"Return Visits"

Although I'd paid a visit to the various locations previously Peter Morgan and myself headed to the north of the county today as Willow Tit and GN Diver were both "lifers" for Peter and it was a chance for both of us to take a few photos. Two Willow Tits showed after a little while at Nelson Bog with one coming to the food which we put down on the rail of the bridge over the stream by the railway crossing. The light was once again absolutely awful but I managed a few "record" shots,I know I go on about it but a little sun makes a huge difference,it brings photos to life.

Next stop was Llwynn-Onn Reservoir for the juv Great Northern Diver which we got on fairly quickly as it headed up to the north end of the water.

We legged it to the hide and it duly obliged by swimming past the only disappointment being that it chose the far channel and not the nearest channel in front of the reedy island,if it had we'd have got some crackin' shots in the only 20mins of good light in the day. We did witness the diver having a real tussle with a crayfish which seem to be it's favoured prey and I managed to get a shot of the bird and it's meal before it got devoured. We then headed across to Garwnant hoping to catch up with Great Grey Shrike,we checked the clearfell south of the visitor centre without success although there were good numbers of Crossbills around with some Siskins and Redpoll mixed in with the flocks.

We then headed up to the other clearfell that the bird has been frequenting north of the visitor centre and this time got lucky although the shrike always kept it's distance at the far end of the clearing,we waited a while in the hope it would fly to one of the closer "perching" poles but as the light faded we gave up and headed for home.