The end of the snow has heralded the return of our typical British weather; the wet and mild conditions that we are all more familiar with. As the rain lashed down today I headed over to Sandy Water Park in Llanelli for a walk around the lake and along a stretch of the coastal path to see what was about. The grassy areas near the car park held a couple of hundred Black Headed Gulls who all looked like they would rather be any place else.
As soon as we reached the waters edge we were quickly accosted by a couple of Mute Swans who seemed intent on getting food from us. As we had none the only option was a quick retreat. Even as an adult a Mute Swan standing up to you is still a sight to behold. Also feeding along the banks were a single Song Thrush and many more Coots than I have seen in the past at this location. Much to my surprise the water delivered a couple of female Goldeneye’s amongst the usual Tufted Duck and Pochard. Following on from my last couple of posts I also wasn’t surprised to see a Common Gull floating about with the more common Gull species.
From here things took a more unusual turn. Whilst scanning the water a couple of Rooks walked right up to us and started staring us down. Emma threw them a bit of bread from her sandwich and one of the Rooks immediately seized upon it. From hereon the same individual followed us as we walked along the coastal path. It always held back a few meters until we stopped at which point it would pop up in front of us. Given the terrible weather it was too dark to photograph against the ground so I stood next to a sign post in the hope that the Rook would perch on top against the much brighter sky. Low and behold he duly obliged. Amazing.
Further along the coastal path we encountered the largest flock of Redwing and Fieldfare that I have seen so far. Approximately forty Redwing and five Fieldfare were feeding along with fifteen Starlings on the sodden ground. Other notable species included a Grey Wagtail, three Little Grebe and a single Snipe flying around near Pwll.
The final sighting of note was a Jackdaw dropping a snail from height onto the ballast of the railway line that runs parallel to the coastal path. Judging by the crack as shell made contact with ground it certainly seemed to be a successful and relatively effortless feeding method.
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