Birds at Ynys-hir and Ynyslas

John and I visited Ynys-hir this morning and, after the mist had drifted off enjoyed a bright and beautiful, almost spring like day. From the Breakwater Hide we got a prolonged view of a Merlin, "surveying the menu" from a post in front of us. 32 Greenland White-fronted Geese flew in and settled on the water directly in front of the hide, we got superb views of them as well. There were 105 Barnacle Geese to the west of us and we counted another 64 on our walk back to the visitor centre. We moved on to Ynyslas and spotted the Slavonian Grebe that has been around for a few days. Finally we spent some time by the Leri road bridge hoping to see the Otter. Although we dipped out on him, we did see the Scaup - still present close to the railway bridge - and a Kingfisher that must have been sitting practically under our noses before dashing off upstream.