Searching for gold at Sker Point

 

I recently enjoyed a walk from Rest Bay, Porthcawl to Sker Point. I was hoping to see some waders, particular Golden Plovers.

Its a pleasant walk from the car park in rest Bat to Sker. About 1.5km along the coastal path, much of it is boarded alongside the golf course, so listen out for any shouts of "Four" as you may need to duck the odd stray golf ball.

The fence posts along this section often have Stonechats perched on them and if you are lucky you may see a Kestrel.

As a I strolled along the board walk I scanned the rocky coast line and was rewarded with good views of Oystercatchers, Curlew and a couple of Whimbrel.

Oystercatcher

Ahead of me flying from post to post were four stonechats, they appeared to me be a an adult pair with two juveniles.

Flying overhead I watched a procession of three Grey Herons and a Little Egret heading in the direction I was walking towards Sker Point.

The board walk eventually comes to an end at a gate that marks the entrance to Sker Point. Here the coastal path runs along the top of a steep pebbly slope that leads down the rocky shoreline of Sker.

Alongside of the path is a lovely grassy area and it feels like you are walking on a plush carpet. Wheatears, Pied Wagtails and Meadow Pipits ran ahead of me stopping to pose for a nice picture.

Northern Wheatear ( female)

Eventually I had a good view of the main Sker rock promontory . I scanned it for any signs of feathered life. No birds were visible but what did stand out was two photographers who had their lenses trained on something that had caught their attention.

I decided to join them so began to trudge carefully down the pebble slope to where they were standing.

As I got closer I recognised the toggers. It was "Excitable Brian" and his friend Richie.

Brian has very keen eyes and rarely misses anything and as usual he was very excited - he and his friend were photographing three Golden Plovers, one of my target birds of the day.

Golden Plover

They pointed out the Plovers to me repeatedly and were very patient despite my repeated requests to show me where they were again. Golden Plovers have incredible plumage that acts as amazing camouflage when they are roosting at Sker on the rocks.

I had really difficulty picking them out but eventually with Brian and Richies help I got my camera lens trained on the three birds.

Golden Plover x 3

Then as I decided to move in a little closer, they got spooked and flew away towards the waters edge,  that was situated in the distance with me and about half a kilometers worth of rock pools between us.

That was the signal for me to move on and say my goodbyes to my togger friends and head off down to Sker beach.

Unfortunately the tide was going out and the beach was starting to resemble the sahara desert with absolutely zero birds on it so I turned back and eventually found a nice view point of Sker Point and put the drone up for some aerial shots.

Sker Point is always worth a walk to and always has some surprises in store for me.