We made one of our usual "exercise" walks
down to Landshipping Quay this afternoon. It was cold but the sunshine was
glorious. Dunlin numbers were impressive on the lower Eastern Cleddau. There
were two flocks building up on the shore between Ferry Cottages and Rigan Pill - many birds arriving from the west. We estimated somewhere between 3,000 and 4,000 and wondered if some cold weather movement into the area was involved.
Golden Plover numbers were probably not as high, but just before sunset many were flying high above the Eastern/Western/Daugleddau confluence. There must have been at least 2-3,000 involved. By this time, from our viewpoint near Brickyard (opposite the southern end of Sprinkle Pill) we could see that many of the Dunlin had moved across to the northern shore of the Western Cleddau close to Millin Pill.
Earlier two fine adult Red Kites were displaying a bit over the Eastern Cleddau, creating some panic among the shore birds. An adult male peregrine was also hunting nearby later. Three Great Crested Grebes were loafing and feeding near the confluence - they have been around for a while now. Other birds included usual Redshanks, a couple of Greenshanks, a few hundred Teal and a similar number of Lapwings - some arriving at dusk.
In the last week or so we have been reasonably impressed by the numbers of Chaffinches feeding in weedy stubbles in the Landshipping/Martletwy area. In a couple of fields between Prycemoor and Whitlow we estimated at least 500 Chaffinches plus a couple of hundred Skylarks. Sadly, there were no Yellowhammers in these weedy stubbles. We last saw them in such places in winter in this area a few years ago.
A male Goshawk has been observed hunting in the vicinity recently and it was nice to see another Barn Owl
hunting after dark near Beacon Hill a couple of nights ago.
Happy New Year to everyone