Swansea is a coastal city and county, officially known as the City and County of Swansea in Wales. The county area includes Swansea Bay and the Gower Peninsula. Swansea's position on the southwest coast of Wales is within the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan and the ancient Welsh commote of Gŵyr. Swansea is the second largest city in Wales and the twenty-fifth largest city in the United Kingdom. Swansea is the second most populous local authority area in Wales with a population of 241,300 in 2014. Together with Neath and Port Talbot, Swansea formed a wider Urban Area of 300,352 in 2011.
Glamorgan, or sometimes Glamorganshire, is one of the thirteen historic counties of Wales and a former administrative county of Wales. Originally an early medieval petty kingdom of varying boundaries known as Glywysing. Then taken over by the Normans as a lordship. The area that became known as Glamorgan was both a rural, pastoral area, and a conflict point between the Norman lords and the Welsh princes. It was defined by a large concentration of castles.
Port Talbot is a town and community in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, situated on the east side of Swansea Bay, approximately 8 miles (13 km) from Swansea. The Port Talbot Steelworks covers a large area of land which dominates the south of the town and is one of the biggest steelworks in the world but has for many years been under threat of closure. The population was 37,276 in 2011.
Gower or the Gower Peninsula is in the southwest of Wales. The peninsula projects westwards into the Bristol Channel and is the most westerly part of the historic county of Glamorgan. In 1956, the majority of the Gower became the first area in the United Kingdom to be designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Seabirds are birds that are adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same environmental problems and feeding niches have resulted in similar adaptations. The first seabirds evolved in the Cretaceous period, and modern seabird families emerged in the Paleogene.
Birdwatching, or birding, is a form of wildlife observation in which the observation of birds is a recreational activity or citizen science. It can be done with the naked eye, through a visual enhancement device like binoculars and telescopes, by listening for bird sounds, or by watching public webcams.
The Manx shearwater is a medium-sized shearwater in the seabird family Procellariidae. The scientific name of this species records a name shift: Manx shearwaters were called Manks puffins in the 17th century. Puffin is an Anglo-Norman word for the cured carcasses of nestling shearwaters. The Atlantic puffin acquired the name much later, possibly because of its similar nesting habits.
West Glamorgan is a preserved county and former administrative county of Wales, one of the divisions of the ancient county of Glamorgan.
Aberavon is a town and community in Neath Port Talbot county borough, Wales. The town derived its name from being near the mouth of the river Afan, which also gave its name to a medieval lordship. Today it is essentially a district of Port Talbot, covering the central and south western part of the town. Aberavon is also the name of the nearby Blue Flag beach and the parish covering the same area.
Dr Malcolm Alexander Ogilvie is a British ornithologist and freelance natural history author and consultant. One of his areas of expertise is wildfowl.
The City and County of Swansea Council is the governing body for one of the Principal Areas of Wales covering Swansea, Gower and the surrounding area. The council consists of 72 councillors representing 36 electoral wards.
The Trumpeter Islets comprise a group of two unpopulated islets, with a combined area of about a hectare, located close to the south-western coast of Tasmania, Australia. Situated some 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) where the mouth of Port Davey meets the Southern Ocean, the 1-hectare (2.5-acre) island is part of the Trumpeter Islets Group, and comprises part of the Southwest National Park and the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Site.
Glamorgan Bird Club is based in Glamorgan in South Wales, and is dedicated to the study and conservation of the avifauna of Eastern Glamorgan which is the club's bird 'recording area'. This comprises the Counties of Caerphilly, Merthyr Tydfil, Cardiff, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Vale of Glamorgan, and Bridgend).
Mutton Bird Island is an irregularly shaped unpopulated island located close to the south-western coast of Tasmania, Australia. Situated some 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) south of where the mouth of Port Davey meets the Southern Ocean, the 44-hectare (110-acre) is the largest of the eight islands that comprise the Mutton Bird Islands Group. The Mutton Bird Island is part of the Southwest National Park and the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Site.
West Pyramid is an unpopulated steep-sided island located close to the south-western coast of Tasmania, Australia. Situated some 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) north of the mouth of Port Davey where it meets the Southern Ocean, the 2.5-hectare (6.2-acre) island is part of the Trumpeter Islets Group, and comprises part of the Southwest National Park and the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Site.
The Gower and Swansea Bay Coast Path is part of the Wales Coast Path, an 1,400-kilometre (870 mi) long-distance walking route around the whole coast of Wales that opened in 2012. The Gower and Swansea Bay stretch is 156 kilometres (97 mi) in length, running along the coast of the Gower Peninsula from Loughor, Swansea to Kenfig Dunes near Port Talbot, South Wales. The number of people using the Wales Coast Path in the Swansea local authority area was 349,333.
The Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) is a community science project in ornithology. It is conducted annually in mid February. The event is supported by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society. During this four-day event birdwatchers all around the world are invited to count and report details of birds in the area in which they live. Data is submitted online via a web interface, and compiled for use in scientific research. The GBBC was the first community science project to collect bird sightings online and display results in near real-time.
Indian Birds is a bi-monthly ornithology journal/newsletter that was established in 2004. It was formerly published under the heading Newsletter for Ornithologists for one year. It publishes articles on identification, distribution, migration, conservation and taxonomy, apart from reports of significant ornithological sightings and events. Published from Hyderabad, the publication is owned by New Ornis Foundation. In 2006, the Bugun liocichla, a new bird species from Arunachal Pradesh was described by Ramana Athreya in this journal. The description of the bird carried in the journal was made without the collection of a type specimen as they were too few to risk killing one. Though this practice was not unprecedented, with four prior instances, the pure charisma of the bird together with this practice created a controversy in the scientific and conservation community on the costs and benefits of this approach
