I received my emails from the BTO Atlas people and then from Annie this week and felt guilty at the number of blank and under-recorded tetrads in Pembrokeshire. So I decided to volunteer for a tetrad up in the Preselis, far off my patch, and one in an area lacking many roving records. So I signed up for SN13L, the "peak" of Foel Drygarn, with a large area of moorland, and an interesting plantation in the south-east corner.
First thing this morning did not seem promising for a winter TTV, but by 1030 the sky was clearing, and the wind dropping as my brother and I set off from the car up the long open slope towards Foel Drygarn. We nearly stopped right there: the slope was just covered with beautiful Fieldfares, feeding, chacking and acting as nervously as only Fieldfares can do. The count started at 40, and quickly hit 100+, and then we started to count Redwings, hidden amongst the Fieldfares. 50, then 100. As we finally dragged ourselves away from this lovely sight we started to wade up a boggy area with several small streams taking runoff from the rain. A strange snipe flushed, and then immediately dropped down again. Small, and no bill apparent. Then another, but this one flew much further in a "snipe way", and showed strong white barring on the back, tail and wings, and a bill. As we walked up, the original bird flushed again: Jack Snipe!
As we reached the summit, the bird activity dropped off to a pair of Ravens as the exposure to the wind increased, but the crags along the entire ridge line look a potential habitat for Ring Ouzels next year (3 more TTVs to go!). Reaching the plantation, Meadow Pipits started to show: singletons, then a flock of 9, and a lone Reed Bunting sat on a patch of gorse. As we walked along the tree line (the pines are far too densely planted to see anything inside) we flushed 2 Woodcock in the clearfell, and the road back to car had 50+ Chaffinches, 4 species of tits and good numbers of House Sparrows, all benefiting from feeders at the farms.
So, a fantastic morning out: 28 species from an area that, without the Atlas, I would probably never have visited.
