As the Welsh were leaving their country in the thousands descending on London, Gary Howard organised a stealth movement in the other direction. Arriving at rendezvous points around the M25 from 5am, with Gary driving and passengers Mike Buckland, Richard Bonser, we arrived arrived on the edge of Newport just before 8am to see a Common Yellowthroat which had been found on the outskirts of Rhiwderyn just over a week ago.We walked the short distance across a couple of fields to where a small group of birders had gathered (numbers later swelling to around 300), surrounding a clump of brambles in front of a field hedge. The bird was only the 9th recorded in the UK (It is common in US hedgerows).
After around an hour it was clear that the Yellowthroat was going to be elusive and other than some 'movement in the undergrowth' calls there were no significant views. The sun was appearing over the hill and then a soft 'tak tak' call revealed the
Common Yellowthroat's presence, initially without showing but then it flew to a nearer bramble patch where it poked itself out at grass level a couple of times (luckily we were positioned pretty much in front of where it appeared in the long line of birders). Although distinctive with a bright yellow throat and undertail, the views didn't get much better than this as it remained elusive and continued to creep in a mouse-like fashion just in the undergrowth.
Having had our rewards we went on to Cardiff bay. We spent a short while trying to find the best place to access the foreshore and eventually (after getting lost in a place called Splott) we dumped Gary's car on a verge and walked through a gap in the fencing to follow a path around the Waterworks. There were good numbers of mainly
Black-headed Gulls on the receding tide. A couple of adult
Mediterranean Gulls were quickly found and then Mike expertly picked out a 1st Winter
Bonaparte's Gull which flew and landed a couple of times but further away each time, but we had good views in good light through the scopes and in flight it showed clearly the black tail band and white outer primaries. Along with the increasing number of gulls,
Pintail, Shoveler, Shelduck Bar-tailed Godwit, Dunlin, Turnstone and Curlew were on the mudflats.
We then moved onto Cosmeston Lakes near Penarth in search of a Lesser Scaup, where we were hoping to get exceptional close views. On arrival, this rather crowded location had a lot of bread-filled Swans, Gulls and ducks near to the car park and cafe ! - A Whooper Swan proved to be of feral pedigree without a BTO ring and the Lesser Scaup was not in the vicinity. We walked through to a second lake which was marginally more wild, and soon found the drake
Lesser Scaup on the far bank with
Pochard and
Tufted Ducks. We tried various angles around the lake to get that photographic opportunity as the light was great, but it was all a little distant and through trees, but a good bird to see well through the scope.
We then headed home at a reasonable hour (They let us back across the boarder for free !) after a productive day in mild sunny weather and good company.
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| In case we were in any doubt as to which direction to go. |
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| Around 300 birders were present in the 3 hours we were on site |
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| Common Yellowthroat - rather skulking. |
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| Nice shot of a bramble - The Common Yellowthroat wasn't giving itself up easily |
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| Cosmeston Lakes, Penarth. |
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| Lesser Scaup - distant and through the trees. |
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| Male Tufted Duck |
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| Black-headed Gull |
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| Lesser Black-backed Gull - remarkably healthy given it's head is on upside down. |
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