ralph
Sunday 26th January 2003, 09:14
I'd not been to Penclacwydd before, and was quite looking forward to it, even though my knowledge of ducks, geese and waders was pretty limited.
I got as far as reception. I asked the guy behind a counter what I was likely to see, and he started to reel off a list of birds that didn't invoke much excitement, so I decided to pass on the offer of walking around the 'reserve' and wander off around the surrounding area on my own - I had noticed some boggy areas, pools and grassland on my way in. Before I left the Reception Building, I spied a pool outside. The guy behind the counter told me the birds on this pool were domesticated - Black Swans, Eider, Shelduck and something called a 'Bufflehead'. I wasn't too impressed, and deciding that the Reception Area was taking on some kind of 'geriatric ward' overtone, I left. On my way out I spied the admission price board. I nearly choked.
There were lots of Moorhen around, I noticed, which was nice, because I can't honestly remember seeing a Moorhen anywhere for at least five years. I also never realised that Moorhen lost the red facial 'knob' in the winter - I sat watching a plain yellow-billed bird for about five minutes, skulking in and out of some reeds. I began to question that it was a Moorhen because of the lack of facial feature, but I reassured myself that it had to be one - I wasn't going to see anything out of ordinary today!
Inland, there appeared to be some kind of sewage plant. The air was full of gulls, and occasionally, a Little Egret would appear. I counted four in all - one of which came closer and closer and flew right over my head. A pair of Stonechats obligingly sat atop some reed stems for quite a while. If I had my (albeit rubbish) digital camera I might have got an interesting shot.
On the shoreline of the estuary there were hundreds of Oystercatchers, Curlew and various gulls. As I said earlier, my wader idntification skills aren't the best, although I picked out a few Redshank and a Sandpiper which I couldn't identify. Oh yes, it had the classic Sandpiper shape, coloration and jizz, but try as I might, I couldn't identify it. It also didn't help that the sun was in my eyes, and some Black-Headed Gull was paying the Sandpiper too much attention, and it flew after the hapless wader on a number of occasions. In my notebook, I wrote 'Sandpiper sp' and left it at that.
On the way back, I saw nothing of interest - a tree full of Chafinches and that was about it. All in all, I wasn't disappointed at all. Okay, so I hadn't seen an awful lot, but it was just a nice change to get out of house, away from the computer, and forget about work for a few hours.
I got as far as reception. I asked the guy behind a counter what I was likely to see, and he started to reel off a list of birds that didn't invoke much excitement, so I decided to pass on the offer of walking around the 'reserve' and wander off around the surrounding area on my own - I had noticed some boggy areas, pools and grassland on my way in. Before I left the Reception Building, I spied a pool outside. The guy behind the counter told me the birds on this pool were domesticated - Black Swans, Eider, Shelduck and something called a 'Bufflehead'. I wasn't too impressed, and deciding that the Reception Area was taking on some kind of 'geriatric ward' overtone, I left. On my way out I spied the admission price board. I nearly choked.
There were lots of Moorhen around, I noticed, which was nice, because I can't honestly remember seeing a Moorhen anywhere for at least five years. I also never realised that Moorhen lost the red facial 'knob' in the winter - I sat watching a plain yellow-billed bird for about five minutes, skulking in and out of some reeds. I began to question that it was a Moorhen because of the lack of facial feature, but I reassured myself that it had to be one - I wasn't going to see anything out of ordinary today!
Inland, there appeared to be some kind of sewage plant. The air was full of gulls, and occasionally, a Little Egret would appear. I counted four in all - one of which came closer and closer and flew right over my head. A pair of Stonechats obligingly sat atop some reed stems for quite a while. If I had my (albeit rubbish) digital camera I might have got an interesting shot.
On the shoreline of the estuary there were hundreds of Oystercatchers, Curlew and various gulls. As I said earlier, my wader idntification skills aren't the best, although I picked out a few Redshank and a Sandpiper which I couldn't identify. Oh yes, it had the classic Sandpiper shape, coloration and jizz, but try as I might, I couldn't identify it. It also didn't help that the sun was in my eyes, and some Black-Headed Gull was paying the Sandpiper too much attention, and it flew after the hapless wader on a number of occasions. In my notebook, I wrote 'Sandpiper sp' and left it at that.
On the way back, I saw nothing of interest - a tree full of Chafinches and that was about it. All in all, I wasn't disappointed at all. Okay, so I hadn't seen an awful lot, but it was just a nice change to get out of house, away from the computer, and forget about work for a few hours.