After our Dolphin Day exploits it’s fair to say that energy levels were a little lacking on Sunday. It’s been an incredibly busy couple of months here and what I really wanted to do was just crash in front of the TV and chill. At least that’s what I thought I wanted but me being me I simply couldn’t sit still for that long nor indeed forego my daily dose of wild. So it was that after lunch we paid a brief visit to WWT Llanelli. This was a trip long overdue having not been since earlier in the year despite the reserve playing host to a trio of Spoonbills in recent weeks. These increasingly common birds are still an impressive spectacle and it was they which we hoped to see above all else.

Of course if you’re hoping for wading birds here then low tide is probably not the best time to visit. Arriving at the British Steel Hide we were greeted by largely empty pools with the exception of some two hundred plus Black-tailed Godwits over on the NRA scrapes. This wasn’t looking promising. A couple of Little Egrets briefly got the heart racing until finally, way out on the estuary, three large birds lifted into the sky. Their flight was brief but, despite the heat haze, scope views were just about clear enough to be able to pick out those distinctive “spoon” shaped bills. Needless to say my resultant record shot is a thing of wonder in both its lack of clarity and distance from object. 

P1090061 - A Distant Spoonbill Trio, WWT Llanelly

At least we’d connected and we were treated to another couple of short flight displays before the trio of Spoonbills seemed to settle for good in a distant ditch mostly obscured from view. Even so we waited another half hour but with no change decided to call it a day. Before we finish however an honourable mention must go to the ten or so Mediterranean Gulls also present. With memories still fresh from when even a solitary bird was cause for excitement this is a rapid and impressive change. Long may it continue.

As for day 26? Well it was another busy one at work so my wild time was restricted to a walk of just over two miles back to where I’d parked my car. Along busy roads this isn’t exactly the height of relaxation but I did manage to spot one lone Cinnabar moth caterpillar. These are by far my favourite insects and really deserve an entire post all to themselves before this month is out. If the weather holds I’ve got an ideal location in mind which should be overrun with the little blighter’s by now. Stay tuned.


0 Comments

Leave a Reply