Apologies for the lack of updates over the last week or so but I have been busy working on the house again so time out in the field has been limited. After a very late night watching the rather disappointing general election results come in (how did the Lib Dems do worse than last time with such high opinion poll ratings?) I really needed to get out of the house on Friday. I was tempted to head to Gower but instead decided to go and try for a new life tick on the unfamiliar slopes of Cefn Cadlan on the edges of the Brecon Beacons. I found the location with ease and was soon atop the wind swept peak searching the limestone paving for what I hoped would be an encounter on par with the Dunlins from a few weeks ago given the tame and approachable nature of this species. Initially all I got for my efforts was a rather scrappy looking Red Kite and a couple of Ravens before I turned around to find myself being eyed up by the male Dotterel. Result. A few meters further back the much more colourful female bird was also present, busy feeding in the short grass. Unfortunately for me it was cloudy, drizzly and windy; certainly not the conditions that my Lumix Super-zoom camera likes. Not be defeated I lay down on the ground and these are the results.

12421 - Dotterel at Cefn Cadlan
12422 - Dotterel at Cefn Cadlan
12425 - Dotterel at Cefn Cadlan
12430 - Dotterel at Cefn Cadlan
12433 - Dotterel at Cefn Cadlan
12434 - Dotterel at Cefn Cadlan
12420 - Dotterel at Cefn Cadlan

To say it was one of my more memorable encounters would be an understatement. I was able to lie there for well over an hour as the birds continued to feed, stretch and groom seemingly without a care in the world. For most of the time I just watched, feeling so privileged to be able to share that time with such wild and little seen birds. In the end I had to drag myself away as the weather was closing in and I didn’t want to get caught out in the open.

My thanks must go to Barry Stewart and his blog for the initial heads up and also to Graham Smith who I believe originally located the birds. How he managed that I would love to know as to me it seemed like the middle of almost nowhere. Top find sir and once again many thanks.


3 Comments

Caroline Gill · May 11, 2010 at 8:48 am

Great find. Great shots… from another Lumix fan!

Adam Tilt · May 11, 2010 at 11:04 am

Thanks very much. The Lumix's are very good cameras.

Richard King · May 13, 2010 at 2:07 am

Wonderful photos of a species I have yet to see in the UK. Lumix are nice cameras. The photos on my blog are all the Lumix TZ6.

Leave a Reply