Having already booked the day off work, I took it as an omen when news broke last night of a Common Yellowthroat in Gwent. So I was up at 5.00am and on the road soon after, arriving at the site just on the outskirts of the village of Rhiwderin at 7.00am. There were already about twenty cars in the alloted field when I got there, and cars continued to arrive over the course of the morning.
For ninety minutes I waited, scouring the hedgerows and corners of the large field until the shout went up that the bird had been seen. I was at the bottom of the field and the bird was halfway up, so a sprint uphill (along with over a hundred other twitchers) followed and we then had a mass stake-out of an ivy bush. By this stage there must have been some three to four hundred birders on site, several of which I recognised and it was a pleasure bumping in to my old mate Lee Evans. This shot gives a rough idea of how many briders had made the trip, there were just as many behind me and on the other side of the hedge!
Another painful wait and the call went up again, the bird had moved even further up the hill so another mad dash, so much so I left my scope behind! But I saw the bird as it flew between clumps of vegetation. I soon saw it again and thought I had better go and retreive my scope.
Returning to the masses I then got really lucky as I managed to see this first winter male Common Yellowthroat perched in some brambles. It showed really well for about a minute before vanishing again. So with the bird seen I headed back home soon after 9.00am after a very successful morning.
No comments:
Post a Comment