Mellow Yellow

A very quick blast up the M4 with the sun rising behind me took me to Rhiwderin in Gwent on Sunday. I'd toughed it out a day since the forecast for Saturday looked extremely wet and therefore the bird seemed unlikely to perform that well. There were also a number of other nice birds in the area and it made more sense to make a day of it rather than stand in the rain for fleeting glimpses of a sheltering bird. The twitch was really well managed with one of the local guys manning the style into the field and the donations bucket.

I joined the long line of birders with scopes trained down the hedge and eventualy out popped the first winter male Yellowthroat. It slowly worked its way up the hedge until it was finally pretty close to the end of the line where I was standing. At that point a bunch of long lenses pushed themselves to the front and got in everyone's way - including one guy who I offered to let stand in front of me to get a shot and then stayed put with the back of his head six inches from my face until asked to move. But the twitch was mainly really well behaved and brilliantly organised.

Super smart bird - I've seen a lot of these in the States and Canada but they are really stunning and well worth a look.

After a long while spent watching the Yellowthroat off and on, headed off to Comeston Lakes to see the male Lesser Scaup that's been regular there for a while. The first surprise though was a ringed Whooper Swan in among the Mutes.

The Scaup showed well, although a bit too distantly for good photos.

Next off to Cardiff Bay to try for the Bonaparte's Gull. Rather bizarrely, I saw my first ever Bonies Gull at Cardiff Docks, probably only a couple of miles from here. Unfortunately I wasn't so lucky today and dipped, but did get to see 1-2 ad Med Gulls which were smart.

Last stop of the day was Slimbridge, back the other side of the bridge. I don't come to Slimbridge very often but I really like it. I admit I don't really get the whole 'collection' thing and the evening feeds are a bit zoo like but anywhere with such a range of wildfowl is very cool. Today there were over a hundred Bewick's, c230 Whitefronts, c160 Barnies on the Dumbles plus waders. The female Lesser Scaup was still on the Rushy Pen showing very well (the States must have been the last time I saw two in a day) and at the end of the day a Water Rail showed really well by one of the feeders. All in all a pretty spectacular day!