Knot - habitat

Calidris canutus

All records have been from coastal areas bar one inland at Wallis Moor on the 23rd April 2002. Most have been seen at the Cleddau Estuary, with smaller numbers at the Teifi and Nevern Estuaries and Fishguard Harbour. They have also been seen on many of the beaches and by coastal pools, including those on the offshore islands and one frequented the runways of the old Dale airfield in September 1983.

Graham Rees

(Covers records up to and including 2006).

Knot - spring passage

Calidris canutus

A small volume spring passage has been detected between March and the 30th May. The majority of the records involved up to four birds at a time but seven were at the Gann on the 22nd April 1990, 12 at Angle Bay on the 2nd May 1994, 19 at Frainslake on the 13th April 1996 with 39 on the 19th March 2006, 12 on the 9th April 2006 and 23 at nearby Blucks Pool on the 2nd April 2006.

A single laggard passed Strumble Head on the 2nd June 1997 which remains the only record in the county for that month.

Knot - winter

Calidris canutus

Knots have long visited Pembrokeshire in the winter months of December to February but have only infrequently remained throughout those months.

They were recorded in every winter from 1983 to 2006 with the exception of 1992. Only one was reported in the winter in 1989, two in 1985 and five in 1986. Groups which did not stay for long were:  55 at the Gann on the 7th February1954, 60 there on the 13th January 1963, 30 Pen y Cwm on the 27th January 1963 and 36 Furzenips on the 27th January 1996.

Even at the most favoured parts of the Cleddau Estuary, Angle Bay and the Pembroke River, they have seldom endured for long. The largest county presence of 500 at the Pembroke River on the 22nd January 1972 was only recorded on that date. A further 185 there in December 1999 had decreased to just nine by January 2000. Similarly 65 at Angle Bay in January 1987 had reduced to two by the 15th February.

Full overwintering has been recorded twice to date (up to 2006). About 85 were present from December 1996 to February 1997 using both Angle Bay and the nearby Pembroke River, whereas 24 at Angle Bay in December 2005 had increased to 70 by January 2006 with 80 by February.

It is established that Knots move between different estuaries in the UK during the winter in response to variable food availability, so it is possible that those occurring in winter in Pembrokeshire could have come from parts of Carmarthen Bay or the Burry Inlet, moving on if the local food supply was limited. This is speculation for there is no evidence that this happens, appropriate ring recoveries could provide confirmation.

Knot - autumn passage

Calidris canutus

Post 1949 the Knot has principally remained an autumn migrant, which has passed through from the 13th July to November, occasionally into December.  Records have mostly involved one to 20 birds per occasion but 36 were seen at Angle Bay on the 23rd September 1999, 40 there on the 24th October 1963 and 43 on the 11th September 2000, 22 at the Gann on the 6th September 1991 and 24 at Frainslake on the 4th August 1997.

Flocks have also been noted moving southwards offshore which in all probability did not alight in the county and possibly not until they had reached France or beyond. This movement has involved 25 passing Ramsey on the 30th September 2001, 67 passing Skokholm on the 29th September 1958, 30 doing the same on the 25th August 1979 and a total of 2,742 logged passing Strumble Head in the autumn between 1983 and 2006.

The Strumble Head passages have been annual but variable, the fewest in a year being 21 in 1986, the most 578 in 1999. Groups of up to 20 birds were mainly involved but larger flocks were seen on many occasions, the largest being 85 on the 20th August 1983 and 90 on the 26th September 1996.

Pattern of passage, Strumble Head, 1983 – 2006 in six day periods.

Knots were also recorded during a lighthouse attraction at Strumble Head in the early hours of the 25th September 1985.

Knot - status

Calidris canutus

Passage migrant and winter visitor.

The Knot has a circumpolar Arctic breeding distribution and winters in temperate and tropical areas. International studies have established that most Knots occurring in Britain are of the race islandica, which breeds in Greenland and the Canadian Arctic.

The nominate race canutus, breeding in the Old World Arctic, could conceivably occur occasionally in Pembrokeshire, perhaps in those years when there is a large influx of Little Stints and Curlew Sandpipers which share a similar breeding range.

Mathew (1894) considered the Knot to be an autumn and winter visitor to Pembrokeshire, appearing on the flats and oozes at the end of August and beginning of September. He gave no indication of the numbers involved but noted it as being seen commonly every autumn near Pembroke, also on the sands at Goodwick.

 Lockley et al (1949) also classified the species as an autumn and winter visitor, usually seen in small parties of less than 20 birds but occasionally in larger groups, noting 100 at Dale on the 6th November 1938.

Post 1949 the Knot has principally remained an autumn migrant but has overwintered and there has been a small and regular spring passage.

References

LOCKLEY. R. M, INGRAM. C. S. and SALMON. H. M.1949. The birds of Pembrokeshire, West Wales Field Society.

MATHEW. M. 1894. The birds of Pembrokeshire and its islands, R. H. Porter.

Great Skua - occurrence

Stercorarius skua

With an increased number of observers taking an interest in the birds occurring in Pembrokeshire’s offshore waters from 1980 onwards, the number of Great Skuas recorded rose to a level far greater than was expected from the previous sightings , with a mean of 196 per annum between 1980 and 2006. During this period the lowest annual total was 86 in 1993 and the highest 569 in 1983. The bulk of the birds were recorded on autumn passage, between July and November, though probably some of the 71 recorded in December over the years, might also have been migrating. Most were recorded along the north coast of the county, principally at Strumble Head.

AUTUMN TOTALS STRUMBLE HEAD.

Mean pattern of occurrence Strumble Head, 1980 – 2006, birds per six day periods.

The most recorded in a day was 198 on the 3rd September 1983.

It was discovered that the concentrations along the north coast dissipated once the birds had regained sea room when clear of The Bishops, in the same way as Arctic Skuas but less quickly. This is based on observations from boats and from sightings made from The Smalls when the lighthouse was manned by a birdwatcher throughout the autumns of 1983 and 1984. For instance when the maximum of 10 were seen from The Smalls on the 17th October 1983, 49 passed Strumble Head and when more typically three were recorded at The Smalls on the 20th October 1984, 66 were logged at Strumble Head. Numbers passing the offshore islands have also been low, normally between one and four birds on some autumn days, with seven off Skokholm on the 2nd September 1985 and seven off Ramsey on the 8th September 1996 the highest counts. Single birds have also been seen in St Bride’s Bay and off the south coast. However individual Great Skuas have shown a greater tendency to linger for a while than have the smaller skuas. Up to 10 have been encountered in a day in the Celtic Deep and 14 attended a mixed feeding flock of seabirds at Broad sound on the 28th September 1978.

Great Skuas have been recorded around the coast of Pembrokeshire on 19 occasions in January and 20 occasions in February, so evidently in some years they winter nearby. Compared with autumn, spring passage has been slight, with cumulative totals of eight recorded in March, 24 in April, 13 in May and 20 in June, having been detected in about equal number off the west coast and north coast but less frequently from the south coast.

Graham Rees.

(Covers records up to and including 2006).

Great Skua - status

Stercorarius skua

Passage migrant and occasional winter visitor.

The Great Skua has the most restricted breeding range of the skuas that have been recorded in Pembrokeshire, nesting in Scotland, Faroes, Iceland, Jan Mayen, along the Norwegian coast to Bear Island and Svalbard, and into the Russian Kola peninsula. They also winter further north than the other skuas, principally in the Bay of Biscay and off North Africa. Some remain at our own latitude.

Mathew (1894) gives only one record of a Great Skua for Pembrokeshire, shot in Solva Harbour in 1894 but also quotes Sir Hugh Owen as stating: “is always to be seen in Goodwick Bay in a good Herring season”. It was next recorded in the county when one was seen at The Smalls in July 1955 and between then and 1979 there were records in 21 years, with a mean of five birds per annum and a maximum in any year of 18 in 1974. The species could be regarded as a scarce bird in the past and the literature generally regards it as increasing from about 1900 onwards, the Pembrokeshire record reflecting this.

Spotted Redshank - autumn

Tringa erythropus

Autumn passage, between the 18th June and October, involved 41.5 % of the county total with records from Skokholm, Skomer, Grassholm, Ramsey, the Gann, upper Cleddau Estuary, Bicton Reservoir, Westfield Pill, Sandy Haven Pill, Amroth, Castle Martin, West Williamston, Fishguard Harbour, Nevern Estuary, Teifi Estuary, passing over St David’s and Crundale, coasting past Strumble Head and once at a lighthouse attraction there.

Most records referred to autumn passage during the 1960’s and in the 1970’s autumn passage included the largest gatherings yet seen in the county, viz : 20 at Hook on the 17th September 1972 and 27 there on the 12th October 1978.

Graham Rees

(Covers records up to and including 2006).

Spotted Redshank - spring

 Tringa erythropus

Spring passage, between April and the 25th May, has been small and amounted to 2.9 % of the county total record. Migrants were reported from Skokholm, Skomer, Dale airfield, the Gann and Sandy Haven Pill.

There were only two spring records in the 1960’s and none in the 1970’s. The 1980’s were notable for the bulk of the spring records, which included five at Skokholm on the 15th and 16th April 1983.

Graham Rees

(Covers records up to and including 2006).

Spotted Redshank - winter

Tringa erythropus

There were two winter records in the 1960’s and just one winter record during the 1970’s.  It was in January 1983 that over wintering was first detected, ten birds feeding around the upper Cleddau Estuary between Landshipping / Sprinkle Pill and Hook, including Millin Pill, staying until the 17th April. These birds habitually kept together feeding communally, usually in deeper water than used by Redshanks and Greenshanks, sometimes upending like dabbling ducks. Variously five to 16 over wintered in that area each year up to 1991, departing in March. During this 10 year period there were winter records of one or two birds in four years from other parts of the Cleddau Estuary, most of them at Carew / Cresswell.

Post March 1992 fewer wintered on the upper Cleddau Estuary than previously but one to five did so elsewhere in the estuary system, principally at Carew / Cresswell and Sandy Haven Pill but they were also noted at Cosheston Pill, Castle Pill, Pembroke River and the Gann.

WINTER DISTRIBUTION IN CLEDDAU ESTUARY, blue = lower estuary, red = upper estuary.

During the period 1983 – 1992 just 11 % of winter records were away from the upper Cleddau Estuary but between 1993 and 2006 this had risen to 46 % and the total over wintering in the estuary as whole had decreased by 40 %. Reasons for the decline in winter numbers and local dispersal are speculative, the front runners being the cessation of raw sewage discharge into the Cleddau Estuary and a build up of wintering birds at Penclacwydd, Carmarthenshire, resulting in fewer travelling further west to Pembrokeshire. The latter is credible, for if the numbers wintering at Penclacwydd (provided by Wendell Thomas pers com) post 1992 are combined with those on the Cleddau Estuary for the same years, an average of nine birds per annum overwintered. The average overwintering on the Cleddau prior to the creation of the Penclacwydd wetland was 10.6.

All winter records were confined to the Cleddau Estuary and constituted 55.6 % of the county total.

 Graham Rees

(Covers records up to and including 2006).

Spotted Redshank - status

Tringa erythropus

Passage migrant and winter visitor.

The Spotted Redshank breeds across the Arctic area of the Old World, the nearest to Britain being in Fenno - Scandia and western Russia. Birds from this area winter south as far as the Afrotropics.

Mathew (1894) classified the Spotted Redshank as a rare autumn visitor to Pembrokeshire, noting that several had passed through the hands of Mr Tracy the bird-stuffer of Pembroke. All were birds of the year and obtained in the autumn. Additionally three received by the Cardiff Museum in 1896 were from Tenby. Subsequently Lockley et al (1949) noted three more occurrences involving four birds.

BWP states that Spotted Redshanks increased in the UK from the 1950’s, Lovegrove et al (1994) tracing the increase in Wales from the 1960’s. In Pembrokeshire there were records in six years, involving eight birds, during the 1950’s but they were annual from 1960 onwards involving an increased number of birds.

Cumulative monthly totals countywide, 1960 – 2006.

Graham Rees

(Covers records up to and including 2006).

References

CRAMP. S. (Editor), 1977 – 1994. Handbook of the Birds of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa : the birds of the Western Palearctic, Oxford University Press, 9 Vols. (BWP)

MATHEW. M. 1894. The birds of Pembrokeshire and its islands, R. H. Porter.

LOCKLEY. R. M, INGRAM. C. S. and SALMON. H. M.1949. The birds of Pembrokeshire, West Wales Field Society.

LOVEGROVE. R, WILLIAMS . G. & WILLIAMS. I. 1994. Birds in Wales, T & A. D. Poyser Ltd, London.

Cory’s Shearwater

Calonectris diomedea

Erratic visitor.

The Cory’s Shearwater breeds in several places around the Mediterranean, in Portugal and on the sub tropical islands of the east Atlantic. It is migratory outside the breeding season, many then occurring in the Bay of Biscay, regularly penetrating as far as Cornwall and occasionally appearing in large numbers off the south west of Ireland.

It is an erratic visitor to Pembrokeshire waters, being first recorded from the Fishguard to Rosslare ferry on the 25th September 1965 by Jack Donovan. From then until 2007 a total of 86 birds have been logged. They were not recorded annually, being seen in 66 % of those years. The earliest was off the South Bishop on the 22nd February 1976, the latest off Strumble Head on the 29th November 1999. Otherwise the cumulative monthly totals were:

Most sightings involved single birds, with two in a day on five occasions, three once, five twice and the maxima of six in the Celtic Deep on the 26th September 1999 and seven off Strumble Head on the 15th August 1999. The largest incursion was in 1999 with a total of 26 bird days logged.

Considered by BWP as “equally satisfied with pelagic, offshore and inshore waters”, the fact that 78 % of Pembrokeshire sightings were made from the land, probably reflects the distribution of observer effort. A total of 14 of these were seen from Skokholm, Skomer, St Ann’s Head, South Bishop, Ramsey and St Govan’s Head, and 53 from Strumble Head. The hours of observation expended from the land greatly exceeded the time spent looking in offshore waters.

Offshore sightings were of singles from the Fishguard to Rosslare ferry, from a small craft west of Grassholm and from another boat north of Porth Gain, five from the Pembroke to Rosslare ferry and 11 from shark-fishing vessels in the Celtic Deep.

Cory’s Shearwaters have been seen in Pembrokeshire waters in a variety of weather conditions, with winds from all directions and ranging from calm through moderate winds to full gale force, making their appearance unpredictable.

It is not known to what degree the races Calonectris diomedia deomedia and C.d. borealis are involved in the Pembrokeshire record.

Graham Rees

(Covers records up to and including 2007)

References

CRAMP. S. (Editor), 1977 – 1994. Handbook of the Birds of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa : the birds of the Western Palearctic, Oxford University Press, 9 Vols.