This evening I decided that it was time the new car got to experience what its future life holds in terms of filthy single track roads and a fair bit of off-roading. Thinking about it I should have got a 4×4 really especially when you consider that our holiday home on the Isle of Mull is a good mile and a half from the nearest tarmac road. As the title suggests the location of choice was Llanrhidian Marsh again as I just can’t get enough of the Hen Harriers before they head North to their breeding grounds. It took a while for anything to show itself but at around 6pm the male Harrier lifted himself up out of the reeds and put on a good show for a couple of minutes. As with my last sighting of the male he stayed well towards the back of the marsh in the direction of Whiteford. The female birds seem a lot more forthcoming and can often be seen very close to the marsh road as in the video from my previous post. Whether this is down to the birds splitting the marsh into different territories or just coincidence I am not sure.
The Harriers weren’t the only thing on offer as the photographs above show. Today has been almost flawless in terms of weather and this inevitably led to a pretty decent sunset considering the lack of cloud in the sky. As the sun began to sink several small flocks of Greylag Geese flew overhead coming from upstream of the Burry Inlet and heading in the direction of Cefn Bryn. This is the second evening that I have seen these birds travel in that direction so I presume that there is a roost somewhere in the locality. Also on the move but in the opposite direction was a flock of several thousand Starlings. I actually heard these before I saw them due the awesome noise being made from their wings. The best way to describe it would be as an approaching wave that never crashes but simply passes on by. Simply amazing. The Starlings weren’t the only sounds to be heard however. The air was so still that I could pick out calls from all over the marsh. Those that I could identify included Little Egret, Grey Heron, Mallard as well as the usual assortment of Corvids.
Tomorrow I am heading into mid Wales again to pay a visit to the RSPB reserve at Ynys-hir as well as the Elan Valley and Gigrin Farm to check out the Black Kite. If the weather is as good as it has been forecast it should be an excellent weekend. See you on the other side.
0 Comments