Saturday 26 November 2016

St. Bride's Bay Scoter & an Eider

I had a look for Common Scoter off Broad Haven last Sunday and only found 4...so this afternoon with an hour spare before sunset I decided to try the middle part of the bay at Nolton.  If you take the coast path south from Nolton Haven you get a good panorama south towards Druidston and north to Newgale.  This is where the scoter are!  In scattered flocks, mostly quite distant, with birds mostly off Nolton and north towards Newgale beyond Rickett's Head, I counted at least 1,000 birds...easily the most I have seen in the bay for many years.  A sign of a good wintering flock, or late birds still heading south to Carmarthen Bay?  Be interesting to see.  Despite the poor light (for viewing distant scoter) I picked out a young male Eider, could be something else good in the flock with better light (and if they come in closer).