monty got a raw deal.....

Saturday dawned bright and cold so we decided to undertake a minor tour of some of Montgomery Wildlife Trust reserves to get familier with our local area. Wasnt quite the success we hoped for. First up was Pwll Penarth, down by the Severn near Newtown. Very quiet, with just a water rail and little grebe to break the monotony of the mallards. Nice little reserve though, and looks promising.

After this the day went down hill! Next up, Llandinam gravel pits - not easy to get to, a long, rough track, at the end of which was a closed sign......ho hum. Then onto Llyn Mawr, again not easy to get to and when we finally arrived the heavens opened with a downpour of biblical proportions prompting a swift retreat and a return home.

Today an early start to catch the high tide at sunrise at Ynyslas - again not very busy, but a nice bunch of grey plover amongst the 100's of oystercatchers, a few ringed plover and curlew. Highlight was a good number of close in common scoter, a bird Steffi had only seen previously very distantly. A quick pop in to Ynys-hir on the way back gave us our first redwings of the autumn, and good views of barnacle geese, red kite, wigeon and reed bunting.

 

Back at home two dippers were showing well on the river Dulas.