The frost bites harder

Arriving at St Justinian at 09:30 this AM, the car's O.A.T. gauge indicated -6c. That's extremely cold for the coastal strip along Ramsey Sound....and the birds knew it. Highlights from today's TTV count of the tetrad with Trefeiddan Marsh at its centre, included seeing as many as 60 Redwing in a flock, leaf-turning inside hedgerows, often invisible until disturbance caused them to erupt, giving off their nasal alarm calls and departing noisily.

Along the coastal footpath, heading for Point St John, small parties of Snipe, Lapwing, Golden Plover, Redwing and the occasional Fieldfare, were observed heading directly for Ramsey, no doubt expecting a warm welcome from Greg and Lisa. But not all the Lapwings were intent on making the short crossing; three or more flocks, made up of 20-30 birds in tidy echelon formation, were seen heading out and beyond the North Bishops. Let's hope they had sufficient fuel on board to make it to Ireland.

For the entire count (two hours) there was hardly a field, all of them frozen solid, that did hold a handful of static and isolated Lapwing and Golden Plover. The milder conditions forecast to arrive this weekend may well arrive too late for those that can't make it to milder climes.

A few totals for the record:- Curlew 11, Lapwing c170, Golden Plover 85, Redwing c210, Songthrush 70+, Fieldfare 18, Snipe 48, Jack Snipe 3, Water Rail 1, and only two Wrens!

These totals are of species "using" the tetrad, and do not include the squadrons of flyovers.