gone for most of the length and the underlying bedrock and clay have been exposed making it much more difficult to walk on, so I cut back through the dunes about a third of the way along. Below is a stock photograph of what it used to look like and the last photo is what it looked like today.

 2010 - before storm and tidal erosion

2020 - after storm and tidal erosion

Hoverfly highlights 2019

I'm still waiting patiently for my specimen results for the year, Roger has assured me that they wont be to long now. So here's a round up of this years records and a few photos of the highlights.

 Cheilosia chrysocoma

 Chrysotoxum arcuatum

 Chrysotoxum festivum

 Criorhina asilica

Xanthogramma stackelbergi

sandgrouse

Sandgrouse are amongst my favourite bird families. There are 16 species in the family, I've seen 11 species of these of which I have photographed 8 species.

 Spotted Sandgrouse - Morocco

 Crowned Sandgrouse - Morocco

 Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse - Ethiopia

 Lichtenstein's Sandgrouse - Ethiopia

 Black-bellied Sandgrouse - Kazakhstan

 Pallas's Sandgrouse - Kazakhstan

 Namaqua Sandgrouse - South Africa

Burchell's Sandgrouse [foreground] with Namaqua Sandgrouse [pair behind] - South Africa

Blast from the past volume 3 - African birds of prey

 Long-crested Eagle - Ethiopia

 Shikra - Ethiopia

 Osprey - Gambia

 Jackal Buzzard - South Africa

Pale-chanting Goshawk - South Africa

Blast from the past volume 2

Continuing on the theme on nocturnal birds here's some Owls.

 Pharoah's Eagle-Owl - Morocco

 Great Grey Owl - Finland

 Pygmy Owl - Finland

 Pearl-spotted Owlet - Gambia

Spotted Eagle-owl - South Africa

blast from the past volume 1

With the nights long and cold here's some nightjars roosting by day from the archive.

 Egyptian Nightjar - Morocco

 Montane Nightjar - Ethiopia

 Long-tailed Nightjar - Gambia

Standard-winged Nightjar - Gambia

Polyporivora picta - new for valley

No hoverflies since the 4th but did get this Flat-footed Fly - Polyporivora picta. Otherwise zilch, I think the snow has killed off most insects.

weekly round-up

Still a few species of hoverfly feeding on what's left of the Ivy, highlights being a female Sericomyia silentis at Lletty Brongu woods and a very late Volucella pellucens at the cemetery both on the 27th. A fruit fly was also seen at the cemetery which was confirmed on Irecord as Eulieia heraclei  and is new for the valley. Lastly a Red Admiral was also there.

 Red Admiral

 Eulieia heraclei - fruit fly

Melanostoma scalare

Hoverfly season almost over

I've been visiting the valley's Ivy patches as they are all that's left for flies to feed on this autumn. The weather has also been unkind and there have been very few fine days. So it's no surprise that there are only a few common species still on the wing. I might get odd records during November and December but the season is certainly almost over. Sericomyia silentis is about the best record (19th Oct) and highest count was 6 Melanostoma scalare (20th Oct) and they are also the latest species to be seen so far this year (22nd Oct).

Other insects are few and far between with Green Shieldbug still present and late showing of Red Admiral and Comma butterflies.

I've sent my specimens to the hoverfly recording scheme, so there should be some new for the valley records there. I'll update when I receive a reply.

Probably the last "tidy" record of the year (19th Oct) - Sericomyia silentis on Ivy at Maesteg cemetery.

Maesteg cemetery Ivy

Today was the first fine day since 21st September, so Ivy being the only flower in bloom now, the cemetery was on the cards. I recorded 13 species of hoverfly which is not to bad for the time of year. Eristalis tenax (30) was the most numerous, with better records being Scaeva pyrastri (1), Sericomyia silentis (1) and Xylota segnis (1).

5 Comma and 5 Red Admiral were the pick of the other insects, I failed to find any Ivy Bees again.

Had a quick stop at Maesteg Hospital Welfare Park where a small Ivy bank produced four species headed by Sericomyia silentis (1).

 Sericomyia silentis

 Scaeva pyrastri

 Eristalis tenax

 Eristalis pertinax

 Eristalis nemorum

Comma

Blaencaerau [SS8694] - 100 species of hoverfly

The Blaencaerau 1km square is the second square in the valley where I have recorded 100 species of hoverfly, following on from Garnwen (SS8392) in 2018. The area comprises of damp grassland and sparse sallow woods on former colliery spoil, surrounded by upland moorland and conifer plantation, with 2 small rivers flowing through the square. The area is 250mts above sea level and is rich in flora from March through to October.

Records begin in week 11 (Mar 12-18), when small numbers increase rapidly from week 20 (May 14-20), peaking in week 24 (Jun 9-15), than after a lull in numbers between broods around week 28 (Jul 7-13). Numbers really pick up with the summer brood and stay high thereafter until week 38 (Sep 17-23) and then drop off rapidly with no new flowers blooming, making it difficult to detect any new species. The last records come from week 40 (Oct 1-6).


Spring   (Mar-May)

Main feeding flowers   -   Dandelion, Dogwood, Hawthorn, Meadow Buttercup, Sallow

Specialist species of the season   -   Anasymia contracta, Cheilosia albipila, Chrysogaster virescens, Criorhina floccosa, Didea fasciata, Eumerus strigatus, Melangyna lasiophthalma, Parhelophilus versicolor, Platycheirus tarsalis, Xanthogramma citrofasciatum.



Summer   (Jun-Aug)

Main feeding flowers    -   Bramble, Creeping Thistle, Fine-leaved Water Droplet, Grasses, Hogweed.

Specialist species of the season   -   Cheilosia carbonaria, Cheilosia longula, Chrysotoxum cautum, Eriozona syrphoides, Megasyrphus erratica, Microdon myrmicae, Parasyrphus lineola, Pipizella viduata, Platycheirus manicatus, Sericomyia lappona.



Autumn   (Sep-Nov)

Main feeding flowers    -   Angelica, Common Fleabane, Common Ragwort, Devilsbit Scabious, Goldenrod.

Specialist species of the season   -   Chrysotoxum arcuatum, Eristalis intricaria, Eristalis rupium, Eupeodes latifasciatus, Ferdinandea cuprea, Rhingia rostrata, Scaeva pyrastri, Scaeva selenitica, Sericomyia silentis, Xanthogramma pedissequum.



*****     Species marked in red are rare for Glamorgan and even Wales in some cases.   *****

Maesteg cemetery Ivy

Being the last fine day for a while I went and checked out the Ivy, but only about 50% had bloomed and combining the time of the year where numbers drop dramatically, I only recorded 12 species. Platycheirus clypeatus was new for the year (number 102), while the most numerous was Eristalis tenax (85). Other records included Rhingia campestris (1), Myathropa florea (1), Volucella pellucens (1) and an Eumerus species that got away which would probably been new for the valley.

No other interesting insects or birds were noted. Surprised there were no Ivy Bees amongst the 30 Honey Bees.

 Syrphus ribesii

Eristalis tenax