Marloes and the Gann

27/05/14

Following on from a brilliant time on Skomer island, we then decided to check out some of the other birding sites on the peninsular around Marloes and Dale. This area is one of my favourite in Pembrokeshire, and it is always worthwhile for a check.

Marloes Mere was fairly hard going, and other than a few ducks, that being 4 Gadwall (which I believe may have been my first in Pembs!) and 3 Shoveler it was all a little 'samey'. No surprises here like I had last year! After giving the south end of the Mere a good grilling, we thought best to head off to a location that I always get exited about!

The Gann

And luckily, it proved much more interesting! After walking along the shingle ridge and reaching the far end, the first bird I saw was a Grey Plover, again, a first for Pembs for me, and not something I would expect to see here at the end of May!

A Little Egret and and Shelduck were also in attendance.

It was hard to believe the amount of 'damage' that had happened over the winter since my last visit. I think the extremely high tide made it look much worse than it was, but it was obvious that large areas of the shingle had been displaced, and the old 'exit stream' of the Pools had infact become an inflow! The shingle ridge was also much steeper than the gentle incline it was before, and it was clear that much of the shape of the wider bay had changed! The power of the sea!

Even during previous high tides spent here, I have never seen the saltmarsh covered adjacent to the Gann river, but with the tide and displaced shingle it was easily inundated even before the water reached its peak. In a way that was a blessing, as the rising tides pushed 3 Whimbrel and 5 Curlew out of the Channels, which then went on to pose for us on the dryer ground.

 With the family now calling, it was time to head back, and as we turned to walk away, a pair of Ringed Plover dropped in on the tideline a short distance away, before these too moved over onto the saltmarsh to roost.

MB

Marloes Mere- Ibis takeover

4/06/12

After a seemingly eternal drive from Strumble Head to the small village of Marloes, we soon pulled into the car park, On arrival in the National Trust car park, we paid our fee and headed down to the 'barbed wire gate' which has been mentioned hundreds of times as i check about news of a flock of special birds which had been present for months!

On the way down though, we were met by this rather appealing (grusome?) image of a cluster of 'The Lackey' moth catapillars, which certainly made for a change. I was actually quite appealed to these, their bright colours obviously to warn off predators!

Continuing on, walking through a rather picturesque landscape, we soon came to the 'barbed wire gate', and after a quick scan around, our quiry was located, a flock of 3 GLOSSY IBIS!

As can be seen from the photo, they wernt exactly very showy while we were there, and the birds often only gave glimpses amongst the tussoks. Rather a dissapointment considering the views/Photos/Video that Jason K from Shenstone Birder had a few weeks previously (Here)

 These birds have been giving me constant nightmares since april, and i was glad to have seen them. They (twice) flew over to Ireland to visit Tacumsluin (Or however its spelt) and gave me fears they wouldnt come back, but the week before we were due to go over to wales, the birds returned, and as can be seen, Stuck around a little longer for me! So thankyou Glossy Ibis's.

The flock consisted of 3 birds, a very colourful adult, which was absolutly stunning! Another adult, although slightly duller (and alot less showy), and an immature type, which still had white spotting on its head, and less of a 'glossy' look.

My first 'real' view out in the open (ish) was of this aformentioned immature bird.

But my main goal was to try to get soemething on that really glossy bird, and slowly but surely, it slowly (and i do mean very slowly!) worked it way through the tussoks to give great scope views. Annoyingly though, the tussocks were the downfall of all my photos, and i could never correctly focus on the bird as it always focused on tussoks in front of the bird, however, here are my attempts.

We then decided to move away from the bird for abit, as they were making very slow progress towards us. We headed up to the hide, where we sat for a while, A few Shoveler and a Gadwall were on the mere.
Time passed, and we didnt pick out anything, so walked back towards the Gate, noting a Common Blue Buttefly on the way. I looked up and noticed a Gannet flying over north! I shouted it out to my dad, and it was only then that i remembered that we were only a few hundered metres from the sea here.

Arriving back with the Glossy Ibis's, we noted that the colourful bird had walked in closer, and i started snapping away again!

The bird's were right bastards tbh, and only very briefly walked out between the tussoks, further hindering my chances of a decent photo. However, after a decent amount of time. one of the birds appeared in full view, at reasonable range, and i just blast fired photos, just in the vain hope of getting one decent photo. 

YEP! It still didnt work! So with us now being very Knat bitten, and suffering from mild sunstroke, we decided to retreat.
However, a quick video of the adult bird was needed!
Awsomeness.
Great bird!


These final 2 were proberbly the best photos i got though, but again, there are many 'faults' with them (No1 being too dark as my camera slipped from my lens when i took the photo, leading to slight vignetting around the bird, and No 2 the obvious downside being its facing away, despite it being the sharpest photo)

Anyway, they were great birds to see. With them being in summer plumage, and having only seen one bird previously (The 1w bird at Grimley) it made a nice learning trip (even though one wasnt needed for such a stunning, unmistakable bird)

However, that still wasnt enough, and we then switched to another nearby site.....

MB