Back in the Field

After having spent so much time birding - particularly in Glamorgan - during 2006, this year has proved dismal on the birding front. I can honestly say that I have only picked up my bins twice in 2007. Once on the twitch with Wayne for the Pacific Diver at Llys-y-Fran. The other time was a lucky 'twitch' to see the Bearded Tits at Cardiff Wetlands . . . while I happened to be down in the Bay for an evening out anyway.

So it was good to be finally out and about again today - and what a day! Accompanied by The Twitchmeister we went for a quick raid over the border for the gathering of Glossies. Gethin was twitchy all morning but because of a work commitment I couldn't get away until after lunch.

We arrived and found the spot easily (thanks to Tim's excellent directions). We had been warned that the Ibis could be tricky to see. What we hadn't expected was for eleven of them to be feeding no more than 25 metres away from us within seconds of arriving! The other six birds were nearby. We watched them for about ten minutes before they all flew up and settled in the long grass about a 100 metres away.

The Twitchmeister was as happy as Larry! We decided, since we were in the area that we'd have a look for the Marbled Duck at nearby Saul Warth. We ambled up the canal towpath, ticking Whinchat on the way - another lifer for Geth - before checking out this cracking flood for the Duck. It wasn't easy, the sun was directly in front of us, but after an anxious twenty minutes we finally found the bird trying its best to hide along side a hedge. Good, but distant views of a very attractive bird. Gethin has already ticked it, I'm not so sure!!