Long-tailed Duck @ Bosherston Pools

An afternoon birding around the pools was rewarded with some great views of the immature Long-tailed Duck, with a female Goldeneye, on East Arm. Also on East Arm, there were good numbers of Goosander 7 in all, including 3 drakes, 8 Teal and a Tufted Duck. Plenty of Goldcrests, Tits and 3 Chiffchaffs were in the trees alongside the East Arm.
The other arms were quiet apart from a small raft of 9 Goldeneye (3 drakes) and 2 female Tufted Duck.

Long-tailed Duck

Dryslwyn- Swans, Ducks, Waders

Yesterday we spent the afternoon walking along the river at Dryslwyn. From the car, large flock of Lapwings and Curlews were visible. On closer inspection I found 4 Whooper Swans  feeding on the floodplain. Walking further on I past a large flooded puddle. here I picked out 30 Wigeon, 20 Teal, 4 Pintail, including a smart drake and a Goldeneye. On the otherside of the river a large goose flock was visible. They were mostly Canada but there were several Greylag, another 4 Whoopers and 5 Mute Swans.

Whooper Swan

Some Sightings

I haven't blogged for a while so here is the catch up from the last few weeks.

On the 28th (Oct) we spent the day in the Brecon Beacons. The morning we climb the mountains and in the afternoon we went to Llangorse Lake for some birding. Whilst I was there I was hoping to connect with the Lesser Scaup that had been frequenting the lake. Unfortunately I couldn't find the Lesser Scaup but I did get about 200 Wigeon, 6 Great Crested Gerbe, 70 Tufted Duck, 10 Gadwall and a female Greater Scaup.

The morning of Nov 1st I spent at south beach Tenby. 2 Late Swallows over Penally range were the first birds of note. A Chiffchaff and 2 Goldcrests were in the small woodland on Giltar point. On the beach there were 4 Ringed Plovers, 6 Turnstones and a Redshank. Then in the afternoon we went to Haverfordwest and my Dad dropped me off at Sprinkle Pill. Winter visitors' numbers were on the increase, the count was: 6 Greenshank, 100+ Wigeon, 100 Teal, 40 Redshanks and a large flock of 200+ Golden Plover. Also 10 Redwings were feeding in the trees near the pill.

On the 2nd I spent the morning at Strumble Head. I didn't see much in the 2 hours I was there. Good number of Kittiwakes in a large Gull flock, but the best bird was a Great Northern Diver flying south.

Yesterday we spent the afternoon at Bosherston Pools. The highlight was 4 Goosanders (my first of the winter), other birds included, 2 Little Grebe, a Kingfisher, 9 Gadwall and a Treecreeper.

Today in the garden I had the female Great Spotted Woodpecker, a Coal Tit, some fantastic views of 5 Redwing in the holly tree and 4 Snipe heading south over the house (vis mig?)

Scaup (furthest bird on the right)

Dunnock

Meadow Pipit

Redwing