The Long Way Down
All work and no play make Jack and Jill very dull, so we took time out from our planning to do some birding, and with a Pechora Pipit showing so well all the way down in south Wales we needed to go and see it. Sadly, jury service and work commitments meant our first opportunity to go was on Saturday, which would have been the bird’s sixth day at Goodwick Moor, Fishguard. A very slow drive down through Wales’s twisty roads found us on site pre-dawn, with around 60 fellow birders all nervously waiting for first light. Local birders had organised access and once they arrived we took the short walk to the area of flooded willow scrub where the bird had been showing exceptionally well. As light came up, we were treated to wonderful views of a Robin. We waited, and waited, and waited a bit more. No pipit appeared. Bacon butties from the nearby Seaview Hotel came and went but still no pipit. By midday, we’d had enough of looking at the birdless willows and trudged back to the car for the long way up to Llandudno. Funny how the journey home always seems so much longer after a dip.