After setting off early, we took the 2-hour drive to Cardiff, to Forest Farm nature reserve, off a leafy lane in the NW suburbs of the city. Here, for the last couple of weeks or so a Little Bunting has been providing fabulous views, coming down to seed. The species is one of the far east and should currently be wintering in southern/south east Asia. So a long old way off course!
After trawling around a bit, we eventually found the utility shed thing turned into a hide! We lay in wait with great optimism having seen on the internet how well the bird had been showing. In the meantime, we enjoyed a Grey Heron finding a plentiful supply of frogs!
I have to say we started to get a bit twitchy with plenty of birds coming down to the food, including several Reed Bunting, but still no Little Bunting. Eventually though it popped out from some recently cut brushwood and began to show, all be it rather illusively. But pheww, Little Bunting in the bag & my first lifer for quite a while.
After disappearing for a while, it did come back and began to show fairly well, although it did have the habit of feeding behind a single tuft of f**kin grass for the majority of the time!
Time was now pressing on so after getting our fix of Asian bunting, we drove into the centre of the maze that is Cardiff city centre. Eventually we made it through to Cardiff Bay and to the area by the ice rink. Here we hoped to latch onto the long-staying drake Lesser Scaup which had spent the last few winters in the local area. It immediately looked like we were to be out of luck with tonnes of yachts out on the water. However looking a short way along to a small bay, a small flock of Tufties could be seen close in-shore. Promising!
After walking a short distance along the waterside walkway, we began scanning the flock. In no time we were chuffed to be onto the Lesser Scaup, asleep very close in, and with the sun behind us. It did spend a lot of time asleep but thankfully, occasionally brought his head up. Smashing bird in immaculate plumage, a real stunner, showing the nice purple sheen to the head. They certainly were far better views than my first one in Cornwall early last year.
A couple of kayakers soon came close by and that was that as the flock shot off across the bay to the Cardiff Bay wetland.
After a bit weaving in and out of the docks, we eventually got to the area near to the water works, where the regular Bonaparte's Gull often resides. In the smallish bay here there were plenty of Black Headed Gulls about, but definitely no Bony's. Still, we'd done very well so far so couldn't really complain! Birds here included a flock of 16 Pintail, several Curlew, Oystercatcher and Turnstones.
It was now early afternoon and it was time to leave Cardiff and drive back west to Slimbridge, just under an hour away. After a very straightforward drive back over the Severn Bridge we arrived. In next to no time, we were enjoying fabulous views of several bugling Bewick's Swans. Brilliant! They were very vocal and were performing lots of wing flapping; a sure sign they would soon be wending their way back to Russia. In fact only 2 or 3 days previously, there had been as many as 130 birds present. The maximum count on Sunday was 65, so they were very much in the process of migrating back east.
We walked round towards the Holden Tower, stopping off at most of the hides along the way. The first, overlooking the marshes was by far the most productive. I was very excited to see a flock of Pintail right in front of the hide. Wow!! You very rarely get to see wild Pintail this close, so this was a real privilege. They are also my favourite duck so I was very much in my element!
Other birds seen from here included several more Bewick's Swan, around 150 White-Fronted Geese, 2 Cranes from the Crane project and good numbers of Wigeon and Pochard in particular.
A flock of Lapwing were disturbed by something and amongst them were several Dunlin. On them landing, I had a scan through, revealing one of the wintering Little Stint. Very nice!
By now, an horrific storm had swept in and for the next 45 minutes or so it was wall to wall torrential rain and wind. We dashed over to the Holden Tower without getting too wet and had a further scan from here. As hoped, the female Ferruginous Duck was showing well on a small pool, together with several Tufties. We got great views despite the conditions, as she came ashore and just sat there preening.
Eventually, the storm passed so we finished the day back with the Bewick's Swans, again getting fabulous views in the early evening sun. Wicked end to the day!
No comments:
Post a Comment