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.

Short-eared Owl - 1894

Species account from M Mathew, 1894, "The Birds of Pembrokeshire and its islands"

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Long-eared Owl - 1894

Species account from M Mathew, 1894, "The Birds of Pembrokeshire and its islands"

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Hooded Crow - 1894

Species account from M Mathew, 1894, "The Birds of Pembrokeshire and its islands"

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Starling - 1894

Species account from M Mathew, 1894, "The Birds of Pembrokeshire and its islands"

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Brambling - 1894

Species account from M Mathew, 1894, "The Birds of Pembrokeshire and its islands"

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Hawfinch - 1894

Species account from M Mathew, 1894, "The Birds of Pembrokeshire and its islands"

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Siskin - 1894

Species account from M Mathew, 1894, "The Birds of Pembrokeshire and its islands"

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Great Grey Shrike - 1894

Species account from M Mathew, 1894, "The Birds of Pembrokeshire and its islands"

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Great Northern Diver - winter

Gavia immer

In winter they have been found in the offshore waters all around the coast from Cemaes Head to Amroth, including Fishguard harbour.

Most sightings have been of single birds or sometimes two together, with occasionally up to seven in areas such as St Bride’s bay, Fishguard Harbour and the Strumble Head tide races. The unusual gathering of 43 at Strumble Head on 6th January 1991 was probably due to birds seeking a lee shore during a period of prolonged SW gales.

Great Northern Divers have regularly been seen within the Milford Haven / Cleddau Estuary waterway during the winter months, January to April and October to December. The average number recorded between the years 1983 and 2003 was five, the maxima in a year being 10 in 2002 and 12 in 1999, which probably included some migrants in transit.

Most records were from the area between Dale and Hakin, including the Gann, Angle Bay and the Pembroke River. Singles have been seen further upstream at Castle Pill, Llanstadwell, Neyland, Lawrenny, Cresswell and Carew Rivers, including the tidal Carew Mill Pond, Garron Pill, Beggars’s Reach,  Llangwm and Landshipping to Hook Reach area.

The only fresh water occurrences on record are of one at Bosherston 9th – 13th November 1986, two at Llys y fran Reservoir 16th January 1986, with singles there in 1983, 1984, 1985, 1999, 2001, 2002 and 2006.

Great Northern Diver - status

 Gavia immer

Winter visitor and passage migrant.

The Great Northern Diver breeds across the sub Arctic region of the Americas, Greenland and Iceland and on rare occasions has bred in Scotland and as far east as Svalbard.  Those that winter in the east Atlantic do so as far south as the Bay of Biscay and Iberia.

As with many other species, it is difficult to assess the Great Northern’s status in Pembrokeshire in the past. The accounts of previous authorities have been largely anecdotal and prone to expressions like “sometimes numerous” and “frequently seen”.

Dickenson and Howells (1962) must have felt sufficiently able to interpret the past to state “From the numbers recorded in the last decade it is possible that a decrease has taken place since the 1930’s.” The decade they referred to was 1952 to 1961, when an average of three per annum was recorded, the maximum in any year being nine in 1959.

The average recorded per annum remained at three until 1982, the maximum in a year being six in 1972. By 1983 an increasing number of observers were putting the results of their observations into the communal record and from then until 2006 the average number recorded reached 61 per annum, with the most in a year being 119 in 1999:

There was a marked increase in the number of active observers during the 1980’s and 1990’s, they possessed ever improving optical aids and most had the discipline to contribute their observations to the communal record. These are likely to be the factors that explain the upsurge in records, rather than there being an increase in the number of Great Northern Divers visiting Pembrokeshire.

References

DICKENSON. H and HOWELLS. R. J. 1962. Divers in Wales, Nature in Wales 8.

DONOVAN. J and REES. G. 1994. Birds of Pembrokeshire, Dyfed Wildlife Trust.

LLOYD. B. 1929-1939 Diaries, National Museum of Wales.

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.

Black-throated Diver - Winter

Gavia arctica

Winter visitor and passage migrant

The Black –throated Diver has an Arctic breeding distribution, stretching from Siberia to Iceland extending as far south as Scotland. Those occurring on the eastern side of the Atlantic migrate to winter as far south as the Bay of Biscay and north-west Spain. Gavia arctica pacifica from North America and N E Siberia is currently considered as a separate species.

Previous commentators have assessed the Black – throated Diver in Pembrokeshire as a scarce winter visitor. 

In winter they have been recorded in offshore waters all around the outer coast, once as far out as The Smalls, on 22nd January 1982. Because they can be difficult to detect and identify in the often choppy sea, they may be under recorded. Donovan and Rees (1994) suggested that perhaps a dozen were spread around the coastline each winter. The records for 1983 – 2003 show an average of six to seven detected each year, however nine were noted in four different years and 10 in 1997.

They have been noted within the Milford Haven / Cleddau Estuary waterway 14 times in eight different years, all single birds apart from two at Neyland on 28th December 1963.

Most were noted around Dale and the Gann but also once each at Angle Bay and Pembroke Dock, as far up the estuary as Landshipping on 31st December 1963 and at Lawrenny on 1st January 1997 which had reached Landshipping by February.

One which collided with the Cleddau Bridge during a storm in the late winter of 1996, was rescued by the Texaco Bird Hospital, rehabilitated and released at Lawrenny just before the end of the year. This bird probably accounts for the records at Lawrenny and Landshipping in January and February 1997 noted above.

The only record away from salt water was of two at Llys y fran Reservoir on 22nd February 1986.

An oiled bird was on the Teifi at Cilgerran on 19th & 20th March 1995 and two oiled birds were recovered during the Sea Empress oil spill of 1996.

Total birds on record : 1982 – 2006

References

DICKENSON. H and HOWELLS. R. J. 1962. Divers in Wales, Nature in Wales 8.

DONOVAN. J and REES. G. 1994. Birds of Pembrokeshire, Dyfed Wildlife Trust.

LLOYD. B. 1929-1939 Diaries, National Museum of Wales.

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.