‹Greenshank South
West Wales - 7th to 16th May 2006
By
Pam and Frank Bryant
Itinerary : 1 night near Llanelli,
4 nights New Quay, Ceredigion, 3 nights Nolton Haven,
Pembrokeshire, 1 night near Cardiff.
Day 1 We left a sunny Gloucester and surprisingly for us arrived at WWT Llanelli and the sun was still shining! (it always seems to rain when we go to Wales) After an early lunch five hours was spent at the reserve. Our first port of call was the British Steel Hide, here of note we saw a Spoonbill busy preening on the bank beyond the salt marsh scrape. A Pintail was in the water of the scrape with many Greylags and Shelduck in the grassy areas. Looking over the NRA Scrape the star bird was a splendid male Garganey there were also several Lapwings, two Teal, two Gadwalls, one Shoveler and several Little Egrets. From the Marsh Hide a Greenshank was on the nearside water’s edge and luckily for us the Spoonbill had just flown closer than our first viewing, it was feeding well as were two Little Egrets.
‹Greenshank
‹Spoonbill,
from the Marsh Hide
Other birds of note here were three Redshank, and a Pochard. On entering the Millennium Hide our first view was of a Grey Heron on the bank wrestling with a very lively Eel.
‹Heron
with eel, taken through the thick glass of the hide
After
several minutes the heron flew across the scrape with the Eel
in its beak coming to land near a grassy mound, the Grey
Heron was not able to enjoy its meal. A Lapwing
kept swooping and threatening it.
As
we walked forwards the marsh areas several Sedge
Warblers and one Reed Warbler were heard.
We had good views of two Bullfinches and one male
Kestrel. Calling back to the Marsh Hide we saw the same birds as earlier in the
day with the added attraction of a Kingfisher
fishing and landing on a post, unfortunately too far away to photograph. Whitethroats
and Willow Warblers were seen and heard. Many
butterflies were seen, Orange Tip, Brimstone,
Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell
and Speckled Wood.
On
heading back towards our accommodation a Curlew
flew parallel to the road. The early evening was spent overlooking the marshes
of the North Gower coast, the only new bird seen was a Skylark.
48 species recorded on this glorious spring day.
Day 2 Mostly cloudy with rain mid afternoon
We
decided to visit the Welsh Wildlife Centre, just south of Cardigan as it is en
route to New Quay our next destination. The centre is also known as Teifi
Marshes Nature Reserve, it is free to walk around but car parking is £3.00.
Bluebells, Stitchwort and Red Campion carpeted the banks of the path leading to
the visitors centre. From the viewpoint overlooking the River Teifi
‹Bluebells
and ferns dominate in shady areas
The
Glasshouse Café at the visitors centre was our lunch stop and is thoroughly
recommended, many of the meals using organic and local produce. After lunch on a
short walk a Cuckoo was seen.
After
settling into our caravan we walked into the small town of New Quay. One Oystercatcher
was on the rocks and five Guillemots were
on the sea with Black-headed Gulls.
Day
3 Mainly cloudy, few sunny spells,
some fog
We decided to walk to Bird Rock via New Quay harbour. A Harbour Porpoise was seen swimming just outside the harbour wall. Birds seen on the gorse lined path of the walk were Linnets, Stonechats, Dunnocks, Whitethroats, and one Lesser Whitethroat. When the sea and the cliffs came into view hundreds of Guillemots, a few Razorbills, Cormorants, Oystercatchers, Fulmar, Kittiwakes and Herring Gulls were seen. Several Ravens were flying high over the cliffs then swooping down the cliff face. On the rocks there were three Grey Seals, one was in the water its whole body visible due to the clear turquoise water.
‹Grey
Seals near Bird Rock
We had only just arrived at the Bird Rock lookout when the fog came
over the cliffs and nothing could be seen. On our return, still in fog a Chough flew from the fence in front of us calling as it flew.
Day 4 Hazy sunshine most of the day, fog on coast, sunny evening
As fog was looming around the coast we drove to the Tregaron area, about 20 miles inland. On the way a brief stop at a river gave a good view of Dipper. But Cors Caron Nature Reserve was not what we had hoped for. Firstly road works parallel to the old railway line path through the reserve were very noisy, further along, the path and hide were closed as a new bridge was being made. As we walked back there was extensive noisy work being done on the farm barn. However we saw Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Chaffinch, Dunnock, Goldfinch, Robin, Blackbird, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Cuckoo, Buzzard, Raven, Red Kite, Swallow and Swift. The Buzzard was being mobbed by two Ravens. The sun had brought out the butterflies, Orange Tip, Peacock and Small Tortoiseshell.
‹Orange
Tip Butterfly at Cors Caron Reserve
From
this area and around Devil’s Bridge area we saw eight Red
Kites, two Meadow Pipits and two Mistle
Thrushes. A pleasant evening was spent at New Quay Harbour where Gannet, Cormorant, Guillemot, Herring
Gull, Great Black-backed Gull were seen, also
a Grey Seal swimming near to the shore.
Day 5 Sunny and warm, some cloud from mid-afternoon
We
took to the sea today, a two hour trip from the Marine Wildlife Centre at New
Quay Harbour. They pass on data of the sea life, dolphins, porpoise, seals,
jellyfish etc. to Swansea University for analysis. From the boat, even near the
quay we had close up views of Guillemots and Razorbills.
‹Razorbills
off New Quay Harbour
‹Guillemot
having lunch
Soon
we saw two Bottlenose Dolphins swimming swiftly
across the bay. Two colonies of
auks were seen perched precariously on the rock ledges. One Grey
Seal was lounging on the rocks.
‹Auk
colony, Cardigan Bay
The landscape viewed from the boat on such a clear, sunny day was spectacular. As we reached the sea off The Lochtyn Peninsula two more Bottlenose Dolphins were observed for about ten minutes but they were difficult to photograph they were moving so fast.
‹Dolphin
being mobbed by gull
Several
large jellyfish, about 30cms (1ft) diameter were
also seen.
Day 6 Hazy sunshine most of the day
We left New Quay at 9:30am, Nolton Haven, Pembrokeshire was our next destination but we spent two hours at Strumble Head, west of Fishguard first. The wildflowers added incredible colour to the landscape. Bluebells, Pink Campion, Sea Campion and Cowslips plus some others that I need to name! (Lots of work to do). Some of the birds we saw were Linnet, Greenfinch, 15 Gannets, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Herring Gull, Great Black-backed Gull and two Choughs that we got very close to. Bottlenose Dolphins were playful just off the rocks.
‹Chough
at Strumble Head
There
is a very large hide near the point but there are only openings not windows so
it could be extremely cold when experiencing northerly winds.
The weather was still good when we arrived at Nolton Haven so after dropping off our luggage we decided to take the ‘bird spectacular cruise’ around Skomer Island. This takes place from Martin’s Haven on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 7-9pm. Luckily for us the sea was very calm so the skipper could take the boat completely around the island, something he has not been able to do for a long time. Thousands of Puffins, Razorbills and Guillemots were soon seen besides gulls and later some Gannets. As the sun set a warm glow fell on the sea, the air was littered with birds flying from all directions, it was magical. On the west side of the island as mist came in a large raft of Manx Shearwaters took to the air.
‹Manx
Shearwaters off Skomer Island
A
wonderful evening we can thoroughly recommend!
Day 7 Cloudy am with sunny spells pm
En
route to Martin's Haven two Red-legged Partridges
were seen by the road. At 9:20am we caught the ‘Dale Princess’ boat from
Martin's Haven to Skomer. The crossing was very smooth, steep steps led up to
the island pathways with Guillemots and Razorbills
very close. Large numbers of Puffins were on the sea, also two Grey
Seals. The warden gave us a short talk and then we were free to enjoy the
island for four hours. The island is covered in burrows, many of them used by
the Manx Shearwaters that we had seen on the sea
the night before. Skomer in May has carpets of wild flowers.
‹Bluebell
landscape
‹Bluebells
and Red Campion
It
wasn't until The Wick area that we encountered our first land based Puffins.
Several of them were so entertaining we watched for ages.
‹Yawning!
Were we really that boring?
‹Puffin
with nest material
The
steep rock cliffs at The Wick were also home to hundreds of auks, Kittiwakes
and several Fulmars.
‹Fulmar
at The Wick, Skomer
Other
birds of note seen were Buzzard and Sedge
Warbler. A great day out, the boat trip is very popular so get to
Martin’s Haven in plenty of time. The first boat is scheduled to leave 10am
but left at 9:20 as it was full with 50 people.
Day 8 Cloudy am, cold on exposed cliffs, sunny and warm pm
Relaxing
was high on the agenda so we took an early stroll around the cliffs north of
Nolton Haven beach. The headlands were once again impressive with carpets of
wildflowers. Thirty bird species were seen, the star was a Chough
heard and seen just above us.
A further stroll in the afternoon, this time to the south of the beach. Butterflies and colourful wild flowers but the birds must have been taking a Sunday afternoon nap. The sea sparkled, what a glorious end to our time in West Wales.
‹A
walk from Nolton Haven Beach
Day 9 Rain with a few dry spells
On the way to Cardiff we stopped for a picnic lunch at Ogmore, a
flock of Dunlin,
Lesser Black-backed Gulls and Herring
Gulls
were seen by the river estuary. Stonechat,
Song Thrush,
Swallows,
House Martins,
and two Goldfinches
were along the coast walk, while just as we were about to drive away one superb
male Wheatear
was on a prominent rock.
Day 10 Rain with a few dry spells
As
the weather was miserable we headed for home earlier than planned, calling into
the Blue Pool at Frampton. Two Arctic Terns and
five Common Terns were seen, our first for the
year.
Note: If anyone wants any info on accommodation or places we visited then by all means e-mail us, Pam@sensorygarden.co.uk or Frank@imagedownload.co.uk