Walking with the wife

A lovely walk today (Sunday's are walking days according to my wife, the art is suggesting a nice walk, 6 or 7 miles or so, that takes me past an area I would like to bird in. I have to be careful on choice, any hint of it becoming a birding walk then all bets are off and I may be washing the dishes for a week or two). Aberystwyth to borth, pass clarach and wallog. As everyone has noted, the lack of stonechats was clear, normally on this route I would pass 5 or 6 territories but I did not see one stonechat at all. Pipits and wrens were in one or twos and the paucity of passerines was alarming. One chough was far less than normal. At clarach, 17 wigeon and 2shoveler on the sea was a surprise though a bigger surprise was a count of 186 red throated divers off wallog. At broth I could only find 4 purple sands but 84 oystercatchers was a bonus. A lovely walk but despite my suggestions I think my wife has decided that cross inn is not a suitable weekend walk so the chance of great grey shrike may have to wait for a free saturday.