Bob and I were determined to get out this morning and so we went to Ynys-hir and made for the Breakwater hide. From there we noticed a first winter Little Gull fly over the embankment and railway line and over the Breakwater fields. Dipping low it looked rather like a marsh tern. It paused on the ground a few times before flying back to the saltings and upstream. It was soon back although spooked for a while by a Hen Harrier which passed above it. It settled on one of the pools for a while and eventually it flew off, passing the hide, heading for the sea.
(During the afternoon Chris Bird noticed this or another first winter Little Gull off South Beach at Aberystwyth.)
We were then entranced by a Peregrine which landed on one of the boulders by the railway, immediately infront of the hide. It remained there for 15 minutes or so.
A strange-looking Shelduck also appeared which at first glance looked like a Ruddy Shelduck but instead of a paler, creamy-coloured head and neck with a black band at the base of the neck it had a very dark head and neck, black or dark green and a white neck band. We were not sure whether it was a hybrid, a freak or an exotic variety from a collection. Worth looking out for.
Yesterday I noticed a Greenshank by the Clettwr, the first December sighting of this species since 2006.