Garreg Lwyd Dotterel
Bank holiday weekend was a busy one for us with Saturday spent exploring the
Preseli Hills (trip report to follow) and Sunday afternoon taken up with
something called a social gathering. An odd concept I admit but one which I
think could really take off, maybe even as early as next year. That only left
a couple of hours free in the morning so we decided to head for a walk around
Garreg Lwyd above Brynamman. The weather was glorious with a cool breeze
hinting at autumn just around the corner and visibility stretching for miles
in all directions.
From the summit we chose to loop north back to the car resulting in grandstand
views deeper into the Brecon Beacons including across to its most famous
landmark, Pen y Fan. Although too distant to see detail on the summit I can
guarantee you that it and the route up would have been teeming with people.
Weird when you consider that we had the whole of Garreg Lwyd and these
stunning views to ourselves.
Monday rolled around and after a sufficiently lazy start (I’d forgotten how
tiring “going out” could be) we were back on Garreg Lwyd but this time combing
its southern flanks with intense concentration. There’s so much suitable
habitat out there that a single wader, or even two, is incredibly tricky to
spot so we were going to need a bit of luck on our side. Initially luck seemed
to be in short supply however with the fruits of our labour being a
Raven and several Skylark. Even the Swallows and Wheatears from
the day before had done a bunk. There was nothing more to be seen from the
summit either so we dropped down towards Foel Fraith with the intention of
picking up the Beacons Way. The birding gods it seemed had other ideas.
Across the rolling hills we caught on the air an unfamiliar call. Heard a
second time it definitely sounded like a wader but not one we could place. A
quick flick through clips on the phone ruled out Golden Plover with
Dotterel appearing to be a very good match. Could it be? Clearly views
were going to be necessary as I wasn’t about to confirm a species based on a
call I’d never previously heard and would you believe it, that was exactly
what we got. The bird in question flew high over us before looping back
towards the area of Garreg Lwyd we’d just been searching. Lighting was abysmal
but there were definite hints of a white eye stripe along with wings which
were plain above and whiter underneath. We waited a few minutes but with no
further sightings forthcoming there was nothing for it but to retrace our
steps and continue the search.
Along the way we put up a trio of Common Snipe before once again what
we were now convinced was a Dotterel gave us one last flyby. Much
better prepared I had chance to fire off a couple of record shots of which
this is probably the most conclusive.
That rounded tail in particular seems
quite diagnostic and we were able to celebrate our first self-found Dotterel
with a delicious home-made pasty.
Mission complete then but with the rest of the day still ahead we embarked on
an eight mile circuit taking in the aforementioned Foel Fraith as well as Cefn
y Cylchau and Cefn y Truman. Again we had this vast landscape virtually to
ourselves but didn’t manage to turn up any more Dotterel. Still, at least the
views weren’t bad.
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