David, Malcom, Roger and I set
off for Pwll-du in south Wales to hopefully connect with a Common Rock Thrush,
which would be a lifer for David, Malcolm and Roger and only my second in the
UK, the first being Kent in March 1973.
We stopped at Strensham
Services on the M5 for a comfort break when we received news that it hadn’t
been seen. A discussion the followed and
we decided to head for Symonds Yat as it was still heading in the right
direction and if it was seen we could easily continue from there. However, before we set off Malcolm received
another message indicating that it was still there and so we continued on to
Pwell-du.
We arrived on site just after
10:00 and then walked along a footpath to the where the bird was being
seen. Several people on route informed
us that it was still showing but when we were almost there the crowd suddenly
moved and it had obviously just flown.
It hadn’t gone too far and was now perched at the side of the path and I
was able to get some shots before it flew into a quarry and disappeared.
Common Rock Thrush
Common Rock Thrush
It wasn’t long before it was relocated,
and we had some excellent views as it fed amongst the rocks of the quarry
before it flew up and over the top of the quarry and disappeared out of
sight. We hung around for about ten
minutes but as it hadn’t returned we started to walk back to the car. It always amazes me on how birds our located
in such remote places, but I suspect that the area might be good during
migration as we also had a couple of Wheatear.
As we walked back we had a single Red Kite and a Buzzard before reaching
the car and a Raven when back at the car.
Common Rock Thrush
Common Rock Thrush
We decided that we would try
and locate a Dipper before heading back and possibly calling at Symonds Yat. David was navigating, and we continued along
the road, which became quite narrow with a rather steep edge to the left of the
road. Thankfully we only met a few
cyclists before getting well down the road.
We eventually reached Govilon and stopped in the village to view a small
stream, which is called Cwm-Shenkin Brook.
We had a Grey Wagtail before I got out of the car that perched on one of
the house roofs. When we got to the
bridge it looked quite suitable downstream but there was no sign of anything
else. David then decides he would go and
have a look on the other side of the main road and called to say he had seen
another Grey Wagtail and a few minute later he gestured for us to join
him. As we crossed the road it became
clear that there was a Dipper and it was just sitting on some rocks just a few
metres away from a bridge over the stream.
Malcolm went back to the car and brought the cameras, expecting it would
be gone before he got back. However, it
was still there and remained for most of our stop and although the light wasn’t
brilliant I got some rather nice shots of the bird.
Dipper
Dipper
Dipper
Dipper
Dipper
Dipper
We also had a Great Spotted
Woodpecker, a Coal Tit, two Mistle Thrush and another Grey Wagtail during our
brief stop.
Pleased with our find we
headed off to Symonds Yat and after eventually finding the viewpoint car park
and a space we had our lunch before going up to the viewpoint. The car park was quite full, particularly as
it was a weak day, and on reaching the viewpoint there were quite a few
people. David pointed out where the
Peregrine breed but the there wasn’t anything on the rock face. Another birder then indicted that one of the
birds was sitting in a tree to our right, although it was quite difficult to locate
but we all eventually managed to get on it.
It didn’t look a particularly large bird and presumably it was the male
and it remained in the tree the whole time we were there, but we didn’t see a
second bird.
From the viewpoint there is a
good of the countryside into Herefordshire with the River Wye running in the
bottom of the valley. A few Redwing flew
over and we saw three Mandarin in flight over the river but generally it was quiet. An accipiter was then picked up to the north
along with a Buzzard, but I only saw it through my bins before it dropped out
of sight but both David and Roger considered it to be a Goshawk. Shortly afterwards another accipiter was
observed to the south-east which initially I thought might be a Sparrowhawk but
as it turned and drifted back the wings were noticeably broad and the white
under-tail coverts really stood out and I was happy that it was a Goshawk. Two Raven then flew over just before we
departed for home.
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