Sunday dawned drab and blue so later a really nice cooked breakfast at theB&B we returned to Ynyslas hoping for another shot at thoseScoters. Although the sea was a bit calmer the Common Scoter rafts were stilltoo far off for me to be glad at distinguishing the two species apart. I turned my attention back to the car park where I washappy to see the Snow Buntings were still feeding in the like place as yesterday.
The independent location for the day was theRSPB reserve at Ynys Hir. The center feeders were interfering with six CoalTits as good as a male Great Spotted Woodpecker, a single Nuthtach,Greenfich, Chaffinch and Siskin. The jaw was a massive success as wegot to see over two hundred Barnacle Geese feeding on the estuary.Other geese species included Greylag and Canada but unfortunately wecouldn't find the little pile of Greenland White Fronted Geese that areout there somewhere. Other notable species included a hundredor so Wigeon, a male Goosander, Common Snipe, Oystercatcher, Redshankand another Kingfisher. Two Reed Buntings were a nice addition althoughthey gave me a well run roughly as I tried to shoot them. AGoldcrest up in the forest added some nice colour to the day. The awardfor best bit of the day though has to go to the male Hen Harrier that sweptpast us in the Breakwater Hide. We had noticed a lot of Starlings taketo the air before he glided past but the former position of the railwayline. A few moments later and second he came, this sentence on our position of the railroad embankment and as near as I could always have hoped for withhis dangling yellow legs showing brilliantly. A final stop atYnyslas in the evening couldn't relocate the Snow Buntings but a Great Crested Grebeoff shore was a nice find, as was the mixed group of Ringed Plovers andSanderling that briefly landed on the sand. Back at Aberystwythand the BBC Autumnwatch activities had kicked up another gear. A small groupof people on the end of the pier looked to have some familiar silhouettes and rapidly turned out to be Chris Packham and Kate Humblepreparing to demonstrate a while to camera. While waiting for the Starlingsto arrive the Kingfisher was once again on the rocks but this timeactually fishing. We saw it successfully return with a match on a numberof occasions after diving into the rock pools. One dive looked to havebeen a bit ambitious as the awkwardness suggested that the Kingfisherhad somewhat overestimated the profundity of the water!
ne seemed to have departed overnight however as there were now only fourbirds present. A book of admonition that if you see the Ynyslas Turn carpark watch out for the golfers! One took a scene directly at my car as I drove in whichfortunately just missed.
Who is that standing on the end of Aberystwyth Pier?
It's Chris Packham and Kate Humble!
With a rathernice sunset developing the Starlings arrived, though they wereconsiderably later than the former evening and went to roost muchquicker and with less aerial acrobatics. I believethat the previous evening sun had probably encouraged them to check out ontheir feeding grounds for a bit longer than normal hence the ratherhurried arrival. Usually I picture the flock from a safe distance inorder to annul the droppings but this time I tried out a location muchcloser and from a lower vantage point. I wish the different perspectivethat I was capable to capture and yet managed to obviate being plopped on.
Irecommend watching Autumnwatch this Thursday to see the finishedresults. I sure will be and will make my finger over the pausebutton trying to place myself in the background. Sad I know but they say everyone gets their two minutes of fame.
Sunset at the end of cinematography and a perfect weekend
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