Whiteford Trip 2017

The day trip to Whiteford came around almost to the anniversary of last year’s now legendary excursion. After meeting up at Coryton Asda, and fueling up via a quick Maccie brekkie, we were on the road and headed to Dunraven (well, via Wick after gassing en route and missing a turning). The first order of business was an attempt for dartford warbler behind the toilet block in perishing conditions. We lined up and pointed our respective binoculars, and cameras at a small and unassuming patch of gorse with baited breath. Shortly after having scarf-and-gloved-up, I glimpsed movement, and a bird popped into view.. With the binocular’s on it I could tell it was a stonechat, and it soon took flight and flew low overhead. A robin and wren also set off similar heart skips, but the dartie was a no show. Tara joked that we should line the cars up and watch from them instead given how cold it was. With the rising sun unlikely to warm that patch of scrub for some time yet, and no recent confirmation of the bird, we quickly reformulated the plan, and decided to try for little owl, and the purple sandpipers at Ogmore.

 

 

We stopped on the road between Southerndown and Ogmore to scan a distant farm building for the owls. No luck there either, so we were soon down at Ogmore scrambling over the rocks. To save time Dan had gone on ahead. We were in luck as there was nobody around, and he found one very quickly. Geth had gone over to scan the gulls on the beach, and had picked out a common gull. We waited for most of the group to catch up so that we could all see the purple sandpiper, but it soon flew, and a couple of the group didn’t get to see it. As we were heading back to the car with the clock now slightly against us, Ian clocked a few wader types that had just moved out of sight. Geth and I scrambled down quickly, and found four in the rock area nearest the car park. Nick and I took a few quick snaps, and then it was another quick scramble over the rocks to get back to the cars.

 

On the way, we managed to get quite a few good species, including goldeneye, kestrel and sparrowhawk. At Penclawdd we stopped at Dalton’s point and scanned the area. We racked up quite a lot of species literally from the side of the road, and I added 14 to the year list. At Cwm Ivy we all met up and headed off down the hill together, birding as we went. Siskins and lots of chaffinches threatened to distract us with the chance of brambling, but we had to keep time to make it out to the point for high tide. En route, we flushed a few snipe and jack snipe, and even a pheasant while I took a comfort break.

At the point it was bitterly cold, and the high tide was considerably lower than last year, but there was still plenty on offer. Brent geese, eider duck and lots of waders gave us plenty to see, and Dan was soon on to a distant slavonian grebe. We briefly took shelter in the hide to gobble down some sarnies, and the slav had made it’s way closer, allowing for better views.

Divers were conspicuous by their absence..

On the way around the point we stopped and scanned several times, and picked up lots of species, including grey plover, dunlin, sanderling, ringed plover, redshank, curlew, and pintail. Gethyn pulled a diver out of the bag, with a great spot at serious distance in the scope. A Great Northern, which was a welcome addition for 2017, and which saved me a trip down to Llanishen reservoir. Whilst the scope was on it, the bird disappeared from view, and an auk sp. appeared briefly, likely a razorbill – pointed out by a surprised and slightly confused Anna.

On the trek back, I kept my eyes peeled for snow buntings, but we had no luck this year, though they could have easily been there somewhere, even potentially further down the beach with such a large area to forage in. Again I was impressed with the numbers around Whiteford, with huge flocks of relatively common species such as oystercatcher present.

En route to Llanrhidian Marsh, I took a quick stop in a small lay-by to add golden plover in a field of lapwing, there were good numbers of both present, but we didn’t have time to stand and stare with the sun beginning to set. At the Marsh there were already a couple of birders present, and they had seen hen harriers already. Dan was soon on to a harrier which turned out to be marsh (an unexpected bonus!) and soon there were great white egrets and hen harriers flying in. A horse turned up, and whilst I got a selfie, it chomped into my shoulder with an enthusiasm that told me he was as hungry as I was. The expression being so hungry I could eat a horse had a weird reversal in that moment! A distant small bird of prey buzzing a lapwing flock in flight had to have been a Merlin just by sheer process of elimination, but not having had great views, and feeling a bit hollow about ticking it, I’ve left it off the checklist for now. We shall see how desperate I get!

The Greyhound pub was very welcome at that point, with the temperature having gotten to most of us, and my pint of Gower Power with a steak and ale pie went down well. After we totted up the day’s tally, we were amazed that we had hit 88 for the day, beating last year’s by 7! Another great day, and I added 28 to the 2017 200 challenge list.