Birds seen at Llanrhystud, New Quay and Aberarth

John Harry and I met up for a spot of sea-watching today. We began at Llanrhystud, hoping that the Wryneck might still be there, but if it was we didn't see it. We did see a group of 38-40 Dunlin and 2 or 3 Ringed Plover, 3 White Wagtails, 5-6 Wheatear and 3 Reed Buntings. Also, there were hundreds and hundreds of House Martins in the sky above us. Moving further south we took up position by the fish factory in New Quay for a few hours. As soon as we arrived we were delighted to see a Bottle Nose Dolphin close in. It had caught a truly enormous fish which it seemed to be playing with. Later another adult and a calf also came along to delight us. They stayed for some considerable time, only making themselves scarce when the tourist boats arrived on the scene. We also saw an Arctic Skua and a Great Skua as well as 1 Balearic Shearwater, 100s of Manxies, small numbers of Razorbill, Guillemot, Fulmar, Kittiwake, Gannet and Common Scoter. 1 Common Sandpiper popped up close by and a Kestrel flew in from the sea. After an excellent all-day breakfast at the Mariner we moved back north with a stop at Aberarth where we saw a very late Swift, 25 Curlew and another 3 White Wagtails. All together a very enjoyable day's birding.