Slimbridge

Sunday 2nd December 2007

A very windy day with rain in the morning clearing to give sunny spells and the bird of the day was the American Golden Plover with the Golden Plover flock from the Holden Tower this afternoon. It showed well for a short time before the birds were put up yet again by the two Peregrines which were giving everything in sight a hard time. It was strikingly different from the Golden Plovers, greyer in comparison with a taller stance. Now trust me, it's the greyish-looking blob in this very poor record shot (left) - the upper-most bird to the right of centre. Hopefully the bird will stay over the winter and allow further study not to mention better photos. Also on the Dumbles were 50+ White-fronted Geese, around 2000 each of Golden Plover, Lapwing and Dunlin with large numbers of waterfowl including Wigeon and Teal both here and on the Tack Piece. Four Ruff were seen from the Zeiss Hide and c25 Redwings were in the overflow car park (photos also of Golden Plover flock, top, Lapwings, below and Redwings, bottom).
Yesterday I had to visit Cardiff but managed to fit in a quick detour to Lisvanve Reservoir to see the Spotted Sandpiper whilst dodging the torrential showers.

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