Wild Dotterel Chase



Meadow Pipit


This morning Julian Friese and I set off to walk up to Tair Carn Isaf a hill of nearly 500 metres and one of the regular places for seeing Dotterel on migration.  Sadly we failed to see those gorgeous birds on this occasion but the walk was exhilarating to say the least.  Bright sunshine made the task a little easier and we did note at least 20 Skylarks and 10 Meadow Pipits holding territory.  We also discovered 4 pairs of Wheatears, a Red Kite, Raven and a passing Swift.

One of our Wheatears carrying food.

We moved down after about three hours and moving through Palycwrt we encountered 2 Redstarts, one of which was in full song and also heard a Cuckoo.  Heading further on we stopped by a beautiful wood to hear a Wood Warbler singing  and a Dipper flying along the stream before we moved on to a series of clearfells at Cennen Tower.  A Grasshopper Warbler sang in the distance and we also picked up Garden Warbler and a Common Whitethroat.




Common Redstart


Crossing the Tywi Valley we stopped to listen to a couple of sedge warblers before heading home pretty tired out.