Magnolia Warbler : Baglan Energy Park, Briton Ferry - 25th September 2023

With the unprecedented influx of storm driven American passerines to the west coast of the UK it came as no surprise that one turned up locally at Baglan Energy Park, Briton Ferry, an incredible find by local birder Gary Lewis whilst out walking his dog.

I decided to join the many 'twitchers' present yesterday afternoon and it was great to talk with visiting birders who had travelled from far and wide.

It was also good to bump into local birders/toggers Mike Pugh, Shaun Evans and Paul Roberts.

I connected with the beautiful little Magnolia Warbler fairly soon after arrival at 12.25pm but only managed some distant 'record shots' as the bird was extremely elusive and difficult to pin down.

I stayed until about 5.00pm hoping to get some better photos but unfortunately this didn't happen.

I'm hoping that the other Magnolia Warbler found in Pembrokeshire stays around as we are back at the caravan shortly which halves the journey for me when I visit.

Wrynecks, Choughs and Seals : Martin's Haven, Pembs - 9th Sept 2023

Whilst at the caravan last week I received a text on Friday evening from good friend and birder/togger Dave Gilbert asking me if I fancied a visit to Martin's Haven, Pembs where the previous day 4 Wrynecks had been reported.

We were to be joined by John Freeman from Milford Haven, a Mach Loop (low flying aircraft in Mid Wales) friend of Dave's who I really like, and who is great company.

Leaving the caravan site at 06.45 I arrived at the NT car park at Martin's Haven at exactly 08.00 as planned.

Upon arrival the weather was more than a little disappointing with dense sea mist and occasional drizzle which took a couple of hours to eventually clear into a nice sunny day.

We spent the first couple of hours searching Deer Park and Wool Tack Point for a Wryneck and had almost given up until we bumped into Alan Merrett from Pembroke who had just had a brief glimpse of one as it disappeared over the gorse.

We chatted and said our goodbyes to Alan and headed for the area to the rear of the toilet block bumping into a chap who recognised us from our last pelagic.

He advised us that a Wryneck had been occupying the area near the 'steps' opposite the main gate but had flown over the tall stone boundary wall towards the large white holiday property.

We moved to a position where we could get a good vantage point and we picked up the bird climbing and feeding on the rocky incline at the rear of the house.

It then flew back over the wall towards the area near the toilet block, we made our way there where there were a couple of rocky outcrops which we thought the bird would favour.

After a short while we picked up the bird on one of the rocks and all of us took advantage rattling off several shots.

We were joined by Mike Davey from Pembroke who replaced John Freeman who had to leave early due to another commitment.

Myself and Dave have got to know Mike from our most recent pelagic.

The Wryneck came and went a couple of times and we enjoyed taking several more shots of the spectacular bird, Dave had to also leave as he had a long journey to undertake leaving myself and Mike to hopefully get a few more photos.

The bird duly obliged and returned one more time to the rocky outcrop after Dave had left and we rattled off several more shots before Mike and myself left together.

A fabulous long morning out in great company, two Wrynecks which were a 'lifer' for Mike, several photogenic, noisy Choughs and numerous Atlantic Grey Seals with pups in the small coves at Wool Tack point.......

Another 'mini pelagic' from Newquay, Ceredigion - 1st September 2023

I had the 'heads up' from Josh Pedley of SeaMor Dolphin Watching of a 5 hour 'wildlife extravaganza' boat trip from Newquay on Friday 1st September and immediately informed a few friends to guarantee us getting on the boat.

I was joined by Dave Gilbert, Phillip Leyshon who travelled with me and Martin Creasser who made his own way from Aberystwyth.

There were also a couple of other familiar faces on the boat namely Karen Leah and Janet Baxter.

Seabirds unusually were a little thin on the ground (sea) but we had a few encounters with Bottlenose Dolphins and also excellent views of adult Grey Seals.

Outbound the boat hugged the coastline as far as Cardigan Island and inbound we made our way back 3 miles out to sea which is the boats licensed limit.

Here are a few photos from the trip and also Cei Bach which we visited before the trip......

Wales Birdwatching Optics Show : National Botanic Gardens, Llanarthne - 1st September 2023

 

On Saturday 1st September myself and birding/togger good friend Dave Gilbert booked tickets to the Wales Birdwatching Optics Show organised by Carmarthen Cameras at the National Botanic Gardens, Llanarthne, west of Cross Hands.

This included tickets to a 90 minute presentation on 'Birds Of Prey' by our national nature treasure Iolo Williams. Iolo was doing two presentations, the first at 11.00am which we were attending and the second at 2.00pm.

The talk was extremely entertaining and informative and was thoroughly enjoyed by a full theatre audience.

Before and after the talk we had a good look around the various optics stalls and I took an instant liking to a pair of Swarovski 10x42 NL Pure binoculars after testing them but at £2,600 a new pair will have to wait.

My 20 year old Swarovski 8.5x42 Els are still performing well but I would love to upgrade.

I did however come away with a rather expensive high tech thermal imaging monocular which will hopefully come in handy finding species such as owls, nightjars, woodcock and snipe etc.

Many thanks to Iolo for posing for the photo and it was lovely to chat with him after the presentation had finished.

We called back at WWT Penclacwydd, Llanelli on our way home to see and photograph the 4 Cattle Egrets which had turned up there photos of which are included in my other post when I revisited a couple of days later.

Cattle Egrets : WWT Penclacwydd, Llanelli - 4th August 2023

Following my visit to Pembrey Old Harbour for terns I made my way on to Kidwelly Quay where only a very distant Osprey out on Tywyn Burrows was of interest, this I managed to see through another birder's 'scope.

It was nice to bump into Gary Harper the Carmarthenshire County Recorder who I've known for some years and who phoned me whilst on my way home and still west of Llanelli.

Gary advised that a flock of 11 Cattle Egrets had just flown into WWT Penclacwydd if I wished to do a detour.

I duly turned off to visit 'Penclac' and upon arrival at The British Steel Hide was greeted by Mike 'Trim' Evans who had phoned Gary with the news.

The birds were associating with grazing cattle on the Dafen Scrapes to the rear of the hide and eventually moved a little closer enabling me to get some reasonable shots.

After a recount Mike and myself agreed that there were in fact 12 Cattle Egrets present, no longer a rarity as they were but still nice to see........