Ginst Point again...

This morning I headed down to Ginst Point again. The tide was high and there were birds everywhere. The tide was particularly high this morning and as a result large areas of the salt marsh were flooded. Here there were hundreds of Black-headed Gulls, 8 Little Egrets and c60 Curlew. Even more gulls were on the spit but there was no sign of Thursday's Little Ringed Plover. As the tide started to drop more waders started to arrive. 6 Black-tailed Godwits flew up from the salt marsh and headed towards Laugharne. A Redshank appeared on the shore along with 4 Knot. 2 Sandwich Terns were feeding offshore and a Great Crested Grebe was nearby. One last scan across the beach, before going home, and a few flocks of small waders caught my eye. I managed to get close enough to look though them. Predominantly Dunlin (c60), 5 Ringed Plover, 3 Sanderling and... a *LITTLE STINT*! Its small size was obvious against the larger Dunlin and its very energetic habits were great to watch.

Little Stint

Little Ringed Plover

I had a short visit to Ginst Point this evening just to see what was around. However, I didn't go very far before I found the star bird of the evening... a very smart juvenile Little Ringed Plover. It was frequenting a small stream that runs through the salt marsh and alongside the beach. I watched it for about half and hour as it foraged on the muddy banks of the stream. Eventually, it moved further up the stream and was lost behind the vegetation.

Other birds of note were c30 Curlew, a Redshank, 4 Great Creasted Grebes and 6 Ringed Plover.

Little Ringed Plover

Waders...

Last week ( 17th) we went down to Dale to spend the evening there . At the Gann a good selection of waders were present including 20 Dunlin on the beach and 2 Greenshank on the lagoon. 4 Common Sandpiper were also on the lagoon as was the highlight a juvenile Ruff, my first in Pembs! A second juvenile Ruff was at the the river mouth along with a Whimbrel and several Ringed Plover.
On Saturday I visited Ginst Point looking for some more waders. A quick scan revealed large numbers of Curlew (c70), Dunlin (100+), Ringed Plover (c110) and Oystercatcher (c90). Also present, were small numbers of Black-tailed Godwit (3) and a lone Knot. Gulls were in good numbers on the mudflats, with 250+ Black-headed Gulls, 60+ Herring Gulls and 3 Commin Gulls.
This afternoon we went to West Williamston NR. First birds of note were 2 Curlew and a Whimbrel. Looking through a flock of Lesser Balck-backed Gulls I found a white gull. It had me scratching my head for a while but I'm fairly sure it's a Leucistic Lesser Balck-back. On the way packed there was a further 3 Whimbrel, a juvenile Bar-tailed Godwit and 2 Greenshank.

Ruff

Leucistic Lesser Black-backed Gull

Holiday to Hourtin Plage, South France

We spent 10 days in Hourtin Plage a small village on the south west coast of France. We didn't travel far away from the village but I still managed a list of 81 species. The extensive dunes, rich pine forest, lakes and clearings provided great habitats for an array of different species. I spent a few hours one day seawatching off the beach at Houtin Plage, loads of Balearics and a smart Sooty Shearwater was the highlights.
Here are a few of the highlights of the holiday were:

Black Kite
Firecrest
Black Redstarts
Crested Tit
Short-toed Treecreeper
Turtle Dove
Red-backed Shrike
Hoopoe
Yellow-legged Gull
Fan-tailed Warbler
Honey Buzzard
Melodious Warbler
Purple Heron
Short-toed Eagle
Montagu's Harrier
Night Heron
Golden Oriole
Kentish Plover
Spotted Crake
Sooty Shearwater
Black-winged Stilt

Black Redstart

Hoopoe

Black Kite

Short-toed Eagle

Black-winged Stilt

Purple Heron