After a few days of fairly terrible weather it was good to get back out yesterday evening in frankly glorious conditions. Of course things would have been even better had a certain Phalarope been there to greet me but alas all I could do was look in its vague general direction and cross everything that it stays put until the weekend.
As in recent weeks I was once more on the stretch of coast path between Penclacwydd and Loughor bridge and once more had a fine selection of waders on show. Somewhere in the region of a hundred Dunlin were feeding just beyond the sea wall along with a smattering of Oystercatchers and the usual mix of Gulls. No Terns this time out however but it was good to see the flock of Lapwings still about as well as a lone Black-tailed Godwit heading downstream, followed shortly after by a Whimbrel. Always a nice species to see but it was the Curlews which proved my star birds once again. Foraging amongst the marshy vegetation, their distinctive calls splitting the air at regular intervals, it was more a case of when rather than if I’d find one close enough for photographs. In the end this was the individual which came up trumps, happy to pose and feed despite my relatively close proximity.

There were plenty of odds and sods present too including a Chiffchaff in fine voice and some of the angriest sounding Wrens I’ve heard in quite some time. Quite what they had to be so shouty about was anyone’s guess as the lighting and sunset were simply spectacular.



With so many good rare birds being reported in the last couple of days I think a weekend of local birding is on the cards. It’s been a while so will be good to get back out to a few of the regular haunts and who knows, maybe I’ll go for a day list as my notebook deserves an outing as much as I do.
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