Nine Wells and Song Thrushes

A walk down Nine Wells this afternoon produced a pair of Shoveler on the pond at the end of the wooded area, along with one of several Snipe seen in the valley. Two Golden Plover flew west along the coast and several lone Lapwings were seen passing over in both directions. There were two Chough over the cliffs along with a single Raven and to our surprise two Wrens singing at each other as if it were Spring! Apart from these, a couple of Robins and a small flock of Chaffinch in the woods, ominously, no small birds were seen.


Some Starlings were taking advantage of the softer ground by the cliff edge, although the rocks were ice-covered in places where fresh water had run off the land. A few Blackbirds were "chakking" and there were several Redwing in the woods and valley. But the most common birds were Song Thrushes, which were not only showing themselves in good numbers, with one pair even fighting over a snail, but were also evident from the numerous, well-used "anvils" both on the path through the wood and in the valley. The County's snails are quite literally taking a hammering.


An afterthought: we saw a flock of 300+ Wood Pigeon on the wires over a field on the Haverfordwest side of Roch; there appeared to be many more on the ground but not easily seen or counted.