TOCH WOODLANDS - BLACK POOL MILL - SWANSEA VALE NATURE RESERVE
WEATHER: overcast, with rain showers and quite windy.
Our final day in Pembrokeshire had arrived at the same time that the fine weather had broken, just as well we were heading for home. An early morning walk along the river before breakfast produced a number of good sightings which included the usual 'river species'. We saw Kingfisher, Dipper, Grey Wagtial and Common Sandpiper. Blackcap and Chiffchaff sang from the bushes and trees, gulls flew over and usual bunch of Jackdaws, noisily left their roost.
Kingfisher down by the River
After another lovely breakfast we set off for Swansea with a couple of planned stops before the group caught their 2pm train. I had good information that Wood Warblers could be seen in the woodlands around Caneston, Blackpool Mill and Minwear, so we thought we give that a try.
We got the location wrong and parked quite far away from where we were supposed to be, but we had a nice walk up and over the hill through Toch Woods before arriving at Blackpool Mill. We didn't see much in the woods, the windy conditions didn't help and the light was poor. We got glimpese of a lot of common species and we heard Coal Tit and Marsh Tit but did not see the latter.
At the Bridge near ther Blackpool Mill we had a great time dashing from one side of the birdge to the other to quickly see Kingfishers darting about, Grey Wagtails shooting across the water and Dipper shooting off skimming the water. We watched Common Sandpipers, a Grey Heron, Barn Swallows and house Martins. A Siskin flew over and Pied Wagtails flitted around on the buildings.
We also also added three mammals to our trip list, the best of which was an Otter, however only Rosemary saw it!! Some of us saw Grey Squirrels and I was only the one to see a Red Fox. Buzzards and Red Kites flew over us as did Common Swift, Wood pigeons and Herring Gulls. The coffee at the Mill cafe was lovely too!
As it approached 11am we had make tracks, we headed off to Swansea. We drove for an hour, through some heavy showers and as we pulled off the motorway to a Service Station to eat our lunch it started to rain again, so we had to sit in the bus to eat.
Half an hour later we were parking the bus for our last bird-watching session of the trip, we stopped at a small reserve on the outskirts of Swansea called Swansea Vale Nature Reserve. It was windy and cloudy, we were hoping to see a few birds and some dragonflies but that wasn't the case. We walked around a circular boardwalk for 45 minutes and saw just Banded and Demoiselle Damselflies and not many birds at all.
We left for the last leg of the journey, just 15 minutes later we arrived at the Swansea Train Station, the trip was over, my group departed for London and I drove back to Somerset all by myself. Tears were streaming down my face as I drove home, the group had gone I was so happy!!! just kidding!
Four days isn't enough, you just get know the group well and its over, they were great company as usual, I am looking forward to seeing them again next year.