More Waxwings

8 at Maesglas industrial estate this afternoon.

190!!!

Nipped up to Ebbw Vale this morning to get my 190th Gwent species this year.

Morning Out In Pembs.

Arrived at Angle just after first light where the Squacco flew in after about 10 minutes.Checked out the Common Crane at Castle Martin.Lots of Chough about all over the place.Its about time Gwent had one.

R B MERG

Mega movement of Wood Pigeons this morning over Magor Marsh.A Male Mandarin at Wentwood Res and a Female Red-Breasted Merganser at Llandegfedd Res were my highlights over the weekend.

Another Pin Sharp Photo.

The Art Of Being Tight

Don't buy any fireworks this year,just watch the neighbours..What a display they put on.Very impressive!

All watched from the warmth of the house.

Pin Sharp photos

A few Pin sharp photos of the American Bittern at Walmsley Sanctuary this Morning.The bird gave excellent scope views from the packed tower hide.It even did a runner across from one ditch to another.Velvet Scoter was the best at Dawlish.The best at Exminster was a bacon a sarnie and a pot of tea in the cafe on the corner.We did have to wait a while as the pumped up Exminster over 60's keep fit class beat us to the till.

Number 2

A quick jaunt down to the pools just to keep ticking over.

WHERE ARE THE LAPS?

Laps in every county apart from Gwent No joy from many hours of searching.Come on Laps where are you?

A Few Days On Scilly

Had a few enjoyable days on scilly recently.We had regular stops for us to enjoy many cups of tea and cakes.Bird highlight for me was the Black-Eared Wheater.

Solitary Sand

At a nice little Reserve in Devon.It also flew around a bit which was nice.
Must check those Greens at the pools.

The Lost Gardens

On the way to Scilly myself and the lovely wife nipped in to the Lost Gardens Of Heligan for the Green Heron.Julie realised why it was called the lost gardens after it took her nearly an hour to find me. Good scope views were had where it sat on this log for ages.

Y FRONT

First seen heading East over the pools but later relocated over in the Saltmarsh Lane area.

NO OSPREY FOR ME

I MUST HAVE BEEN THE ONLY PERSON IN GWENT TODAY NOT TO SEE AN OSPREY!
Left salt marsh Lane at 9:45AM.BAD TIMING OR WHAT.

Entertaining

No further sign of the Lesserlegs over the last couple of days.Two Brent Geese off Boat Lane kept me entertained and beating my previous best record.Now on 185.

What a suprise

It came as a big shock coming across this when checking the Greenshank at the pools.

Got To Be One In Gwent Somewhere.

Checked out Goldcliff Pools this morning.A couple of Little Stints and a Curlew Sand were the best.Got home and everyone was having a lie in.A quick cup of coffee was had and then i headed down to Sker Point for the Lapland Bunting for a few Photos seeing that it has been showing well.Only wish the Bobolink showed like this last week.

Beautiful Bobolink

Shot down to Eggy Nunn straight after work for a beautiful Bobolink.After a few flight views it gave its self up almost and showed reasonably well shuffling through the long grass.The best was yet to come as it hopped up on some type of weed and showed in full view for about 30 seconds.No pictures as i was more concerned in seeing it well.

A Few From The Past Week Or So

First my previous year list record has been broken.Now standing on183.

Wheres all the Lapland Buntings?

No Show Shrike

A couple of us decided to head down Sunday morning for the Shrike in Hampshire.Managed to get to Reading before needing a toilet break.News came through on the pager the shrike was not showing.Hmm what to do now.No point driving any further so we nipped up to Radley Gravel Pits to see the Spotted Crake whilst waiting for news of the Shrike.The Shrike did not appear and the Crake showed distantly.

One Hundred And Eighhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhty

One hundred and eighty species has fallen in the county of Gwent this year.Quite glad that the Black Tern buggered off as this is a much better 180Th to get.My 4Th Aquatic for Gwent,2 twitchable and 2 in the nets.5 Curlew Sands showed at Goldcliff later on but couldn't find any Egrets of any sort in the Usk area.