Wryneck @ Llandegfedd
This month has been pretty busy so far, and October is looking to be even busier! However I am only on seasonal work right now (sad face), so I'll have 4 months over the winter time and plenty of time to write some blogs. For now however you'll have to deal with my staggered blog posts. I am saving them for something special that will be revealed soon ;). I have been taking pictures, I'm just waiting for the right opportunity to post them!
For now I'll give you a taster of the fantastic bird that turned up at Llandegfedd last weekend! I've never seen a Wryneck before and was blown away with how cryptic their patterns were. You can learn a lot through observing behaviour and because I didn't really know much about these birds, I did spend a full day observing the bird after Gavin Moore found it and thankfully put the word out. I joined in the search while the bird popped up in random places, swiftly followed by eager birders, myself including. I was extremely disappointed to see a notorious paparazzi climbing and running across the Dam wall on arrival just to get a closer photo. The lengths that some people take to get a photograph are unreal and I would much rather wait and observe than clamber over people who simple want to see the bird.. Something that may never happen if you're own actions cause the bird to be flushed. Selfish photographers, it's an illness.
The bird was trying to feed alongside the road verge near the curbs. Every now and again it would pop up on the fence post. It was just a matter of hiding behind a car and hope it would land on a post in reach of the lens, which it just about did 5 minutes after I said I was going to leave. It pays to be patient :).