Burry Port weekend

We spotted many wonderful birds during a great weekend with my brother, his wife and my sisters in Burry Port, Camarthenshire, Wales, where my brother lives. The highlight of the birdwatching was seeng a male and female kingfisher in the water going down to the sea at Burry Port, as well as a sparrow hawk in the Penybedd wood. 

There was a lot of snow visible in the distant Brecon Beacons, but it was clear and sunny during the days by the sea, I begin to understand what the Gulf Stream location represents - surprising warmth when out of the wind and in direct sunshine, even though there was ice on the ponds.

These are the birds I remember seeing, but there were probably quite a few more than this:

Green shank, kingfisher x 2, sparrow hawk, red shank, curlew, oyster catcher, common buzzard, green finch, linnet, rock pippet, pied wagtail, heron,  cormorant, little egret, herring gull, black headed gull, dunnock, ringed plover, common gull, skylark, blackbird, wren, starling, jackdaw, magpie, reed bunting, chaffinch, bullfinch, kites and buzzards galore on the M4 motorway.

The beautiful bird pictures were taken by my brother Adam Dare:

Above, Sparrow hawk (female ?), below, male kingfisher in Burry Port, below that a female kingfisher not far away in the harbour. It was also interesting to see the five memorials to Amelia Earhart, the American pilot who landed her seaplane in Burry Port in 1928, making her the first woman to cross the Atlantic by plane, solo. One of my all time heroines, the next village seems to also make the same claim, can't wait to see how the forthcoming Hollywood biopic wIth Hilary Swank handles this episode!