Yesterday afternoon whilst enjoying the sunset from a viewpoint just South of Sarnau I saw a mass of goldies flying from the SW. There were so many at differing height levels and in many different formations (V's, lines, small groups, solitary) that the spectacle spanned 5 complete widths of my 8x30 bins and lasted for over 20 minutes. They seemed to go down on fields above Ffostrasol/Gurnos mountain and split into smaller groups as they descended.
This afternoon at 4pm there was a nice show with calling birds overhead but with just a couple of hundred birds.
The birds yesterday certainly didn't continue north so my questions are: were they a partly migratory flock dropping in for the night? Has there been an influx to the Dyfi or Aberaeron populations?
Slightly further south east just over the border into Carms we witnessed a really huge gathering of starlings going into roost a couple of weeks ago. Most birds were coming from the south west (Pembs) but I mention it here because it clearly draws birds from Cere, possibly depleting the Teifi roost. The numbers dwarfed those seen at Aber pier and such was the flow of birds their trail appeared like a river of smoke from the horizon. The noise was deafening and when a good few dropped into a wet field and sent the spray flying it really was an amazing spectacle.
The local forester in charge of the roost plantation said it had been building for about 5 years and he thought it was wonderful too!