Day That Kept Giving

Martin Bevan's and myself had planned to go west on Sunday but the actual destination was changed when news of a Red Rumped Swallow was found at Cwm Ivy/Whitford.

We arrived there around 7.20am to hear Rob Jones say those dreaded words it was here less than a minute ago when it flew over my head. No swear words were uttered !!! Less than 10 minutes later however it was back giving us fantastic low and long views. What a stunner to start a day off.

We decided to leave the growing band of birders to do a circuit around Whitford. I swear this circuit is getting longer every time I do it. On the way down we had a quick look through the marsh along the main path and were rewarded with plenty of Snipe including 2 Jack Snipe. Getting closer to the hide we could see that the tide was really far out and it was lucky that Martin had actually brought his scope for a change so we could both scan for waders and wildfowl. The numbers were impressive with Oystercatchers, Brent Geese and Curlew plentiful. After a refreshing cuppa and a snack we walked along the beach towards the lighthouse. This was quite pleasant as the sand dunes were protecting us from the prevailing wind. Birds were even more numerous here and we spent awhile counting them. Martin will give totals later. Eiders, Dunlin, Grey Plover and Great Northern Diver were added here.

Turning left for the long walk along the pebble beach to the entrance to climb back up to Cwm Ivy we were head first into a strong wind which made birding very difficult. Again huge numbers of birds were present including Ringed Plover. Right on the end of the beach perched on a sign was a beautiful female Merlin. Getting back to the RRS site we were told that it had not been seen for awhile. Our luck must have been in has we soon located it again this time with a Barn Swallow. Although not as close as earlier the light had improved so fantastic views were had again. Walking back up the hill to the car park is certainly easier when you have found your target species.

Driving out we stopped at Llanrhidian for a quick cuppa and a scan over the saltmarsh. Great and Little Egret, Red Kite, Golden Plover and Peregrine were amongst others added to the day list.

Next stop was a quickie at Llanelli WWT where we added Spoonbill, Greenshank, Black Tailed Godwit and Avocet.

We then drove a few miles west to Kidwelly to look for the Long Tailed Ducks. These proved to be our bogey bird of the day. We were told that they had been seen quite close but had disappeared. Compensation was added when Martin located a Ringtail Hen Harrier in the distance hunting over the saltmarsh. Lots more Greenshank were seen and quite a few Red Breasted Mergansers on the incoming tide. Again huge numbers of Golden Plover, Curlew and Lapwing were around. We heard someone saying our names and turned around to see John Wilson and Alan Rosney leading a GBC trip who again told us that they had seen the Long Tailed Ducks earlier. We forgave them when they said that there was a Spotted Redshank under the railway bridge. We reciprocated showing them the Hen Harrier.

We bade them farewell as we wanted to try out a new site for us Ginst Point. This is on MOD land so we were not sure if the gates would be open. It was a little further than we thought but we found it fairly easily and our luck held as the gates were open. There was a two mile drive down to the beach area but nearly all the way down looked great habitat for owls. We soon found a suitable pull in and started scanning as the sun dropped out of sight. We managed to find 2 Short Eared Owls and 1 Barn Owl.  2 Sparrowhawks were also noted. Definitely a site to revisit.