Leaving at just after 4 am I met up with Jase, Malc & Mark about 30 minutes from the site and Mark jumped cars to keep me company for the rest of the journey. We arrived at Kidwelly to find the grass verge already crowded with cars and parked to join the throng lining both sides of the salt marsh. By midmorning hunger pangs started setting in and we went in search of a 'full English' before returning to find the number of birders substantionally diminished. With time pressing I had to leave and drove off dreading the call to say the bird had been seen!
Hopefully the bird will get refound and everyone will get a second chance!
With poor weather in Cheshire the options were limited today. Stanney Woods was virtually birdless but a spell in the garden resulted in two flyover Tree Sparrows and several Redpolls. A phone call from the Lighthouse Bird Observatory's premier lister, Mr Conlin, persuaded me to make the short trip between showers to Leasowe as he'd found a Water Pipit in the flooded meadows off Park Lane. A good local bird and a grip back on 'my' bird he missed out on in the spring. Unfortunately there was no sign when I arrived but as the sun appeared things started getting a bit better and I managed a few shots of an Oystercatcher bathing and generally hamming it up for the camera.
Sharing the same bathwater was this stunning male Pied Wagtail feeding around the scummy margins. I spent 40 minutes waiting for it to work its way towards me whilst Molly sat patiently nearby.
Final port of call was the nearby cafe where a cuppa and a bacon buttie was just the thing for a hungry birder and his faithful hound.
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