Great Northern Diver : Aberavon

It was a toss up today between sitting in a hide all day at Forest Farm NR, Cardiff in the hope of the Bittern appearing or a bit of exercise and a yomp from Bryn to Dead Sheep Gulley in Afan Forest for my second go for the wintering Great Grey Shrike, my dog Pearl was up for a walk so DSG for the GGS it was.
A two hour search venturing over into the next valley saw me fail miserably again so hopefully it will be third time lucky over the Christmas holiday.
Returning to the car it was again a toss up to spend what was left of the day at Kenfig NNR for possible Bittern, Firecrest or Sibe Ciffchaff or a punt at the River Afan walking up from Aberavon Beach in the hope of a white-winged gull, Long-tailed Duck or maybe a diver.
River Afan it was to be and within ten minutes of walking across the prom and up the riverbank I found a cracking Great Northern Diver, it proved elusive diving for long periods and resurfacing up to 100m from where it had initially dived but having made my way down on to the muddy riverside I managed to pin it down and I came away with some images that I was really pleased with.......

I 'filled my boots' with the diver and taking a punt on Aberavon Beach was a really good decision despite getting into a filthy state on the muddy riverside and having to shower the dog when I got home !!