New year, new page in field note book and Magor Pill was todays chosen venue in the hope I could rattle up a full and impressive page of notes to kick off a new recording year. Now being a valley boy (old man) coastal tide times are just a minor point of detail that is until you climb the sea wall to view all before you and find the waters so far out you need to press into action the x60 scope eyepiece just to locate it! In fact it was so distant I could have easily walked to Denny Island and back in just my wellies! (Only joking don't attempt a coastal ramble to Gwents only island as you could end up like veteran local naturalist Colin Titcombe who got into trouble doing the very same thing and was just fortunate to be rescued by a passing boat). So with only a few dozen Redwing and Fieldfare and passing Little Egret to show for my efforts it was on to Magor Marsh.
Ah! good old Magor Marsh, like a well worn pair of Homer Simpson slippers, easy parking, flat effortless boardwalk to the hide where a comfy park bench was waiting for me to rest my weary legs. Only thing missing was a Coffee/Tea vending machine- come on GWT get it sorted! Why bother developing your field craft off the beaten track when it can be delivered on a plate. Three cheers for Magor Marsh the pond supported some nice wildfowl including 12 Gadwall and about 30 Teal with an odd frantic Kingfisher. A couple of Stonechat were hanging around the fringes of the car park, but a field on adjacent farmland was full of activity with good numbers of winter thrushes and about 150 Lapwing and 15 Golden Plover. And so to home with thankfully something in my note book- rest easy.
No comments:
Post a Comment