Cetti's Warbler - 1994
Sunday, December 25, 2011 at 9:48AM Breeding resident
The first Cetti's Warbler found in Pembrokeshire stayed at Bosherston Pools from 24 January to 28 March 1979 (D. Henshilwood and J.W. Donovan). The second sang from a reedbed at Poppit on 27 May 1981. These were forerunners of the colonisation which has continued since April 1983. Breeding has been confirmed, and at least five pairs are resident at two sites in the south of the county. They have occupied up to six sites in the breeding season, all south of the Cleddau Estuary (see map) until the Pentood Marshes were colonised in 1990, where there are now at least eight to ten pairs.
They have been recorded at Skokholm, Skomer and Strumble Head outside the breeding period, and such wanderers give hope that they will eventually find other breeding localities; for instance, Mullock, Newgale and Goodwick reedbeds appear to be suitable habitat.
Fieldwork 1984-88 (based on 478 tetrads)
Red = breeding confirmed = 1
Orange = breeding probable = 6
Total tetrads in which registered = 7 (1.5%)
Reader Comments (1)
Friday, 13 April 2012
Chettis on Goodwick Moor.
I think I was first shown Goodwick Moor by Steve Berry fifteen or more year's ago. Not long after, our erstwhile county recorder Graham Rees asked me to check it out for Chetti's Warblers as he felt it was a suitable spot for what was a scarce but colonising species at the time, despite several visits I failed to find any. Some years later ex-Skokholm warden, Mike Betts spent a couple of years living in Fishguard. One day he noticed some skulking little brown jobs he could not get a good enough view to distinguish properly. He spent several hours perched in trees until he got to grips with a couple of female Chetti's. Of course we usually find Chetti's by listening for their unmistakable burst of song but females do not sing and only a really dedicated birder would have sat in a tree for hours to find them! Of course I jumped on Mikes Bandwagon and soon after we located singing males. Last night Steve, Adrian Rogers and myself were unsuccessfully exploring the Moors potential for bats, with at least two perhaps, three Chetti's explosive song bursts clearly audible over the background hooley of a teenage gang screaming and the rumble of traffic from the ringroad above. They seem to have survived a couple of bad winters and now seem established, although I fear we may have lost the Willow Tits that were a feature of the moor in the past.