Tuesday, October 29, 2013 at 10:10AM Gallinula chloropus chloropus
Common resident. One at the South Bishop lighthouse at 1am, 9 Oct 1884, but there is little evidence of true migration. Breeds Skokholm, Skomer, Ramsey and Caldey.
R.M.Lockley, G.C.S.Ingram, H.M.Salmon, 1949, The Birds of Pembrokeshire, The West Wales Field Society
Monday, May 7, 2012 at 4:53PM Normally retiring in nature, moorhens can become quite confiding in public areas, such as Pembroke Mill Ponds. Moorhens inhabit lowland fresh water places with well vegetated margins, which are essential for nesting. They sometimes use old nests of other birds, even when they are in trees.
A comparison of the two surveys indicates a 13% increase in distribution by the latter period. If this is applied to the estimate of 300 pairs accompanying the earlier survey, then there were probably about 340 pairs in 2007. The increase was probably due to irrigation reservoirs which were new and bare during the 1980’s now acquiring vegetation.
Graham Rees
Fieldwork 2003-07 (based on 490 tetrads)
Red = breeding confirmed = 86
Orange = breeding probable = 52
Yellow = breeding possible = 32
Total tetrads in which registered = 170 (34.7%)
GHR, PBBA 2003-7 in Moorhen Thursday, December 15, 2011 at 5:29PM Breeding resident
Once regarded as common and widespread by previous authorities, Saunders (1976) wrote that all the ponds and marshy areas had a pair or two of Moorhens. Their range has since retracted in the face of changing land use. Most of the old farm duck ponds have been drained and filled. Land reclamation has eradicated much of the marshy surrounds to ditches and streams. The streams and rivers have become subject to the intrusion of agri - chemicals leached from the surrounding land and to periodic bouts of pollution by farm slurry. Several suitable looking streams were followed during the 1984-1988 Breeding Birds Survey but no Moorhens were seen or heard, nor was there any trace of their footprints in the muddy margins
However, another agricultural development has attracted Moorhens. Farm irrigation reservoirs created in the potato-growing areas of the county are colonised as soon as sufficient vegetation has become established. There is a strong correlation between the present breeding distribution, and the cultivation of potatoes, though breeding has been continuous at long-established ponds, such as Bosherston Pools and in boggy areas such as the St David's commons. They have long bred on the islands of Skomer and Ramsey (Lockley et al 1949), on Caldey since at least 1924 (Wintle 1924) and Skokholm until 1936 when they became intermittance, until last recorded in 1975 (Betts 1992). An estimate of about 300 breeding pairs is based upon knowledge of the larger waters and the observation that most irrigation reservoirs support just one pair.
Apart from single birds found at the South Bishop lighthouse on 9 October 1884 and 9 November 1975, the only evidence of Moorhen migration in Pembrokeshire is provided by calls heard as they pass overhead at night in the autumn.
Fieldwork 1984-88 (based on 478 tetrads)
Red = breeding confirmed = 69
Orange = breeding probable = 15
Yellow = breeding possible = 66
Total tetrads in which registered = 150 (31.4%)
Sunday, November 13, 2011 at 10:24AM 
Red = breeding confirmed
Orange = breeding probable
Yellow = breeding possible
Sunday, October 9, 2011 at 9:36AM 
The BTO winter atlas showed that Moorhens were present in the majority of 10km squares during the winters of 1981-82, 1982-82 and 1983-84.
The darker the colour, the higher the relative total count for each 10km square. The darkest blue represents over 38 birds seen in a day.
Graham Rees
Sunday, February 27, 2011 at 11:13PM Species account from M Mathew, 1894, "The Birds of Pembrokeshire and its islands"
