The weather could have been better, but it was about to get a lot worse with Storm Goretti pending, so 7 of us grasped the opportunity to have the first field trip of 2026 at Ogmore, and made it short and sweet.

As we were aiming to see the birdlife we went near high tide and met at 10am, walked down to the estuary, then up to the bridge and then back down towards the rivermouth.

Many Black-headed and Herring gulls were perched on the railings on the bridge, amongst them an American visitor—the Ring-billed Gull

Amongst the usual Mallard on the river there were lots of Teal and plenty of Goldeneye. It was interesting to see the difference in the species between high and low tide - no Canada geese or Mute swans for a start. They had moved further inland to a pond along with the Heron and Little Egret.

We looked hard for the Goosander, especially by the rivermouth but by then the rain was coming down and it was difficult to see anything through the raindrops on our binoculars.

Even so, between us we saw more than 20 species in little more than an hour, and despite the cold and the wet we were all pleased to have been out in the fresh air.

TJ