"Stick to the birds" I hear you shout! Well following the recent pick up in bird movement, most notably Martyn Hnatiuk's very good session at the Kenfig Rivermarsh today, I decided to give one of my local patches a bash. It was great to bump into Terry Tovey there and we got some nice records for the area. These included 1 Great Crested Grebe, 3 Gannet, 2 Peregrine, 848 Oystercatcher, 5 Whimbrel, 67 Redshank, 2 Greenshank, 1 Mediterranean Gull and 2 Sandwich Tern
One unexpected sighting was an Oystercacher chick swimming across the main channel that forms at this location at high tide. At first I didn't know what it was but a pair of Oystercatchers were seeing off a Lesser Black-backed Gull above gave the game away. The chicks swim must have easily been 100m or more. Luckily it made it to the other side and reunited with parents.
4 comments:
neathivermouth? is that where the toilet roll factory is where the river is going in to aberavon sea? behind BP sanddunes or is it past amazon way?
, if it is by the end of aberavon beach i will be popping there very soon especially if there are gannets lurking around i have seen the odd comerant/shag flying around and a few lapwings too, that we a great find too:)
Some good sightings yesterday and nice flight shots! There are now quite a few terns in the Burry Inlet, with counts over the last few days of Sandwich (198), Common (93), Arctic (1), Little (1) and Roseate (1) - info courtesy of Rob Hunt.
I find the best place to view the Neath Rivermouth is from the embankment on the Baglan side. This is most easily accessed from Brunel Dock. You can park in the layby oppersite the entrance to The Quays follow the path out to the river and then follow the river out towards the sea. I general stand near to where the elavated pipes meet the river. This site is best during a sequence of high tides but it is often best to get in place up to 2hrs before high tide.
Gannets are a bit hit and miss but your best bet is to sit on the highest dunes near the Naval Club in Aberavon on a very high tide. In calm conditions they seem to be prepared to come quite close to shore. The next couple of high tide sequences will represent your best opportunity to see them locally
aww cool, i wonder if i could c them from my window thank you :) i often go down the sanddunes and by the neath river and last time i went there there was loads of curlews, oystercatchers and say about 8 shelduck this was just after christmas time mind :), im happy now to more types of bird coming too :)
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