Another Good Grebe

Llandegfedd Reservoir
Not to be outdone by the posse of Black-necked Grebes at Ynysfro, Llandegfedd has produced a Red-necked. First reported as a 'possible' on Friday, it became a 'definite' today and, a little while later, was on my yearlist. Whilst driving round the reservoir I also bagged a, long overdue, Pheasant (get in there!). The Red-necked Grebe was also my county tick and a second year/county double appeared in the gull roost - an adult Yellow-legged Gull, unfortunately no Med Gull joined the party, but one out of two ain't bad. Ninety-two species have fallen.

'Orrible

Porton
God, the weather this afternoon was shitty. Luckily, before the gloom closed in, the morning's ringing session at Porton had been wrapped up, so I only got pissed on whilst sticking up a few nestboxes. Birds-wise there was very little of any interest knocking around on the levels. 'Highlights' were Ringed Plover and Feral Dove, both new for the year, yay! Eighty-nine species and counting.

A Little Bit of Quality

Peterstone
The only really dependable site in the county for Water Pipit came up trumps. Several fed on the saltmarsh until a couple of Merlins decided they looked good for lunch. Neither of the diminutive raptors were successful but they had done enough to spook the pipit flock so I decided on a change of venue.

Newport Wetlands Reserve
Both Bittern and Short-eared Owl had been seen midweek, both well into dusk, so I hung around until dark. Two Short-eareds put in an appearance, momentarily taking umbridge at each other's presence and barking their displeasure, before going their seperate ways. Unfortunately the Bittern didn't show (streaky little b*stard).

The Gwent yearlist is now at 87, Pintail being the only other addition.

The Pace Slows

The last few days have seen the yearlist grind to a near halt, employment has intervened, will they never invent a robot to do my job? A Nuthatch in the garden on Tuesday kept the numbers ticking over (albeit very slowly), the 84th species. Wednesday became my first blank day of 2006 and for the rest of the week every daylight hour was spent beyond the boundaries of Gwent, never a good way to build up your county yearlist.

Second Day, First Dip

Bulmore Lakes
A report of a White-fronted Goose tempted me to Bulmore, unfortunately only a fraction of yesterday's Canada Goose flock was present minus the Whitefront. Did get a few new species for 2006 though including: Green Sandpiper, Goosander, Pochard, Stonechat and Siskin.

Newport Wetlands Reserve
Again the plan didn't quite come together. I'd hoped for Short-eared Owl and/or harriers but had to make do with the likes of Raven, Green Woodpecker, Black-tailed Godwit, Turnstone, Chiffchaff, Treecreeper, Peregrine, Goldeneye and Lesser Redpoll.

Oh well, by the end of day two I'm on 83 species but it's mostly dross.

New Year, New Yearlist

Ynysfro Reservoirs
The yearlist got off to an inauspicious start as I bowled up at the reservoirs minus scope, having left my Swaro in somebody else's motor. Luckily two, of the three, Black-necked Grebes fell to the bins, as did most of the usual Ynysfro regulars plus (presumably due to the attraction of a partially dry lower basin) Wigeon, Teal and GBB Gull.

Collister Pill
Having recovered my scope, it was off to Collister for the reported Snow Bunting. A few days back, I'd walked the sea-wall and failed to see the little bleeder, mind you, the combined influences of a girlfriend and an icy gale hadn't helped. This time I was birding unfettered and in the 'zone', I was either going to see it, or leave after dark.
As it turned out, I more-or-less did both, three hours and three traverses of the saltmarsh were needed before I blundered onto the bird. In true Snow Bunting style it allowed close approach and gave cracking views and photo ops (see below); a smart bird and a Gwent-tick to boot. During the search I'd built up a reasonable supporting cast including: Merlin, Little Egret and Golden Plover. I'd also thrown away a probable Water Pipit; as I'd approached the 'seaward' edge of the pill, a bulky pipit bolted out of the saltmarsh in front of me, gave a strident "fwist", seemed to show a clean belly and then proceeded to do a flipping great circuit before diving back into the vegetation (sounds pretty good doesn't it?). I then spent a good half hour trying to relocate the bashful little b*stard, but it obviously had something better to do than give itself up to me and, not being able to definitely rule out Scando Rock, I left it to it.



At the end of day one I've amassed 51 species, not a supersonic start, but a few quality Gwent birds have been safely bagged.