Black Terns

With strong south westerlies yesterday I said to myself, "there must be Black Terns somewhere out on the estuary." This morning I made an early start down to the wetland centre via the coast path. During my first scan of the estuary, I picked out two small terns flying into a strong headwind. Black Terns! I quickly wipped my scope out of my bag and soon I was having the best views I've ever had of Black Tern, two juveniles in this case.

Black Terns

Along the beach were six Wheatear, and in the bushes were eight Reed Bunting and a single Whitethroat.

On the the centre, and I saw my first Spotted Redshank since being here. I once made the mistake of calling spotshank based solely on the colour of the upper parts, and was embarrassed in a packed hide when it popped its head out only to show a very Redshank like beak! I made the same mistake today, however when this one popped its head out I was proved right.

Spotted Redshank

At the mouth of the North Dock Channel there was an impressive gathering of 168 Common Gulls roosting at high tide - hopefully I'll get Ring-billed Gull here sometime during the year! A Common Sandpiper was also present, so was the Little Gull on Delta Lake.

Garganeys

Over high tide this morning, the Black-tailed Godwit were roosting on the lagoon. I made a quick count of 479 before they moved off to the scrapes were no doubt they joined another couple of hundred. Amongst them were two Knot and a colour ringed godwit.

Colour ringed Black-tailed Godwit

On the pools in front of the British Steel Hide were two female type Garganey. Also present were eight newly arrived Wigeon, 102 Teal, 48 Shovler, 44 Gadwall, four Dunlin, 86+ Redshank, 35+ Greenshank and 20 Lapwing. A Peregrine was also resting on a grass bank on the far side of the scrapes.

Garganey

View from the British Steel Hide looking out at the Western Scrapes with the Loughor Estuary and Gower Peninsular in the background.

A late Swift was seen later in the day.

First passerine migrants

Walking through the Millennium Wetlands revealed a few of the first passerine migrants of the Autumn. One area seemed particularly good for Spotted Flycatchers. Six were together making characteristic flights out to catch insects and returning to the same perch.

Spotted Flycatcher

10+ Chiffchaff were also in the area with a single Willow Warbler. The highlight however was a Garden Warbler which gave good views for the short time I was watching it.

Garden Warbler

A low tide visit to the lagoon meant that there weren't many waders. In fact there was only one, but that one was a Ruff which gave exceptionally close views as it swam up to the observatory before flying off in the direction of the scrapes.

Ruff

Cycling back home along the coast path saw two Stonechat, and a quick check of Delta Lake revealed that the Little Gull was still present.

First outing

I have just started a years placement at the Wildfowl and Wetland Trust's fantastic reserve in Llanelli as part of my biology degree course at Plymouth University. Llanelli is situated by the Loughor Estuary, a nationally important site for wildfowl and waders, so I'm hoping that I'll have a few decent finds during the year!

It started off very promisingly with a probable Goshawk which flew over a roundabout on the way into Llanelli. I was in to car so I didn't get the details I would have liked, but the shear size and slowness of the wing beats makes me almost 100% sure.

Today I had my first proper birding outing. I checked out a nearby lake called Delta Lake where I found a 1st summer Little Gull moulting into 2nd winter plumage. I enjoyed watching it elegantly flying around, catching insects and snatching bits off the surface of the water before being warned by a passerby that I should leave the area immediately to avoid being mugged by nearby gypsies! I relocated to the other side of the lake where views were a little more distant by managed to get some nice photos...

Little Gull

Also present were six Sand Martin, five each of House Martin and Swallow, 19 Tufted Duck and four Pochard.

Next I moved only a short distance to the North Dock Channel, a small estuary to the west of Llanelli. Here there were large numbers of Redshank roosting on the mud banks totaling 360+ birds. There were also nine Common Gull, 30 Dunlin and 32 Ringed Plover.