Aren't some of our common birds great?

During my hunt around today I stopped to photograph two common species but which are also two declining species.

First of all was a small group of House Sparrows washing in a puddle at Burry Port.  Their antics were very amusing and found myself watching for at least twenty minutes,

Later on at Kidwelly I also photographed a 1st year Lapwing feeding on the muddy edge.  Just look at the plumage of this bird.  The good light shows the full colours and I just love the pale edges to the flight feathers a sure pointer to its age.  Lapwings are such a stunning bird and if a vagrant would surely attract really big crowds.  What a relief that it is still relatively common.

I remember when my pal Bob Abrams from the United States first came to the UK several years ago he was completely hooked on Lapwings.  His exclamation of pure joy when he first set eyes on one was impressive and made me realise how much we take for granted our commoner species.

I remember Bill Oddie saying to me once "If you want to apprecaiate a bird try a close female Mallard through your telescope and then marvel at the beautiful subtle browns of the plumage close-up".

It is certainly worth spending a little time with our common species because the way things are going some of them will be on a twitcher's list in less than 50 years.