We had trip over to Broad Haven this morning, on a lovely sunny and almost early spring-like day. Most of the small scoter flocks were fairly distant and we saw no sign of the Velvets (we hope others there, Brian, Paul, David O. et al. were more lucky).
It was nice to see at least 25-30 Red-throated Divers though. Again, mostly distant views, but they included some small groups of 4-7 birds. We noted 2-3 Great Northern Divers, a distant probable Black-throated Diver and a close in Great Crested Grebe feeding near the beach where we have seen one every time in recent visits. Three fairly distant Eiders gradually drifted closer in and, for a short time later on, joined one of the small scoter groups.
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| A few of the Common Scoters resting offshore |
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| The Eiders (here with some scoters) were never very close. The bills of two of them looked yellowish in the strong, low sunlight. |
We had not been around the Slash Pool previously so had a brief look around the area from the board-walk. The scrub looked quite good for passerines etc and, sure enough, we had nice but frustratingly brief, close views of a Firecrest feeding in some willow scrub and in a sycamore near an observation point on the north side of the pool. The area certainly looks potentially suitable for interesting migrants at an appropriate time of year.