A walk around the Eastern Arm and Central Lake at Bosherston Lakes this morning produced similar numbers of birds and species to Paul. Our view of a single Chiffchaff, near the junction where the alternative upper path meets the main Eastern Arm path, was brief but it was a very pale bird with no hint of any yellow or green in its plumage. It was most likely one of the northern subspecies, but our views were too brief and it did not call at all. Out on Stackpole Warren we almost stepped on a Jack Snipe (as you do!) which flew off silently, dropping into some Marram grass c.20 metres away.
We attempted to go to Kilpaison this afternoon, but had to turn back because the beach road had been closed by the Bomb disposal unit! Over at Angle harbour, numbers of waders at the ridge roost were modest: around 100-120 Dunlin, 2 Knot, c.20 Redshanks, a Greenshank, c.50 Oystercatchers and c.30 Shelducks. A few Pintails were resting in the bay but Wigeon numbers had dropped considerably, although this is fairly typical here at this time of year.
We decided to have a look at the Castlemartin Corse area just before dusk to watch the Starling roost. The first bird we saw was a Short-eared Owl, hunting in rough vegetation near the Castlemartin-Freshwater West road. A distant ring-tail Hen Harrier was hunting on the northern side of the reedbed, just before Starlings started to arrive.
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| The light was dull and we had little time to get any half-decent photos. |
Had we been down at the hide/shelter we would probably have had great views of two Glossy Ibises that had been feeding in the wetland. They flew initially down the valley then back up. As far as we could tell, from quite a distant viewpoint on the Castlemartin-side of the valley, they went to roost in the reedbed, close to where several thousand Starlings went to roost.
If someone is there early tomorrow, then there must be a very good chance of getting some cracking views of the Ibises!
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| The Ibises flying up the valley over some of the gathering Starling flocks |
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| The light was too dull for anything better than poor distant record photos. The bottom photo was of them heading to roost in the reedbed near the shallow pool. |