Twelve hardy participants met up at Bryngarw Country Park for this weekday field trip. It wasn’t looking too promising as I encountered heavy drizzle on the way. Our wanderings started off OK but we were drizzled upon as we did a full circuit of the park, taking in the woodland, open areas, boardwalk and riverside path. One target bird, for yours truly at least, was Spotted Flycatcher, a species harder to encounter these days. The most noticeable thing during the walk was how quiet it was. Birds were few and far between. A few active Nuthatches were the first seen, in trees near the car park, and a Great Spotted Woodpecker flew over, giving a brief ‘chick!’ call. There were plenty of Robins which were characteristically vocal, but other avian vocalisations were few. Two juv Blackbirds were feasting on berries in the woodland section. As we descended towards the boardwalk area, some movement was spotted in a couple of very tall Ash trees, and the behaviour suggested Spotted Flycatcher, due to the looping sorties. They never showed very well but in a brief perched view a few folk saw the upright stance and very fine bill. The trees were very tall so the views weren’t the best. In the open field beyond the boardwalk we stood in the by now heavy drizzle and eventually found a smart male Stonechat and a Wren. Down by the river Garw we had nice views of a Grey Wagtail, but we ‘dipped’ on Dipper. Tim Adcock & I had a brief view of a fly-catching sortie by another ‘Spot Fly’ which then promptly disappeared. Chaffinches were ground feeding by the small lake and 2 Moorhens were amongst the many eclipse plumage Mallards, and a Lesser Black-backed Gull was very vocal. It wasn’t a raptor day, but 2 Ravens flew over, cronking. More drizzle arrived so we called it a day and some went home and a few of us retired to the café for a coffee and snack. John Wilson

The day’s total was a paltry 23 species – click here for the list