Pectoral Sandpiper

This week's excitement came in the form of Pectoral Sandpiper found by a visiting birder on Monday, a first for me. Luckily, I had just finished completing a job as the text came in. I ran over to the hide and after a few minutes managed to get on the bird. It always remained partially obscured behind the juncus and some godwits, but at times it showed well enough for me to see the clear chest line and clean sides. This is the best photo I could get:

Pectoral Sandpiper

Poms on the estuary, another Little Gull and Spot Fly

Tuesday saw the arrival of a low pressure system with very high winds blowing up into the Burry Inlet, so I was eager to see if it would deliver any seabirds for my morning bird count. On my initial scan, the estuary was devoid of any birds flying over it, and in the end the only seabird I could muster was a single Sandwich Tern, however a few Turnstone flying about with some Dunlin and Ringed Plover was was a welcome addition to my patch list.

Later in the day I was told that an adult Little Gull had been seen shortly after I had left the hide. Pretty annoying since I had been constantly checking the small flock of Black-headed Gulls with Little Gull being very much in mind.

Little Gull

Possibly the same bird as the one at Sandy Water Park?

In the evening after dinner, I headed out to Machynys point for the high tide and with the hope of seeing some skuas. I wasn't disappointed as I soon got onto a Great Skua flying high over the estuary. Then a pale morph Pomarine Skua entered my field of view, and then another! It's always amazing seeing your first skuas of the year. I could sit and watch them for hours. They're such cool birds!

An 'atmospheric' shot of a Pomarine Skua

On Wednesday I had a second go at an evening 'sea' watch. It was much quieter with no skuas, however two Eiders (an adult male and a 1st summer male) which flew out of the estuary and towards the sea were the first of the year for patch.

Later in the week while doing a breeding bird survey I saw my first Spotted Flycatcher of the year around the fishing platforms and I almost stepped on this Grass Snake right in the middle of the path.

Grass Snake

And here are some more photos of the Little Gull...

Hairy Dragonfly and Cuckoos

The only birds of note this week have been two Cuckoos; the first a brief view of one which I flushed off the floor as a rounded a corner, and the second a heard only which seemed to move steadily to the east.

I had my first sightings of Hairy Dragonflies this week. On Thursday one was flying around a small pool by the Peter Scott hide before perching up to roost for the night on some bramble. The next day as I was walking past after closing the hides, I had a brief scan of the same bramble bush with my binoculars, and sure enough picked it up in exactly the same place.

Hairy Dragonfly