Turkey Holiday 2nd-16th October 2022

 Having missed out for the last 2 years due to Covid we decided this year to push the boat out to celebrate my 70th birthday by venturing to Turkey and staying at the Hilton Dalaman in Sarigerme with good friends Neil and Gail.

The hotel was fabulous and even exceeded expectations, the weather was also perfect with daytime temperatures around the 26-27 deg mark with evenings around 20-21deg.

Unfortunately the birding did not match the hotel and weather and was quite poor and disappointing with most summer migrants having already departed.

Anyway here's a few images of some of the birds and other wildlife that I did see and managed to capture with the camera, all taken with my newish Canon RF 100-500mm f4.5-7.1 IS USM zoom which turned out to be a terrific travelling lens due to it's compactness, huge thanks go to good friend and fellow 'togger' Dave Gilbert for the loan of his Canon RF 1.4x extender...........

Afon Teifi Osprey

 Whilst we were home from the caravan a juvenile Osprey had been frequenting the St Dogmaels section of the River Teifi on a feeding 'stopover' during it's Autumn migration to West Africa.

I had hoped that it would still be around for our most recent visit and I was not to be disappointed, I saw it fly up river from the watchpoint at The Graig footpath just north of the Ferry Inn and decided to check to the river from the slipway near the Fiat car dealership just off the main road.

On going back to my car I bumped into Stuart Hall and Tommy + Jen Evans who had been searching near The Moorings, we soon made it to the slipway and were joined by Karen Leah and her friend.

The bird had landed in the trees on the far bank of the river but was always out of sight, eventually after about 30-40mins it was harassed by some gulls and flew right over us enabling all to get great views and pleasing shots............

Black Terns : Lamby Lake, Cardiff

 I'd been keeping my eye the sightings pages confirming the presence of firstly one and then two Black Terns using Lamby Lake in Cardiff as a stopover on their migration but with other commitments and having been away at our caravan I was struggling to make a visit.

However, with a concert in Cardiff booked for last Friday evening I persuaded Mrs S that we needed to call into the lake in the hope of me getting some photos.

We managed to get there at about 4.30pm and both birds were busy feeding over the water, after taking about 300 images it was soon time to return to the car where Teresa had spent an hour reading.

I took my new Canon RF 100-500mm IS f4.5-7.1 zoom lens with me which really showed it's worth for birds in flight and shot continuously at 500mm, considering the birds are extremely erratic in flight I managed a good percentage of 'keepers'............

The Afon Perris outfall, Llansantffraid Beach, Llanon

 I was not familiar with this location but on seeing some nice photos on Facebook of several waders including Little Stint + Curlew Sandpiper I thought that I would give it a go.

So last Wednesday 7th September I made the 1 hour journey north along the A487 to Llanon on the northern side of Aberaeron.

I found the location after missing a turning at first and parked in the small church car park and made my way down the track which was only a few minutes walk to the beach.

Upon arrival I was met by Tommy + Jen Evans who were sat on the pebbles with their cameras taking advantage of the good numbers of waders present.

The beach is mainly pebbles and rocks interspersed with small areas of sand and present were many Ringed Plovers and Dunlin, gulls and Canada Geese, a Knot, a couple of Curlew Sandpipers, a Ruff a Bar-tailed Godwit, and a Little Stint.

 I was too busy admiring the B-tG and Ruff through my bins to get some photos of them before they were flushed by a gull, a moral there, photos first and admire second, doh !!

I did manage some nice photos of the other waders but my time was cut short by a torrential shower which I just got back in time to the car to avoid.

It's a fabulous spot, teeming with waders and one I intend to visit again next week when we return to the caravan, this time hopefully putting in several hours.

Here are a few of the images I managed to obtain in my short time there on this occasion........