Trip reports

Llanelli WWT 24th February 2008

Friday, 29 February 2008

Our trip to the Wildfowl Trust reserve at Llanelli produced some unexpected birds. A variety of ducks was present with pintail being most prominent but gadwall, teal, shoveler, pochard and tufted duck were also seen. The most surprising sighting was of not one but three drake gargeney, all of which were readily visible. The only swans seen were a couple of whoopers on the lagoon. Lapwing were present most of the day in front of the British Steel hide and we had close views of black-tailed godwit from the same hide. Other waders on the scrapes included spotted redshank, ruff, snipe and greenshank. In the distance, on the Burrey estuary, large numbers of oystercatcher were on the sandbanks, flocks of small waders were circling round and brent geese were in attendance. At the feeding station next to the Visitor Centre 2 brambling were present, one with an unusually pale orange breast. Of the raptors, kestrel and buzzard were seen along with sparrowhawk, one of which flew by carrying a prey item (probably a starling).