It was a very nice morning again on Friday as I set off for Ynyslas beach a few miles North of Borth.I'd never been there before but it showed on my map that it was a place for seeing birds.Got there just before high tide at 9.45 AM and parked on the beach car park (only £1) next to the only other car there.
As I set off towards the headland the views across the Dovey estuary were spectacular.Well worth the visit for the views alone.When I got to the headland I noticed another birder who was scoping the shoreline and when I followed suit I was amazed at the amount of waders that were there.I later found out there were up to a 1000 each of Ringed Plovers and Dunlin.More than I'd ever seen together before.
Not great for shots as I was careful not to disturb the birds by getting close but great to see so many.
Stayed for ages on the beach as it was so nice there.The only other waders I spotted were a few Turnstones and up to 5 Sanderlings some nearly in Summer plumage.I could only get this shot of one.
Back to the car for some coffee I noticed a female Stonechat gathering nesting materials.
I then had a walk round the dunes at the back of the car park which were alive with birds singing mainly the more common birds we get in our gardens but there were a few Meadow Pipits.I don't see so many of these chaps at home like I used to so I took a few shots including some efforts of flight shots with food.Didn't do too well with those.
The best birds in the dunes were Stonechats.I struggled to get close particularly with the males but in the end got some decent shots of a female and a youngster which at one time was pleading with dad for some food.
At 3.00 PM I drove the short distance down the road to the Ynys Hir reserve to try and get some female Pied Flycatcher shots that I could not get on my last visit.Whilst getting my kit together in the car park I noticed that the card on my 7D camera only had 150 shots left and as I needed those for tomorrow I took the Canon SX50 bridge camera with me instead.
The hide was empty when got there and it wasn't too long before my good friend turned up and did his stuff.I am pretty good with the SX50 if the bird is perched pretty close and is still.If it's like the female Pied Flycatcher was that afternoon nipping about I am useless and failed to get a decent shot.Homing in on the bird is very hard on full optical zoom and focussing is very slow compared with the 7D camera.
Having said that the SX50 produced some very good shots of the posing male specially as it's a camera costing less than £250.As good as the ones I got with the 7D and 400 lens a couple of days before.
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