Thursday and Friday saw family commitments preventing me travelling down to Pembrokeshire with the added irony that if my good lady had been well enough we'd have been holidaying in the county this week so with Saturday free I picked Jim up at 12.30am and we made the 275 mile trip to St Govens head in Pembrokeshire arriving in the car park at 5.15am in darkness which allowed a quick hours catch up with some sleep before we joined the other birders on site to view the area that the Magnolia Warbler was last seen yesterday.
After about an hour with no sightings the bird was spotted by a couple of guys who let everybody know and shortly after the gathering of c100 or so birders were slowly connecting as the bird did a fast circuit of the bushes often sitting in among the red berry areas. Chough flew over for an added year tick and Raven noisily flew over to add to the atmosphere. Now that the bird had revealed itself the mood lifted but this was to be improved on news that Toby Phelps (finder of the Magnolia Warbler) had now found a Canada Warbler just four miles away at Stack Rocks.
The car park emptied as everybody headed off to Stack Rocks with many choosing to park on the grass verges to save the very short walk back from the car park. We opted to park in the car park and walk back where we joined the fifty or so looking for the Canada warbler. After about an hour the bird was spotted and most managed fleeting views of it moving through the thick twiggy areas at the back of the trees. I opted to move away from the masses and eventually had great views as the bird sat up in the canopy for a few moments before taking flight and reverting to it's skulking behaviour. Jim had managed some good views allowing us to both leave satisfied we'd connected well with the bird.
The crowd was growing and getting ever closer to the area the bird was in so we left and started the long journey home. What a fantastic days birding in Pembrokeshire, great birds in a lovely setting and it's always nice to catch up with everybody at these twitches.
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| The Canada Warbler twitch with finder Toby far right with the orange peeked cap |
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| The Magnolia warbler twitch |
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| Magnolia Warbler |
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| Magnolia Warbler |
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| Magnolia Warbler |
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| Magnolia twitch |
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| Magnolia Warbler |
Many of the birders present also enjoyed views of the Bay-breasted Warbler on Ramsay Island and some saw the Alder Flycatcher on Skokholm, thankfully I don't do the islands so didn't have to stress too much about these birds. Boats to both islands were limited and would have also added a few pounds to the day trip but I congratulate those that did connect with one or both.
Year list now 221
Life list now 442
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