The beauty of being retired is that you can dash off at any time to see a good bird which has been found, whilst keeping an eye on the local birding WhatsApp group and Birdguides I saw that a Snow Bunting had been reported feeding on the haul road at KNNR and in a location not too far from the Red-backed Shrike.
I therefore decided to make a visit on Sunday 23rd firstly calling at the location where I had previously seen the shrike.
There was one birder/togger present when I got there who introduced himself as Gareth Hughes from Crynant, a thoroughly nice bloke.
He had taken photos of the shrike but it did not show for the 10mins or so that I spent there in Gareth's company, I was not too bothered as the light was poor.
I mentioned the Snow Bunting which he did not know about and invited him to join me to look for it, two pairs of eyes are always better than one as they say.
We soon got to the haul road where a passing walker advised us that there were two toggers at the location taking photos of a small bird which saved us from looking for it which have been easy anyway as the bunting was feeding on the edge of the road.
One of the toggers was Shaun Evans from Glynneath whose name I knew from his Facebook posts, the other I did not know.
We got down low to photograph the bunting and I managed some photos that despite the gloomy light I was pleased with, I just love a Snow Bunting, they are such charismatic little birds.
It then started to pick with rain so I took my leave of the others and by the time that I got back to the reserve centre I was soaked through as was Timmy my dog who had accompanied me.
Oh the joys of birding, it was the shower for me and the bath for Timmy as soon as we got home !!
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