5 October

I have been over the Reservoir a couple of times but there has been very little to write about. There was a Gt Black-backed Gull in the roost as well as a dozen or more Common Gull. But I failed to see the Med Gull Steve Haynes saw earlier in the week.

On Saturday, I went twitching with the Captain an activity that usually ends in tears, my success rate with him is poor to say the least. Bad luck doesn’t come into it. Anyway, I felt a bit sorry for him, his wife has broken her ankle and he has had a knee operation so they are both on crutches.

I picked him up early on Saturday morning (minus Parrot and eye-patch) and we headed down to the Gower for an Isabelline Wheatear which had been present most of the week. It looked promising it was dull, always a good sign so after four hours we were within two miles when my wife, who had internet access phoned to say the bird was still there! I was hardly going to turn around. To cut a long story short we saw the bird and had a good couple of hours birding in what was a very impressive site. There was visibly migration going on with over a hundred Swallows passing over. There was a constant stream of Meadow Pipits and Larks overhead, obviously Isabelline Wheatear, several Northern Wheatear, 3 Blackcap, Chough, Raven, Peregrine, although we missed a Wryneck we left happy.

Isabelline Wheatear, St Martin’s, Pembrokeshire