VISITS TO MARTIN'S HAVEN - MARLOES - DALE - TEIFI WETLANDS CENTRE - CARDIGAN I was a busy birder today with brief visits to many little birdy places and a prolonged afternoon at the Wetlands centre.
It was raining when I got up and went for breakfast, it continued to rain as I drove further west to Haverfordwest but as I approaches the town the rain stopped and the sun broke through the clouds. The cloud further cleared and remained sunny for the rest of the day.
I visited the lovely town of Haverfordwest and the hotel that we are due to stay in from tomorrow, it was fine and so was the drive to Martin's Haven. I checked out the boat timetable and the procedure for booking before driving off to Dale.
At Dale I finally got to look at some birds, Oystercatchers, Herring and Great Black-backed Gulls were on the beach whilst a single Greater Cormorant sat on some rocks.
For the afternoon I drove across country to visit the Wetlands Centre just outside of Cardigan, it is a wonderful place with several different habitats to explore. There are woodlands, reed-beds, pools, a tidal river, mud-flats, marshes and wet-meadows.
For the time of year I was pleasantly surprised by the number of birds present except for waders, of which, there were none. Lots of common species were nice to see as I walked round the entire network of trails, I sat in 5 different hides and stood at half a dozen viewing points. Bullfinches were very tame and showed well. I heard Chiffchaff, Wren, Blackcap, Garden Warbler and Common Whitethroat all singing.
Water Buffalo was a surprise and I just missed an Otter sighting, but Kingfisher, Grey Heron, Common Shelduck and four gull species were also present.
At the visitor's centre I sat and watched the feeders for a while, lots of Blue and Great Tits were feeding there. I can see the advantage that using feeders has at this time of the year, the newly fledged birds were learning how to feed from them in readiness for winter. A Great-spotted Woodpecker scared them all off.
The acrobatic Great Spotted Woodpecker at the feeders
I drove back to my hotel near Swansea in time for dinner and to watch the footy on telly, how nice!