Wipit, Diver & Shrike

Not a dodgy firm of solicitors, but the three star birds from a morning out at Llwyn-onn Reservoir and Garwnant.

Mike Hogan and a group of Carmarthenshire (the land of milk and honey) photographers were already on the Water Pipit when I arrived at Llwyn-onn, and, as I travelled round towards Garwnant, I renewed my aquaintance with the Great Northern Diver which was busy (cray)fishing on the millpond surface of the reservoir. Easy peasy.

Not qute as easy was the Great Grey Shrike. I went first to the 'southern clearfell', but there were some guys there planting saplings. I didn't bother hanging around and headed straight to the 'northern clearfell'. I waited there for and hour and a half and drew a blank, only managing to see a shedload of Crossbill and half a dozen Bullfinch.

Back to the 'southern clearfell' and, despite the blokes still busy planting the saplings nearby, there was the Great Grey Shrike - distant at first before it briefly landed on a tree nearby.

Slocombe - eat your heart out!

"Return Visits"

Although I'd paid a visit to the various locations previously Peter Morgan and myself headed to the north of the county today as Willow Tit and GN Diver were both "lifers" for Peter and it was a chance for both of us to take a few photos. Two Willow Tits showed after a little while at Nelson Bog with one coming to the food which we put down on the rail of the bridge over the stream by the railway crossing. The light was once again absolutely awful but I managed a few "record" shots,I know I go on about it but a little sun makes a huge difference,it brings photos to life.

Next stop was Llwynn-Onn Reservoir for the juv Great Northern Diver which we got on fairly quickly as it headed up to the north end of the water.

We legged it to the hide and it duly obliged by swimming past the only disappointment being that it chose the far channel and not the nearest channel in front of the reedy island,if it had we'd have got some crackin' shots in the only 20mins of good light in the day. We did witness the diver having a real tussle with a crayfish which seem to be it's favoured prey and I managed to get a shot of the bird and it's meal before it got devoured. We then headed across to Garwnant hoping to catch up with Great Grey Shrike,we checked the clearfell south of the visitor centre without success although there were good numbers of Crossbills around with some Siskins and Redpoll mixed in with the flocks.

We then headed up to the other clearfell that the bird has been frequenting north of the visitor centre and this time got lucky although the shrike always kept it's distance at the far end of the clearing,we waited a while in the hope it would fly to one of the closer "perching" poles but as the light faded we gave up and headed for home.

Llangors Lake:Winter visit

Teresa and myself paid a visit up to Llangors yesterday to check out the caravan and I took the opportunity of doing a bit of birdin' hoping to catch up with the two Whooper Swans and Great White Egret that has been around for a few weeks. The Whoopers were on the severely flooded meadow to the rear of the sailing club but despite a visit over to Llangasty I didn't connect with the GWE.

Before leaving I scanned across the lake from between the reeds to check out how the replacement hide is coming along,looks well posh with a thatched roof in progress as the finishing touch,will try it out in the spring.

Great Northern Diver:Llwyn 0n Resv'r

"Few" images from a visit to Llwyn On Reservoir north of Merthyr Tydfil today in company with fellow "togger" Richard "Smudger" Smith, our target species being the juvenile Great Northern Diver found by Mike Hogan a couple of weeks ago. It gave us the runaround for a while but we finally pinned it down.

Following our success at the reservoir we then paid a visit to Garwnant Forest and managed to see but not photograph the wintering Great Grey Shrike (too far away and heavy drizzle) and last thing called into Nelson Bog where we saw Willow Tit but being quite elusive I didn't manage a photo worthy of posting.

A good excuse to visit this fantastic little nature reserve again.

"Gower Glaucous"

I couldn't resist giving Oxwich Bay a visit this week what with all of the seabird activity reported during the last couple of weeks and yesterday gave old friend Neil Davies a call at his home in Blackpill. As my visit coincided with high tide we checked the Blackpill roost before setting off for Oxwich,there were large numbers of waders present with Godwits,Dunlin,Knot,Ringed Plover,Curlew and Oystercatchers roosting with plenty of gulls as well. Unfortunately within a few minutes of arriving a couple of youngsters flushed the whole lot and they disappeared to settle further down the beach. It was nice to bump into Alistair Flanagan again and chat briefly.

We soon arrived at Oxwich and the number of seabirds present was an incredible spectacle with 100s of Kittiwakes,30-40 Gannets,1000s of gulls,some Razorbills and Guillemots and plenty of Shags and Cormorants.

We didn't manage to locate any divers and didn't even bother looking for the Glaucous Gull found by Barry earlier in the day due to the continual disturbance caused by the visiting "numpties" and their kids and dogs.

A couple of heavy showers put a damper on things but I still managed a few photos in terrible light and even got a couple of 5 Grey Seals we counted that were hunting off the rocks opposite the church.

A quick visit to the "new" hide before the weather finally got the better of us enabled me to get a shot of one of several Common Snipe on the island opposite the hide although none showed themselves particularly well.

With a slightly better forecast for today I fancied trying to get the Glaucous Gull and after meeting up with Peter Morgan at Sarn we arrived at Oxwich just after first light and strode out along the beach in the direction of Nicholaston Pill.

Luckily Chris Brewer was already on the bird and we both enjoyed good views courtesy of Chris's 'scope before an earlybird "numptie" managed to flush the large flock which resettled after a short time.

I managed to relocate the Glaucous in my bins and the three of us managed some "record" shots before an almighty hailstone shower sent us racing for the shelter of the bridge over the pill.

The huge gull flock was flushed several more times and being unable to relocate the bird we headed back down to the opposite end of the beach to watch the feeding action again bumping into Paul Tabor who was with Keith and Scott Squires.

Eventually the heavy showers got the better of us and we decided to finish off the day by visiting the feeding station at Newton Farm nr Scurlage in the hope of connecting with a Tree Sparrow,a single bird having been seen a couple of times in recent weeks.

After an extremely muddy trudge across fields and several stiles we arrived at the derilict farm and didn't have to wait too long before a single bird appeared at the feeders.

I managed a few record shots and during a short period of good light managed to get one that I was quite pleased with considering we were at a safe distance from the feeders.

With more rain threatening we headed for home,me pleased just to get out and see some good birds and take some photographs and Peter with two more "lifers" to add to his growing list.