John Cook organised the first meeting of the new-look NHG. He chose a fine day to coincide with convenient tides. There were only 4 of us and we met at Rest Bay, Porthcawl and walked along the boardwalk which skirts the golf club eventually reaching Sker Point by high tide. Up to this point  we had seen not only the expected sea birds such as curlews, oystercatchers, ringed plovers, turnstones, a purple sandpiper and well camouflaged on the rocks, a small number of golden plover, (there were a lot more on the return journey), but had also had a fleeting glimpse of a merlin skimming over a wall in front of us.

After a quick coffee break overlooking a sparkling sea, 2 of the group turned back because of afternoon commitments and 2 walked through the dunes at Kenfig and headed to the pool. We were not rewarded with a bittern sighting but we were alerted to a great Egret lurking in the reeds and we spent some time viewing the wigeon on the pool as at least 1 American wigeon had been reported.

We stopped for a picnic lunch in the sun outside the Visitor Centre  and heard a rumour of an osprey sighting, but it did not materialise for us. On the way back to the car we had the clearest view of the common, mediterranean and black-headed gulls on the fields behind the car park at Rest Bay.

In summary, we had a very good day. In 4 hours we walked about 6.5 miles and saw over 30 species of birds.

TJ