Smew Lisvane Res 13th November

Having seen the Cornish Upland Sandpiper in October, I decided not to join the lads on the journey to Somerset.

I was sitting in front of the PC before 9am, with a hot cup of tea, when a Smew was reported on Birdguides, at Lisvane Reservoir, about 10mins from home. Leaving my tea undrunk, and Gill dozing in bed, I drove straight up there, bumped into Phil Bristow, who had reported the bird, a within a minute I was watching and photographing it.

Drove home to find Gill still dozing and my tea still warm. My kind of birding!

Upland Sandpiper in Somerset

Jeff, Dan, Colin Gittins and me filled Dans' car to twitch the Upland Sandpiper at Kingston Seymour. As we left, Tim sent a message that a red-headed Smew was on Lisvance Reservoir. We arrived at around 9:45am and managed to squeeze the car in not too far from the end of Middle Lane. Many birders were coming and going, and we received the good news that the bird was still present, though not showing quite as well as earlier in the morning. We all managed to pick a place along the line of 'scopes, but getting a good vantage point was difficult. Nevertheless, after a little while we were all on the bird which showed reasonably well at times. Later we headed south for a quick visit to Huntspill to view the reported three Richard's Pipits. What a trek! A number of birders were about but the pipits were not to be seen. We headed home satisfied we got our target bird.

Ogmore

Jeff and I spent a couple of hours on the Ogmore. A quick scan at Watermill gave just the usuall Black-headed Gulls, the odd Pheasant and a distant Little Egret. We moved on to Portobello and walked along the river. A Kingfisher was surpisingly close to the river mouth, but little else was of note. At the estuary, we were soon on to a small party of Turnstones and Purple Sandpipers. There were about a dozen sandpipers on view, and we managed to get in close for terrific views.

Long Tailed Duck, Lamby Way Lake, 6th November

Another lost soul. Typically spent more under water than on it. Wayne and I watched for a while, until young Alec took his dad home!

Laughing Gull, 5th November, Watermill, Ogmore

At last, a decent rarity close to home. One of 20+ Laughers in Britain at the time, blown in by storms. Shame the Franklins Gull near Llandeilo wasn't found earlier......