Out west

With a report that the Great Grey Shrike had been seen the previous weekend, I headed up to Garwnant early on Saturday morning. A wander round the clearfell area it was regularly seen in last year failed to provide any sign of yhe Shrike, but Willow Tit were heard, a couple of Woodcock seen flying into roost and plenty of Crossbills were flitting between the trees. Although misty, visability was reasonable up to about 9am, when the mist closed in. I decided to call it a day at this point.

I then dpent modt of the rest of the day at Parc Taf Bargoed, helping the ranger with their RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch event. The misty, and relatively mild, weather meant thst the birds were rather thin on the ground. It took ages for our first Blackbirds and Robins to appear. Best birds of the day were a pair of fly-over Goosander and a low Red Kite.

Sunday saw myself join Phil and Martin Bevan on a trip out west, and into the rain. The forecast was for showers early on, clearing by about 11am.

We started the day early at Fishguard Harbour having a coffee in the car whilst waiting for it to get light enough to bird. Once out of the car we sought what shelter we could, though birds appeared thin on the ground. A distant single Pale-bellied Brent was floating round the inner harbour along with a few small rafts of Black-headed Gulls. It was in the first of these that I picked up an adult non-breeding Med Gull.

The outer harbour held more gulls and a small group of Oystercatchers, turnstone and redshank. With the rain easing somewhat, we decided to risk the walk out along the breakwater. Meadow and Rock Pipits, a Linnet and Stonechat, were noted as we headed out. We were about 2/3 of the way out when the heaviest shower of the morning struck and we were all rather damp by the time we maid it to the end of the breakwater. Fortunately, the rain eased, and visability improved. Guillemot, Razorbill and Shag were found before Martin located the non-breeding plumaged Black Guillemot. Although distant we all managed decent views before deciding to make the most of the dry spell and head back to the car.

From Fishguard, it was doen to Marloes Mere, with the hope of connecting with the Ring-necked Duck and Greenland White-fronted Geese that had been reported witjin the last couple of days. We pulled into the car park to find the ticket machines out of action - as had been the case at Fishguard. It's always nice to get some free parking these days.

The mere held a number of duck, but no Ring-necked Duck, or the Tufted Duck it hung around with. The Canada Geese were feeding on the surrounding fields, but we couldn'd see any sign of the White-fronts. Compensation came in the form of a female Hen Harrier that showed well a few times, along with a brief, fly-thru Merlin and a pair of Peregrine. Martin had picked up a Chough on the walk to the hide but neither Phil or myself got onto it. We did, however, pick up several a little later.

We then headed down to the Gann where Phil picked up the two Slav' Grebes. 3 Greenshank were year ticks for us all and a female Hen Harrier flew thru - probably the same individusl that we had seen at Marloes.

Starting the journey home, Amroth was the next port of call, for a bit of sea watching. A new birding site for Phil and myself. The tide was a little fufther out than we would have liked, but with a little bit of elevation from the flat rocks at the base of the cliffs north of the town, we were able to get reasonable views over Carmarthen Bay. The walk out from the prom allowed Martin to demonstrate his superb jugling skills as he slipped in one rock, fell but managed to keep his scope clear from and danger of damage.

With Fulmars flying over our heads, we proceeded to scan the groups of Common Scoter, hunting for the much scarcer Velvet Scoter. Phil picked up the first of several Red-breasted Merganser, whilst I picked up the first Red-throated Diver.

None of the close Scoter showed and white, so we had to resort to scanning the more distant flying groups in the hope of picking up the white secondaries of a Velvet. I picked one up, but it dropped bavk onto the sea within a couple of seconds, before Phil or Martin could get onto it. The same happened when I picked up a pair in flight, the next pair was picked up by Martin and myself at the same time and Phil was able to get onto them before they ditched. Decent visability, a bit more hight and a high tide couldoffer great views of a significant part of the Scoter flock, which may produce something rarer such as Surf or a Black Scoter.

Another new site for me was our final port of call, the farmland around Ginst Point in Carmarthenshire. Once we found somewhere that offered a slightly raised, thus decent, views over much of the farmland Martin quickly picked up a ring-tail Hen Harrier. I quickly followed that with a perched Short-eared Owl, which Phil got onto, but it had flown before Martin could get onto it. It didn't take long before we picked up glimses of the Shorty as it hunted over the rough grassland. Eventually we were to get good, if distant, views of three Shorties hunting close to each other. The Hen Harrier showed a couple of more times before a female type Marsh Harrier flew thru. A close male sparrowhawk was the final bird to make it onto the day list.

Not long after we started scanning the farmland the hind quarters of a deer was spotted. Very dark brown with a white patch on the bum, and given the habitat, Roe Deer I thought/presumed. Martin got a better view later on and said it wadn't a Roe as it had large antlers rather than the short upright antlers of a Roe. A quick look, and it raised its head to dhow a rather impressive set of pointed antlers, identifying it as either a Red or a Sika stag. Given the size it could only be a Sika.