Wednesday, 26 October 2011

Marloes Mere / Gann

After the heavy rains, much as Richard reports for Castlemartin, Marloes Mere finally has plenty of water, and in fact looks better for waterbirds than I have possibly ever seen it, due to some extensive areas of vegetation which have been cut back, leaving some large areas of fairly shallow water viewable from all sides, especially the track past the Youth Hostel to the Britton Hide. Perfect for a Glossy Ibis a few of us think!! Highlight was not actually a water bird, but a skulky sylvia warbler which initially looked good for a Barred but turned out, after 25 minutes, to be a Garden Warbler - still a nice late record. Also here 22 Lapwing, 28 Wigeon, 15 Teal but very few other migrants.

At the Gann a late Wheatear was worthy of close scrutiny (Pied Wheatear in Gloucestershire today), a single Ringed Plover, a Greenshank, 6 Redshank & 3 Little Egrets on a very high tide.

Worth alerting those who do not follow National bird news that this autumn has seen a record influx of juvenile Pallid Harriers, with records in the last month from all corners of the UK including Scilly, Cornwall, Somerset, Glamorgan (report) and Ireland, as well as points east & north - so make sure you grill any harriers you do see and know what you are looking for!