Paul and I stopped off to check for Alison's Ring-necked duck this afternoon on the way to Llys-y-fran and pleased to find the drake in the company of a smart female. Always distant and working quickly along the reeds at the northern end but great scope views if not photo opportunities (oh dear).
Llys-y-fran: was initially very quiet, with barely a handful of gulls on the water when we arrived. A large group of mostly adult LBBs with 2 adult Yellow-legged gulls were scope-able in one of the fields on the eastern side but they didn't come to the water until a farmer was checking his sheep at dusk and didn't settle for long as the GBB pair were terrorising them once again. The roost stretched across the width of the reservoir mostly LBBs tonight, very few smaller gulls with majority of the Herring gulls arriving last. 5 adult Yellow-legged gulls. 250 Canada geese, 4 GC grebe with some 'penguin' courtship dancing going on. A huge murmuration of starling in a continous sinuous wave headed due east at dusk, largest flock I've seen this winter, possibly a couple of miles long as it snaked from beyond the mast across the reservoir.
Footnote: Very few BH gulls (c100) and no Mediterraneans this evening where as at the Gann on Sunday there were 1700 BH gulls (which is a similar number to what we've been seeing regularly at the dam) and 39 Mediterranean (32 adult, 4 1w and 3 2w). Also what appeared to be a Skomer-ringed Herring gull (green ring on left tibia, very blustery but looked like CU).