Somehow we’ve been rather too wrapped up with other projects lately, and have not done much in the way of actual nature-watching lately. So, hopefully, we’re off to a good start by getting out on New Year’s Day. Mind you, other people were also out on New Year’s Day but they weren’t birdwatching.

We arrived at Kilpaison (east end of Angle Bay) to find a large party of windsurfers just packing up for the day. The tide had turned an hour earlier, and these folk like to get out of the water without wading over the mudflats. Needless to say, their activity meant there were no waders or wildfowl near the freshwater streams. Or anywhere else for that matter. Later, there were some distant curlew roosting on an as-yet undisturbed bit of shore. And a couple of redshank wondering if they could get some peace on the Kilpaison shore now the windsurfers had gone.

But the dominant birds were the gulls. We estimated about 1500 gulls, either sitting on the water, or feeding in the fields nearby. Probably at least two-thirds black-headed gulls, and most of the rest were common gulls. They were feeding on the wetter patches in the field, probably picking up drowned worms and grubs.

With the sky clouding over, and a forecast for rain (which didn’t really materialise in the end) we headed for home.

More nature-watching in Pembrokeshire

Westfield Pill in October

Westfield Pill was a tidal inlet on the Milford Haven Waterway until the 1980s when bunds were constructed across the mouth of the upper part and it became a freshwater lake. The lower part was developed as the Neyland Marina – a place full of expensive-looking boats. The upper part became a nature reserve, looked…

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