And it started so well . . .

A family walk along the coastal path between Rest Bay and Kenfig Sands at high tide today turned out to be better than expected. There were 36 Knot on the rocks at Pink Bay - a species I completely missed out on in 'Eastern Glamorgan' when I was listing the county last year - along with the usual Oycs and Turnstone. A large flock of about 200 Golden Plover circled overhead for a long time, and the strong sunlight really made their plumage shine. The biggest surprise of the afternoon came when 8 Brent Geese flew in from the east and landed at Sker. Later on I bumped into Martin Bevan and Mike Hogan who told me that they had first seen these birds just over the border in West Glam earlier in the day. Offshore, the Red-throated Diver originally found yesterday, was still hanging around. On we went to Kenfig to add White-rumped Sandpiper to add to the Twitchmeister's list of 2007 lifers. On the way down to the pool though we were informed by Martin and Mike that they'd just seen it flying off strongly in the direction of Kenfig Sands. Gethin was very disappointed and would have uttered a few choice expletives . . . . if he had the vocabulary! Be easy on him the next time you see him.