Actitis hypoleucos – PIBYDD Y DORLAN – Passage migrant and winter visitor
This graph will be updated as more counts come in.
Annie Haycock (BBS & WeBS local organiser)
Mareca strepera – HWYADEN LWYD – Winter visitor, has bred
This graph will be updated as more counts come in.
Annie Haycock (BBS & WeBS local organiser)
Actitis hypoleucos – PIBYDD Y DORLAN – Passage migrant and winter visitor
Annie Haycock (BBS & WeBS local organiser)
Calidris maritima – PIBYDD DU – Principally a winter visitor
Updates to the Wetland Bird Survey counts for this season.
Annie Haycock (BBS & WeBS local organiser)
Lymnocryptes minimus – GIACH FACH – Winter visitor and passage migrant. Not recorded from May to July
Updates to the Wetland Bird Survey counts for this season.
Annie Haycock (BBS & WeBS local organiser)
Gavia immer – TROCHYDD MAWR – Winter visitor and passage migrant. Recorded in every month
Branta leucopsis – GWYDD WYRAN – Winter visitor and passage migrant.
The 1980s counts are for a flock that spent the winters between Skomer and Marloes Mere (see Barnacle Goose – 1994 for more details).
The counts since 2005 refer mainly to a feral flock breeding Cardigan Island, and wintering on the Teifi Estuary. One or two birds are sometimes seen elsewhere, usually in the company of other geese. As the geese often feed away from the estuary, they may not be present for WeBS counts.
Tachybaptus ruficollis – GWYACH FACH – Breeding resident and winter visitor
See also Little Grebe 2016 WeBS
Little Grebes spend the winters at a variety of sites from small pools, such as irrigation reservoirs, to large sheltered estuarine embayments. The coastal sites are more important in cold winters when inland sites freeze over. The susceptibility of the species to cold winters is illustrated by the drop in numbers (on WeBS sites at least) after the 2009-2010 and 2010-11 winters.
This map was produced by the West Wales Biodiversity Information Centre using data collected between November and February for the BTO Atlas 2007-11, with additional data collected in 2011-12 winter to fill gaps in coverage.
Pembroke Millponds – the fourth most-important site in Wales for little grebe
The Cleddau Estuary complex as a whole is the fifth most-important site in Wales, with the greatest concentration now being on the Pickleridge lagoon at the Gann Estuary.
Current monthly totals from WeBS counts can be seen here
Annie Haycock (BBS & WeBS local organiser)
HODGES J E. (2010-2020) Daugleddau Estuary and Milford Haven Waterway: annual surveillance of summer shelduck populations. Reports to the Milford Haven Waterway Environmental Surveillance Group.
Pritchard R, Hughes J, Spence I.M., Haycock R.J. & Brenchley A. (Editors) (2021) Birds of Wales. Liverpool University Press
Egretta garzetta – CREYR BACH – Winter visitor and passage migrant which has bred.
See also Little Egret 2012
Little egret numbers increased rapidly between 1995 and 2005, then levelled out. The cold winter of 2010-2011, when at least eight little egrets were found dead in Pembrokeshire, reduced the numbers considerably – a shown in the counts for the subsequent winters. Numbers seem to have recovered a little since then, and they do not appear to have suffered (at least locally) from the effects of the cold ‘Beast from the East’ in 2018.
As the numbers have increased, the pattern of occurrence has changed slightly. Until 2001-02, the numbers built up slowly to a peak in December-January, then decreased slowly for the rest of the winter.
Since the 2002-03 winter, numbers have been noticeably higher in September-October. This may reflect dispersal of youngsters from local breeding populations. However, birds from further afield do reach the Cleddau, as evidenced by a colour-marked bird observed in November 2011, it had been ringed as a nestling in north Wales the previous spring.
This map was produced by the West Wales Biodiversity Information Centre using data collected between November and February for the BTO Atlas 2007-11, with additional data collected in 2011-12 winter to fill gaps in coverage.
Small numbers of egrets are found almost anywhere in the Cleddau complex, with embayments such as the Gann, Sandy Haven, Carew-Cresswell, Western Cleddau, and Pembroke River usually supporting larger numbers.
Small numbers are also regularly seen on the Nevern and Teifi Estuaries, and in Fishguard Harbour.
The effect of the cold winters of 2010-11 to 2012-13 is clearly shown on this graph. The effect of the ‘Beast from East’ (cold spring of 2018) may simply have been a set-back in the overall recovery from the previous cold winters.
Current monthly WeBS counts can be seen here
Cumulative number of records per week since 2000 in Pembrokeshire, taken from BirdTrack. The low numbers of sightings in May-July may reflect the birds staying local to their breeding sites, which may or may not be in Pembrokeshire.
Annie Haycock (BBS & WeBS local organiser)
HAYCOCK A (2019). A review of the status of wetland birds in the Milford Haven Waterway and Daugleddau Estuary, 2019. A report to the Milford Haven Waterway Environmental Surveillance Group.
HODGES J E. (2010-2020) Daugleddau Estuary and Milford Haven Waterway: annual surveillance of summer shelduck populations. Reports to the Milford Haven Waterway Environmental Surveillance Group.
Actitis hypoleucos – PIBYDD Y DORLAN – Passage migrant and winter visitor
See also Great Crested Grebe 2006 and Great Crested Grebe 2003 winter
This map was produced by the West Wales Biodiversity Information Centre using data collected between November and February for the BTO Atlas 2007-11, with additional data collected in 2011-12 winter to fill gaps in coverage.
Monthly totals for the WeBs can be seen here
The numbers of records each week taken from BirdTrack. This gives an idea of when they are most likely to be seen in the county.
Annie Haycock (BBS & WeBS local organiser)
Pembrokeshire Avifauna 